Pozieres – an Australian Epic
Pozieres sits on a high ridge between the strategically important towns of Albert and Bapaume. As the highest point on the 1916 Somme battlefield the town was a vital objective, with unimpeded panoramic views of large sectors of the German front line. The British expected to capture the village on 1st July 1916, the disastrous first day of the Battle of the Somme, but after three weeks of desperate fighting it was still in German hands. The village was protected by densely barbed wired trenches that skirted the village and two trench lines on the ridge behind the village. A windmill stood on the Bapaume road to the north-east of the town. It was destroyed early in the battle but its foundations had been turned into a formidable machine gun post.
After the failure of several British attacks, the Australian 1st Division commenced a deployment into the area on 14th July 1916 and immediately began preparations to attack Pozieres. On 22nd July Lieutenant John Nicol of the 11th Battalion was killed by a sniper while reconnoitring German positions near the town. He was the first of 23,000 Australians to be killed or wounded in the next six weeks in an area of just over 600 acres!
The Windmill Memorial, Pozieres
In the fighting at Pozières, around the Windmill and northwards along the ridge towards Mouquet Farm, the AIF suffered more than 23,000 casualties in little more than six weeks, between 23 July and 5 September 1916. Of these casualties, nearly 7,000 were killed, had died of wounds or were ‘missing’.
The Australian official historian Charles Bean wrote that Pozières ridge "is more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth".
The Australian 1st Division attacked Pozieres in the early hours of 23rd July and captured the village after bitter fighting. During the next few days, progress would be measured in a few yards of ground gained at the cost of thousands of casualties. The Germans launched several counter-attacks in a desperate effort to wrest control from the Australians, but all were repulsed with heavy casualties. The Germans then commenced a heavy barrage of the Australian positions.
The constant and methodical pounding of the village was far worse than anything that Australian troops had previously endured and after three days the 1st Division had suffered 5,285 casualties and was at the end of its endurance, with men being driven insane by the relentless bombarding. The 1st Division was withdrawn and replaced by the Australian 2nd Division.
The 2nd Division was ordered to attack and seize the two trench lines (OG1 and OG2) that ran along Pozieres Ridge, to the east of the village. A preparatory barrage was fired into the enemy lines, but failed to destroy the barbed wire entanglements in No Man’s Land. The attack was carried out on the night of 28th July, but was a complete failure with 2,000 casualties.
The Western Australian 28th Battalion took part in the attack and was practically destroyed with 467 casualties in a couple of hours. The 28th was swept away in a deluge of enemy fire. John Stuart from Subiaco kept a diary in which he wrote:
We all got out in No Man’s Land with fixed bayonets waiting for the signal to charge. Major Welch and Lieutenant Ellis got knocked before we got out of the trenches as well as twenty-five others of our company.
Fritz opened out a terrific and murderous machine gun and shrapnel fire on us and the flares that they put up made it look like daylight, but we were not disheartened, so we charged for our lives but found to our sorrow that the barbed wire had not been smashed and it was an awful sight to see our poor chaps hanging lifelessly on the wire entanglements. Men were dropping killed and wounded everywhere and it was sickening to hear the groans and moans of our chaps.
The 2nd Division regrouped and attacked Pozieres Ridge again on 4th August and surged into the German trenches in an irresistible assault. It was during this phase of the battle that the Australians faced the heaviest and most prolonged series of artillery barrages ever experienced by the AIF. Once again the German artillery relentlessly pounded the captured positions and the 2nd Division was relieved two days later with 6,848 casualties. John Stuart wrote:
We spent most of our time deepening and widening the sap. It was sickening as we were digging up Australians and Germans all night and the stench was murder. There are dead lying around everywhere…Got relieved this morning by the 46th Battalion. We got shelled all the way out. We had to go through Corpse Avenue. It was a very appropriate name, as we even had to walk over dead men lying in the bottom of the sap.
The Australian 4th Division assumed the attack and fought to secure the areas around the Windmill and Mouquet Farm. During four days of heavy fighting Private Martin O’Meara, a stretcher bearer from the 16th Battalion, repeatedly went out and brought in wounded from No Man’s Land despite intense artillery and machine-gun fire; for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross.
After the 4th was decimated, the 1st and 2nd Divisions were once more thrown into the battle and, although their numbers were severely depleted, they managed to hold the ground taken around the Windmill. Mouquet Farm, to the north of Pozieres, remained in German hands after seven desperate attacks by Australian infantry. Exhausted, the Australians were brought out of the line on 5th September after a relief by the Canadian Corps.
The battle for Pozieres in 1916 was some of the most ferocious fighting of the war and cost the lives of more Australians in six weeks than the entire eight months of the Gallipoli campaign.
If you were interested in the above article, you may be interested to know that our next tour leaves Australia for France in April 2025:
WW1 Western Front 1916 – 1918 tour: Belgium & France
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- Includes Anzac Day Commemorations – Dawn Service at Villers Bretonneux & afternoon service with the Bullecourt Village Community
- Search assistance for relatives and persons of interest
- No picnic or box meals and no war bore stuff ..
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This article was kindly supplied by Neville Browning OAM. You can read more about him here, or order his book here.
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