17. The 100 Day Offensive
WW1 – The 100 Day Offensive
Villers-Bretonneux & Amiens
Saluting their Service - Grahame Old
Operation Michael
In early 1918 after four years of continuous battle the fate of the Great War hung in the balance. America had entered the war and Germany knew that millions of fresh soldiers were on the way, their only hope was to strike first and rout the allied troops before the arrival of the Americans. The German plan was to split the British and French defences forcing a retreat which would enable the Germans to take the strategic town of Villers-Bretonneux. Their artillery would then be in striking distance of the key rail hub of Amiens the major supply line for the allies. Destruction of the rail hub would mean the allies lose their ability to re-supply.
On the morning of the 21 march 1918, across a 45 mile front, the Germans launched Operation Michael. After a colossal sustained artillery barrage which shook the earth, 63 German Divisions (two million soldiers) attacked the allied trenches en masse. An unnamed Colonel of the Royal Scots Fusiliers later wrote; ‘Thousands upon thousands of guns roared on a 30 mile front, and we knew that the hurricane had broken on us at last. All our front stood wrapped in a sea of smoke, and flame, and the earth heaved and twisted under our feet.’ General Oskar Von Hutier, German 18th Army later wrote; ‘The hour of liberation had struck and the command had gone forth to Germany’s sons to strike for final victory in the open field’.
Initially the German attack had the desired effect, all along the allied line the British and French troops were forced to flee rapidly. The troops were accompanied by tens of thousands of French refugees, the retreat soon threatened to become a rout. In desperation the British commander, General Douglas Haig, called upon the Australians to stop the onslaught and save the town of Villers-Bretonneux; ‘If the gateway to Amiens can be held then Germany will not win the war’.
The Saviours of Villers-Bretonneux and Amiens
At the time of the German offensive most of the ANZACS were resting in Flanders but they were soon rushed to the front to bolster the defences around Amiens and save Villers-Bretonneux. On their way to the front the Australians passed retreating British soldiers who told them; ‘You’re going the wrong way digger’. However, fleeing French civilian refugees appeared heartened by the arrival of ‘Les Australiens’, some even returning to their homes. An Australian soldier is quoted as saying the following to a French villager in late March 1918; ‘Fini retreat Madame, beaucoup Australiens ici’. (‘No more retreating Madame, many Australians here.’)
And sure, enough history shows that on the 4th and 5th of April, at Villers-Bretonneux and Dernancourt, Australian troops stopped the German advance. New Zealand forces were also effective in halting the German advance at Ancre Valley. For many, the ANZACS were known as the saviours of Amiens. The German commander General Erich Ludendorff later wrote; ‘The enemy’s resistance was beyond our powers to overcome. We were forced to take the extremely hard decision to abandon the attack on Amiens for good’.
Backs to the Wall - Standing Firm
Although the German offensive had been briefly stalled and Amiens held by the allies, elsewhere along the Western Front defences were crumbling. By early April the situation for the allies was grim, on the 11th of April the British Commander, General Douglas Haig issued the following plea to his troops to fight on; ‘There is no other cause open to us but to fight it out. Every position must be held to the last man, there must be no retirement. With our backs to the wall and believing in the justice of our cause, each one of us must fight on to the end…..’
Once again Australian forces rose to the occasion holding the vital defensive position at Hazebrouck in Flanders, the gateway to the channel ports and also achieving a magnificent victory at Villers-Bretonneux.
ANZAC resolve is perhaps epitomised by the following orders given by Lieutenant Frank Bethune to his men of the AIF’s 3rd machine Gun company;
1. ‘This position will be held, and the section will remain here until relieved.
2. The enemy cannot be allowed to interfere with this programme.
3. If the section cannot remain here alive, it will remain here dead, but in any case, it will remain here.
4. Should any man through shell shock or other cause, attempt to surrender, he will remain here dead.
5. Should the guns be blown out, the section will use mills grenades, and other novelties.
6. Finally the position, as stated, will be held’.
The men of the AIF’s 3rd Machine Gun Battalion held their position for 18 days. Lt Bethune was wounded during the battle, his orders were later widely distributed and reproduced as poster’s during WW2 with the heading; ‘The spirit which won the last war’.
Villers-Bretonneux (Never Forget Australia)
German elite soldiers supported by tanks again attacked at Villers-Bretonneux, soldiers from the inexperienced British 8th Division, some just mere boys, had been placed in defence of the town. Although game, the British soon faltered and the Germans seized the town on the 24th of April. The Australians were once again called to the fray and a risky but successful counter attack was launched that same night. During WW1 night time frontal assaults were considered too much of a risk but two Australian Infantry brigades, the 15th led by famed Brigadier General H.E. (Pompey) Elliott and the 13th led by Brigadier General William Glasgow swiftly retook the town on the 25th of April. British Brigadier General G W Grogan later wrote; ‘Villers-Bretonneux will ever be remembered for perhaps the greatest individual feat of the war – the successful counter- attack by night across unknown and difficult ground, at a few hours’ notice, by the Australian soldiers’.
Australians not only retook Villers-Bretonneux but after the war helped rebuild it. The city of Melbourne adopted the town and donated money for the reconstruction of its school, as noted on the commemorative plaque still in place today. In 1920 French commander Marshall Foch paid tribute to the Australian action; ‘That wonderful attack of yours at Villers-Bretonneux was the final proof, if any were needed, that the real task of high command was to show itself equal to its soldiers. You saved France. Our gratitude will remain ever and always to Australia’. And the people of Villers-Bretonneux remain grateful to this day.
ANZAC Day is commemorated every year in the town, and in the school – situated on Rue Victoria, just off Rue Melbourne – a sign adorns every classroom: N’oublions jamais L’Australie’ – ‘Let us never forget Australia’.
Hitting Back – The 100 Day Offensive (The Final Push)
By late June the Allies had begun planning a massive counter offensive. It commenced with the attack on Hamel, planned by the innovative Australian Corps Commander, Lieutenant General John Monash. Australian soldiers supported by newly arrived American troops, artillery and tanks achieved a swift and decisive victory. Planned to perfection the attack took just 93 minutes, (Monash had estimated 90). In his address to the Australian commanders on the 7th of July, the French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, said this; “We knew you would fight a real fight, but we did not know that from the very beginning you would astonish the Continent with your valour. I have come here for the simple purpose of seeing the Australians and telling them this. I shall go back and say to my countrymen: I have seen the Australians; I have looked into their eyes. I know that they, men who have fought great battles in the cause of freedom, will fight alongside us, till the freedom for which we are all fighting is guaranteed for us and our children”.
Following the battle of Hamel the allies launched a major assault on the German lines along the Somme, east of Amiens. It was no surprise that the assault was spearheaded by the five Australian Divisions the allies advanced 11 km on the first day taking more than 8000 German prisoners. The German retreat became a rout and the allies advanced continuously. What became known as the Hundred Day’s Offensive meant the end for Germany. Suddenly, after five long years it was all over, the German command signed an armistice on the 11th of November 1918.
‘Collie Boys’
More than 60,000 Australian Soldiers were killed during WW1, 133 came from Collie and Surrounding Districts. 16 ‘Collie Boys’ were killed during these last seven months of that terrible conflict. They are remembered forever at the Collie-Cardiff RSL Sub Branch.
After the war a British General, Hubert Essame CBE, DSO, MC, who had fought with the Australians at Villers-Bretonneux, wrote of the Australian soldier; ‘Past Wars should be studied as flesh and blood affairs, not as a matter of diagrams, formulae and concepts…but of men. Hence perhaps an element of over-emphasis on personalities in this book and in particular on the personal ascendancy of the Australian Soldier on the battlefield which made him the best infantryman of the war and perhaps of all time’.
The following is a quote from the diary of an Australian infantryman, Sydney Young of Campsie, NSW. The entry was made after the battle of Hamel when 1000 American soldiers joined 7000 Australians in that decisive victory; ‘A Yankee who could speak German asked a German prisoner did he think they were winning the war, he replied:
‘Yes God is with us’ The Yankee replied: ‘That’s nothing, the Australians are with us’.
‘Lest we Forget’