After the Gallipoli campaign, the Australian infantry divisions went on to fight some of the worst battles of the war in France and in Flanders (Belgium). Between 1916 and late 1918, Australian soldiers served in this area of the Western Front. The Battle of the Somme in France in 1916 and the Battle of Passchendaele in Flanders in 1917 are the two battles which most represent the needless slaughter of young Australian men on the World War I battlefields.

The Battle of the Somme Questions 1.Outline the goal and plan of the Somme offensive. 2.List the reasons for its failure.

Photo showing two Australians, near Albert, at the graves of men who died in Somme battles in mid 1916

"Somme Mud, Winter, 1916". Hand-coloured print of a photograph taken by a British Ministry of Information photographer during the battle of Pilckem Ridge, 31 July - 2 August 1916 (IWM Q 5935): seven stretcher-bearers carry a casualty through knee-deep mud

Passchendaele in Belgium From mid to late 1917, two Anzac divisions took part in fighting in and around Ieper (Ypres) in Belgium. This was the third battle of Ieper, also known as the Battle of Passchendaele. The battle was part of a British attempt to break through the German lines towards the North Sea ports, where the German U-boats were berthed. There were 7000 Australian casualties during the initial attack in June. In July 1917, the British resumed artillery shelling of German defences. The Germans had the advantage of higher ground and a wide view of their attackers' movements. Over the next 14 weeks, Allied troops made 10 attempts to break through to Passchendaele. Men and equipment became bogged down in mud and flooded fields. General Haig insisted that the attack proceed.

When General Haig’s chief of staff visited the battlefield, he reportedly had tears in his eyes as he said, 'Good God, did we really send men to fight in that?' Overall, the Allied forces suffered casualties; were Australian. A photograph showing an Australian soldier attempting to rescue a comrade in Chateau Wood, Hooge, Belgium in October 1917

1918: Towards Victory The year 1917 was one of horrific conditions and huge casualties. In early 1918 soldiers had little reason to think that the war was in its final year. Following Russian surrender in late 1917, Germany transferred more divisions to the Western Front. In anticipation of the arrival of US troops to fight on the Allied side, Germany launched a Spring Offensive in the Somme. After initial success, war-weary and poorly supplied German forces, facing sustained and well-coordinated Allied defence, failed to achieve a breakthrough. On 8 August 1918, British, Canadian and Australian soldiers launched a massive offensive resulting in what German General Erich Ludendorff called Der schwarze tag — the 'black day' of the German army. Over the next '100 days', Allied forces relentlessly attacked German forces and by early October had broken through the entire depth of the defence system the Germans called the Hindenburg Line. With its army in retreat and its soldiers' morale low, the German High Command asked the German Government to obtain an armistice. War ended with the signing of the armistice on 11 November 1918.