The Battle of Hamel was fought on July 4, 1918, outside the little French town of Le Hamel.
Le Hamel was held by the Germans at the time of the battle, but opposing forces mainly of Australians and Americans on the ground, and the British in tanks and planes. Kept the Germans quite busy with several mini-raids from April throughout July. They had planes attacking the Germans' rear trenches and infantry units attacked up front in different places now and then, while their leaders put together plans of attack to gain ground. Then, on America's Independence Day, the Australian and American units bombarded the German lines with tanks and infantry.
The goal of the battle was to stop future attacks so that we could not be attacked from the sides. The Battle of Hamel was certainly small, although it was also very important. The battle, under the command of Australian General John Monash, demonstrated effective abilities of cooperation between infantry and tanks with a huge success. The tanks followed the onslaught of the infantry, creating openings wherever possible, which the infantry took advantage of. Supply tanks followed the advance of the offense, which sped things up.
The battle lasted only about an hour and a half before the town was taken by Allied Powers. Casualties for the Allies were around 1000, and 1500 Germans were captured. The tactics Monash used from April-July were also adopted in future battles. The victory was to the Allies partially because the strategies used were well thought out and seldom used thus far.
I think it was interesting learning about this battle. Learning various terms and the reasons for something like this and the effect that it has had on the life the we are living today.
Sources:
http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/battlefields/hamel-1918.html
http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/le-hamel/battle-of-hamel.html
http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/lehamel.htm
Comments
Well done Josh!