After pushing the Allies back towards the railhead at Amiens, the German advance in the sector was checked around Villers-Bretonneux in early April. Concentrating their efforts on the Somme Valley, the Germans launched a major offensive – the Spring Offensive – against the British southern flank on 21 March. Over the space of four months, up to 48 divisions were moved to the west. In early 1918, as a result of the capitulation of Russia, the Germans began concentrating the bulk of their forces on the Western Front. Hamel was the first time during World War I that elements of the AEF were commanded operationally by non-American officers.īackground Military situation However, six of these US infantry companies were withdrawn from the front line before seeing action. To give the newly arrived American Expeditionary Force (AEF) combat experience, the five Australian infantry brigades involved were augmented by 10 companies from US Army battalions. All of the Allies' objectives were achieved within 93 minutes, just three minutes longer than Monash's calculated battle time. Many of the tactics employed, such as the use of combined arms, illustrated the evolution of military tactics, from the massed attacks mounted earlier in the war. The attack was planned and commanded by Lieutenant General John Monash, commander of the Australian Corps, and took place on 4 July 1918. The Battle of Hamel was a successful attack by Australian Army and US Army infantry, supported by British tanks, against German positions in and around the town of Le Hamel, in northern France, during World War I.
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