The Battle of Hamel was a battle fought on the Western Front of World War I on 4 July 1918 as the Australian Army and US Army, supported by British tanks, launched an offensive against German positions in and around the town of Le Hamel in northern France.
The German Spring Offensive of 1918 saw the Germans push the Allies back towards the railhead at Amiens before the German advance was checked around Villers-Bretonneux in early April. In June, the Allies prepared their own counter-offensive, thrice attacking Morlancourt before British Fourth Army general Henry Rawlinson decided that the next Allied offensive would come at the village of Le Hamel, where the German advance had created a bulge that exposed Allied troops to enfilading fire. Lieutenant General John Monash, commander of the Australian Corps, was chosen to plan the attack. The five Australian infantry brigades would be augmented by 10 companies from American Expeditionary Forces battalions (as the Entente wished for the Americans to be battle-tested before being committed to action in greater numbers), but six were withdrawn from the frontline before seeing action.
The Allied forces advanced following an artillery bombardment, with 60 British Mark V and Whippet tanks leading the attack. The Americans, keen to keep up with the experienced Australians, dashed into their own artillery barrage, resulting in the death of at least one Australian officer who attempted to turn them around. The Allies then attacked the German Pear Trench, the Vaire and Hamel Woods, and the village of Hamel itself. The Australians came up against intact barbed wire at the Pear Trench, and the Germans hurled grenades at them, temporarily checking their advance. The Australians were forced to hip-fire Lewis machine guns to provide suppressing fire for their men, and the gunners suffered heavy losses. However, brave Australian soldiers such as Private Henry Dalziel charged the German Maxim guns and incapacitated them, enabling the Australians to bayonet-charge the grenade and machinegun-wielding Germans, reaching their designated halt-line and stopping for a smoke break by the time the supporting tanks finally arrived.
At the same time, the Australians attacked the "Kidney Trench" in the Vaire Wood, taking large numbers of German prisoners in the dugouts that adjoined the trench. In Hamel village, the infantry were forced to attack without armored support due to a delay in the arrival of the British tanks, and heavy fighting ensued. After the British tanks arrived, the Australians took large numbers of prisoners while clearing out the trenches. The Allies achieved their objectives in 93 minutes, just three minutes more than Monash's calculated battle time, and the Australians and Americans began rebuilding their shattered defenses and consolidated their captured position. The Germans counterattacked at 10:00 PM that same night; amid phosgene and mustard gas bombardments, Stosstruppen and an infantry company of 200 men from Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 201 broke into the Wolfsberg hill, but British artillery fire prevented them from bringing up reinforcements, and the German stosstruppen were ultimately overwhelmed by an attack from flanks.
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