The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
A view from the roof of the White Chateau, when the Australians held the white chalk line of trenches as their front line, and the enemy trenches were in front of Monument Wood (on the left) and the isolated tree on the sky line to the right. Hangard wood is seen in the distance. Near the enemy lines may be noticed a derelict British tank, which formed an enemy machine gun post; a German cooker, and a smashed aeroplane, each an important land mark to the front line troops. Caption approved by CEW Bean and published with image at page 311, Vol V of Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918 reads: "The view is south-east from Villers Bretonneux. In the distance on left are Monument Wood and the poplars along the Demuin road; beyond these Lancer Wood. The advance of the 36th Battalion started from the valley immediately south of the town and was directed on both sides of Monument Wood. (The trenches seen on the plateau did not then exist, the front having lain a mile beyond them)". The image illustrates Captain Bean's meticulous approach to documenting the war . As a matter of routine he would visit a battlefield as soon as practicable and direct AWRS photographers to important points In this example the importance of the image is lost without its developed caption and that it was taken "six weeks after the battle of the afternoon of the 4th of April 1918"
Villers-Bretonneux, France. 21 May 1918. Looking towards Monument Wood, on the right skyline, from Villers-Bretonneux. The view was photographed through the observation hole in a house by the Railway
Front line troops of the 2nd Division in possession of trenches and shellholes won from the enemy at Polygon Wood, in the Ypres sector, in the attack the day before, on 20 September 1917. This is one
Front line troops of the 2nd Division in possession of trenches and shellholes won from the enemy at Polygon Wood, in the Ypres sector, in the attack the day before, on 20 September 1917. This is a s
Near Morlancourt Ridge, France. 7 April 1918. The 37th Battalion occupying a sunken road in front of Marett Wood, near Morlancourt Ridge, when the enemy occupied the ridge in the distance. This road m
A VIEW LOOKING SOUTH DOWN ALLAH GULLY. GABA TEPE CAN BE SEEN IN THE DISTANCE. THE TRENCHES ON THE RIGHT ARE THE FRONT LINE TRENCHES ALONG ALLAH GULLY. 1915-12. (DONATED BY LT.-COL. A.M. MARTYN.)
A photograph taken after the Australian advance of 8 August 1918, showing the remains of a German soldier and a horse beside the Demuin, near Villers-Bretonneux, where they had lain unburied in German
