The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
A British aerial photograph of the village of Pozieres taken on 23 June 1916 before the British attack and the subsequent artillery bombardment by both sides during the bitterly contested attacks and counter-attacks of the First Battle of the Somme. The British attack commenced on 1 July and was halted by the British High Command on 14 November 1916. The German Army occupied the area on the right of the photograph and the O.G. (old German) trench lines can be seen starting on the top of the image running across the landscape to the bottom right hand corner. The regular white splashes in the O.G. Line indicate deeper excavations into the chalk substrata common in this area of France. Referring to the action of the 1st, 2nd and 4th Divisions on Pozieres Ridge, Charles Bean wrote in Anzac to Amiens (p264); “On that crowded mile of summit the three Australian divisions engaged lost 23,000 officers and men in less than seven weeks. The Windmill site, bought later by the Australian War Memorial Board-with the old mound still there-marks a ridge more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth.” Of the 23,000 causalities it is estimated that approximately one third were killed or missing. An aerial photograph of the village taken on 7 August 1916 is held as J00268. Both photographs, along with a key to British and German positions at the start of the battle, were published in the Photographic Record of the War, Volume 12 of the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18. See plates 203 to 205.
An aerial view of Pozieres after extensive artillery bombarded by both sides during the First Battle of the Somme. The 2nd and 4th Australian Divisions were at the time in possession of the village an
The devastation on the site of the church in a village destroyed during the Somme Offensive. Between 23 July and early September 1916, the 1st, 2nd and 4th Divisions between them launched 19 attacks
The site of the Windmill memorial at Pozieres. This is the spot where a windmill stood and which marked the highest point of the bitterly contested Pozieres Ridge. During July and August 1916 the Br
An aerial view of Pozieres after extensive artillery bombarded by both sides during the First Battle of the Somme. The 2nd and 4th Australian Divisions were at the time in possession of the village an
Australian infantry watching the artillery bombardment of Pozieres. Between 23 July and early September 1916, the 1st, 2nd and 4th Divisions between them launched 19 attacks on German positions in an
An aerial view the Somme battlefield with village of Becourt surrounded by trees in the foreground. The village of Pozieres, astride the Albert to Bapaume road, is marked by the arrow. This region was
A German shell bursting on the battlefield. On the horizon are a few straggly trees, probably shattered by shellfire. Between 23 July and early September 1916, the 1st, 2nd and 4th Divisions between
