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On this day 104 years ago the 1st Australian Division assaulted the strongly fortified village of Pozieres on the Somme. Within 24 hours they had taken the village. So began a six week long struggle that saw huge casualties incurred by both attacker and defender. More...
Pozieres sits atop a high ridge & the old windmill is the highest point on the 1916 battlefield. The pictures show how open & exposed the surrounding fields are. Having taken the village the Australians fought hard to capture the O.G. Lines to the north & east of the village.....
They fought in vain to take Mouquet Farm and put in piecemeal and uncoordinated attacks time and again suffering huge losses. This picture shows Mouquet Farm with the Thiepval Memorial as a backdrop.
If the Australians were not attacking the Germans systematically bombarded the area creating a landscape of utter horror and desolation. Mud and flesh became one. The “dud” shells still lie in situ still....
Finally the Australian divisions, utterly exhausted were relieved by the Canadians on 2/3 September. Mouquet Farm still stood defiant and would remain a bastion of German defence until 26/9/1916. Canada turn to suffer the terrors of the Somme had come.
The fighting at Pozieres and in the surrounding fields was Australia’s bloodiest sacrifice of the Great War. The evidence remains. In 2017 I spent the best part of a week walking the fields. “Toms Cut”, “Park Lane”, “K Trench” and “Centre Way”. The old trenches long gone.........
Long gone but still the connections reach out. There is a man behind N.T. and his knife.....who was he and what became of him?
One thing to add and this is often overlooked is that fighting on the flank of the Australians and also trying to edge their way forward towards Thiepval was the 48th (South Midland) Division and also the 12th (Eastern) Division. Fighting for these units was equally trying.
The knife belonged to a soldier, N. T. Neville Teicalmann. Service no 2440. I have told his story before but will tell again on 27/7. 104 years since he was wounded near Mouquet farm.
