Following the capture of the village of Pozières the men of the 1st Anzac Corps embarked on a series of operations to capture the next major obstacle to the north of the village. Thus the Battle of Mouquet Farm began. Or did it? Operational records demonstrate that throughout August 1916 1st Anzac Corps’ advance northwards slowed to a crawl. The first order to capture the farm was given by a brigade major in the middle of an operation. This paper will address the lack of determined momentum around Mouquet Farm, and the deterioration in the tactical approach of 1st Anzac Corps on the Somme.

 

Dr Meleah Hampton is an historian in the Military History Section of the Australian War Memorial, where she has worked since March 2013. Her primary interest is in the operational conduct of the First World War on the Western Front. She is a graduate of the University of Adelaide and a member of the editorial staff of the Memorial’s magazine, Wartime, and continues to research and write biographies for the Last Post Ceremony project. Meleah Hampton is the author of Attack on the Somme: 1st Anzac Corps and the Battle of Pozières Ridge 1916, (June 2016, Helion).