![]() Read more about the battles of Bullecourt: The Australians maintained a strong mistrust of tanks that was not finally overcome until their success in the Battle of Hamel more than a year later. Many later blamed the tanks for their heavy losses. In the battle of 11 April the large and slow-moving tanks were soon hit or broke down leaving the Australian attackers exposed and vulnerable. When a dozen were provided to General Gough’s Fifth Army he immediately thought to use them to overcome his lack of artillery at Bullecourt. Those available were primitive and unreliable Mark I and II types. The British had introduced tanks into battle during the previous year on the Somme where they had only limited success. 'Bullecourt, more than any other battle, shook the confidence of Australian soldiers in the capacity of the British command the errors, especially on April 10th and 11th, were obvious to almost everyone'. The Australians had 3,000 men killed or wounded many survivors remained bitter about such a futile waste. Exposed to murderous machine-gun and artillery fire the Australians were forced back to their own lines while tanks stood burning on the battlefield. ![]() It went ahead the next morning with disastrous results. ![]() An attack set for 10 April was suddenly abandoned when the tanks did not arrive. Rather than wait until he had sufficient artillery resources he decided to employ a dozen tanks to lead the troops through the enemy’s barbed-wire. General Gough planned to use the 4th Australian Division and the 62nd British Division to attack the Hindenburg Line near the village of Bullecourt. 'Such success as the (Australians) achieved had been won by troops persisting through the sheer quality of their mettle, in the face of errors'.Ĭharles Bean, official historian First Bullecourt (April)
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