Key Dates in Australia's Military History: World War One – 1918

8 April

Establishment of the Repatriation Department.

25 April

Australians drive Germans from Villers-Bretonneux, France.

1 June

Lieutenant General Sir John Monash is appointed to command the Australian Corps in France, bringing all five infantry divisions of the first AIF under an Australian commander.

2 July

Prime Minister William Morris Hughes, the ‘Little Digger’, addresses Australian troops on the Western Front before the Battle of Hamel, France.

Stokers at work in the boiler room of HMAS Australia at sea, c1918.
(Australian War Memorial [AWM] EN0535)

4 July

Battle of Hamel, France.

8 August

Battle of Amiens, France

31 August – 2 September

Australians attack and seize Mont St Quentin, France.

September

‘Anzac Leave’ to Australia is allowed for veterans of Gallipoli.

29 September

While taking photographs, Captain GH Wilkins, official AIF photographer, rallies American troops at the Battle of the Hindenberg Line. For this action he is awarded a bar to his Military Cross, becoming the only Australian official photographer to be decorated for bravery in the field.

29 September

Australians storm the Hindenberg Line, France.

30 September

Lance Corporal EA Corey, a stretcher-bearer with the 55th Battalion, earns a third bar to his Military Medal. The winning of four Military Medals is a unique feat in the Australian or any other Commonwealth Army.

1 October

Australian Light Horsemen take Damascus, Syria.

11 November

Germany signs an armistice and fighting ceases on the Western Front, France.

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