Essay On Australia's Involvement In Ww1

During World War 1, more than sixty-five million men from thirty countries fought. One of these countries was Australia, who joined not long after Britain. The Western Front campaign should not be over shadowed when commemorating Australia’s involvement in World War 1. A commemoration is remembering those who have passed away. The Western Front went from 1916 to 1918 and was situated from north-east France to Belgium. There were many casualties on the Western Front, conditions were challenging, and Australia was involved in multiple battles. Lives were lost on the Western Front because of bombardment and sickness.

On the Western Front, lots of blood was spilt and sickness was common. People may say that Gallipoli was more important than the

However, there were more deaths within the first 6 weeks of fighting on the Western Front than the eight months of Gallipoli. During the Western Front campaign, 46,000 soldiers were killed, and 132,000 men were wounded compared to 8,709 and 28,150 at Gallipoli. Fifty percent of these deaths were from disease. The medical team in the trenches were the first to treat injured soldiers but because of limited medical supplies, numbing pain was all that could be done while soldiers waited to be transferred to the medical tent. At the medical tent, the number of patients far outweighed the number of nurses. This meant men were sorted by the severity of their injuries. Those who were likely to live were treated first and the rest of the men were forced to wait, which caused some to slowly and painfully pass away. The contaminated environment caused sickness and injury to become worse, once again increasing death

The battle of Messines had a very dangerous tactic. Australian soldiers performed the very dangerous task of digging tunnels under the Germans and filled them with explosives. (Government of South Australia, 2017). The digging of these tunnels took years, but the exhausting effort was for a good cause since on the 7th of June 1917, the explosives were lit, and the ground around Messines was won. By winning this ground, the Allies had been able to launch a bigger attack at Ypres. The battle was also significant because it was the first battle that had more deaths on the enemy’s side. The bravery displayed in this battle shows why the troops that fought on the Western Front are just as important as Gallipoli troops. The Somme was another famous battle Australians fought. This battle was during 1916 and Australia mainly fought around the town of Pozières, against the Germans. The first division was successful, however when the second division took over, they were under pressure from German attack. In the end, the fourth division held off the Germans, meaning Australia was successful in capturing Pozières. Gaining the ground around Pozières was vital because it was the high ground. This gave the Allied force an advantage in future battles. The many battles Australia fought on the Western Front proves they deserve to be commemorated as much, if not more, than the Gallipoli