What was the Western Front?

The Western Front in the First World War was the line of trenches running from the North Sea coast at Nieuport in Belgium through northern France to the Swiss border, a distance of about 700 kilometres. Allied forces (including Australians) and German forces faced each other across the trenches from late 1914 to November 1918, with the Western Front producing the heaviest losses of any theatre in the war.

Australian troops fought on the Western Front from March 1916, after the Gallipoli evacuation and a period of rest and reinforcement in Egypt. The Australian Imperial Force (AIF) was reorganised from one division at Gallipoli to five divisions on the Western Front (plus a Light Horse Brigade that served in the Middle East). The AIF served alongside British, Canadian, New Zealand, Indian, South African, and French forces, with substantial American forces joining from 1917 to 1918.

Major Australian engagements on the Western Front included the Battle of Fromelles on 19 to 20 July 1916 (the AIF's first major battle on the Western Front, producing 5,533 Australian casualties in a single night and now widely described as the worst 24 hours in Australian military history); the Battle of Pozières in July to September 1916 (about 23,000 Australian casualties and the village described by Charles Bean as 'more thickly sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on Earth'); the Battle of Bullecourt in April and May 1917 (further heavy losses in coordination with British tank attacks); the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) in late 1917; the Battle of Villers-Bretonneux on 24 to 25 April 1918 (Anzac Day, with the AIF recapturing the village from the Germans); the Battle of Hamel on 4 July 1918 (a carefully planned Australian attack under Sir John Monash that took only 93 minutes); and the 100 Days Offensive from August to November 1918 that broke the German army.

Australian losses on the Western Front were substantial. About 46,000 Australian soldiers died on the Western Front, more than five times the Gallipoli death toll. Total Western Front Australian casualties (deaths plus wounded) approached 200,000 from about 320,000 Australians who served in France. The Western Front produced more Victoria Crosses for Australian service than any other theatre, with notable recipients including Albert Jacka, Henry Murray, and John Whittle. Sir John Monash emerged as Australia's most influential military leader on the Western Front, commanding the Australian Corps from May 1918 and pioneering the combined-arms tactics that helped break the German lines in the final months of the war.