In November 1918 the BEF under Field-Marshal Haig fought a series of
victorious battles on the Western Front that contributed mightily to the German
army’s defeat. They did so as part of a coalition and the role of Australian
‘Diggers’ and US ‘Doughboys’
is often forgotten. The Bellicourt Tunnel attack, fought in the fading autumn
light, was very much an inter-Allied affair and marked a unique moment in the
Allied armies’ endeavours. It was the first time that such a large cohort of
Americans had fought in a British army. Additionally, untried American II Corps
and experienced Australian Corps were to spearhead the attack under the command
of Lieutenant General Sir John Monash with British divisions adopting supporting
roles on the flanks.
Blair forensically details the fighting and the largely forgotten
desperate German defence. Although celebrated as a marvellous feat of breaking
the Hindenburg Line, the American attack failed generally to achieve its set
objectives and it took the Australians three days of bitter fighting to reach
theirs. Blair rejects the conventional explanation of the US ‘mop up’ failure and points the finger of
blame at Rawlinson, Haig and Monash for expecting too much of the raw
US troops, singling out the
Australian Corps commander for particular criticism.
Overall, Blair judges the fighting g a draw. At the end, like two
boxers, the Australian-American force was gasping for breath and the Germans,
badly battered, back-pedalling to remain on balance. Overall the day was
calamitous for the German army, even if the clean break-through that Haig had
hoped for did not occur. Forced out of the Hindenburg Line, the prognosis for
the German army on the Western Front – and hence Imperial Germany itself –
was bleak indeed.