page_title: 4th Division (Australia)
section_title: Hindenburg Line, 1917
hierarchical_section_title: 4th Division (Australia) / World War I / Hindenburg Line, 1917
caption_attribution_description: The caption reads, "The Hindenburg Line at Bullecourt. Three trench lines and communications are here shown, with acres of wire entanglements in the left foreground protecting first-line positions." The general line of the front line trench passes across the centre of the picture, from left background to right foreground. The camera is facing NNE. See http://penhey.name/omiwxb262Div5%28p%29.htm for an interpretation of this photograph.
context_page_description: The Australian 4th Division was formed in the First World War during the expansion of the Australian Imperial Force infantry brigades in February 1916. In addition to the experienced 4th Brigade were added the new 12th and 13th Brigades. From Egypt the division was sent to France, where it took part in the fighting on the Western Front during 1916–1918. After the war ended, the AIF was demobilised and the division was dissolved.
  In 1921, the 4th Division was reactivated as a Citizen Military Forces formation. The division performed home defence duties for most of World War II. The division's composition during World War II changed frequently, as brigades were rotated between different divisions and moved to different locations as the need arose. The division spent the majority of the war in Western Australia, before moving to Queensland prior to its deactivation in late 1944.
context_section_description: The 4th Division remained on the Somme during the winter of 1916–1917, enduring extreme cold and damp conditions. In the early part of 1917, after winter had passed, the division took part in operations on the Ancre, before the Germans sought to reduce the length of their line, withdrawing to prepared positions along the Hindenburg Line. In response, the Allied units began a brief pursuit,  the Australian contribution to which involved columns from the 2nd and 5th Divisions being sent forward in pursuit. A period of rapid movement followed until the outposts were reached, and resistance grew. In April, the Fifth Army, to which the 4th Division was assigned, was ordered to attack the Hindenburg Line south of Arras. As part of this, on 11 April, two of the division's brigades – the 4th and 12th – assaulted the new line in the First Battle of Bullecourt, supported by British tanks for the first time. Due to break downs and other mishaps, the tanks were largely ineffective; nevertheless, the initial assault proved successful in capturing the first trench line, and also partially capturing the second. Lacking artillery support, which had been held back due to incorrect reports about the location of Allied troops, and enfiladed from the flanks,  the Australians became cut off and came under heavy counter-attack from the 27th Division. Ultimately the battle was a disaster for the 4th Division, with 3,200 casualties, and  1,170 captured.
  Following the failed attack around Bullecourt, the division was withdrawn from the line for rest and reinforcement.  The next major attack it took part in came in June, when it participated in the Battle of Messines, in Flanders, Belgium.  Fought as part of efforts to secure the Wytschaete – Messines Ridge, which existed south of a salient in the line around Ypres,  providing the Germans with observation of the Allied positions, the battle saw the 4th Division brought in to reinforce the British 25th Division, the Australian 3rd and the New Zealand Division.   Although slated to be the corps reserve, during the attack, launched on 7 June, the division was called upon to secure a large gap that developed in the line after the neighbouring British corps was held up. In this effort, the division was tasked with attacking the Oosttaverne Line late in the day. Enduring shelling by their own guns, and coming up against German pillboxes for the first time, the division took heavy casualties, but managed to secure all but a small part of the line where the Australian sector joined the neighbouring British sector.
  Following the Battle of Messines, the division remained in the line around the town. On 2 July, the divisional commander, Holmes, was fatally wounded by a stray shell while escorting the New South Wales premier, William Holman, around the battlefield at Messines. Holmes was replaced temporarily by Brigadier General Charles Rosenthal until a new permanent commander could arrive, in the form of Major General Ewen Sinclair-Maclagan, who took over the division on 16 July 1917.
  In September, the Australians took part in the Third Battle of Ypres. Within this wider battle, the Australian divisions took part in several subsidiary actions. The 1st and 2nd Divisions undertook the first attack around the Menin Road, which was followed up by the 4th and 5th Divisions around Polygon Wood on 26 September. Attacking in the centre of the Allied line, the two divisions were flanked by the British V Corps to the north, and X Corps to the south. The 4th Division was the more northern of the two Australian divisions for the assault, and tasked with capturing the northern part of Polygon Wood, and the high ground beyond it, and tying-in with the British around the edge of Zonnebeke while the 5th Division captured the remainder of the wood. Supported by a well co-ordinated artillery barrage, which rolled ahead of the assault, and then broke up the subsequent German counter-attack, the attack proved successful, albeit costly. The 4th Division's attack was carried by the 4th and 13th Brigades, with the 12th in reserv
caption: The Hindenburg Line near Bullecourt
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