It was part of the British High Command’s wider strategy to support French operations on the Western Front using all the divisions available to the British Expeditionary Force. These forces included not only British, but Australian, Canadian and New Zealand divisions as well as units from other Dominion forces such as South Africa and Newfoundland. From an Australian perspective, the major battles fought during this period include Fromelles on 19 July; Pozières from 23 July to 5 August; Mouquet Farm from 8 August to 3 September, and attacks near Guedecourt in November. These actions involved at various times the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th Divisions of I ANZAC, commanded by Lieutenant General Sir William Birdwood. The Somme campaign was finally called off by the British in November 1916 when fighting conditions in northern Europe became impossible in what was called the ‘coldest winter in living memory’. Casualty figures for 1916 were horrendous. For example, in the six weeks up to 5 September when the Corps was withdrawn from the front line for rest and reorganisation, it had suffered 23,000 casualties of whom 6,741 had been killed. These enormous numbers of casualties had a direct bearing on the dwindling numbers of recruits coming from Australia and also on the two subsequent Conscription plebiscites in 1916 and 1917, both of which failed.
