First World War: The Western Front

The First World War was fought on many fronts, but it was in France and Belgium that the war started and ended – and it was there that the largest number of Australian troops saw action.

Between March 1916 and November 1918 more than 295,000 Australians served on the Western Front.

The fighting had begun when Germany invaded Belgium in August 1914. The British Empire sent an expeditionary force to France and Belgium to help repel the Germans.

The allies adopted the German description, ‘Western Front’, for the battlefields and trenches that soon ran for 700 kilometres from the Belgian coast through France to the Swiss border.

Curriculum areas

Year 9 History

Questions

What conditions might Australian soldiers have experienced in the trenches while fighting on the Western Front?
What type of records were kept that tell us about the experiences of those fighting on the Western Front?
In human terms, the Western Front was Australia’s most costly campaign. How might the high number of deaths have shaped the way Australians on the home front viewed the war?

Records

Record

Wounded Australians on the Menin Road near Ypres, Belgium

A photo from 20 September 1917 of Australian soldiers near Ypres, Belgium, waiting on stretchers to be transported to the Casualty Clearing Station.

Record

Order for attack by 8th Australian Infantry Brigade

A military plan outlining orders developed for the 8th Australian Infantry Brigade, one of the Australian units serving on the Western Front during the First World War.

Record

Map of Somme Valley battlefields, Western Front

This is a lantern slide from a collection illustrating the work of the Imperial War Graves Commission.

Record

Soldiers walk past dead horses on the Menin Road, Belgium

This is a black-and-white photograph from 14 September 1917 of soldiers walking past dead horses on Menin Road, Belgium during the First World War.

Record

Injuries and death of Sergeant Francis Abbott, killed in action, Peronne, France

These service papers record the movements, promotions, injuries and treatment received by Sergeant Francis Abbott who was killed in action in France in 1918.