HASS09 World War I: Australians at War

While most allied troops were transferred to the Western Front in 1916, some, including most of the light horse regiments and the newly formed Imperial Camel Corps, remained in Egypt. Their first task was to protect the Suez Canal against attacks by Ottoman Turkish forces and pro-Turkish tribesmen.

As Australian forces joined the main theatre of war on the Western Front in 1916, the British and French armies had for some months been planning a joint offensive in the Somme region of France.

After Gallipoli, The Australian and New Zealand troops were reinforced and sent to the Western Front. New recruits joined Gallipoli veterans to take over a 16 kilometre section of the line in Northern France. The section stretched from Armentieres village to the Sugarloaf Salient in front of the German-held village of Fromelles.