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The 22nd Battalion was relieved at Bullecourt by the 2^nd Battalion and moved in small parties to the sunken road between Noreuil and Longatte. Owing to the severity of the losses, the Battalion was acting as a Company, and with each Company as a Platoon.

Meanwhile the captured position was now over 1,100 yards, with the 1^st Brigade on the left and 3^rd Brigade on the right, but still just connected by the one Pioneer Trench (Central Road) back to the railway embankment. By this time the trenches occupied by both sides had been largely destroyed by shell-fire. Indeed the shelling on the 5^th May was of an intensity not experienced since Pozieres, with men being buried and having to be dug out with haste by their comrades.

“The [Second] Battle of Bullecourt occupies a unique place in the Battalion’s annals. For no other struggle had the preparations been so complete, the rehearsals so thorough, or the general organisation so apparently perfect. Yet within a few minutes of its commencement, the combat developed into a pell-mell of violent hand-to-hand struggles, where the 6^th Brigade met the flower of the German Army, and beat it into quiescence.” Capt. E.Gorman, MC, ‘With the Twenty-Second’.

The casualty rates during this battle were very high, and for the 22^nd Battalion it was the worst day for fatalities in the entire war. No other battalion lost so heavily in the battle. Of the 21 officers and 618 other ranks that entered the battle, the 22^nd Battalion had lost in 24 hours sixteen officers and 422 other ranks of whom over fifty percent were killed or missing – 165 killed or died of wounds according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records. Overall the 6^th Brigade lost 58 officers and 1,422 other ranks.

Read the full accounts of the Bullecourt attack for the 22nd Battalion and the AIF 2nd Division in the Combat Areas section on this website.

Final arrangements were completed for the attack on 3^rd May, with the AIF 2^nd Division and the British 62^nd Division having three objectives: first the Hindenburg OG1 and OG2 Lines; second the Fontaine-Moulin Sans Souci road; and third the advance on Riencourt and Hendencourt. The 62^nd, which would attack the village of Bullecourt itself, would  be supported by ten tanks in the attack while the Australians elected to attack without them. The battalions would form up on tapes 500 yards from the German line, much closer than before, and the infantry would advance under the protection of a creeping barrage. The advance would also be supported unprecedented ninety-six Vickers machine guns. Also, learning lessons from the failed AIF 4^th Division attack, greater effort was made to ensure efficient ammunition and supplies went forward with the troops, and large supplies of rifle-grenades carried forward to count the longer range of the German stick and egg bombers. The weakest part of the plan, a consequence of attacking a re-entrant, was to fall on the 6^th Brigade attacking to the east of the German defences in the village of Bullecourt. Brigadier-General Gellibrand’s 6^th Brigade HQ moved forward to the railway embankment, practically on the front line.

30th April 1917: In the third week of April no less than 55 merchant ships – a total of 180,000 tons – had been sunk. In the month of April a total of 881,027 tons was lost. At this rate it was estimated by the end of the year that there would only be barely enough shipping to keep the British people fed, and far too few for the carriage of troops, munitions and supplies necessary to maintain the Allied war effort.

A second AIF 2nd Divisional attack practice on practice ground near Favreuil, and improvements were made in assembling and direction during the hours of dark. At no other time were the rehearsals as complete then as at Bullecourt.

Anzac Day observed as a holiday, with battalion sports during the afternoon, and time for the men of the AIF 22nd Battalion to reflect on the 306 mates lost in the past year.

Capt. IP Stewart, Adjutant of the 22^nd Battalion, issued the operation memo for the attack at Bullecourt (with amendment 1^st May) which included attack formations and would also provide the template for their rehearsals. [Click on images or see Combat Areas > 22nd Battalion > Bullecourt (Preparation) to read the memo]

On the last night of the tour everyone was drenched by the heavy rain. The 5^th & 6^th Brigades were relieved by the 7^th Brigade, with the 22^nd relieved by the 25^th Battalion. During this stint on the front-line the Battalion had 7 killed and 29 wounded, plus 19 sick. The Battalion went into Divisional Reserve occupying tents and bivouacs at Favreuil for training and relaxation including sports. The Divisional canteen was also stationed close-by.

On route from Le Havre and carrying their wounded to Southampton the Hospital Ships ‘Lanfranc’ and ‘Donegal’ were torpedoed, both sinking rapidly and with the loss of 40 men on each ship. At the time the HS ‘Lanfranc’ (photograph right) had 387 patients on board including 167 wounded German soldiers, of which 18 drowned.

Enemy high explosive shell hit a dugout in the support lines containing Ptes Vass, Fry and Summersford of C Company, killing all three. L-Cpl Anderson of D Company also killed, and along with Ptes Groves and Fowles on the previous day makes this the worst 48 hour period for the Battalion since the attack at Warlencourt towards the end of February.