The Western Front Today - Australian 5th Division Memorial
Located in Polygon Wood the Australian 5th Division Memorial - along with Buttes New British cemetery (which includes a panel dedicated to the New Zealand 'Missing') and Polygon Wood cemetery - commemorates 5th Division's role in expelling German forces from the northern section of Polygon Wood on 26/27 September 1917 (having been involved in an offensive launched north-east of Ypres some six days earlier).
The memorial is sited at the crown of the wartime Butte and was designed by Sir Talbot Hobbs, a pre-war architect who served with Australian forces. The wood surrounding the memorial and cemeteries contains to this day well-preserved concrete shelters (built and used by both sides).
The Australians were however obliged to evacuate the wood and their problematic shallow trench lines with the onset of the great German Spring offensive of 1918.
Film Footage of 5th Division Memorial (1)
Film Footage of 5th Division Memorial (2)
References:
Before Endeavours Fade, Rose E.B. Coombs, After the Battle 1994
Major & Mrs Holt's Battlefield Guide - Ypres Salient, Leo Cooper 2000
A "biff" was a Bristol fighter plane.
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