First Battle of Villers-Bretonneux

First Battle of Villers-Bretonneux
Part of Operation Michael (German spring offensive)
Date 30 March – 5 April 1918 Location Villers-Bretonneux, Northern France 49°52′03″N 2°31′15″E / 49.86750°N 2.52083°E / 49.86750; 2.52083 Result British Empire victory
Belligerents
British Empire  Australia  United Kingdom  Canada	German Empire
Commanders and leaders
John Monash •  Henry Goddard	Georg von der Marwitz
Units involved
9th Australian Brigade • 6th Battalion, London Regiment 15th Australian Brigade 18th (Eastern) Division 14th (Light) Division Canadian Cavalry Brigade	9th Bavarian Reserve Division Guards Ersatz Division 19th Division 228th Division
Strength
Australian 9th Bde: 3500; Other units: unknown	Unknown
Casualties and losses
about 5,000–10,000 dead (Australian and British combined)[1]	8000–10,000 dead (estimated);[2] at least 259 POW (taken by British 18th Division alone).
Villers Bretonneux class=notpageimage| Villers-Bretonneux, a commune in the Somme department of northern France

The First Battle of Villers-Bretonneux (30 March – 5 April 1918), took place during Operation Michael, part of the German spring offensive on the Western Front. The offensive began against the British Fifth Army and the Third Army on the Somme and pushed back the British and French reinforcements on the north side of the Somme. The capture of Villers-Bretonneux, close to Amiens, a strategically important road- and rail-junction, would have brought the Germans within artillery-range. In late March, Australian troops were brought south from Belgium as reinforcements to help shore up the line and in early April the Germans launched an attack to capture Villers-Bretonneux. After a determined defence by British and Australian troops, the attackers were close to success until a counter-attack by the 9th Australian Infantry Brigade and by British troops, late in the afternoon of 4 April, restored the line and halted the German advance on Amiens.