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The Battle of Pozieres was a six week struggle for the French village of Pozieres and the ridge on which it stands, during the middle stages of the 1916 Battle of the Somme. Pozieres is primarily remembered as an Australian battle. The fighting ended with the Allied forces in possession of the plateau north and east of the Village, and in a position to menace the German stronghold of Thiepval from the rear.
The cost had been enormous, and in the words of Australian official historian Charles Bean, the Pozieres ridge "is more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth."
Success on the Somme came at a cost which at times seemed to surpass the cost of failure, and for the Australians, Pozieres was such a case. In the fighting at Pozieres, around the Windmill and northwards along the ridge towards Mouquet Farm, the AIF suffered more than 23,000 casualties in little more than six weeks, between 23 July and 5 September 1916. Of these casualties, nearly 7,000 were killed, had died of wounds or were "missing".
Australia has NEVER lost as many soldiers killed or wounded in any other battle we have fought in since Australia was founded. Today the sacrifices of these men are still commemorated every year by the people of the town of Pozieres France.
In Australia, the majority of citizens are totally unaware of Pozieres and what happened there, so Australian History has condemned them to the status of generic War Dead. Most are even unaware that the town of Pozieres exists in Queensland, named in honour of the men who fought and died in Pozieres France.
While we in Australia have condemned them to anonymity, the people of Pozieres remember their Sacrifice in the first two weekends of July each year with 5 days of celebration followed by a "Son et Lumiere" (Sound and Light) Show to honour their memory, all of which is conducted at their own expense.
If the people of Pozieres are forced by financial reasons to stop the annual Commemoration, then the sacrifice of these men would be left in the dusty volumes of War History. Accordingly, the Association was formed to work in hand with the Digger Cote 160 Pozieres to ensure that the Commemoration goes on.
