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Men of the Australian 2nd Division outside the Bapaume Town Hall, March 1917. Image courtesy Imperial War Museum © IWM (E(AUS) 393).

  • Thomas John Dixon is killed in action in France
  • Australian soldiers occupy Bapaume on the Western Front, as the British capture Fresnes and several nearby villages, and the French capture Roye and Lassigny; all of which had been German-occupied for the last two years
  • British forces capture Peronne. Footage of Peronne shortly after its capture by the British
  • Allied aircraft bomb Frankfurt in retaliation to the wanton German destruction of French towns and villages. As a reprisal the Germans move many Allied prisoners of war closer to the front, placing them in range of artillery fire.
  • Five German airships raid Kent inflicting minimal damage and no casualties. On her return trip to Germany L-39 is shot down at Compiegne in France with the loss of the entire crew.
  • British troops in Mesopotamia continue their advance; they are now almost 60 kilometres north of Baghdad