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Night attack by the 13th Brigade on Villers-Bretonneux, 25 April 1918, Will Longstaff. Image courtesy Australian War Memorial.

  • Day 1365 of the war
  • At dawn, German forces using infantry and tanks recapture Villers-Bretonneux, lost three weeks earlier to the Allies. Villers-Bretonneux is the last major village before Amiens and an important railhead to Paris. An Allied counter-attack commences at 10 pm; the 13th Brigade of the Australian 4th Division and 15th Brigade of the 5th Division – some 3,900 men – are brought forward. The brigades surround the town and attempt to join forces to the east. They are unable to join up in the dark but, after dawn on 25 April, they succeed in closing the gap: Australian troops enter the town from the east and join forces with British troops from the north and west. Australia sustains 2,473 casualties. The Battle of Villers-Bretonneux
  • George Denis Chapman sends news from Palestine and describes his visit to Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Soldiers’ Letters
  • William Bell, a compositor with the Advocate, describes his recent furlough in Scotland. Holidaying in Scotland