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British soldiers in a captured German trench at Ovillers-la-Boisselle on the Somme, July 1916. Image courtesy Imperial War Museum ©IWM (Q 3990).

British soldiers in a captured German trench at Ovillers-la-Boisselle on the Somme, July 1916. Image courtesy Imperial War Museum ©IWM (Q 3990).

  • Fierce fighting continues in the Battle of the Somme. British troops capture La Boiselle and part of Ovillers; the French capture Chapitre Wood, Feuilleres, Buscourt, Flaucourt and Assevillers
  • Assistant Minister for Defence, Orange-born Senator Albert (Jupp) Gardiner declares that 200,000 Australian troops are currently serving overseas, with a further 65,000 in training. [In 1918 Senator Gardiner would deliver a 12 hour and 40 minute long speech to Federal Parliament, the longest ever delivered, and one that forced the introduction of a time limit on parliamentary speeches]. The Conscription Movement
  • The Leader reports on the recent Military Carnival to raise funds for the comfort of soldiers at Bathurst Training Camp. Visiting dignitaries include Corporal Owen, commander of Australian troops at Gallipoli, and WJ Murray, a veteran of the Sudan War. Comforts For Soldiers
  • The Battle of Baranovichi continues south of Vilna on the Eastern Front
  • French aeroplanes based in Salonika raid Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, inflicting considerable damage
  • Russian forces resume their offensive west of Erzerum in Armenia
  • British troops advance in the region between Lake Tanganyika and Victoria Nyanza in German East Africa