page_title: Second Battle of Dernancourt
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Second Battle of Dernancourt / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of the initial Allied dispositions of the First Battle of Dernancourt 1918
context_page_description: The Second Battle of Dernancourt, known to the Germans as Unternehmen Sonnenschein, was fought on 5 April 1918 near Dernancourt in northern France during World War I. It involved a German Army force attacking an Australian defending force, and resulted in the German capture of much of the forward sector of the Australian front line which ran along a railway line between Albert and Dernancourt. The Australian 4th Division had been sent south to help stem the tide of the German Spring Offensive towards Amiens, and held a line west and north of the Ancre river. The main German assault force was the XXIII Reserve Corps, which concentrated its assault on the line between Albert and Dernancourt. Their attack at the boundary between the Australian 12th and 13th Brigades overwhelmed the Australian front line troops near Dernancourt and captured some support trenches. An Australian counter-attack in the afternoon wrested the initiative from the Germans and their attack petered out, leaving the Australians still in possession of most of the high ground northwest of Dernancourt, barring the way to Amiens.
context_section_description: After the Third Battle of Ypres petered out in late 1917, the Western Front fell into its usual lull over the winter months. In early 1918, it became apparent to the Allies that a large German offensive was pending on the Western Front. This Spring Offensive commenced on 21 March 1918, with over one million men in three German armies striking hard near the junction between the French and British armies. The main effort of this offensive hit the British Fifth Army, which formed the right flank of the British front line. Struck a staggering blow, it began a rapid and at times panicked withdrawal. The key railway junction at Amiens was soon threatened.
  Shortly after the Spring Offensive began, the Australian 3rd and 4th Divisions were deployed south in stages from rest areas in the Flanders region of Belgium to the Somme river valley in France to help stem the initial German success in the Fifth Army's sector. On their way south, the 4th Brigade was detached from the 4th Division to help halt the Germans near Hébuterne in the Third Army sector. Travelling by train, bus and marching on foot, the remaining two brigades of the 4th Division, the 12th and 13th Brigades, concentrated in the area west of Dernancourt, under the command of the VII Corps led by Lieutenant General Walter Norris Congreve. The commander of the 4th Division, Major General Ewen Sinclair-Maclagan was ordered to support and then relieve remnants of the 9th (Scottish) Division which was holding the front line along a railway between Albert and Dernancourt, west of the Ancre river. This task was given to the 12th Brigade, under the command of Brigadier General John Gellibrand. The 13th Brigade, commanded by Brigadier General William Glasgow, was held in support positions between Bresle and Ribemont-sur-Ancre. To the right of the 12th Brigade was the British 35th Division between Dernancourt and Buire-sur-l'Ancre, and commanded by Brigadier General Arthur Marindin. The 3rd Division, commanded by Major General John Monash, was deployed further to the south, between the Ancre and the Somme around Morlancourt, where it fought a brief action on 28–30 March, with its 10th Brigade to the right of the 35th Division.
  The First Battle of Dernancourt was fought on 28 March 1918 and resulted in a complete defeat of the German assault. The main German attacking force was the 50th Reserve Division of the XXIII Reserve Corps, which concentrated its assault on the line between Albert and Dernancourt, attacking off the line of march with weak artillery preparation. Other than one small penetration by a German company in the early morning which was quickly repelled, nowhere were the Germans able to break through the VII Corps defences. In the following week, the village of Dernancourt was heavily shelled in an attempt to reduce the protection it provided to the Germans, and they made two more unsuccessful attempts to advance in the sector. After First Dernancourt, the 13th Brigade relieved the 35th Division between Dernancourt and Buire-sur-l'Ancre, and the 4th Division became responsible for the whole of the front line between Albert and Buire-sur-l'Ancre.
caption: VII Corps dispositions before the First Battle of Dernancourt
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