In the early hours of 31 May 1918 German shells struck a farm at Allonville on the Somme.
One hit the roof of a barn in which a company of the (Victorian) 14th Battalion was sleeping. According to Charles Bean, the shell caused more casualties than any other in AIF history – thirteen killed and 56 wounded – though I think that the full total was around 80 casualties.
I’ll talk about the research for a book on Allonville, discuss what I’m finding and what I’m doing with the evidence.
This event, which you’d imagine would have been of particular interest to Victorians, seems to have been virtually forgotten, except for a footnote in Bean’s Vol VI, and a chapter in the battalion history, by Newton Wanliss.
About the presenter
Prof. Peter Stanley retired from UNSW Canberra in 2023. He is one of Australia’s most distinguished military historians, having published 50 books, most on Australian military history. His most recent books include Beyond The Broken Years (NewSouth), the first history of the writing of Australian military history, and The Sherrin (Big Sky), a novel set in ‘the Islands’ in 1945.
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