The I ANZAC Corps (First Anzac Corps) was a combined Australian and New Zealand army corps that served during World War I.
It was formed in Egypt in February 1916 as part of the reorganisation and expansion of the Australian Imperial Force and the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) following the evacuation of Gallipoli in December 1915. Along with the II ANZAC Corps, it replaced the original Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC). The corps initially participated in the defence of the Suez Canal before being transferred to the Western Front in France and Belgium in late March 1916. Later in 1916 the New Zealand Division was removed from I ANZAC's order of battle, swapping with II ANZAC's Australian 4th Division.
In November 1917, I ANZAC ceased to exist when the Australian infantry divisions in France were grouped together as the Australian Corps and the New Zealand Division, then part of II ANZAC Corps, was allocated to a British corps.
History
Formation
Following the evacuation of Gallipoli in December 1915, the Australian and New Zealand forces in Egypt underwent a period of reorganisation and expansion. It was decided to expand the AIF from two infantry divisions to four (later five), while the New Zealand elements of the New Zealand and Australian Division would be split and expanded to form a full division known as the New Zealand Division. The five Australian and one New Zealand infantry divisions were then organised into two corps sized units, known as I ANZAC Corps and II ANZAC Corps.
I ANZAC Corps was initially commanded by Lieutenant General Alexander Godley and comprised the three "veteran" ANZAC divisions—the Australian 1st and 2nd Divisions and the newly formed New Zealand Division. On 13 March 1916, under the command of Lieutenant General Sir William Birdwood—the original commander of the ANZAC—the corps began the process of embarking for France.
Western Front
In France the I ANZAC Corps was attached to the British Second Army, and initially positioned in a relatively quiet sector south of Ypres in order to gain experience of trench warfare. The corps went into the line south of Armentières, taking over from the British III Corps which was moving to the British Fourth Army in preparation for the Somme Offensive. The Australian 2nd Division was the first to move on to the line, taking up its position in the trenches on 9 April 1916.
On 5 May I ANZAC experienced its first combat on the Western Front when the Germans launched a raid on the 20th Battalion's positions following an artillery barrage, resulting in 100 casualties, and some men and equipment being captured. On 30 May, the 11th Battalion's position was also heavily shelled. By this time the II ANZAC Corps had started to arrive in France from Egypt under the command of General Godley. As Godley was also the commander of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, it was decided that the New Zealand Division would be more appropriately located under his command so it swapped with the Australian 4th Division in time for the move to the Somme.
Pozières had been attacked unsuccessfully four times prior, however on 23 July 1916 the 1st Division managed to capture the village after making an advance of 1,000 yards. Following this success the Germans began a heavy artillery bombardment of the Australian positions and having suffered 5,286 casualties, the 1st Division was relieved by the 2nd Division two days later. As the area surrounding the village was still in German hands, plans were made for further attacks. Due to the formation of a salient in the Allied lines, the area surrounding the farm, across which the Australians had to advance, was under the observation of German artillery spotters and as a result of heavy barrages I ANZAC suffered heavily during the battle, with 6,300 casualties, 4,649 of which were suffered by the 4th Division alone. Following this, elements of the corps took part in the fighting around Bullecourt during April and May and Messines in June in support of II ANZAC before the corps as a whole was committed to the fighting around Ypres as part of the Fifth Army in September 1917.
On 16 September 1917, six weeks after the fighting at Ypres had begun, the 1st and 2nd Divisions took up position at Glencorse Wood under the cover of darkness. but were stopped short of their secondary objective by defensive fire from German positions nearby. In all I ANZAC suffered approximately 4,500 casualties.
As a result of these successes the Allied high command felt that a breakthrough might finally be possible. Heavy rain, however, turned the ground to mud and further offensive actions resulted in heavy casualties for limited gains. By early November I ANZAC Corps was withdrawn from the line around Ypres.
Order of battle
While the composition of I ANZAC Corps changed a number of times with divisions being attached and detached as required for involvement in a particular campaign, the following order of battle is included for illustrative purposes. It is correct per the corps' arrival in France in 1916. Also at divisional level there were various support units including artillery field batteries and trench mortars, pioneer battalions and engineer field companies, machine gun companies and field ambulances.
Sources:<br/>
Corps Commander: Lieutenant General Sir William Birdwood
Order of Battle, December 1916:
{|class="wikitable"
| style="background:#efefef;" |1st Australian Division ||colspan="2" |Major General Harold Walker
|-
|width="300pt"|1st Brigade||width="300pt"|2nd Brigade||width="300pt"|3rd Brigade
|-
|1st Battalion||5th Battalion||9th Battalion
|-
|2nd Battalion||6th Battalion||10th Battalion
|-
|3rd Battalion||7th Battalion||11th Battalion
|-
|4th Battalion||8th Battalion||12th Battalion
|-
|Pioneers||colspan="2" |1st Australian Pioneer Battalion
|-
|}
{|class="wikitable"
| style="background:#efefef;" |2nd Australian Division ||colspan="2" |Major General James Gordon Legge
|-
|width="300pt"|5th Brigade||width="300pt"|6th Brigade||width="300pt"|7th Brigade
|-
|17th Battalion||21st Battalion||25th Battalion
|-
|18th Battalion||22nd Battalion||26th Battalion
|-
|19th Battalion||23rd Battalion||27th Battalion
|-
|20th Battalion||24th Battalion||28th Battalion
|-
|Pioneers||colspan="2" |2nd Australian Pioneer Battalion
|-
|}
{|class="wikitable"
| style="background:#efefef;" |New Zealand Division ||colspan="2" |Major-General Andrew Hamilton Russell
|-
|width="300pt"|1st New Zealand Brigade||width="300pt"|2nd New Zealand Brigade||width="300pt"|3rd New Zealand Rifle Brigade
|-
|1st Auckland Battalion||2nd Auckland Battalion||1st Battalion, NZ Rifle Brigade
|-
|1st Canterbury Battalion||2nd Canterbury Battalion||2nd Battalion, NZ Rifle Brigade
|-
|1st Otago Battalion||2nd Otago Battalion||3rd Battalion, NZ Rifle Brigade
|-
|1st Wellington Battalion||2nd Wellington Battalion||4th Battalion, NZ Rifle Brigade
|-
|Pioneers||colspan="2" |New Zealand Pioneer Battalion
|-
|}
Order of Battle, June 1916:
{| class="wikitable"
| style="background:#efefef;" |1st Australian Division || colspan="2" |Major General Harold Walker
|-
| width="300pt" |1st Brigade|| width="300pt" |2nd Brigade|| width="300pt" |3rd Brigade
|-
|1st Battalion||5th Battalion||9th Battalion
|-
|2nd Battalion||6th Battalion||10th Battalion
|-
|3rd Battalion||7th Battalion||11th Battalion
|-
|4th Battalion||8th Battalion||12th Battalion
|-
|Pioneers|| colspan="2" |1st Australian Pioneer Battalion
|}
{| class="wikitable"
| style="background:#efefef;" |2nd Australian Division || colspan="2" |Major General James Gordon Legge
|-
| width="300pt" |5th Brigade|| width="300pt" |6th Brigade|| width="300pt" |7th Brigade
|-
|13th Battalion||21st Battalion||25th Battalion
|-
|14th Battalion||22nd Battalion||26th Battalion
|-
|15th Battalion||23rd Battalion||27th Battalion
|-
|16th Battalion||24th Battalion||28th Battalion
|-
|Pioneers|| colspan="2" |2nd Australian Pioneer Battalion
|}
{| class="wikitable"
| style="background:#efefef;" |4th Australian Division || colspan="2" |Major General Vaughan Cox
|-
| width="300pt" |4th Brigade|| width="300pt" |12th Brigade|| width="300pt" |13th Brigade
|-
|17th Battalion||45th Battalion||49th Battalion
|-
|18th Battalion||46th Battalion||50th Battalion
|-
|19th Battalion||47th Battalion||51st Battalion
|-
|20th Battalion||48th Battalion||52nd Battalion
|-
|Pioneers|| colspan="2" |4th Australian Pioneer Battalion
|}
See also
- Military history of Australia during World War I
Notes
;Footnotes
;Citations