Brick fragments : Pozieres church

Six chunks of brick. The portions are irregular in shape and ochre brick red in colour. Traces of cement binder or mortar are evident. There is also a small bag containing fine fragments of brick and a single iron nail.

These brick fragments are thought to be taken from a ruined church at Pozieres. Pozieres, a small village in the Somme valley in France, was the scene of bitter and costly fighting for the 1st, 2nd and 4th Australian Divisions in mid 1916.

The village was captured initially by the 1st Division on 23 July 1916. The division clung to its gains despite almost continuous artillery fire and repeated German counter-attacks but suffered heavily. By the time it was relieved on 27 July it had suffered 5,285 casualties.

The 2nd Division took over from the 1st and mounted two further attacks - the first, on 29 July, was a costly failure; the second, on 2 August, resulted in the seizure of further German positions beyond the village. Again, the Australians suffered heavily from retaliatory bombardments. They were relieved on 6 August, having suffered 6,848 casualties.

The 4th Division was next into the line at Pozieres. It too endured a massive artillery bombardment, and defeated a German counter-attack on 7 August, this was the last attempt by the Germans to retake Pozieres. Concentrated artillery bombardments in July and August 1916 completely razed the village, and, when the battle had passed, a notice board marked 'Pozieres' was the only indication that a village had ever been there.