Hangard Wood

Hangard Wood is a locality south of Villers-Bretonneux northern France. It was the site of Hangard village and a battle in World War I. The battle of Hangard Wood was part of the German offensive Operation Michael, in the Arras–Saint-Quentin–La Fère sector of the Somme fought in March 1918. The battle of Hangard Wood was more specifically part of the larger Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux, fought between the Canadian, British, Australian and French armies on one side and the German army on the other.^[1]

The Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux on 24 April 1918 was significant as the first tank-on-tank battle in history, and the Red Baron was shot down on 21 April.

Today the wood lies adjacent to a British cemetery, maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and known as Hangard Wood British Cemetery.^[2][3][4][5] John Croak VC is buried there.

• 
  Map of Hangard

Units involved in the battle

173rd Infantry Brigade (Great Britain)

• 2/2nd Battalion London regiment
• 2/4th Battalion London regiment
• 4th Division (Australia)
• 12th Brigade (Australia)

5th Brigade (Australia) 18th Battalion (Australia)

• 19th Battalion (Australia)

20th Battalion (Australia)

• 33rd Battalion (Australia)
• 34th Battalion (Australia)
• 34th Battalion (Australia)
• 35th Battalion (Australia)
• 36th Battalion (Australia)
• 1st Moroccan Infantry Division (France)
• 13th Battalion (Royal Highlanders of Canada), CEF

Victoria Cross recipients

• John Croak
• Percy Storkey
• Herman James Good

Military Medal recipients

• John Charles Barnett

References

1. Australian Battlefields of WW1.
2. Wikimapia latitude/longitude 49°50'12"N 2°30'28"E
3. HANGARD WOOD BRITISH CEMETERY.
4. "HANGARD WOOD BRITISH CEMETERY". Archived from the original on 2015-05-05. Retrieved 2015-04-28.
5. "The Australian Remembrance Trail". Archived from the original on 2015-04-27. Retrieved 2015-04-28.

49°50′18″N 2°30′34″E