Known to the British soldiers as ‘Mucky Farm’ and to the Australians as ‘Moo-Cow Farm’, this was a heavily fortified position on the German second line of defence in July 1916.
This line ran from Pozières to Grandcourt around the rear of the Schwaben Redoubt in a system of strong points known as the ‘Goat’ and ‘Stuff’ redoubts.
Mouquet Farm was connected through to the Schwaben Redoubt by a system of trenches known as ‘The Mouquet Switch’.
Charles Bean described one of the last actions, the struggle for one German trench, the ‘Fabeck Graben’, between 3 and 5 September as ‘one of the bitterest fights in the history of the AIF’.
The encirclement of the German strong points at Thiepval was the supposed purpose of the Australian struggle and sacrifice at Mouquet Farm, a struggle which over four weeks cost the AIF 10,976 casualties for a few hundred square metres of France.
If to this Australian figure is added the casualties for the Canadian and British units that became involved in the fight for the farm, the casualty figure reaches more than 20,000.
Mouquet Farm finally fell to a British unit on 26 September 1916 and Thiepval itself on 29 September.
The AIF (Australian Imperial Force) Memorial at Mouquet Farm was unveiled on September 10, 1997 by the Honourable Tim Fisher, MP, Deputy Prime Minister of Australia.
Mouquet Farm is 6.75km north east of Albert, north of the minor road from Thiepval to Pozières.
