2018 Centenary End of World War 1 Limited Edition Postal Medallion Cover

2018 Centenary End of World War 1 Limited Edition Postal Medallion Cover

"No more slaughter, no more maiming, no more mud and blood, no more killing... No more of those hopeless dawns, with the rain chilling the spirits, no more crouching in inadequate dugouts scooped out of trench walls, no more dodging snipers' bullets..." - Lieutenant Richard Dixon

On the Western Front, 1918 began with a major German offensive that ended the long stalemate of trench warfare. More than a million German soldiers were transferred to the front in the early months of 1918, in an effort to split the British and French armies along the Somme River and to capture the vital logistical centre of Amiens. The Germans advanced to within artillery range of Amiens, but allied armies saved the city and stablised the line. They began preparations for a counter-offensive.

The allies executed their first offensive operation in six months at Hamel, north of Villers-Bretonneux, on 4 July. The tactical successes at Hamel were then applied during the Battle of Amiens, on 8 August 1918 - the so-called "black day of the German Army".

In September, Australian troops captured the German bastions of Peronne and Mont St Quentin, and, alongside British and American troops, broke through the Hindenburg Line, fighting at Montbrehain in early October.

The Australian Corps was resting when it learned Germany had signed an Armistice that ended four years of bloodshed on the Western Front. In the Middle East, the Ottoman forces signed an Armistice on 31 October, silencing the guns in that theatre. The war was costly for Australian which had a population of around five million at the time: some 156,000 were wounded and more than 60,00 died. The bodies of many Australian soldiers remain buried in foreign soil.

• Denomination: Medallion
• Quality: Antique Copper
• Metal: Copper
• Weight: 98 grams
• Diameter: 60.00 mm
• Mintage: 2,000
• Number: 0074/2000