Australian Corps

The Australian Corps was a World War I army corps that contained all five Australian infantry divisions serving on the Western Front. It was the largest corps fielded by the British Empire in France. At its peak the Australian Corps numbered 109,881 men. Formed on 1 November 1917, the corps replaced I Anzac Corps while II Anzac Corps, which contained the New Zealand Division, became the British XXII Corps.

Following the hard fighting of 1917, where the Australian divisions suffered heavily at Bullecourt, Messines and the Third Battle of Ypres, the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) was facing a manpower crisis. One referendum for conscription had already failed and another would be defeated on 1 December 1917. Voluntary recruitment was declining. Plans to form a 6th Australian Division were scrapped and the incomplete formation was disbanded. To make up the numbers, it was proposed to disband the Australian 4th Division, numerically the weakest, but this was strongly resisted by the members of the AIF.