On the night of 7/8 April, the 12th Battalion was tasked with the capture of Boursies, on the Bapaume–Cambrai road. The attack was a feint to mislead the German forces on the direction from which Hermies was to be assaulted. Leading A Company as well as an attached platoon from B Company, Newland began his advance on the village at 03:00. The company was soon subject to heavy rifle and machine gun fire from a derelict mill approximately 400 metres (440 yd) short of the village, and began to suffer heavy casualties. Rallying his men, Newland charged the position and bombed the Germans with grenades. The attack dislodged the Germans, and the company secured the area and continued its advance.
Throughout 8 April, the Australians were subjected to heavy shellfire from German forces. At approximately 22:00, the Germans launched a fierce counter-attack under the cover of a barrage of bombs and trench mortars against A Company's position at the mill. They had some initial success and entered the forward posts of the mill, which were occupied by a platoon of Newland's men under the command of Sergeant John Whittle. Newland, bringing up a platoon from the battalion's reserve company, charged the attackers and re-established the lost ground with Whittle's assistance. The 12th Battalion was relieved by the 11th Battalion on 10 April, having succeeded in capturing Boursies at the cost of 240 casualties, of which 70 were killed or missing.
After a four-day reprieve from the frontline, the 12th Battalion relieved the 9th Battalion at Lagnicourt on 14 April. Around dawn the next day, the Germans launched a severe counter-attack against the 1st Australian Division's line. Breaking through, they forced back the 12th Battalion's D Company, which was to the right of Newland's A Company. Soon surrounded and under attack on three sides, Newland withdrew the company to a sunken road which had been held by Captain Percy Cherry during the capture of the village three weeks earlier, and lined the depleted company out in a defensive position on each bank.
The German forces attacked Newland's company several times during the battle, but were repulsed each time. During one of the assaults, Newland observed that the German attack was weakening and gathered a party of twenty men. Leading the group, he charged the Germans and seized forty as prisoners. As reinforcements from the 9th Battalion began to arrive, a combined counter-attack was launched and the line recaptured by approximately 11:00. During the engagement, the 12th Battalion suffered 125 casualties, including 66 killed or missing. Newland and Whittle were both awarded the Victoria Cross for their actions at Boursies and Lagnicourt; they were the only two permanent members of the Australian military to receive the decoration during the war. At 35 years and 7 months old, Newland was also the oldest Australian Victoria Cross recipient of the First World War.