Beaten Down By Blood

by Michele Bomford

  In the 17th century, Péronne resisted the Spanish, who regarded the city as impregnable. The Porte de Bretagne was constructed between 1601 and 1610 and the fortifications adjoining it shortly afterwards. Bretagne, with its own enclosing system of fortifications and moats, was separated from the main town by a short causeway, making Péronne, as Charles Bean recognised, a town in two parts.3 Damaged in the Great War, the Porte was rebuilt and declared an historic monument in 1925. The Porte and some of the ramparts surrounding the Faubourg de Bretagne survive to this day.

  The Citadel of Péronne in 1914. Photo ©Musee Alfred-Danicourt, Péronne.

  Australian Prime Minister William Morris Hughes inspecting the ruined citadel of Péronne, 14 September 1918. (AWM EO3302)

  By the end of the 17th century the ramparts surrounding Péronne were indeed massive, partly a product of the work of the engineering genius Vauban who improved the fortifications of this crucial frontier town. The bastioned towers, a defensive device he invented, probably also belong to this period. Vauban’s fortifications were highly resistant to shellfire and, during the First World War, ‘only a protracted bombardment by the heaviest artillery’ could have destroyed them.4

  However, by the 19th century, Péronne had lost much of its strategic importance and its edge as a fortress city, although it still retained ‘great tactical advantages’. It was captured by the army of the Duke of Wellington on 26 June 1815, and again by the Germans who besieged it in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War, the town surrendering on 10 January 1871. In 1906, as part of the concept of ‘greater’ Péronne, it was organised into military ‘zones’, incorporating villages such as Flamicourt, St Radegonde and Mont St Quentin. Some of the fortifications were dismantled, particularly those on the south of the town alongside the Cologne River.5 A road, now the Boulevard des Anglais, was constructed and in 1914 the Germans used Russian prisoners to pave it. Louis XIV reportedly swam near the big windmills, irrevocably damaged in the Great War. Some of the narrow, winding, cobbled streets of old Péronne can still be found in this area, the houses rebuilt after the war.

  The Citadel of Péronne, May 2010, photo by the author.

  In the years before the Great War, Péronne was a vibrant and elegant place with many beautiful buildings. Fêtes were frequently held — on one such occasion around 1900 the Faubourg de Bretagne came alive with finely dressed people, the houses alight with Chinese lanterns and gas lamps. At Le Quinconce — adjoining Anvil Wood which would achieve notoriety in the battle for Péronne in 1918 — people would stroll in the gardens or rest on the benches or in the kiosk. Broad, leafy promenades were also frequented by strolling townspeople while others sailed and paddled on the river and its lakes.6 The agricultural areas surrounding the town grew wheat and sugar beet, the latter introduced to France at the time of the Napoleonic Wars when the British cut the supply of sugar cane. Industries, such as the sugar factory at St Denis, were developed to process the raw materials.

  The Germans occupied Péronne in 1914; the French hammered away for two months and came very close to taking it, reaching Biaches on the opposite bank of the river, in the dying stages of the Battle of the Somme in November 1916. In March 1917, during their withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line, the Germans abandoned the town and British formations took over the sector. Australians from the 4th Division were in the Péronne area, based at Haut-Allaines, from 5 December 1917 until 11 January 1918.They spent a cold, but bright, Christmas Day there — a good dinner was organised and the men were in high spirits. Péronne itself was home to the 13th Field Ambulance and veterinary and salvage units. These were the only Australian troops familiar with this sector prior to the Mont St Quentin-Péronne battle and, apart from the then commander of the 12th Brigade, John Gellibrand, they were out of the line when the battle took place. In March 1918 the Germans again swept across this landscape as part of the Spring Offensive, retaking Péronne on 24 March. Ironically, Haig told the British Fifth Army that the Somme must be held at all costs, but they were forced back as the Germans would be in August and September.

  During the Great War the people of Péronne were forced to evacuate their town and the people of Mont St Quentin their village. The streets leading out of the town were clogged with fleeing inhabitants. This was a new and distressing experience for them and was compounded by the fact that their town was heavily shelled, burned and looted, particularly during the Battle of the Somme in 1916 when most of the destruction occurred. It was an ‘apocalypse’ which reduced many of the once-fine buildings to rubble and the houses to ruins.7 The Germans looted 98% of the historical Danicourt Museum’s unique and valuable collection, which was housed, as it is again today, in the Town Hall.

  A school fete in Péronne in 1908.The statue in the background is Marie Fourré. It was destroyed by the Germans in 1916.The photograph reflects the ‘spirit’ of Péronne in the years before the Great War. Photo ©Musee Alfred-Danicourt, Péronne.

  The Porte de Bretagne in 1914. Photo ©Musee Alfred-Danicourt, Péronne.

  While Péronne had become a ‘town’ rather than a ‘city’ by this time, with a population of around 4700 people in 1914, it was still the focal point of the area and a significant tactical strongpoint. Early in 1918 it formed part of the rear defences of the British Fifth Army, with General Headquarters (GHQ) recognising the importance of the Péronne bridgehead. The loss of Péronne would make it difficult to maintain the flow of supplies to forces in the central and northern portions of the Fifth Army area and GHQ considered the fortification of a bridgehead around Péronne a high priority.8 As it was, the speed of the German advance in March 1918 meant that Péronne was essentially bypassed. Later in the year, however, the tactical value of the position again became apparent, Ludendorff believing that the left bank of the Somme in front of Péronne should be held ‘because from there favourable flanking movements against the area north of Péronne were possible’ and he regarded the road which ran from Péronne, through Nurlu and towards Cambrai — a vital German logistics centre — as significant.9 Monash considered the Péronne bridges indispensable in August 1918 and the re-establishment of the railhead and a communications centre in the town essential to any advance past this point.10

  Although in ruins, Péronne in 1918 still promised strong defences with its marshes, bridges, fortifications, ‘battlemented towers’, moat and narrow cobblestone streets. The massive ramparts, rising to a height of 20 or 30 feet ‘in solid masses of stone’, protected German machine-gun nests concealed within them and made them virtually immune to bombardment.11 Their height allowed the machine-gunners to command the ground north and west of the town. The strongpoints of Anvil Wood, Le Quinconce cemetery and the aerodrome, all around 500 yards to the north of Péronne and bristling with machine-guns, made this ground even more treacherous for attacking troops.

  Snaking its way across the landscape was the Albert—Ham railway line which hugged the river through Cléry and to the south before swinging past the edge of Lost Ravine and winding its way across what Frank Brewer called the amphitheatre, past the northern perimeters of Anvil Wood and the cemetery and continuing in an arc around the eastern side of Bretagne and into the station at Flamicourt before swinging to the south. Two roads provided entry points to Péronne on its northern side, each passing through the ramparts and across the moat by means of a causeway, mined by the Germans. The most westerly of these — the main road from Cléry to Péronne — entered the town beside the castle, or citadel.

  The Porte de Bretagne as it looked on 5 September 1918. (AWM EO3227)

  The Porte de Bretagne, May 2010, photo by the author.

  To make the position even more formidable, the Germans had heavily fortified the village of St Denis — around 1000 yards north-east of the town on the Péronne–Mont St Quentin road — and the nearby sugar factory and brickworks, the former having a clear field of fire towards Anvil Wood. These strongpoints made any attack towards Darmstadt Trench and the high ground beyond hazardous in the
extreme. The Mont St Quentin ridge had to be taken and held to make the German positions here and in Péronne untenable.

  The daunting spurs to the east and south of Péronne — not least those around Bussu and Doingt, from which tentacles of high ground reached towards Le Mesnil to the south and Buire and Tincourt to the east — provided the Germans with vital high ground for their artillery batteries and innumerable machine-gun nests which formed the framework of their defence in depth of these important positions. They anticipated that strong defences on such ground would compensate for the quantity and quality of their infantry by August 1918. When Monash considered turning the line of the Somme in front of the Fourth Army, it was the capture of this vital high ground which he set as the objectives for the attacking troops, the capture of Péronne, believed to be only lightly held, being merely incidental and consequent upon it.12

  Mont St Quentin itself, rising to just 377 feet above sea level and situated 2000 yards slightly north-east of Péronne, was the town’s ‘watchtower’. In Monash’s words, it was ‘a sentinel guarding the northern and western approaches to the town, a bastion of solid defence against any advance from the west designed to encircle it.’ Seen from a distance, it was ‘no striking feature in the landscape’, but to stand on it was to appreciate how it dominated all approaches, including both stretches of the river and all the country to its north, west and south. From the Mont, the Germans in 1918 enjoyed ‘uninterrupted observation’ and a clear field of fire across this ground. As if this was not defence enough, ‘line upon line of wire entanglements’ encircled the Mont and its slopes were ‘glacis-like and bare of almost any cover’. For Frank Brewer it was a ‘veritable fortress’; Monash knew it was considered impregnable, and Rawlinson regarded it as ‘almost unattackable’.13

  View of Mont St Quentin from a ridge near Clery, October 1918. (AWM EO3577)

  Mont St Quentin from jumping off line of the 20th Battalion on 31 August 1918, photo by the author, May 2010.

  The village and wood of Mont St Quentin formed the western tip of a ridge that stretched roughly east for about seven miles in the direction of Aizecourt-le-Haut and Nurlu, the latter village resting on some of the highest ground in the area. Mont St Quentin village nestled between the wood and the Péronne–Bapaume road which, after passing through St Denis, ran up the flank of the Mont before dropping into the Tortille River valley. It ran past Feuillaucourt, crossed the Canal du Nord, climbed over the crest of the Bouchavesnes ridge and ran across the plateau to Bapaume, only 12 miles from Péronne. The western perimeter of Mont St Quentin was hugged by Elsa Trench which ran about 80 yards back from the road and covered the amphitheatre behind it.

  Double trench systems protected the approaches to Mont St Quentin and Péronne from the west with interlocking and mutual fire and thick barbed wire entanglements. From the Somme River, the Prague/Florina system ran behind Halle to connect with the Gottlieb/Save system in front of Mont St Quentin. The Galatz/Agram system intersected them close to the Cléry road, running from there to the Mont. On the right, the Uber Alles/Gott Mit Uns system ran from Anvil Wood to the Mont and also protected the approaches to Péronne, linking with the Koros/Kurilo system, parallel trenches which ran for around 1000 yards east along the Mont St Quentin ridge — dominating St Denis and the deadly ‘triangle’ formed by Koros Alley, the St Denis–Aizecourt road and the Péronne–Mont St Quentin road — before joining with Darmstadt and Silesie trenches in the east. These trench systems and the fortified strongpoints made this dangerous ground for the Australians in August-September 1918 and provide some indication of the complexity of this battlefield.

  Contour map of Mont St Quentin battlefield.

  Just as Péronne held a certain ‘mystique’ for the Australians in 1918 because of its ‘ancient’ ramparts and battlements, so too the ‘old brick walls’ on Mont St Quentin imbued it with ‘romantic’ meaning. These were all that remained of an abbey which had existed since the 7th century and had forged close links with the town. Although the abbey had fallen into disrepair by the late 19th century, it was the Great War that saw its many buildings — some with vaulted cellars which perhaps protected the defenders from bombardment — and extensive gardens shelled into oblivion. The remnants of the sandstone and brick walls that encircled the abbey can be seen today along the Rue de l’Abbaye and the Avenue des Australiens and certainly represent those same landmarks which feature in Australian accounts and photographs of the Battle of Mont St Quentin in 1918. Likewise, accounts refer to the remains of old abbey buildings and a château rising above the walls.14 The old stone, shell-pocked gateposts of the château, standing now at the corner of the Rue de l’Abbaye and the Haut-Allaines road, bear witness to the storm of steel to which the Mont was subjected. On the northern edge of the village, 1918 landmarks such as the sunken road, the crucifix and the civilian cemetery can still be seen, as can the overgrown remains of craters and quarries on the northern and southern perimeters of the Mont.

  The Bouchavesnes ridge is separated from the Mont St Quentin ridge by the Tortille River valley. Climbing in a north-easterly direction from Cléry, the ridge reaches a height of 426 feet just to the south of the village of Bouchavesnes. This high ground was composed of a system of spurs and gullies reaching out from the main backbone of the ridge, making it very difficult terrain to traverse. The Germans occupied strong trench systems and machine-gun emplacements along the ridge and its spurs. The feature was of great tactical importance in August 1918 for, just as Mont St Quentin dominated Péronne, so the Bouchavesnes ridge dominated Mont St Quentin. As Chris Roberts notes, ‘while Mont St Quentin was the key to taking Péronne, holding the Bouchavesnes ridge secured the Mont.’15

  Clery from the Bouchavesnes ridge near Clery Copse, May 2010, photo by the author.

  Flamicourt railway station in 1910. Photo ©Musee Alfred-Danicourt, Péronne.

  The Somme River was an important feature in the landscape and a natural obstacle to the Australian advance in 1918. From Ham, it flowed north until it reached Péronne, where it was joined by the Cologne River meandering from the east through places such as Tincourt, Buire and Doingt. Both rivers formed part of the moat surrounding Péronne on its southern side. The village and railway station of Flamicourt, the latter heavily fortified by the Germans in August-September 1918, was situated on the southern bank of the Cologne and connected to Péronne by a short causeway across the river. A main road bridge and a railway bridge facilitated entry to the town from the south.

  To the south of Péronne the ground sloped gently towards the river, which was between 500 and 1000 yards wide, but more a broad marsh than an actual river, studded with tiny islands overgrown with reeds. The channels flowing between these islands were narrow and deep, too deep to be waded, although the marshes themselves were only waist high. Along the western side of the river the Somme Canal flowed between masonry-lined banks. In 1918 there were four main crossings in the Australian Corps’ sector — at St Christ, Brie, Eterpigny and Péronne itself. Each crossing comprised a number of separate bridges — their spans ranging from 30 to 60 feet — which were needed to cross the canal and every little channel. The destruction of one small bridge could make the whole crossing impassable. Without the bridges, which the Germans had destroyed as they retreated behind the Somme, Monash could not move guns or supplies across the river and the Germans had every possible crossing accurately ranged with machine-guns and artillery, making it impossible for infantry to cross to the eastern bank.16

  The Flamicourt railway station, photo probably taken in 1917. (AWM HO9070)

  At Péronne, the Somme River began to swing to the west, the Somme Canal following on its southern bank. Near Halle, the Canal du Nord swept to the north, for a time following the valley of the Tortille River. Begun in 1908, the canal was incomplete at the time of the First World War and a stretch around 1300 yards long — beginning at Lost Ravine — had not been dug, fortuitously for the Australians in their attack on Mont St Quentin on
31 August 1918.

  The Somme continued its course west past the village of Cléry-sur-Somme, the pivotal point for the attacks on the Bouchavesnes ridge, Mont St Quentin and Péronne in 1918 and an important gateway from early times. On the opposite bank to Cléry lay the tiny village of Ommiécourt, whose river crossing would become notorious in the annals of the battle. About 2000 yards further west and on the southern bank, the village of Feuillères was the gateway to another important crossing. The river from Péronne to Cerisy flowed through a ‘tortuous valley’ a mile wide in a ‘succession of bends’. It lost itself in ‘grassed morasses’ and ‘vast stretches of backwaters’. Here the banks were steep and often chalky, adjoined by high plateaux. In 1918 such terrain provided ample cover for German machine-gun nests.

  So highly did Monash value the river crossings that he ordered almost immediate restoration of the bridges as his troops captured them, both in the advance to the Péronne bend and as the battle of Mont St Quentin-Péronne was being fought. Only the Australians’ ‘tactical ownership of the Somme valley’ after Amiens — Monash deployed his divisions on both the north and south banks of the river — made this possible.17

  Flamicourt railway station, May 2010, photo by the author.

  CHAPTER 3:

  A COMPANY COMMANDER’S DAY OUT

  Socially and structurally homogenous

  In August 1918 the AIF had five infantry divisions in the field, all of them in the Somme River valley. They formed the Australian Corps, under the command of an Australian, Lieutenant General Sir John Monash, known as ‘the Old Man’ or ‘Ferro-Concrete’, an engineer of German-Jewish background from Melbourne.1 His experience in managing large engineering projects in civilian life, his militia training in Australia, the lessons he had learnt as commander of the 4th Brigade and the 3rd Division at Gallipoli and in France and his outstanding intellect had all prepared him for higher command. At the time of the Battle of Mont St Quentin-Péronne, the British 32nd Division, commanded by Major General Thomas Lambert, was attached to the Australian Corps and comprised units from a range of English and Scottish formations. It operated south of Péronne on the extreme right of the Australian divisions.