by Peter Brune
Divisional C.R.E’s will control—
II Div.—1 Field Coy. and 2 Companies Pioneers.
III Div.—1 Field Coy. and 2 Companies Pioneers
IV Div.—2 Field Coys. and 2 Companies Pioneers.
V Div.—2 Field Coys. and 2 Companies Pioneers.
C.E. will (a)Co-ordinate work as between himself and C.R.E’s.
(b)Inform Divs. as to Works to be done by Corps.
(c)Draw up a Scheme of roads and tracks to be opened, having regard to grades, visibility, surface.
PREPARATORY MEASURES.
Div. H.Q.—V Railway Dugouts, IV CORBIE, organize.
Cable buries—Divs. in line to do.
Stop leave, if desired.
Reduce present activities to a minimum, except patrols for identifications.
Tank Training.
Settle and advise me of Brigades to be used and order of battle.
Use of Americans—postpone advance beyond platoon training Cyclists.
Mounted Troops—1 troop to I and III each
and Cyclists. 2 troops to IV and V each
Medical. Question of Ambulances with Red line Brigades.
FORWARD ROADS.
Routes for (a)Artillery and Ammunition.
(b)Mule Transport—Infantry.
(c)Evacuation of wounded.
(d)Infantry routes.
DETAILS OF DIVISIONS.
II Alteration of front.
Leaving Brigade in line.
Battle dispositions—Tanks and Machine Guns.
Capture of WARFUSSE.
Digging in on Green line.
Dumps.
Tapes.
Approach March.
III Alteration of front.
Leaving Brigade in line.
Refuse CERISY flank.
Capture of guns.
ACCROCHE WOOD (Tanks).
Avoid SOMME Valley.
Be ready to mop up CERISY re-entrant.
Appendix III
Letter, C E W Bean to Lieutenant-Colonel Brudenall White, 28 June 19181
Abbreviations
AFA Australian Field Artillery
A.F.C. Australian Flying Corps
A.I. Armoured Infantry
AIF Australian Imperial Force
AP armour-piercing
Art Artillery
AWL absent without leave
AWM Australian War Memorial
Bde Brigade
BEF British Expeditionary Force
BL breech loading
Bn/Btn Battalion
Bty Battery
C.C.S. Casualty Clearing Station
C.E. Chief Engineer
CID Committee of Imperial Defence
CIGS Chief of the Imperial General Staff
C-in-C Commander-in-Chief
CO Commanding Officer
Coy Company
C.P.s command posts
CRA Commander of the Royal Artillery
C.R.E. Commander, Royal Engineers
CT communication trench
CW continuous wave
D.A.H.Q. Divisional Artillery HQ]
Div Division
DR despatch rider
GHQ General Headquarters
GOC General Officer Commanding
GOCRA General Officer Commanding Royal Artillery
GSO General Service Officer
H.A. heavy artillery
HE high-explosive
HQ headquarters
Inf Infantry
MC Military Cross
MG machine gun
MGRA Major-General Royal Artillery
Mk Mark
M.T. mechanical transport
NCO non-commissioned officer
OC Officer Commanding
O.R. other ranks
QF quick firing
QMG Quarter Master General
R.A. Royal Artillery
RAA Royal Australian Artillery
RAF Royal Air Force
RFC Royal Flying Corps
RGA Royal Garrison Artillery
SAA small arms ammunition
T.M. Trench Mortar
UK United Kingdom
US United States
VC Victoria Cross
Endnotes
1 Michael
1.AWM 2DRL/0928, Capt. George Mitchell, 48th Battalion, diary.
2.ibid., a compilation of diary entries from 17 August and 1 September 1917.
3.The author has been most conservative here. Robert Weldon (ed.), in ‘War Losses (Germany)’, in: 1914–1918-online, International Encyclopedia of the First World War, lists the German Army killed in 1917 as 1 271 273.
4.C E W Bean, Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–18, Vol V, The AIF in France 1918, p. 100. (Further reference to Bean’s Official History will be cited as ‘Bean’ the volume number and page number.)
5.Bean, Vol V, p. 103. The ‘Entente’ refers to the ‘Entente Cordiale’, the understanding between Britain and France agreed to in 1904, which was the foundation of their alliance during the Great War.
6.Any artillery piece above a 9.2-inch calibre. This includes railway guns.
7.Bean, Vol V, p. 107.
8.The types of gas shells were identified according to the colour of a cross painted on them.
9.Taken from: an extract from The Medical Department of the United States in the World War, Volume XIV, Medical Aspects of Gas Warfare. (The italics are the author’s.)
10.Robin Neillands, The Great War Generals on the Western Front 1914–1918, p. 223.
11.Robert Blake (ed.), The Private Papers of Douglas Haig 1914–1919, p. 264.
12.Bean, Vol V, pp. 51–52.
13.ibid. p. 67.
14.The italics are the author’s.
15.Robert Blake (ed.), The Private Papers of Douglas Haig 1914–1919, diary entries for 16 February, 2 March, 3 March and 19 March 1918.
16.Tim Travers, How the War Was Won: Factors that led to Victory in World War One, p. 60.
17.ibid.
18.Robert Blake (ed.), The Private Papers of Douglas Haig 1914–1919, p. 291.
19.Ian M Brown, British logistics on the Western Front, 1914–1919, p. 184.
20.ibid. p. 189.
21.ibid.
22.Robert Blake (ed.), The Private Papers of Douglas Haig 1914–1919, p. 297.
23.ibid.
24.ibid. p. 298.
2 Sharpening the tools
1.Paddy Griffith, Battle Tactics of the Western Front, p. 11.
2.Major-General Julian Thompson, quoted in Robin Neillands, The Great War Generals on the Western Front 1914–1918, p. 46.
3.Tim Travers, The Killing Ground: The British Army, the Western Front and the Emergence of Modern Warfare, 1900–1918, p. 27.
4.Ian M Brown, British logistics on the Western Front, 1914–1919, p. 19.
5.Colonel David Brook, RAA (Retd), interview with the author, Adelaide, 9 August 2015.
6.Guy Hartcup, The War of Invention: Scientific Developments, 1914–18, pp. 4–5.
7.Major-General J B A Bailey, Field Artillery and Firepower, p. 27.
8.Colonel David Brook, RAA (Retd), interview with the author, Adelaide, 9 August 2015.
9.Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson, Command on the Western Front: The Military Career of Sir Henry Rawlinson 1914–1918, p. 138.
10.ibid. p. 143.
11.Guy Hartcup, The War of Invention: Scientific Developments, 1914–18, p. 58.
12.ibid.
13.Guy Hartcup, The War of Invention: Scientific Developments, 1914–18, gives a detailed explanation of the development of sound ranging and the Tucker phone. See pp. 68–76.
14.F M Cutlack, Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–18, Volume VIII, Australian Flying Corps, pp. 205–206.
15.Lieutenant-General Sir Noel Birch, KCMG, CB, Colonel Commandant, Royal Artillery, ‘Appendix 38: Artillery Development in the Great War’, Army Quarterly, October 1920.
16.D G Brown, The Tank in Action During the First World W
ar, pp. 12–13.
17.Guy Hartcup, The War of Invention: Scientific Developments, 1914–18, p. 82.
18.Major-General Ernest Swinton, Eyewitness, pp. 186–87.
19.Brevet-Colonel J F C Fuller, Tanks in the Great War, 1914–1918, p. 44.
20.ibid. p. 49.
21.AWM 4, 23/65/15, The 48th Battalion Unit Diary, April 1917. Appendices, Report on Operations 11 April 1917, written by Lieutenant-Colonel R Leane.
22.Cutlack, Volume VIII, p. xvi.
23.ibid. Appendices, p. 397.
24.ibid. p. 398.
25.ibid.
26.Cutlack, Volume VIII, p. 436.
27.J M Bourne, ‘1918: Defining Victory, The BEF’s Generals on 29 September 1918: An Empirical Portrait with Some British and Australian Comparisons’, Australian Army History Conference, 1998.
28.Paddy Griffith, Battle Tactics of the Western Front, p. 171.
29.ibid. p. 175.
30.J M Bourne, ‘1918: Defining Victory, The BEF’s Generals on 29 September 1918: An Empirical Portrait with some British and Australian Comparisons’, Australian Army History Conference, 1998.
31.Robin Neillands, The Great War Generals on the Western Front 1914–1918, p. 381.
32.Mark Adkin, The Western Front Companion, p. 263.
33.Robin Neillands, The Great War Generals on the Western Front 1914–1918, p. 389.
34.ibid. p. 394.
3 An enormous intellect
1.These casualty figures are taken from Bean, Vol V.
2.ibid. p. 5.
3.Charles Bean, Two Men I Knew, p. 3.
4.Bean, Vol V, p. 8.
5.Quoted in R M Younger, Keith Murdoch: Founder of a Media Empire, p. 26.
6.ibid. pp. 26–27.
7.Quoted in R M Younger, Keith Murdoch: Founder of a Media Empire, p. 29.
8.Stephen Roskill, Hankey: Man of Secrets, p. 220.
9.Geoffrey Serle, Monash: A Biography, p. 19.
10.ibid. p. 51.
11.ibid. p. 83.
12.Peter Pedersen, Monash as Military Commander, p. 126.
13.See Paddy Griffith, Battle Tactics of the Western Front, pp. 179–91.
4 The physical audacity
1.Robert Blake (ed.), The Private Papers of Douglas Haig 1914–1919, p. 290. Haig to Lady Haig, 28 February 1918.
2.ibid. pp. 112, 290.
3.R M Younger, Keith Murdoch: Founder of a Media Empire, p. 83.
4.ibid.
5.Murdoch Papers, AWM, cable, Murdoch to Hughes, 12 July 1917.
6.Bean, Vol V, p. 10.
7.ibid.
8.Bean, Vol VI, p. 191.
9.AWM 38, 3DRL 606/111/1, Bean Papers, Diaries and Notebooks, May 1918.
10.ibid.
11.ibid.
12.ibid.
13.ibid.
14.ibid.
15.ibid.
16.ibid.
17.Monash had ordered all AAMC personnel in the 3rd Division to wear its colour patch rather than their own. Howse eventually had Monash’s order rescinded. This dispute and the fact that Howse was a friend and admirer of White’s is recorded in Howse’s Australian Dictionary of Biography entry written by A J Hill.
18.AWM 38, 3DRL 606/111/1, Bean Papers, Diaries and Notebooks, May 1918.
19.ibid. Taken from Bean’s Changes in AIF Command (confidential notes).
20.Bean, Vol VI, p. 198.
21.ibid.
22.Bean, Vol V, p. 7.
23.AWM 3DRL/2316, Monash Papers, Series 1: Personal Letters, 1914–1918.
24.ibid.
25.Bean, Vol VI, p. 198.
26.AWM 38, 3DRL 6673/60, Bean Papers, letter Bean to White, 28 June 1918. This letter is reproduced in full in Appendix III of this book.
27.Mitchell Library, Sydney: MSS 2763, Corporal Clifford Geddes, diary, 2 July 1918.
28.Bean, Vol VI, p. 195.
29.Peter Pedersen, Monash as Military Commander, p. 40.
5 . . . so I drove over them
1.AWM 3DRL/2316, Monash Papers, Personal Letters, 1914–1918. Jackson to Monash, 23 June 1918.
2.E M Andrews, The Anzac Illusion: Anglo-Australian Relations during World War I, p. 149.
3.AWM 2DRL/0711, Lieutenant Sydney Traill, 1st Battalion, diary, 15 May 1918.
4.Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash, The Australian Victories in France in 1918, p. 294.
5.ibid. p. 296.
6.Brigadier-General Hugh Elles, quoted in Bean, Vol VI, p. 245.
7.Bovington Tank Museum, Dorset, UK. E2006.2387, A History of the 5th Tank Brigade. Copy kindly given to the author by its archivist, Jonathan Holt. References to sources from this museum will hitherto be cited as ‘Bovington Tank Museum’ and the catalogue number or the title of the document.
8.Bovington Tank Museum, E2006.2387.
9.Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash, The Australian Victories in France in 1918, p. 44.
10.Letter, Courage to Monash, 20 June 1918. A copy is in AWM 3DRL/2316, Monash Papers.
11.ibid.
12.ibid.
13.ibid.
14.ibid.
15.AWM 3DRL/2316, Monash Papers, Personal Files Book 19, 23 June to 7 July 1918, Fourth Army Report on Hamel, note by the General Staff.
16.ibid.
17.Bean, Vol VI, p. 253.
18.Bovington Tank Museum, 5th Tank Brigade, ‘War Experiences’, Chapter 3 ‘Fighting’.
19.Bean, Vol VI, p. 263.
20.Bovington Tank Museum, War History of the 13th Battalion, Tank Corps.
21.Mitchell Library, Sydney: MSS 2763, Corporal Clifford Geddes, diary, 30 June 1918.
22.Brevet-Colonel J F C Fuller, Tanks in the Great War, 1914–1918, p. 207.
23.Bovington Tank Museum, War History of the 13th Battalion, Tank Corps.
24.Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash, The Australian Victories in France in 1918, p. 45.
25.Peter Pedersen, Monash as Military Commander, p. 169.
26.AWM 3DRL/2316, Monash Papers, Personal Files Book 19, 23 June to 7 July 1918.
27.AWM 23/30/45 13th Infantry Battalion Unit Diary, July 1918, Appendices, Report on Operations Hamel Wood, 4 July 1918.
28.Mitchell Library, Sydney: MSS 2763, Corporal Clifford Geddes, diary, 2 July 1918.
29.ibid. 1 July 1918.
30.AWM 23/30/45 13th Infantry Battalion Unit Diary, July 1918, Appendices, Report on Operations Hamel Wood, 4 July 1918.
31.AWM PR00420, Gunner James Armitage, 30th Battery, 8th AFA Brigade, 3rd Division, diary, 4 July 1918.
32.AWM 3DRL/2316, Monash Papers, Personal Files Book 19, 23 June to 7 July 1918, Fourth Army Report on Hamel, note by the General Staff.
33.ibid.
34.ibid.
35.Mitchell Library, Sydney: MSS 2763, Corporal Clifford Geddes, diary, 4 July 1918.
36.Bovington Tank Museum, Tank Battle Sheets of 8th Battalion, Tank Corps, Lieutenant G H Etherton, 4 July 1918.
37.Bovington Tank Museum, Tank Battle Sheets of 8th Battalion, Tank Corps, Lieutenant W A Vickers, 4 July 1918.
38.ibid.
39.Bovington Tank Museum, Tank Battle Sheets of 8th Battalion, Tank Corps, Lieutenant C T Draper, 4 July 1918.
40.ibid.
41.Bovington Tank Museum, Tank Battle Sheets of 8th Battalion, Tank Corps, for tanks 9183, 9026 and 9097, 4 July 1918.
42.Mitchell Library, Sydney: MSS 2763, Corporal Clifford Geddes, diary, 4 July 1918.
43.Bovington Tank Museum, Tank Battle Sheets of 13th Battalion, Tank Corps, Lieutenant P Atack, 4 July 1918.
44.ibid.
45.Bovington Tank Museum, Tank Battle Sheets of 13th Battalion, Tank Corps, Lieutenant H Litchfield, 4 July 1918.
46.AWM 3DRL/2316, Monash Papers, Personal Files Book 19, 23 June to 7 July 1918, Fourth Army Report on Hamel, note by the General Staff.
47.ibid.
48.ibid.
49.F M Cutlack, Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–18, Volume VIII, Australian Flying Corps, p. 273.
50.Bean, Vol VI, p. 326.
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51.Mitchell Library, Sydney: MSS 2763, Corporal Clifford Geddes, diary, 5 July 1918.
6 . . . the finest fighting day I have yet had
1.Peter Pedersen, Monash as Military Commander, p. 234.
2.ibid.
3.A copy of Rawlinson’s proposal of 17 July 1918 is in AWM 3DRL/2316, Monash Papers, Personal Files Book 19, 7 July to 30 July 1918.
4.ibid.
5.ibid.
6.ibid.
7.Peter Pedersen, Monash as Military Commander, p. 235.
8.ibid. p. 237.
9.Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson, Command on the Western Front, The Military Career of Sir Henry Rawlinson 1914–1918, p. 300.
10.ibid.
11.From a copy of ‘Notes on Conference held at III Corps Headquarters’, 29 July 1918 in AWM 3DRL/2316, Monash Papers, Personal Files Book 19, 7 July to 30 July 1918.
12.ibid.
13.Blamey, quoted in Peter Pedersen, Monash as Military Commander, p. 239.
14.Monash’s conference notes for 31 July 1918 are to be found in AWM 3DRL/2316, Monash Papers, Series 3: Personal Files Book 19, 7 July to 30 July 1918. They are reproduced in this book as Appendix II.
15.Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash, The Australian Victories in France in 1918, p. 84.
16.ibid. p. 95.
17.ibid. p. 84.
18.Bean, Vol VI, pp. 496–97.
19.Bovington Tank Museum, E2006.2387, 5th Tank Brigade History.
20.Brevet-Colonel J F C Fuller, Tanks in the Great War, 1914–1918, pp. 43–45.
21.Bovington Tank Museum, E2006.2387, 5th Tank Brigade History, and Bean, Vol VI, pp. 498–99.
22.Bovington Tank Museum, E2006.2387, 5th Tank Brigade History.
23.These figures are taken from the Fourth Army Report for Amiens, and Bean, Vol VI, p. 499 (footnote).
24.Bean, Vol VI, p. 499 (footnote).
25.AWM 4, 1/14/10, General Staff, Headquarters Fourth Army, War Diary, August 1918, Part 1.
26.Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson, Command on the Western Front: The Military Career of Sir Henry Rawlinson 1914–1918, p. 314.
27.AWM 3DRL/2316 Monash Papers, Series 4 Folder 5, copy of the ‘Fourth Army Artillery in the Battle of Amiens’.
28.ibid.
29.F M Cutlack, Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–18, Volume VIII, Australian Flying Corps, p. 308.
30.Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson, Command on the Western Front: The Military Career of Sir Henry Rawlinson 1914–1918, pp. 310–11.
31.The purpose of a drag washer was to allow the hook of a drag rope to be passed through the loop of the washer so that when manhandling in adverse conditions, manpower could be used to pull on the drag rope to move the gun carriage. There was one drag washer per wheel.
