by Peter Brune
32.AWM 4 13/12/28 Unit Diary, Headquarters, 3rd Australian Divisional Artillery, August 1918, Part 1.
33.Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash, The Australian Victories in France in 1918, p. 126.
34.Quoted in AWM 4 13/12/28 Unit Diary, Headquarters, 3rd Australian Divisional Artillery, August 1918, Part 2.
35.AWM PR00420, Gunner James Armitage, 30th Battery, 8th AFA Brigade, 3rd Division, diary, 8 August 1918.
36.The author has copies of the 2nd, 8th and 13th Tank Battalion reports, and the 5th Tank Brigade’s history. There are frequent references to mist, fog and smoke barrages and the difficulties in navigation. The same reports seem to fail to acknowledge their screening attributes in the approach.
37.AWM 4, 1/46/22 Formation HQ, General Staff, Headquarters 3rd Division, the August Diary, Part 1.
38.ibid.
39.AWM 4 1/48/29 Formation HQ, General Staff, Headquarters 4th Division, the August Diary, Part 3.
40.ibid.
41.AWM PR00420, Gunner James Armitage, 30th Battery, 8th AFA Brigade, 3rd Division, diary, 8 August 1918.
42.Mitchell Library, Sydney: MSS 2763, Corporal Clifford Geddes, diary, 8 August 1918.
43.AWM 4 1/44/37 Formation HQ, General Staff, Headquarters 2nd Division, the August Diary, 1918 Part 3.
44.ibid.
45.ibid.
46.State Library of South Australia, PRG/503, papers of Lance-Corporal L S Clarkson, 32nd Battalion, 8 August 1918.
47.Bovington Tank Museum, E2006.2387.
48.Report of operations of 17th (Armoured Car) Tank Battalion, 8 August 1918, a copy of which is found in: AWM 4 1/50/30 Part 10: General Staff, Headquarters 5th Australian Division, August 1918, Part 10.
49.ibid.
50.ibid.
51.Report of operations of 17th (Armoured Car) Tank Battalion, 8 August 1918, Battle History Sheet, written by Lieutenant E J Rollings, copy of which is found in: AWM 4 1/50/30 Part 10: General Staff, Headquarters 5th Australian Division, August 1918, Part 10.
52.Report of operations of 17th (Armoured Car) Tank Battalion, 8 August 1918, a copy of which is found in: AWM 4 1/50/30 Part 10: General Staff, Headquarters 5th Australian Division, August 1918, Part 10.
53.Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash, The Australian Victories in France in 1918, p. 75.
54.AWM 26/472/2, Fourth Army HQ, Final Offensive 5–12 August 1918 (Part I).
55.Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson, Command on the Western Front: The Military Career of Sir Henry Rawlinson 1914–1918, p. 325.
56.ibid. p. 326.
57.Mitchell Library, Sydney: MSS 2763, Corporal Clifford Geddes, diary, 8 August 1918.
7 . . . the enemy’s inevitable reaction
1.Bean, Vol VI, p. 616.
2.AWM 3DRL/2316, Monash Papers, Series 4, Folder 5, copy of the Fourth Army Artillery Report in the Battle of Amiens.
3.ibid.
4.ibid.
5.ibid.
6.AWM 4, 8/6/20, No. 3 Squadron Australian Flying Corps, August 1918, Part 1.
7.ibid.
8.Bovington Tank Museum, E2006.2387, 5th Tank Brigade History.
9.ibid.
10.Bovington Tank Museum, 5th Tank Brigade War Experiences.
11.Bovington Tank Museum, E2006.2387, 5th Tank Brigade History. This history provides us with the August 1918 statistics for date, battalion, locality, the number of tanks started, the number that reached their objectives, and the number that received direct hits.
12.AWM: 3DRL/2316, Monash Papers, Series 4, Folder 5, copy of the Fourth Army rtillery Report in the Battle of Amiens.
13.Bean, Vol VI, p. 618.
14.Bean, Vol VI, p. 619, lists the tank support at fourteen for the 1st Division, seven for the 5th Division, and fifteen for the 2nd Division, with five of these held in Corps reserve. My figures are taken, and adopted, from Bovington Tank Museum, E2006.2387, 5th Tank Brigade History.
15.AWM 4, 1/42/43, General Staff, Headquarters 1st Australian Division, August 1918, Part 3.
16.AWM 4, 1/42/43, General Staff, Headquarters 1st Australian Division, August 1918, Part 3.
17.AWM 4, 23/15/30, 15th Brigade Unit Diary, August 1918, Part 4, Brigadier-General Elliott’s Report, 9 August.
18.ibid.
19.Bean, Vol VI, p. 621.
20.AWM 4, 1/42/43, General Staff, Headquarters 1st Australian Division, August 1918, Part 3.
21.AWM 4, 13/10/47, Headquarters, 1st Australian Divisional Artillery, August 1918, Part 3.
22.Brevet-Colonel J F C Fuller, Tanks in the Great War, 1914–1918, p. 228.
23.AWM 4, 23/77/31, 60th Battalion Unit Diary, August 1918.
24.ibid.
25.AWM 4, 23/46/37, 29th Battalion Unit Diary, August 1918.
26.ibid.
27.ibid.
28.ibid.
29.Account of action of 2nd Tank Battalion, afternoon 8th August to evening of 9th August 1918, by Major F S Laskey. A copy of the report is in AWM 4, 1/50/30 General Staff, Headquarters 5th Australian Division, August 1918, Part 10.
30.ibid.
31.AWM 4, 23/2/40, 2nd Brigade Unit Diary, August 1918, Report on Operations carried out by the 2nd Aust. Inf. Brigade on the 9th, 10th.
32.Account of action of 2nd Tank Battalion, afternoon 8th August to evening of 9th August 1918, by Major F S Laskey. A copy of the report is in AWM 4, 1/50/30 General Staff, Headquarters 5th Australian Division, August 1918 Part 10.
33.AWM 4, 23/2/40, 2nd Brigade Unit Diary, August 1918 Report on Operations carried out by the 2nd Aust. Inf. Brigade on the 9th, 10th.
34.AWM 4, 23/25/44, 8th Battalion War Diary, August 1918.
35.AWM PR 87/018 Papers of Private Paul Johanesen, 8th Battalion. From a letter home to ‘Jim and Ruby’.
36.AWM 4, 23/2/40, 2nd Brigade Unit Diary, August 1918 Report on Operations carried out by the 2nd Aust. Inf. Brigade on the 9th, 10th.
37.Bean, Vol VI, p. 637.
38.ibid.
39.AWM 4, 1/42/43, General Staff, Headquarters 1st Australian Division, August 1918, Part 3.
40.ibid.
41.Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash, The Australian Victories in France in 1918, p. 136.
42.Bovington Tank Museum, E2006.2387, 5th Tank Brigade History.
43.Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash, The Australian Victories in France in 1918, p. 139.
44.Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson, Command on the Western Front: The Military Career of Sir Henry Rawlinson 1914–1918, p. 334.
45.Mitchell Library, Sydney: MSS 2763, Corporal Clifford Geddes, diary, 8 August 1918.
46.Bean, Vol VI, p. 682.
47.Bean, Vol VI, p. 683.
48.ibid.
49.Account of action of 2nd Tank Battalion, afternoon 8th August to evening of 9th August 1918, by Major F S Laskey. A copy of the report is in AWM 4, 1/50/30 General Staff, Headquarters 5th Australian Division, August 1918, Part 10.
50.Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson, Command on the Western Front: The Military Career of Sir Henry Rawlinson 1914–1918, p. 320.
51.Peter Pedersen, Monash as Military Commander, p. 248.
8 Our horses hated it and whimpered
1.Peter Pedersen, Monash as Military Commander, p. 257–58.
2.Bovington Tank Museum, E2006.2387, 5th Tank Brigade History.
3.Bean, Anzac to Amiens, p. 476.
4.AWM 4, 1/46/22 Formation HQ, General Staff, Headquarters 3rd Division, the August Diary, Part 3. Narrative of Operations of Third Australian Division, North of the Somme, from August 13th 1918 to 2nd September 1918.
5.ibid.
6.Bean, Vol VI, p. 727.
7.ibid.
8.AWM 4, 23/50/22, 33rd Infantry Battalion Unit Diary, August 1918, Part 1.
9.ibid.
10.AWM 4, 1/46/22 Formation HQ, General Staff, Headquarters 3rd Division, the August Diary, Part 3. Narrative of Operations of Third Australian Division, North of the Somme, from August 13th 1918 to 2nd September 1918.
11.AWM 4, 23/50/22, 33rd Infantry Battalion Unit Di
ary, August 1918, Part 1.
12.ibid.
13.AWM 4, 1/46/22 Formation HQ, General Staff, Headquarters 3rd Division, the August Diary, Part 3. Narrative of Operations of Third Australian Division, North of the Somme, from August 13th 1918 to 2nd September 1918.
14.ibid.
15.Bovington Tank Museum, E2006.2387, 5th Tank Brigade History.
16.ibid.
17.ibid.
18.ibid.
19.Bean, Vol VI, p. 736.
20.AWM 4, 1/42/44, General Staff, Headquarters 1st Australian Division, the September Diary, Part 2. Appendix, Report of Operations in Proyart Sector 22nd August, to 27th August, 1918.
21.ibid.
22.Bovington Tank Museum, Tank Battle Sheets of 13th Battalion, Tank Corps, Lieutenant W Ribchester, 23 August 1918.
23.ibid.
24.AWM 2DRL/0711, Lieutenant Sydney Traill, 1st Battalion, diary, 23 August 1918.
25.F M Cutlack, Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–18, Volume VIII, Australian Flying Corps, p. 315.
26.Bean, Vol VI, p. 760.
27.Peter Pedersen, Monash as Military Commander, p. 260.
28.ibid.
29.Bovington Tank Museum, E2006.2387, 5th Tank Brigade History.
30.AWM 4, 1/46/22 Formation HQ, General Staff, Headquarters 3rd Division, the August Diary, Part 3. Narrative of Operations of Third Australian Division, North of the Somme, from August 13th 1918 to 2nd September 1918.
31.ibid.
32.AWM PR00420, Gunner James Armitage, 30th Battery, 8th AFA Brigade, 3rd Division, diary, 22 August 1918.
33.Quoted in Bean, Vol VI, p. 761.
34.Peter Pedersen, Monash as Military Commander, pp. 261–62.
35.ibid. footnote p. 262.
36.ibid.
37.Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash, The Australian Victories in France in 1918, p. 167.
38.ibid. p. 164.
39.State Library of South Australia, PRG/503, papers of Lance-Corporal L S Clarkson, 32nd Battalion, letter to his parents 1 September 1918. The events in his letter have been matched with the 32nd Battalion Unit Diary for August 1918.
9 . . . an ignorant, wonderful lot of fools
1.Bean, Vol VI, p. 810. (footnote).
2.Mitchell Library, Sydney: MSS 2763, Corporal Clifford Geddes, diary, 31 August 1918.
3.ibid. 5 September 1918.
4.Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash, The Australian Victories in France in 1918, p. 167.
5.ibid.
6.AWM PR00420, Gunner James Armitage, 30th Battery, 8th AFA Brigade, 3rd Division, diary, 28–29 August 1918.
7.Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash, The Australian Victories in France in 1918, p. 169.
8.Bovington Tank Museum, E2006.2387, 5th Tank Brigade History.
9.Ian M Brown, British Logistics on the Western Front, 1914–1919, p. 197.
10.Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash, The Australian Victories in France in 1918, p. 174.
11.ibid. p. 169.
12.ibid. p. 177.
13.AWM 4, 1/44/38 Formation HQ, General Staff, Headquarters 2nd Division, the September Diary, Part 1. Report of Operations of Second Australian Division, from August 26 to 5th September 1918.
14.ibid.
15.Peter Pedersen, Monash as Military Commander, p. 264.
16.AWM 4, 1/44/38 Formation HQ, General Staff, Headquarters 2nd Division, the September Diary, Part 1. Report of Operations of Second Australian Division, from August 26 to 5th September 1918.
17.AWM 3 DRL 749, Private William McLennan, 2nd Machine Gun Battalion, diary, March–August 1918.
18.ibid. 29 August 1918.
19.AWM 4, 1/44/38 Formation HQ, General Staff, Headquarters 2nd Division, the September Diary, Part 1. Report of Operations of Second Australian Division, from August 26 to 5th September 1918.
20.ibid.
21.AWM 4, 23/8/33, 8th Australian Infantry Brigade Unit Diary, August diary 1918.
22.AWM 4, 23/48/37, 31st Battalion Unit Diary, August diary 1918.
23.Peter Pedersen, Monash as Military Commander, pp. 264–67.
24.The timing of the conference is taken from AWM 4, 1/44/38, General Staff, Headquarters 2nd Australian Division, September 1918, Part 1. General Rosenthal’s Report, 26 August to 5 September 1918. The description of the venue is from Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash, The Australian Victories in France in 1918, p. 178.
25.AWM 4, 14/8/23, Headquarters 2nd Australian Divisional Engineers, Unit Diary, August 1918, Part 1.
26.ibid.
27.AWM 4, 1/46/22, General Staff, Headquarters 3rd Australian Division, August 1918, Part 3. Taken from General Gellibrand’s Report, 13 August to 2 September 1918.
28.ibid.
29.Bean, Vol VI, p. 792.
30.AWM 4, 1/46/22, General Staff, Headquarters 3rd Australian Division, August 1918, Part 3. Taken from General Gellibrand’s Report, 13 August to 2 September 1918.
31.AWM 3 DRL 749, Private William McLennan, 2nd Machine Gun Battalion, diary, 30 August 1918.
32.AWM 4, 23/15/31, 15th Brigade War Diary, Report in the September Diary, Appendix 1.
33.Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash, The Australian Victories in France in 1918, p. 181.
34.AWM 4, 1/44/38 Formation HQ, General Staff, Headquarters 2nd Division, the September Diary, Part 1. Report of Operations of Second Australian Division, from August 26 to 5th September 1918.
35.AWM 4, 13/11/30 Headquarters, 2nd Australian Division Artillery, August 1918, Part 1. Report on Operations August 31st to September 2nd 1918.
36.ibid.
37.AWM 4, 23/34/37, 17th Infantry Battalion War Diary, August 1918.
38.AWM 4, 23/5/39, 5th Infantry Brigade, Report on Operations, Mont St Quentin, September 1918.
39.AWM 4, 23/34/37, 17th Battalion Unit Diary, August 1918.
40.AWM 4, 23/5/39, 5th Infantry Brigade, Report on Operations, Mont St Quentin, September 1918.
41.AWM 4, 23/34/37, 17th Battalion Unit Diary, August 1918.
42.AWM 4, 23/37/37, 20th Battalion Unit Diary, August 1918.
43.ibid.
44.AWM 3 DRL 749, Private William McLennan, 2nd Machine Gun Battalion, diary, 31 August 1918.
45.AWM 4, 23/36/31, 19th Battalion Unit Diary, August 1918.
46.AWM 4, 1/46/22, General Staff, Headquarters 3rd Australian Division, August 1918, Part 3. Taken from General Gellibrand’s Report, 13 August to 2 September 1918.
47.AWM 4, 23/10/22, 10th Infantry Brigade Unit Diary, August 1918 Appendices, Part 1.
48.Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash, The Australian Victories in France in 1918, pp. 187–88.
49.AWM 4, 13/11/30 Headquarters, 2nd Australian Division Artillery, August 1918, Part 1. Report on Operations August 31st to September 2nd 1918.
50.ibid.
51.The author found this 14th Brigade Report in the appendices of the 15th Brigade Unit Diary. AWM 4, 23/15/31, 15th Infantry Brigade Unit Diary, September 1918 Appendix 1.
52.AWM 4, 23/15/31, 15th Infantry Brigade Unit Diary, September 1918. Appendix 1. Report on Operations, 15th Infantry Brigade, September 1st to 5th 1918.
53.ibid.
54.AWM 3 DRL 749, Private William McLennan, 2nd Machine Gun Battalion, diary, 1 September 1918.
55.AWM 4, 13/11/30 Headquarters, 2nd Australian Division Artillery, August 1918, Part 1. Report on Operations August 31st to September 2nd 1918.
56.AWM 4, 1/50/31, General Staff, Headquarters 5th Australian Division, September 1918. Part 1. Major General Hobbs’s Report on Operations, 31 August to 2 September 1918.
57.AWM 3 DRL 749, Private William McLennan, 2nd Machine Gun Battalion, diary, 3 September 1918.
58.State Library of South Australia, PRG/503, papers of Lance-Corporal L S Clarkson, 32nd Battalion, letter to his parents, 10 October 1918.
59.Bean, Vol VI, p. 8734.
60.Major-General Archibald Montgomery, The Story of the Fourth Army in the Battles of the Hundred Days, August 8th to November 11th, 1918, p. 111.
61.Les Carlyon, The Great War, p. 694.
62.Bean, Vol VI, p. 873.
63.Peter Pedersen, Monash as Military Commander, p. 271.
64.The Victoria Cross recipients (* denotes posthumous award) were: Captain George Cartwright, 33rd Battalion, Bouchavesnes, 31 August 1918; Corporal Alexander Buckley,* 54th Battalion, Péronne, 1 September 1918; Warrant-Officer William Currey, 53rd Battalion, Péronne, 1 September 1918; Lieutenant Arthur Hall, 54th Battalion, Péronne, 1 September 1918; Sergeant Albert Lowerson, 21st Battalion, Mont St Quentin, 1 September 1918; Private Robert Mactier,* 23rd Battalion, Mont St Quentin, 1 September 1918; Lieutenant Edgar Towner, Australian Machine Gun Corps, Mont St Quentin, 1 September 1918; Corporal Lawrence Weathers, 43rd Battalion, Péronne, 2 September 1918.
10 A stunning achievement
1.Bean, Vol VI, p. 874.
2.ibid. p. 879.
3.Robert Blake (ed.), The Private Papers of Douglas Haig 1914–1919, p. 324.
4.ibid. p. 326.
5.ibid.
6.See Chapter 6 note 51 of this work.
7.ibid.
8.A copy of Captain Chapman’s appreciation is to be found in AWM 4, 13/14/33, Part 1, Headquarters, 5th Australian Division Artillery, October 1918.
9.Report on the St Quentin Canal, in AWM 4, 13/14/33, Headquarters, 5th Australian Division Artillery, October 1918, Part 1.
10.ibid.
11.ibid.
12.F M Cutlack, Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–18, Volume VIII, Australian Flying Corps, p. 325.
13.Peter Pedersen, Monash as Military Commander, p. 274.
14.AWM 4, 8/6/21, No. 3 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, Unit Diary, September 1918, Part 1.
15.Peter Chasseaud, Artillery’s Astrologers: A History of British Survey and Mapping on the Western Front 1914–1918, p. 470.
16.ibid. p. 471.
17.AWM 4, 13/13/28, Headquarters, 4th Australian Division Artillery, September 1918, Part 2.
18.Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash, The Australian Victories in France in 1918, pp. 222–23.
19.AWM 4, 1/48/31, General Staff, Headquarters 4th Australian Division, Report on Operations 10–20 September, October 1918.
20.ibid.
21.AWM 4, 1/48/31, General Staff, Headquarters 4th Australian Division, Part 2, Instructions, Series ‘D’ No 11, Aircraft.
