Pozieres

by Scott Bennett

  Treloar, Alan (ed.), An ANZAC Diary, self-published, Armidale, 1993.

  Tuchman, Barbara W., The Guns of August, Robinson, London, 2000.

  Walker, Jonathan, The Blood Tub: General Gough and the battle of Bullecourt, 1917, The History Press, Gloucestershire, 1998.

  Warner, Philip, Field Marshal Earl Haig, Cassell, London, 2001.

  White, Richard and Russell, Penny (eds), Memories and Dreams: reflection on 20th century Australia, Allen and Unwin, St Leonards, 1997.

  White, T.A., The Fighting Thirteenth: the history of the Thirteenth Battalion, AIF, Tyrell’s, Sydney, 1924.

  Wiest, Andrew A., Haig: the evolution of a commander, Potomac Books, Washington D.C., 2005.

  Williams, John F., Anzacs, the Media and the Great War, UNSW Press, Sydney, 1999.

  Winn, John Keeble, Still Playing the Game: a history of Toowoomba Grammar School, 1875–2000, Playright Publishing, Caringbah, 2000.

  Winter, Denis, Haig’s Command: a reassessment, Penguin, London, 2001.

  —— (ed.), Making the Legend: the war writings of C.E.W. Bean, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 1992.

  Winter, Jay, Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning: the Great War in European cultural history, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York, 1995.

  Whyte, W. Farmer, William Morris Hughes: his life and times, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1957.

  Wren, Eric, Randwick to Hargicourt: history of the 3rd Battalion, AIF, Ronald G. McDonald, Sydney, 1935.

  Youell, Duncan and Edgell, David, The Somme: ninety years on — a visual history, Dorling Kindersley, London, 2006.

  Young, Margaret and Gammage, Bill (eds), Hail and Farewell: letters from two brothers killed in France in 1916, Alec and Goldy Raws, Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst, 1995.

  Ziino, Bart, A Distant Grief: Australians, war graves and the Great War, University of Western Australia Press, Crawley, 2007.

  Field work

  Somme, 2003, 2005, 2007

  Verdun, 2005

  Interviews

  Colin Drosen, telephone interview, 16 August 2010.

  Jane Ekin-Smyth, telephone interview, 17 August 2010.

  Margaret Lee, telephone interview, 30 November 2010.

  Unpublished sources

  Breed, Florence, ‘From France with Love 1916–1918’, 1995.

  Miller, John Dermot, ‘A Study in the Limitations of Command: General Sir William Birdwood and the AIF, 1914–1918’, Manuscript 1459, Australian War Memorial, 1993.

  Raws, John (ed.), ‘Records of an Australian Lieutenant: a story of bravery, devotion, and self sacrifice 1915–1916’, 1931.

  Taplin, Claire (ed.), ‘Dad’s War Diaries 1915–1919: Reg Telfer, Australian Medical Corps, 27th Battalion’, 1996.

  Urban, Frank, ‘Somme Anzac Digger’, 2000.

  Willmington, Margaret (ed.), ‘Diaries of an Unsung Hero: Alfred Robert Morrison Stewart’, 1995.

  Notes

  The following organisations have been abbreviated: Australian War Memorial (AWM), National Archives of Australian (NAA), and State Library of Victoria (SLV).

  Introduction

  Foxcroft, MS 9613, SLV. An example of the fabric patch worn by 1st Division soldiers at Pozières is on display at the Australian War Memorial, ID Number RELAWM07976.

  The activity behind the front line is described in Gee, 3DRL/0895, AWM and Newton, The Story of the Twelfth, p. 97. The French peasants working the fields is described in Treloar, An ANZAC Diary, pp. 281, 284 and their ‘state of mind’ in Manning, The Middle Parts of Fortune, p. 128.

  Foxcroft, MS 9613, SLV.

  4th Infantry Battalion, 23/21/17, AWM.

  Harris, 1DRL/0338, AWM and Partridge, Frank Honywood, Private, p. 74.

  Bean, The AIF in France, 1916, p. 306. The actual numbers Bean quoted were 63,013 divisional and 4579 corps troops. The New Zealand Division was part of II Anzac Corps.

  Upon transferring to France in March 1916, I Anzac Corps comprised the 1st and 2nd Australian infantry divisions and a New Zealand division. When the corps transferred to the Somme region in July 1916, it comprised the 1st, 2nd, and 4th Australian infantry divisions. Bean indicated that upon the opening of the Somme offensive, the Allies had over 30 attacking, support, and reserve divisions, and the Germans 12. With approximately 20,000 men per division as well as corps staff, there was in the vicinity of one million men embroiled in battle at any one time. See Bean, The AIF in France, 1916, p. 310.

  Fourth British Army commander General Sir Henry Rawlinson believed that Pozières was the key to the area. Quoted in Bean, The AIF in France, 1916, p. 455.

  Masefield, The Battle of the Somme, p. 63. Different sources refer to the road that runs through Pozières as the Bapaume road, Albert road, Pozières road, and Albert–Bapaume road. For consistency purposes, ‘the Bapaume road’ has been used throughout, as this term is most used in division, brigade, and battalion war diaries.

  See Macdonald, Somme, p. 115; Sheffield and Bourne, Douglas Haig, p. 211; Bean, ‘The Reasons for Pozières’, p. 21; and Masefield, The Battle of the Somme, p. 63.

  British war correspondent John Masefield described the Anzacs as ‘the finest body of young men ever brought together in modern times. For physical beauty and nobility of bearing they surpassed any men I have ever seen … they were the flower of the world’s manhood, and died as they had lived, owning no master on this earth.’ See Masefield, Gallipoli.

  The Sydney Morning Herald, 24 July 1917, p. 6.

  Quoted in Ferguson, The Pity of War, p. 213.

  The Herald, 24 July, p. 10; 27 July, p. 7; and 8 August 1916, p. 12, and The Sydney Morning Herald, 28 July, p. 7; 8 August, p. 7; and 21 August, p. 7.

  The Age, 12 August 1916, p. 12.

  The Herald, 3 June 1919, p. 12.

  Chapter 1: The Road to Pozières

  Barnett, The Great War, pp. 35–37.

  Bean, The AIF in France, 1916, p. 1.

  Bean, Anzac to Amiens, p. 183.

  ibid., p. 185.

  Foxcroft, MS 9613, SLV.

  ibid.

  Quoted in Winter, Making the Legend, p. 10. Bean also wrote that his duty was ‘to record the plain and absolute truth so far as it was within his limited power to compass it’. See Bean, The Story of Anzac, p. xxx.

  McCarthy noted that Bean’s sense of what was right was unbending, ‘sometime disproportionately so’. He cited the example of Bean seeking a small ‘sniper’ car because it would cost his government less. See McCarthy, Gallipoli to the Somme, p. 231. Bean’s commitment to the truth and ethical standards are also described in Winter, Making the Legend, pp. 1–18.

  See Bean, The Story of Anzac, p. 46.

  Bean, 38-3DRL/606/2/1, AWM, p. 102.

  Bean, 38-3DRL/606/1/1, AWM, p. 97.

  The figure of 286 volumes includes diaries, notebooks, and folders kept by Bean during and after the war.

  Seal, Inventing Anzac, p. 8.

  ‘40 men, eight horses’. Description in Chapman, Iven G. Mackay, p. 70 and Joynt, Breaking the Road for the Rest, p. 70.

  Drake-Brockman, The Turning Wheel, p. 99. Subsequent quotations ibid., pp. 100, 101.

  Coates, MS 10345, SLV.

  Foxcroft, MS 9613, SLV.

  Bean, Anzac to Amiens, pp. 202–04.

  Bean, Letters from France, p. 18.

  Estimates vary on the divisions involved and the attack frontage on the first day. Bean’s estimates are in Bean, The AIF in France, 1916, p. 232.

  Ramage and Hanbury-Sparrow quoted in Youell and Edgel, The Somme, pp. 70–72.

  Charteris, At GHQ, p. 152.

  Haig’s notification and Birdie’s orders are discussed in Bean, Anzac to Amiens, pp. 216, 219.

/>   Quoted in Chapman, Iven G. Mackay, p. 73.

  Ellis, The Story of the Fifth Australian Division. Chapter 1 indicates the composition and functions of an Australian division on the Western Front.

  ‘Brass heads’ or ‘heads’ was a term popular with the Anzacs to describe staff officers. See Breed, ‘From France with Love 1916–1918’, pp. 68–69.

  Browne, 2DRL/0619, AWM.

  Thomas, 3DRL/2206, AWM.

  Maze, A Frenchman in Khaki, p. 149.

  1st Infantry Brigade, 23/1/12, AWM.

  The following sources describe the hard marching: Coates, MS 10345, SLV; Belford, Legs-eleven, pp. 262–64; Taylor and Cusack, Nulli Secundus, p. 176; and Newton, The Story of the Twelfth, p. 95.

  Quoted in Willmington, ‘Diaries of an Unsung Hero’, p. 124.

  Coates, MS 10345, SLV.

  Bean, Letters from France, p. 26, and Bean, 38-3DRL/606/42/1, AWM, p. 26.

  Quoted in Chapman, Iven G. Mackay, p. 72.

  Harris, 1DRL/0338, AWM.

  Drake-Brockman, The Turning Wheel, p. 103.

  McSparron, 1DRL/0463, AWM.

  de Vine, 1DRL/0240, AWM.

  McSparron, 1DRL/0463 and Harris, 1DRL/0338, both AWM.

  Bean’s description in Bean, The AIF in France, 1916, p. 471; story of soldier weeping in Wren, Randwick to Hargicourt, p. 155.

  Diary entry in Terraine, Douglas Haig, pp. 214–15; letter in Sheffield and Bourne, Douglas Haig, p. 86.

  Chapman, Iven G. Mackay, p. 70.

  Bean, The AIF in France, 1916, p. 47.

  General Staff, I Anzac Corps, 1/29/6, AWM.

  Quoted in Bean, Two Men I Knew, p. 134.

  Sheffield, ‘An Army Commander on the Somme’ in Sheffield and Todman, Command and Control on the Western Front, pp. 76–77.

  Farrar-Hockley, Goughie, p. 190.

  Quoted in Bean, The AIF in France, 1916, p. 455.

  Bean, Two Men I Knew, p. 134.

  Drake-Brockman, The Turning Wheel, p. 104.

  Fewster, Gallipoli Correspondent, p. 154.

  Drake-Brockman, The Turning Wheel, p. 103.

  Administrative Staff, 1st Australian Division, 1/43/18, AWM.

  Sheffield and Todman, ‘An Army Commander on the Somme’, p. 76.

  General Staff, I Anzac Corps, 1/29/6, AWM.

  Bean, The AIF in France, 1916, pp. 482–85.

  Rutledge, Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 8, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, 1981, pp. 555–56.

  Quoted in Bean, 38-3DRL/606/237/1, AWM.

  Bean, The AIF in France, 1916, pp. 43–46.

  Andrews, The Anzac Illusion, p. 113.

  Birdie quoted in Bean, 38-3DRL/606/237/1, AWM. Bean wrote of the politics of officer appointments in the AIF in 38-3DRL/606/40/1, AWM, pp. 38–55.

  Masefield, The Battle of the Somme, p. 63.

  Bean, The AIF in France, 1916, p. 457.

  Keech, Pozières, p. 17.

  Bean, Anzac to Amiens, p. 238.

  ibid., pp. 454, 465 and Bean, The AIF in France, 1916, p. 467.

  Horton, 1DRL/0359, AWM.

  Chapter 2: Foreboding

  Contay Château is described in Treloar, An ANZAC Diary, pp. 267–69 and The Herald, 7 August 1916, p. 1. The Times proprietor Lord Northcliffe wrote the article that appeared in The Herald. As an early example of myth-making, he referred to the two Australians guarding the château as ‘giants’.

  White’s work habits are described in Derham, The Silent Ruse, p. 56.

  ibid., p. 41. Subsequent quotations ibid., pp. 40, 49.

  Belford, Legs-eleven, p. 258.

  Birdwood, 3DRL/3376, AWM.

  Chapman, Iven G. Mackay, p. 69.

  In his autobiography, Birdie referred to those he admired as ‘English Christian gentlemen’. See Birdwood, Khaki and Gown, p. 25.

  Letter by Monash dated 1915. Quoted in Serle, John Monash, pp. 205–07.

  Hamilton in a letter to Churchill dated 2 March 1915, quoted in Martin, Gilbert, Documents, vol. 3 of Winston S. Churchill, 1972.

  Bean, Two Men I Knew, p. 96.

  Cited in Derham, The Silent Ruse, p. 44. Subsequent quotations and discussion of anxiety ibid., pp. 39, 38, 231, 124–7 and Bean, Two Men I Knew, p. 81.

  White’s time at the British Staff College and desire for Gough’s approval described in Derham, The Silent Ruse, pp. 188–91.

  Bean, Two Men I Knew, p. 225. Subsequent quotations pp. 141, 131.

  Albert and the ‘Stooping Virgin’ described in Wren, Randwick to Hargicourt, p. 156; Chapman, Iven G. Mackay, p. 73; Joynt, Breaking the Road for the Rest, p. 82; and Maze, A Frenchman in Khaki, p. 142.

  Foxcroft, MS 9613, SLV and de Vine, 1DRL/0240, AWM.

  The Official History notes that when White discovered that the proposed line of the British barrage would fall across the attacking infantry, he communicated, on the afternoon of 21 July, a further 24-hour postponement to the brigadiers. See Bean, The AIF in France, 1916, pp. 484–85.

  Foxcroft, MS 9613, SLV.

  Maze, A Frenchman in Khaki, p. 154.

  Foxcroft, MS 9613, SLV.

  Chapman, Iven G. Mackay, p. 73.

  Harris, 1DRL/0338, AWM.

  General Staff, 1st Australian Division, 1/42/18, AWM.

  Claridge, 2DRL/0240, AWM.

  Harris, 1DRL/0338, AWM.

  Bean, The AIF in France, 1916, p. 489.

  Browne, 2DRL/0619, AWM.

  Browne’s story based on events described in Browne, 1DRL/0428, AWM.

  Browne, 2DRL/0619, AWM.

  Correspondence between James Browne and the Base Records Office is archived in series B2455, Philip Gerald Browne, NAA. It includes the letter of consent signed by Philip’s parents, permitting him to enlist in the expeditionary force.

  Chapter 3: Fromelles

  Haig’s warnings, and concern over Australians’ tasks, in Sheffield and Bourne, Douglas Haig, p. 208.

  Quoted in McMullin, Pompey Elliott, p. 208.

  The difficulties confronting both divisions are well documented. See for example Bean, Anzac to Amiens, pp. 226–28 and the summary of Pompey Elliott’s 1930 lecture in Corfield, Don’t Forget Me, Cobber, p. 404.

  Haig’s despatch to Munro is quoted in Bean, ‘The Reasons for Fromelles’ and Bean, The AIF in France, 1916, p. 350.

  Macdonald, Somme, p. 176 and Keown, Forward with the Fifth, p. 163.

  Toll’s report on operations at Fleurbaix written on 21 July 1916 and reproduced in Bean, 38-3DRL/606/243a/1, AWM.

  Quoted in Bean, The AIF in France, 1916, p. 358.

  Bean, Anzac to Amiens, p. 230 and Bean, 38-3DRL/606/243a/1, AWM.

  15th Infantry Brigade, 23/15/5, AWM.

  Bean, Anzac to Amiens, p. 230.

  Colonel Cass described the 8th Brigade retiring ‘in what appeared to be a panic’. See Bean, 38-3DRL/606/243a/1, AWM.

  Bean’s actions, including visiting brigade commanders, in Bean, 38-3DRL/606/52/1, AWM.

  Bean, 38-3DRL/606/237/1, AWM. Pope vehemently denied to McCay and Birdie that he was drunk; he claimed he was asleep.

  Knyvett, ‘Over There’ with the Australians, p. 155.

  Barbour in a letter to Bean dated 1926. See Bean, 38-3DRL/606/243b/1, AWM.

  Bean, 38-3DRL/606/52/1, AWM.

  Bean, 38-3DRL/606/49/1, AWM, p. 61.

  Bean, 38-3DRL/606/243a/1, AWM.

  The Argus, 10 April 1920, p. 7.

  See Ekins, ‘The Battle of Fromelles’ and Pedersen, ‘Reflections on a Battlefield’, pp. 18–29.

  Pedersen, ‘Reflections on a Battlefield’, p. 25.

&nbs
p; Bean, 38-3DRL/606/52/1, AWM.

  Chapter 4: Lurid Clouds of War

  Scene and sketches in Bean, 38-3DRL/606/52/1, AWM, pp. 37, 45–48.

  Quoted in Austin, The Fighting Fourth, p. 107.

  Joynt, Breaking the Road for the Rest, p. 81. Subsequent quotation ibid.

  Horton, 1DRL/0359, AWM.

  The following sources, written by Bean, describe how the troops occupied themselves: The AIF in France, 1916, p. 493; 38-3DRL/606/52/1, AWM; and Letters from France, p. 104. Also, Belford, Legs-eleven, p. 274.

  Newton, The Story of the Twelfth, p. 98.

  There are numerous examples of Anzacs keeping newspaper articles or poetic works in their dairies. See Coates, MS 10345; Cocking, MS 10167; and Clayton, MS 10434, all SLV.

  O’Neil, The Poetical Works of Henry Lawson, pp. 2–3.

  Malpas, 2DRL/0001, AWM.

  Foxcroft, MS 9613, SLV.

  Thomas, 3DRL/2206, AWM.

  Londey, ‘If I Die at any Rate I Will Have Tried’, p. 30.

  Joynt, Breaking the Road for the Rest, pp. 81–82. The Gallipoli veterans’ demeanour and their influence upon the ‘cleanskins’ is also described on p. 80 and in Urban, ‘Somme Anzac Digger’, p. 3.

  Scene described in Belford, Legs-eleven, pp. 274–75; Newton, The Story of the Twelfth, p. 98; and Maze, A Frenchman in Khaki, p. 158.

  Quoted in Derham, The Silent Ruse, pp. 49–50.

  Treloar, An ANZAC Diary, pp. 266, 273.

  Maze, A Frenchman in Khaki, p. 157.

  Bean recorded the concerns in his diary. See Bean, 38-3DRL/606/52/1, AWM.

  Thomas Blamey in a letter to James Blamey in Hetherington, Blamey, p. 39.

  Bean’s journey to the dugout, and his thoughts during it, are described in Bean, 38-3DRL/606/52/1, pp. 31–38 and 38-3DRL/606/54/1, pp. 53–61, both AWM.

  Scott, Australia During the War, vol. 11, p. 2.

  Quoted in ibid., p. 6.

  The Argus, 5 August 1914, p. 6.

  Scott, Australia During the War, pp. 13–14.

  Harry S. Gullet’s article, ‘United Empire’, appeared in the Journal of the Royal Colonial Institute in October 1914. Quoted in Alomes and Jones, Australian Nationalism, p. 166.