This bombardment continued with unabated fury till about 10 o’clock, when they launched their counter-attack. They only added to the dreadful layer of dead in no man’s land. I am not overestimating things when I say that there are 3 Germans killed to every Australian in this fiercely contested sector. A trip up the trench we have just captured is an eye-opener, but a terrible sight to even one so hardened to horrible sights as myself, for it is nothing more than a shambles. It is absolutely packed with dead Germans & there they are, lying in all attitudes, as many as 3 deep in places & heads & arms all over the place, showing the effect of our bombs. It is an awful sight & I jolly soon got out of it, for I felt quite sick.
The bombardment continued all night long & the air was full of screaming, whistling, roaring shells for our guns were tearing it in properly. When morning broke we could see great spouts of dark-coloured earth shooting into the air & shrapnel lashing all over the ground in front of us. It was fairly hailing down, & so it was on us. It seemed as if both sides were revenging themselves on the unfortunate infantry but of course that is always the way, we have to suffer. Things quietened down a little before dinner & we were very thankful for it. Now & again they put a burst of whizz bangs over & these generally catch a few men off their guard.
About 10 o’clock a most wonderful thing happened. A runner came hurrying up to Coy Hqrs with a note to say that Sgt Mackie & myself were to pack up at once for England & we had to report as soon as possible at our transport. Just imagine our feelings when we heard this; I was too dumbfounded to believe it for a long while. Jock & I packed up in a few secs, but we could not leave the dugout for old Fritz was shelling like old Harry — it was dangerous to poke your head out. One shell caught a bunch of chaps just as they were opposite the dugout & wounded every one of them. One chap had his leg hanging off as he hobbled down the stairs. It was an awful sight but he was as cool as a cucumber. There were no stretcher bearers handy so we set to & bandaged them up ourselves.
Just before we left the Huns done a dirty trick on 2 of our stretcher bearers. They went out with a white flag to pick up a wounded man who was lying in front. Just as they bent over him one of them got shot in the body & he collapsed. His mate then picked him up & started to carry him back to the trenches. He got nearly there when a German shot him stone dead. It was one of the most bare-faced cowardly things as ever I have seen close, & if they don’t pay up for it a hundred times over I’ll eat my hat.
This order was, as you may guess, one of the most pleasant surprises I have had, & to think that Jock & I should get away together. It suited us down to the ground for we have been mates so long now, but we were no ways safe yet for we knew we had to pass through a most intense barrage which the Huns were putting over our communication trench.
Just before we left Jock saw the Major & the Major said, “Well, Mackie, I suppose you & Barwick are pleased you are getting out of it. You know it is up to you to have a spell for you have stuck it so long & I hope you will have a good time.” A couple of hours after this he [the Major] was mortally wounded & died the same night. His dying wish was that all men in the clink should be released if they would go to the firing line to help their comrades & that all fines were to be cancelled.
I will never forget as long as ever I live the time we had coming through that awful barrage & I firmly believe that there must be a kind Providence watching over Jock & me. 3 times did we stop for a spell going down that lane of death & each time, not 3 secs after we stopped, a monstrous shell lobbed fair in the trench & not more than 10 or 15 yds from us. Right at the end of the trench I’ll swear that a 4.2 did not miss my head by more than a few inches; I felt the backwash of the air as it shot by my face. However we reached a place of safety at last, utterly exhausted with the sweat pouring out of us. We rested a good quarter of an hour & then pushed on slowly by easy stages till we reached Noreuil.
It was fairly late in the afternoon when we pulled up at the transport, utterly knocked out. We threw ourselves down on the grass until we recovered then had a wash & the cooks gave us a good dinner. After this we drew our packs & got some clean clothes & went to bed early, for we had had practically no sleep for the last 3 nights.
6th May. This morning we pushed off for Bde Hqrs. General Walker saw us & told us we had all been selected as long-service & reliable men to send to England to do Instructor’s work. He also said when you get over there don’t be frightened to tell them what the Australians have done at Bullecourt, for the Australians seem to be the only troops who are capable of breaking & holding the line in this particular sector, & he was very sorry he had to lend these 2 Brigades to the 2nd Div.
8th May. Left Albert about 3.30 this afternoon & I hope I never see it again.
12th May. You have no idea of the relief it is to us to be among such beautiful & lovely sights — such a contrast to the torn & battered fields of France — & to be among people who speak your own language. Well it was more like paradise & I can honestly say that my heart felt lighter than it has for many a long day. I lay down in the cool green grass & blessed old England for being such a glorious place. Whatever her faults may be there is nothing that can rob her of her lovely & beautiful places of interest, all hallowed with age & memories of long ago. I can quite understand people calling England “home” for she is worthy of it.
20th May. Yesterday & today 2 years ago we were having the time of our lives on Gallipoli, for it is the second anniversary of the great attack on the Australians.
28th May. Packed up & walked down to the station at Amesbury, where we caught the train. The country looks magnificent after yesterday’s heavy rainstorms. All the hedges are snowy white & the fields present a great contrast of colour with the daisies & buttercups in full bloom & horses & cattle feeding contentedly. The weather has cleared & the sun is trying to shine, but somehow or other it has not got that same clear bright light that we have in Australia; it’s more yellowish, pale & moist.
Arrived at Tidworth fairly late & got a car to run a few of us up to Candahar. She is a fine big place & has every convenience.
29th May. We have been pooled into an Officers’ Instruction School, at least that is what the Colonel told us this morning. He said there was no certainty of a commission out of it; however if nothing comes of it, it will do us the world of good. We shall have very little time for ourselves I can see.
6th July. The examination results came out this afternoon & to my surprise I got 69, just 1 off “Very good or first class”. I never expected it, for this is the first school you might say I have ever been to, & besides it is a very hard one to pass — you have no idea of the amount of new stuff we had to learn, especially in theory. I am well satisfied, even if it is only to know that a chap is not quite so stupid as he thought he was.
This evening before we left Candahar the Colonel gave us a farewell speech & plenty of good sound advice.
13th July. Had to go through the gas test this morning. It seems the height of nonsense, don’t it, putting the N.C.O.s from overseas through the gas chamber, after us living among the stuff so long, but there you are, red tape again.
23rd July. Anniversary of Pozières today. Seems a long year to me & one full of changes. About 10 days ago there was a great memorial service held on the actual battlefield of Pozières. Each unit of the 1st Division sent about 30 men who actually fought there to represent the unit. It was a great gathering & very impressive I believe. General Birdwood & his Staff were there.
What beats me as how they don’t erect some permanent memorial at Pozières, for there’s no getting away from the fact that the taking & holding of Pozières was a wonderful feat, especially after the previous unsuccessful attacks by the British troops; however I shan’t forget Pozières for I was one of the very first over the parapet on that fateful morn. Even now I can see the awful flashes of thousands of shells as we swept forward, & our objective seemed to be miles away, but we reached it alright & hung on through the awful bombardment that follow
ed shortly afterwards. I never thought I would come out of that Hell for it seemed impossible, however it was a great victory & one which we can always look back upon with pride, & a certain amount of regret, when one thinks of the many fine mates he lost in that inferno.
Been a nasty muggy close heat today. I can’t say as how I care much for English weather so far from what I have seen of it.
31st July. By tonight’s paper I see that the long-expected smash in Flanders has started. She will be some go I’ll bet.
3rd August. Had a letter I wrote to Stan when I first came across from France returned to me: “Where-abouts uncertain.”
4th August. Anniversary of our declaration of war against Germany & still she drags on.
27th August. I have just thought of it: have been soldiering now for 3 years & 3 days. What a time it seems since I first rushed down to Sydney to join up, frightened they would have enough before I got there, & when I passed the Dr & got into khaki, I was one of the proudest chaps in Sydney. Even now, in spite of the long time we have been away & the trials & hardships I have had to put up with, I’m glad I was one of the first away, & never regret joining up.
6th September. When we formed up this morning 20 N.C.O.s’ names were called out & mine was among them. They must want their old N.C.O.s back badly; some of the 20 have not been here 2 out of their 6 months yet. I can’t growl for I have had just on 4 months. Could have got out of this if I liked — the Dentist marked me unfit — but I absolutely declined treatment. France will do me.
25th September. This morning at 9.30 we moved off for France. Took us nearly an hour to get away with all the lads shaking hands & wishing us good luck & goodbye.
30th September. It is a glorious day like October in Australia, only you can see it is autumn instead of spring, for all the leaves are turning golden & they are slowly fading & falling. There is not a cloud in the sky, & the only thing you can hear is the steady roll & thunder of Britain’s terrible artillery, which is fast winning this war. Everyone over here is more confident than ever about our victory, which is fast coming.
2nd October. Another glorious morning. It’s quite remarkable such a stretch of fine weather at this time of the year — Providence seems to be trying to make up for all the past disappointments as regards the weather.
Everything is quiet & peaceful this morning. All the tents have been struck & lines cleaned up. The men are lying about in the sun resting. The only places where there is any activity is round the cooks line & Q.M. stores, here a few men are on fatigue. Above all this scene of quietness the bands are playing. You can hear tunes from all directions, the gentle breeze floats them to us, so taking it all round it is a perfect morning, such as only France & Australia can show us, such has been my experience.
All the farmers are hard at work round here getting their potatoes in, ploughing, sowing, harrowing & etc. The war has not touched this part of France & work goes on as usual. There is very little land left untilled & they get splendid crops for the ground is very rich & flat. A lot of it is almost chocolate while the remainder is a fine deep friable loam, easily worked.
6th October. Saw a few of the old boys including Freddie Turner, Bill Bradley, Major McKenzie & many others. I got a shock I can tell you when they told me young Holmes, Billy Bellchambers, old Bob Creasy, Dick Sharp & lots of others had been killed; we all had been mates for so long. I don’t know how Holmes’s mother will take it. If ever there was a game kid he was & he had a name for courage second to none in the Battalion; he was a fine little kid & very popular. I can hardly realise it as yet. Bob Creasy, the last that was seen of him, was battling single handed with 7 Germans. He killed 6 with the bayonet & the last one they killed each other.
According to the boys they had a very easy win as far as the Hun infantry went. They even met them coming over in mass formation with full packs up, & from papers captured their objective was Dickebusch, nearly 6 miles away. Their time for launching the attack was 10 mins too late, for the boys were on them, & our wonderful & deadly barrage caught them & fairly butchered them. As the barrage swept over them they went to turn back but could not get near our wall of fire, so they were caught in a nice trap, a deadly barrage behind, & a more deadly foe in front, for by this time the Batts had hopped over & were making for them. When the Huns saw them coming they were terrified, threw down their rifles & ran towards our chaps, hands up & begging for mercy. Some of them even grovelled at their feet, so terror struck were they. Only here & there did they make a stand but nothing will stop our lads.
Their first objective was taken in a few bounds & some of them even ran into our own barrage so impatient were they. Over the ridge & through the “pill boxes” they swept, & established a line 400 yards down the other side of the slope & thus completed the capture of the famous ridges. It was a great & clean victory & adds another bright spot on the Australians’ record of successes, so once again the Kaiser’s picked troops had been met & soundly beaten by amateurs, or at least that is what they used to call us at one time, but how things have changed.
8th October. Raining heavily for the last 12 hours but this morning broke fine & clear with a strong westerly wind which is fast drying the mud & slush up.
Started out on our burying job early this morning, but we had a walk for nothing — never buried a man, couldn’t find any, other parties had done it.
If you could only see the guns we have on this front. They are easily 6 miles deep & if put in a row would be more than wheel to wheel. Wherever you look there is nothing but guns, guns from the monstrous 15 incher right back to the snappy & vicious little field gun in front. The whole countryside is simply smothered with shells, stacked all over the place, & in places the 9.2s are chucked about like logs. To look at these shells lying in the mud & water you would think they were ruined, but they drag them out, wipe the mud off & shove them in the breech of the gun, shove what looks for all the world like a roll of red & white blanket in behind them, close the breech & see what happens: a tremendous roar, a flash of fire, & a black object flies out of the gun which you can follow with the eye until it loses itself in the clouds & that’s the last of the muddy shell which you saw a few minutes ago — the rest of it concerns old Fritz. It’s not the slightest exaggeration to say that there are millions of shells lying about in this awful Flanders mud, waiting to be used up.
One of the saddest sights on this great battlefield is the great number of fine horses that have been killed. There are hundreds of them along the corduroy roads. I don’t know how we would get on if it was not for our horses in spite of the motors, trains & etc. The latter can only bring things a certain distance & it then falls on the horse to plough through the mud, water, shell holes & etc, & they have the shells to face for theirs is a dangerous road, but they never seem to flinch, not even when they see each other getting blown out. They are much more courageous than a mule.
9th October. The 2nd Div & our 3rd Bde hopped over this morning. About 11 o’clock the prisoners started to trickle down; they reckon they got a fair number. The French & English also went across on our left, & gained all their objectives. Funny thing: no one seems to have much trouble now in pushing Fritz out of his strongholds. If it wasn’t for his artillery the war would be over in a week.
11th October. Early this morning we marched out & entrained at Ypres. Saw a lot more of the boys who had come across from Blighty; some of them had not done more than 3 months. Passed about 2000 prisoners on our way down (they were taken last night). Got out of the train just outside Poperinge & had to march about 2 kilos, to where we are now camped in tents. They are pretty cold too.
14th October. You should have seen the tiny parade at church this morning. Easy to see the Battalion has been severely handled. It was the smallest parade I have ever seen.
16th October. I am sitting writing all this tonight in a noisy crowded little estaminet. I have 20 men on picquet & have split them into 4 parties, & as things are very quiet on the whole I have told them
all to take up their Hqrs in some little estaminet till just on closing time, when we will all meet at a certain place & proceed to clear the estaminets, which have to be emptied at 8 o’clock. This of course just suits all hands & they are enjoying themselves.
At present you can scarce hear yourself talking. The little “boozer” is chock full of Tommies & Australians, & beer, wine, mullager & grenadine are circulating freely & opening all their mouths. As for smoke, why you can scarce see to the end of the little room, & every now & again someone strikes up some old tunes on the piano & there is a violin to help. At present they are playing & everyone is singing “If You Were the Only Girl in the World”. They have already sung “They Wouldn’t Believe Me”, that beautiful song that I first heard sung 18 months ago at the Gaiety in London, & the lovely strains always bring back old memories & days that have been & perhaps will come again.
Soldiers, take them all round, are very sentimental & anything in this nature appeals to them far more than any classical music ever would. This might seem strange to anyone outside khaki, but if they were only among us for a while they would understand. Perhaps the very fact of ours being so uncertain a life & the distance we are from home has a lot to do with it, & nowhere have I seen the power that music has to sway people so pronounced as among soldiers. Many & many a time have I seen tears brought to the eyes of some of the hardest men it would be possible to dig up anywhere & they have become as easily led as kids, so great a charm has sentimental music got.
It is just on 8 o’clock & I will now have to close up & proceed to clear the boozers. This job always calls for a little tact, & that’s a thing that I think I have learnt since being in the Army. It gives one a rare insight into the handling of men, & this is always handy to have. It all depends how you go about handling the average Australian; if you start to put the bounce in you are a goner, for they simply will not be driven.
18th October. Rained steadily during the night but the morning broke nice & sunny & it remained good all day.
In Great Spirits Page 26
