The Australian Army in World War I (Men-at-Arms)

The Australian Armyin World War I

Men-at-Arms OSPREYPUB L I SH ING

Rober t Fleming • Il lustrated by Mike Chappell© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com

Men-at-Arms • 478

The Australian Armyin World War I

Rober t Fleming • I l lustrated by Mike ChappellSeries editor Mar tin Windrow

© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com

THE AUSTRALIAN ARMYIN WORLD WAR I

An Australian ‘Digger’ carries awounded comrade back to adressing station in the Gallipolibeachhead; he has kept his riflewith fixed bayonet, slung on hisright shoulder.A strong ethos of ‘mateship’developed among the Australiantroops, leading to manyinstances of selfless bravery bymen rescuing woundedcomrades. After the war theyoung nation embraced the‘Anzac Spirit’ as a pillar ofAustralian identity. (IllustratedWar News, 1916)

INTRODUCTION

The Australian Army’s participation in World War I began as a loyalresponse to the call to protect British Imperial interests, butbecame a significant contribution to the Allied victory over the

German and Ottoman armies. Australia’s role was remarkable, given thenation’s comparative population – in 1914, barely 7 million (comparedto 40 million in France, 46 million in Britain, and 68 million inGermany). The response in 1914 was the more extraordinary in that theAustralian nation was only 13 years old, and had not yet created aunified sense of itself. Each of the six colonies that had recentlyfederated to become states of the Commonwealth of Australia had itsown unique history, characteristics and cultural identity.Australia had a pre-war system of compulsory militia service, but

constitutional limitations meant that an additional expeditionary forcewas required, and the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) came into being

on 15 August 1914. Initially a single division of20,000 men under British command, by 1918the AIF had grown to five divisions totallingmore than 100,000, under Australiancommand. The way in which the AIF acquitteditself – in the tragic campaign of Gallipoli in1915, in the Middle East in 1915–18, and onthe appallingly costly Western Front in1916–18 – shaped not only the world’s opinionof Australians, but also the young nation’ssense of itself. The national personalityembraced the ‘Anzac Spirit’ of mateship,courage, giving every man a ‘fair go’, andmeritocracy, as epitomized by the ‘Diggers’of 1914–18.It is recorded that 331,781 Australians

served overseas during World War I, sufferingno fewer than 210,000 casualties, of whom61,519 were killed or died of wounds. Nofewer than 63 awards of the Victoria Cross –Britain’s supreme decoration for valour in theface of the enemy – were made to Australiansfor their conduct on the battlefieds of theGreat War. Moreover, only about 4,000Australians were taken prisoner during thewhole war – a fact that speaks of the Diggers’bloody-minded determination. 3


ORGANIZATION

Background and preparationThe Australian Army was born in 1901, but it was not until the DefenceAct 1903 came into force on 1 March 1904 that an established frameworkfor the new Australian Commonwealth Military Forces came into effect.In pre-Federation days the colonial units were associated with elitism,

and their role in quelling civil disturbances had created a widespreaddistrust of the military. Two schools of thought about defence emerged inthe new Commonwealth government: the ‘Imperialists’ advocated astrong permanent force for service inside or outside Australia, in theImperial interest and commanded by an Imperial officer, while the‘Nationalists’ advocated a smaller-scale approach, and were suspicious ofBritish influence. The first Commander of Commonwealth MilitaryForces, MajGen Sir Edward Hutton, encouraged the Imperialist view; butwhile the government resolved to contribute both to its own defence andto the Imperial Defence System, it believed that a large standing army wasneither desirable nor affordable. The Australian Army was to be based ona small Permanent Force limited to a staff corps, administrative,instructional, and specialist personnel such as artillery and engineers.The Defence Act prevented regular infantry and the Citizen MilitaryForces (CMF) militia being deployed either against Australian citizens oroutside of Australian territory. Although seemingly practical for theperceived defensive needs of Australia, this ‘two army’ system created along and bitter rivalry between the Permanent Force and the CMF.

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Table 1: Infantry components of the AIF

1st Australian Division 2nd Australian Division 3rd Australian Division

1st Brigade 2nd Brigade 3rd Brigade 5th Brigade 6th Brigade 7th Brigade 8th Brigade 10th Brigade 11th Brigade

1st Battalion(NSW)

5th Battalion(VIC)

8th Battalion(QLD)

17thBattalion(NSW)

21st Battalion(VIC)

25thBattalion(QLD)

33rdBattalion(NSW)

37thBattalion(VIC)

41st Battalion(QLD)

2nd Battalion(NSW)

6th Battalion(VIC)

10thBattalion(QLD)

18thBattalion(NSW)

22ndBattalion(VIC)

26thBattalion(QLD)

34thBattalion(NSW)

38thBattalion(VIC)

42ndBattalion(QLD)

4th Battalion(NSW)

8th Battalion(VIC)

12thBattalion(QLD)

20thBattalion(NSW)

24thBattalion(VIC)

28thBattalion(QLD)

36thBattalion(NSW)

40thBattalion(VIC)

44thBattalion(QLD)

4th Australian Division 5th Australian Division 6th Australian Division

4th Brigade 12th Brigade 13th Brigade 8th Brigade 14th Brigade 15th Brigade 16th Brigade 17th Brigade

13thBattalion(NSW)

45thBattalion(VIC)

49thBattalion(QLD)

29thBattalion(NSW)

53rdBattalion(VIC)

57thBattalion(QLD)

61st Battalion(NSW)

65thBattalion(VIC)

14thBattalion(NSW)

46thBattalion(VIC)

50thBattalion(QLD)

30thBattalion(NSW)

54thBattalion(VIC)

58thBattalion(QLD)

62ndBattalion(NSW)

66thBattalion(VIC)

15thBattalion(QLD & TAS)

47thBattalion(QLD & TAS)

51st Battalion(WA)

31st Battalion(QLD & VIC)

55thBattalion(NSW)

59thBattalion(VIC)

63rdBattalion(NSW)

67thBattalion(VIC)

16thBattalion (WA& SA)

48thBattalion (SA& TAS)

52ndBattalion(SA,WA &TAS)

32ndBattalion(QLD & VIC)

56thBattalion(NSW)

60thBattalion(VIC)

69thBattalion(NSW)

70thBattalion(VIC)


In 1909 Lord Kitchener toured Australia to review the state of defence.His report, anticipating the imminent need for a contribution to Imperialdefence, proposed the introduction of universal national service, and thecreation of the Royal Military College at Duntroon for officer training –both of which were achieved in 1911. In 1913, Permanent Forcepersonnel numbered just 2,235; however, compulsory military trainingadded 21,461 militiamen, and CMF strength grew by more than 50 percent over the three years prior to the outbreak of war.

Australian Imperial ForceIn the name of protecting Belgian neutrality, the United Kingdomdeclared war on Germany on 4 August 1914, and Australian PrimeMinister Joseph Cook stated that ‘when the Empire is at war, so also isAustralia.’ Since the CMF were constitutionally prevented from overseasservice, the War Cabinet began raising a parallel volunteer expeditionaryforce, to be known as the Australian Imperial Force. (The subsequentcreation of a Second AIF in World War II led to the retrospectivedesignation First AIF.) Its organizer, Brig William Throsby Bridges,proposed a bi-national force of 18,000 men – 12,000 Australians, and6,000 New Zealanders. Prime Minister Cook suggested that the AIFshould be 20,000 strong, comprising the 1st Division (1st, 2nd & 3rdInfantry Brigades), and the 1st Australian Light Horse Brigade. Thesovereign dominion of New Zealand, with a total population of little morethan 1 million, did not yet have sufficient men to form its own division,while Australia did not have quite enough for a second division, so theAustralian 4th Bde and the New Zealand Infantry Bde formed a joint NewZealand and Australian Division.Volunteers flocked to enlist, and 52,561 were accepted by December

1914. Battalions and regiments were formed with men from the Australianstates of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, WesternAustralia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania, and those with smallerpopulations sometimes contributed to composite units.

Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary ForceThe immediate concern for the Australian government was the Germancolonies in Samoa and New Guinea to the north of Australia. While theirgarrisons were small, their radio stations and harbour facilities provideda base for the German Navy’s East Asian Squadron, which threatenedAllied merchant shipping and troop transports. The AIF was needed forthe European war, so an additional expeditionary force would berequired to deal with this local threat. The 2,000-strong Australian Navaland Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) was raised for this purpose.Colonel James Gordon Legge organized the AN&MEF independently

of the Australian Imperial Force. Commanded by Col William Holmes,it consisted of 1,000 men raised in Sydney and formed into 1st Bn, and500 naval personnel acting as marine infantry. The Queensland Militia’sKennedy Regt, garrisoning Thursday Island in the Torres Strait, werealso placed under Holmes’s command.

Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC)In preparation for the 1915 Gallipoli campaign in the Dardanelles, theAustralian Imperial Force and the New Zealand Expeditionary Force 5

In 1914 Field Marshal LordKitchener, Britain’s Secretary ofState for War, appointed MajGenWilliam Birdwood to organizeand command the Australianand New Zealand Army Corps(ANZAC), and he remainedthe nost senior AIF officerthroughout the war. Despite thestrained relationships betweensome British and Australianofficers, ‘Birdy’ or ‘Bill’ waspopular among his troops,whose special qualities heunderstood and greatlyappreciated. Born in India,Birdwood had spent much of hiscareer in colonial soldiering. Hisorders for Gallipoli in April 1915were a model of common sense,in contrast to those of someother British generals. (Fromthe Australian Front, 1917)


The declaration of war withGermany was popular acrossAustralia, and tens of thousandsof young men clamoured toenlist in the Australian ImperialForce for overseas service,afraid that ‘it would all be over’before they got there. Largenumbers of militiamen alsovolunteered to transfer fromthe Citizen Military Forces intothe AIF. Here, AIF troops paradealong Elizabeth Street inMelbourne in front of largecrowds that had gathered tosee them off. The whole 2ndand 6th Brigades of the firsttwo divisions and a Light Horseregiment were raised withvolunteers from the state ofVictoria, and many otherbattalions would follow.These soldiers would travelfirst to Albany in WesternAustralia, and thence to Egypt.(Author’s collection)

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merged to create the Australianand New Zealand Army Corps(ANZAC), commanded by theBritish MajGen WilliamBirdwood. Initially ANZACconsisted of the Australian 1stDivision, under MajGen WilliamThrosby Bridges; the NewZealand and Australian Division,under MajGen AlexanderGodley; and two mountedbrigades — the Australian 1stLight Horse Bde and the NewZealandMounted Rifles Brigade.During the Gallipoli campaignreinforcements formed anAustralian 2nd Div (5th, 6th &7th Bdes) on 10 July 1915;commanded by MajGen JohnGordon Legge, this had arrivedby August. The ANZAC returnedto Egypt from Gallipoli inDecember 1915, when furthervolunteers allowed the AIF to

expand significantly. On 2 February 1916 a 3rd Div was created, andofficers and NCOs from the 1st Div provided leadership cadres aroundwhich 4th and 5th Divs were subsequently raised. In February 1916 ANZACwas reorganized into I & II ANZAC Corps.

I & II ANZAC CorpsI ANZAC Corps included the Australian 1st Div (1st, 2nd & 3rd Bdes);Australian 2nd Div (5th, 6th & 7th Bdes); and the New Zealand Div (1st,2nd & 3rd NZ Brigades)1 . In July 1916 the NZ Div was replaced by theAustralian 3rd Div (9th, 10th & 11th Bdes), and was moved into IIANZAC Corps, making I ANZAC Corps an almost completely Australianformation. I ANZAC Corps was initially employed in Egypt for thedefence of the Suez Canal, before transferring to Belgium inMarch 1916.They operated in France and Belgium until November 1917, when all theAustralian divisions were grouped together as the Australian Corps.II ANZAC Corps was formed from the Australian 4th Div (4th, 12th &

13th Bdes) and 5th Div (8th, 14th & 15th Brigades). It remained in Egyptslightly longer than I ANZAC Corps, receiving new recruits. II ANZACCorps arrived in France in July 1916. The 4th Div was posted to guard theline before Armentières, while 5th Div was ‘loaned’ to British XI Corpsfor the battle of Fromelles. In the battle of Messines in June 1917, IIANZAC Corps, with the NZ Div and the British 25th Div under command,was the southernmost formation to attack the Messines Ridge.In February 1917 an attempt was made to raise a 6th Div; however, the

numbers of Australian casualties at Bullecourt in April and May, and atMessines in June, led to the project being abandoned in Sepember 1917.

1 See Men-at-Arms 473, The New Zealand Expeditionary Force in World War I


Australian CorpsIn 1917 very heavy casualties and dwindling recruitment were reducingthe effectiveness of the Australian divisions. Referenda on theintroduction of conscription were held in October 1916 and again inDecember 1917, but both were rejected by the Australian electorate.This meant that Australia and South Africa were the only two nationsnot to introduce conscription in World War I.The assets of the partly-formed 6th Div were reallocated to the other

five divisions (and there were even suggestions that the 4th Div should alsobe broken up). On 1 November 1917, I & II ANZAC Corps merged as theAustralian Corps – the largest corps in the British Empire forces – underLtGen Sir William Birdwood. The British and New Zealand componentsof the former II ANZAC Corps became the British XXII Corps. TheAustralian LtGen Monash took command of the corps in May 1918,making it an all-Australian formation for the remainder of the war (bythen it was also the largest single corps among the Empire forces, with109,881 men). John Monash led the corps through the 1918 ‘HundredDays’ offensive, in which they played amajor role in the final Allied victory.

Desert Column and Desert Mounted CorpsAfter Gallipoli the Australian Light Horse remained in the Middle East,serving in Egypt, Sinai, Palestine and Syria. In March 1916 the ANZACMounted Division was formed in Egypt, commanded by the AustralianMajGen Harry Chauvel. Following reorganization of Empire forces inEgypt in December 1916, the ANZAC Mtd Div, British 42nd and 52ndInf Divs, and Imperial Camel Corps Bde – the advanced force in theSinai Peninsula – were designated as the Desert Column, commandedby the British LtGen Sir Philip Chetwode. In April 1917 LtGen Chauvelsucceeded to command of the Desert Column, and command of theANZAC Mtd Div passed to the New Zealander MajGen Edward Chaytor.The Desert Column was expanded into a full Desert Mounted Corps

in August 1917. Its components were the ANZAC Mtd Div (with 1st &2nd ALH Bdes, British 22nd Yeomanry Mtd Bde, and NZ Mtd RiflesBde); MajGen Hodgson’s Australian Mtd Div (with 3rd & 4th ALH

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Table 2: Mounted components of the AIFANZAC Mounted Division Australian Mounted Division

1st Light HorseBrigade

2nd Light HorseBde*

3rd Light HorseBde*

3rd Light HorseBde*

4th Light Horse Bde 5th Light Horse Bde

1st Light HorseRegiment (NSW)

5th Light Horse Regt(QLD)

8th Light Horse Regt(VIC)

8th Light Horse Regt(VIC)

4th Light Horse Regt 14th Light HorseRegt

2nd Light Horse Regt(QLD & NT)

6th Light Horse Regt(NSW)

9th Light Horse Regt(SA & VIC)

9th Light HorseRegt(SA & VIC)

11th Light HorseRegt


3rd Light Horse Regt(SA & TAS)

7thLight HorseRegt(NSW)

10th Light HorseRegt (WA)

10th Light HorseRegt (WA)


French 1er RMCL

British 22nd Mtd(Ymnry) Bde(1917 only)

New Zealand MtdRifles Brigade

British 6th Mtd(Ymnry) Brigade



British 19th HorseArtillery Brigade

* Note: The 3rd Light Horse Bde was part of the ANZAC Mounted Division for the 1916 Sinai campaign, before transferring to the AustralianMounted Division


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Bdes, and the Yeomanry units of British 5th & 6thMtd Bdes and 19th Horse Artillery Bde), plus theImperial Camel Corps Brigade.When raised in February 1917 the Australian Mtd

Div had initially been designated the ImperialMounted Division. When the British 6th Mtd Bde wasdetached in June 1917 the formation was renamed theAustralian Mounted Division. In summer 1918 theBritish 5th Mtd Bde was also detached, and replacedwith the Australian 5th Light Horse Bde and theFrench 1er Régiment Mixte de Cavalerie du Levant.

Imperial Camel CorpsThe Imperial Camel Corps was created in January 1916to deal with the threat from the Senussi, an Arab andTouareg religious movement in the Maghreb. Theinitial guerrilla uprising against the Italian colonialregime in Libya was quickly successful, and spread tothe French Sahara, Egypt and Sudan under the bannerof holy war. The Senussi were then sponsored by theCentral Powers, in the hope of encouraging localMuslim uprisings in the British and French colonialterritories.Four Australian camel companies were initially

formed under Brig Clement Leslie Smith, VC, and their success led tothe raising of a further six Australian, six British and two New Zealandcompanies. In conjunction with light patrol cars, they isolated theSenussi tribesmen, cutting them off from the vital desert wells, which ledto reduced rebel activity in the Western Desert of Egypt. In December1916 the force was reorganized as the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade.The 1st to 4th (Australian) Camel Companies became the 1st CamelBattalion; the six British companies, numbered 5th to 10th, became the2nd Camel Bn; the 11th to 14th Australian companies became the 3rdCamel Bn; and the 15th & 16th (NZ) and 17th & 18th (ANZAC)companies formed the 4th ANZAC Camel Battalion.

Australian Flying CorpsDue to shortages of aircraft and instructors, only 2,700 men of the muchgreater numbers who volunteered could be accepted by the AustralianFlying Corps, but more than 200 others also served individually insquadrons of the British Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service.The AFC’s four line squadrons usually flew under RFC overall control.The aircraft types employed included the DH5 and DH6, FK3, Avro 504,Bristol Boxkite, Bristol F2 Fighter and Bristol Scout, BE2, RE8 and SE5A,and the Sopwith Baby, Pup, 1½ Strutter, Camel, Snipe and Buffalo.Two aircraft were sent to New Guinea, but the German garrison

surrendered before they were prepared for operations. Three AFCaircraft – two Maurice Farman Shorthorns and one MF Longhorn –went to Mesopotamia with the Indian Army, and this ‘MesopotamianHalf-flight’ carried out reconnaissance missions from Basra. During theTurkish siege of Kut in December 1915 only Capt Henry Petre avoidedcapture, transferring to Egypt to join the newly arrived 1 Squadron AFC.

An iconic photo of Australianmanhood: Tpr Harry RankinWoods of 1st Light Horse Regt,seen at Roseberry Park Camp,New South Wales, before hisdeparture for the Middle East.He would be one of the first lighthorsemen to die at Gallipoli,fighting as an infantryman atQuinn’s Post on 15 May 1915.Trooper Woods’s mount is of aunique breed known as theWaler. It was bred in New SouthWales from a combination ofThoroughbred, Arabian, CapeHorse, Timor Pony, Clydesdale,Percheron, and wild ‘brumby’horses – the latter being feralhorses that had adaptednaturally to the Australianwilderness. The Waler wasrenowned for its speed,endurance and toughness, andwas a highly desirable warhorse.(Australian War Memorial)


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This unit was attached to the Royal Flying Corps as 67 (Australian) SqnRFC, and would not revert to its AFC designation until January 1918. Withlittle aerial opposition from the Turks, its primary functions were groundattack, reconnaissance, photography, and liaison work for the Empireforces in Palestine. German aircraft did pose a threat, but the Australianseventually gained aerial supremacy. Following the Turkish surrender, thetheatre commander Gen Allenby praised 1 Sqn AFC: ‘You gained for usabsolute supremacy of the air, thereby enabling my cavalry, artillery andinfantry to carry out their work on the ground practically unmolested byhostile aircraft.’2 Squadron AFC, many of whose members came from the Light Horse,

began as 68 (Australian) Sqn RFC in Egypt. In January 1917 theyrelocated to England to prepare for service on the Western Front. Theymainly flew DH5 scouts out of Baizieux aerodrome near Amiens, andgave significant service during Third Ypres and the battle of Cambrai inlate 1917. Mostly conducting ground-attack missions, they were in thethick of the fighting, losing seven of 18 aircraft and earning six MilitaryCrosses. In early 1918 they re-equipped with the far superior SE5A scout,but bad weather grounded them for weeks. When flying resumed, theyplayed a major part alongside the RFC in gaining air supremacy duringthe German spring offensive.3 Squadron began as 69 (Australian) Sqn RFC, formed with personnel

from a defunct 2 Sqn back in Australia. This unit was the first to operatein France, flying RE8s out of Savy aerodrome in support of British andCanadian forces at Arras in 1917. By November they had moved toFlanders, supporting the Australian Corps by flying ground-attack andphoto-reconnaissance missions. In 1918 the squadron was involved indeveloping aerial re-supply, and the use of smoke bombs to cover Alliedtroop movements during advances.4 Squadron AFC began as 71 (Australian) Sqn RFC, flying out of Bruay

aerodrome in December 1917. Equipped with the Sopwith Camel, theymainly conducted offensive patrols and escorted recce aircraft. In 1918 thesquadron became increasingly involved in aerial combat, and on 21 Marchthey came face to face with Manfred von Richthofen’s ‘Flying Circus’,Jagdgeschwader 1; during this engagement the Australian ace Harry Cobbydowned five enemy aircraft. During theGerman breakthrough in the spring4 Sqn was twice forced to relocate, first to Clairmarais and then toReclinghem, but still managed to increase its bombing and strafingoperations. At Reclinghem, 2 and 4 Sqns shared quarters, both forming partof 80th Wing RFC. Both played an aggressive part in the Allied offensive ofAugust 1918, and in the lastmonth of the war 4 Sqnexchanged its Camels for the latest Sopwith Snipes.All four squadrons had reverted to their AFC

titles in early 1918. The AFC also raisedfour training squadrons, numbered 5–8, whichdid not see active service. In total the AFC had43 ‘aces’ with five or more aerial victories,the highest scoring being Capt Arthur ‘Harry’Cobby, who recorded 29 victories. The AFCsuffered 175 dead, 111 wounded, 6 gassed and40 men taken prisoner, while achieving nearly400 confirmed victories.

The Australian Flying Corpsplayed an effective part in theair war both in the Middle Eastand over the Western Front. Thisis the Bristol F2B Fighter flownby Capt Ross Smith, an ‘ace’credited with 11 aerial victories.The F2B equipped 1 SquadronAFC in Palestine, and a fewwere also used by 3 Sqn inFrance. (Australian WarMemorial)


CAMPAIGNS

German New Guinea,August–September 1914

Following Britain’s declaration of war on Germany,the proximity of German colonies to the north ofAustralia became an immediate concern, andparticularly the radio stations at Yap in the CarolineIslands, and at Rabaul and Bita Paka on the island ofNeupommern (later, New Britain). By 6 August 1914the Imperial government had already requested thatAustralia and New Zealand dispatch a force to captureor disable all facilities supporting the operations ofVice-Adm Maximilian von Spee’s German East AsianCruiser Squadron, which represented a serious threatto Allied shipping in the South Pacific. The 2,000-strong independent Australian Naval and MilitaryExpeditionary Force (AN&MEF), commanded by ColWilliam Holmes, sailed from Sydney aboard HMAS

Berrima on 7 September 1914.The infantry battalion landed near Rabaul on 11 September; they

found that the Germans had withdrawn inland to Toma, and on 14September they left the coast in pursuit. The Germans set pipe-bombsalong the route to slow progress, but presented no real opposition. At firstthe German governor, Eduard Haber, rejected a surrender demand,believing that Spee’s warships were coming to relieve him. In the hope ofavoiding unnecessary casualties Holmes decided not to storm the town,and the Germans duly surrendered on 17 September.The naval parties landed at Kabakaul and Herbertshöhe made for the

radio station at Bita Paka. They came under fire from German reservesand native police, but the enemy were outnumbered and the radiostation was reached without casualties. Heavier fighting then broke out,resulting in seven Australians killed and five wounded, while the enemysuffered one German and 30 Melanesian deaths, as well as 11 wounded.The radio station was captured in working order. German New Guineawas the first enemy territory to be captured during World War I.Some of the AN&MEF returned to Australia to volunteer for the AIF,

while others remained in New Guinea as part of Tropical Force togarrison the captured territory.

GALLIPOLI, April–December 1915The Allied effort on the Western Front had reached an impasse inNovember 1914, and a British contingency plan to attack the OttomanTurkish forces holding the Dardanelles – the straits between theMediterranean and the approaches to Constantinople – was resurrected.Success could have brought extensive strategic rewards in the Balkans,even knocking the Ottoman Empire out of the war. When the originalnaval operation favoured by Winston Churchill, the Navy minister, failedin March 1915, Gen Sir Ian Hamilton was appointed to command anamphibious invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula commanding the straits.

While encamped at Mena outsideCairo it was almost obligatory tohave a professional photographtaken against the backdrop ofthe Pyramids and the Sphinx.These men are from 3rd Bn,Imperial Camel Corps. Thebrigade’s first four companieswere raised among WesternAustralians, who wereexperienced in the use of cameltrains in the deserts of theAustralian interior. The long-range mobility of the ‘cameleers’made them highly effective in theSenussi and Sinai campaigns,though they suffered heavycasualties at the second battle ofGaza. The Australian 1st Bn ofthe ICC wore a red uprighttriangle sleeve patch; the British2nd Bn wore the triangle inblack, the Australian 3rd Bn ingreen, and the 4th ANZAC Bn indark blue.The Ottomans also used camelinfantry effectively in their HejazExpeditionary Force, particularlyin their first Suez offensive of1915. After November 1917 thefighitng moved up from thedesert into the hills of Judaea,and both sides abandonedcamels in favour of horses.(Author’s collection)

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The 70,000-strong expeditionary force consisted of theBritish 29th and Royal Naval Divs, the French Near EastExpeditionary Corps, the Australian Imperial Force andthe New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Organizing theinvasion took six weeks, allowing time for the Turks toreceive intelligence and prepare their defences. TheTurkish Fifth Army, with 84,000 men under the GermanGen Otto Liman von Sanders, was tasked with defendingthe peninsula.

The landings, and the Turkish responseOn 25 April 1915,MajGenHunter-Weston’s 29thDiv landedat CapeHelles on the tip of the peninsula, with the objectiveof advancing north upon the forts at Kilitbahir. The ‘Anzacs’landed north of Gaba Tepe on the western, Aegean coast ofthe peninsula, planning to advance across it and cut offKilitbahir. At Cape Helles the troops landing on Y Beachfaced little opposition, but at V andW Beaches the well dug-in Turks on the hills above inflicted appalling casualties onthe British at the water’s edge and on the narrow beaches.The Australian 3rd Brigade's 4,000 men landed to

secure a beachhead for the two Anzac divisions, whoseinitial objectives were the high ground of Plugg’s Plateau, 400 Plateau,Baby 700, and Russell’s Top. They had to be rowed nearly 4 miles (6km)to shore, intending to land on ‘Brighton Beach’, from where they couldeasily climb 400 Plateau. Instead the Anzacs were landed nearly 2 milesfurther north in a narrow cove, bounded by the headlands of Ari Burnuto the north and Little Ari Burnu; this would come to be known as ‘AnzacCove’. Instead of an easy climb, they faced sharply rising cliffs. The Turkshad not expected a landing in such an unpromising location, and the fewdefenders quickly expended their ammunition, resorting to fierce hand-to-hand combat. Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett wrote of the initial landing in theHobart Mercury: ‘The Australians rose to the occasion. They did not waitfor orders, or for the boats to reach the beach, but sprang into the sea,formed a sort of rough line, and rushed at the enemy’s trenches. Theirmagazines were not charged, so they just went in with the cold steel, andit was over in a minute, for the Turks in the first trench had been eitherbayoneted or had run away, and the Maxim guns were captured’.Once the Anzacs had crested the cliffs they were able to start moving

inland. The Turks thought the poorly sited assault must be a diversion,and Gen von Sanders held back two divisions in reserve. An astute staffcolonel, Mustafa Kemal (later the Turkish head of state, ‘Ataturk’),realized that the Australians were making for the peaks of Chunuk Bairand Hill 971; convinced that this was no feint, he led the entire 57th Regtforward to counter-attack on 27 April. That evening he called forward theremaining regiments of the Ottoman 19th Div to join the counter-attack,which was fiercely resisted by the Anzacs with naval gunfire support.Although the Anzac landing had been a qualified success, the troopscould not reach the second ridge line from the beach. By 28 Aprildefensive positions were established and reinforcements were arriving.Kemal began entrenching opposite the Anzacs, but his attempt todislodge them on 1 May was repulsed. 11

Despite initially gaining theclifftops above Anzac Cove, theAustralians were unable to pushon and seize the second ridgeline, so were forced to cling forshelter to the steep reverseslopes above the sea. This sceneshows men of 1st Bn AIF atSteele’s Post. (Australian WarMemorial)


As the operation at Anzac Cove settled into a stalemate, attentionturned to Cape Helles. The French joined the British thrust northwardsin the first battle of Krithia, but poor communications and determinedresistance stalled the attack. A second attempt at Krithia was made from6 to 8 May, including 5,000 men from the Australian 2nd Bde and theNew Zealand Inf Bde, but this also failed. A third effort against Krithiaon 4 June was beaten back yet again, keeping the British and Frenchpinned down in the tip of the peninsula.Despite the oppressive summer heat, shortage of drinking water and

food, the wretched conditions in the trenches, and Turkish bombardentof the narrow beachheads from overlooking features, repeated Alliedattempts were made to break out of the enclaves at Helles and AnzacCove. General Hamilton ordered attacks from Anzac Cove to capture thehigh ground of Sari Bair, which would have given the Allies control of theentire southern end of the peninsula. Battles were fought at Gully Ravineand Krithia Vineyard, as a prelude to a major offensive at Sari Bair on6 August, but all of these attacks failed in their objectives.

The August attacksAlthough the major push for Sari Bair also failed, ironically enough thebattle of Lone Pine above Anzac Cove, timed to provide a diversion for it,proved to be the only solid Allied victory of the whole campaign. At 2pmon 6 August the Australians detonated three mines in front of the Turkishline to create cover for the assault, and the explosions were followed byan hour’s heavy bombardment. Attacking on a desperately narrow 160-yard front, 1st Australian Bde captured the line manned by an Arabbattalion of the Ottoman 72nd Regt – this was the most heavily fortifiedsector of the Turkish line, where no attack had been expected. Over thenext three days the Turks launched several counter-attacks that oftencame to hand-to-hand fighting, and 2nd and 3rd Australian Bdes werebrought up as reinforcements. On 9 August the Turks realized that theAustralians could not be dislodged, and called off their attempts. LonePine had cost the Australians 2,277 killed and wounded, and the Turks

more than 6,000 casualties; no fewer than sevenAustralians were awarded the Victoria Cross.Simultaneous Allied attacks were made at

Chunuk Bair, where a combined New Zealand andBritish force was massacred by well-positioneddefenders, and at ‘The Nek’, where the Australian3rd Bde attacked across a narrow ridge into a heavilydefended bottleneck ravine. This went aheaddespite the attempt on Chunuk Bair having alreadyfailed, and the early ending of the artillery barrageallowed the defenders to re-establish their machineguns. Without the New Zealanders being able togive the planned support from the high ground ofChunuk Bair, the defenders at The Nek were free tofocus their fire on the Australians.Also on 6 August, the British IX Corps attempted a

landing at Suvla Bay about 6 miles further north upthe Aegean coast, in the hope of relieving the Anzacs.Some initial progress was made, but the operation

At times the Ottoman andANZAC trenches were so closethat men could talk to eachother, or even trade – althoughthey most often traded bulletsand grenades. These troopers of2nd Light Horse Regt useperiscope rifles for sniping, toavoid showing themselves abovethe parapet. Note their motleydress – see Plate A2. (AustralianWar Memorial)

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then descended into indecisive confusion. After three days with littleprogress achieved, an Ottoman charge virtually destroyed 32nd Bde, andthe remaining men began to filter back to the beach. Those who hadmadeit ashore were concentrated to launch another attack to bolster the exposedposition at Suvla, and to renew the original attempt to link up with AnzacCove. The remainder of IX Corps attacked on 21 August, but, advancing inextended order over exposed terrain, they were cut to pieces by accurateshrapnel fire. Although some men made it to the summit of Scimitar Hill,they were unable to hold it under fire from the surrounding peaks.The Australian 13th and 14th Bns, and the 5th Bn Connaught Rangers,

launched an attempt on Hill 60 to coincide with the Scimitar Hill attack,but they lacked artillery support while being exposed to fire fromsurrounding positions, and some of the wounded were burned to deathwhen Turkish shells set fire to the undergrowth. An attempt by the freshAustralian 18th Bn to reinforce the attack the following day sufferedheavy casualties, with 383 men killed. The 3rd Light Horse Bde arrived on27 August as infantry reinforcements; they reached the Turkish trencheson Hill 60, but were unable to overwhelm them, and the operation wascalled off on 29 August. The Turks had suffered a further 20,000casualties and the Allies close to 12,000; both sides were near toexhaustion, and the Turkish victory at Hill 60 marked the end of Alliedoffensive operations at Gallipoli.After an eight-month campaign, it was decided to evacuate the

peninsula. At Suvla and Anzac Cove this was achieved successfully on19–20 December 1915, the Turks being tricked into believing that thepositions were still held in strength. The final evacuations from CapeHelles took place on 8/9 January 1916. Of the roughly 222,000 Alliedcasualties at Gallipoli, the Australians had suffered 26,111, of whom8,141 were killed (the New Zealand death toll was about 2,700, and theBritish some 25,000). Nine Australians had been awarded the VictoriaCross for acts of supreme valour.

THE MIDDLE EASTEgypt and Sinai, 1915–16In late 1914 the Australian Imperial Force were originally bound forEngland, but it was decided that they would be better seeing out thewinter in Egypt. The AIF established a headquarters there in December1914, and the troops were encamped around Mena for further training.It was from this base that the Anzacs had set out for Gallipoli, andfollowing their withdrawal they returned to Mena.The Central Powers attempted to exploit the success of the Senussi

uprising against the Italians in Libya, and in summer 1915 the leaderAhmed Sharif es Senussi advanced from the west towards British-heldEgypt with 5,000 men, to coincide with an Ottoman attack on the SuezCanal from the east. It was obviously vital that MajGen Sir John Maxwell’s70,000-strong British Empire force in Egypt hold the Canal – the linkbetween Australasia, India and Europe. Maxwell’s advanced forces werepushed back from Sollum and Sidi Barrani in Libya, but MajGenAlexander Wallace’s Western Frontier Force counter-attacked at MersaMatruh in November 1915, and defeated themain coastal thrust at Agagiyaon 26 February 1916. The Australian 9th Light Horse Regt met the Senussifor the first time at Mersa Matruh on 11 December 1915, but suffered a

‘Simpson and his donkey’ – afamous figure at Gallipoli wasPte Jack Simpson Kirkpatrick(right), a stretcher-bearer whorescued wounded and carriedthem back to dressing stationson his donkey, Duffy. He becamerenowned for going about hiswork whistling and singing,oblivious to the bullets flyingpast him. (Australian WarMemorial)

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setback when they were ambushed.Meanwhile, the Imperial Camel Corps long-range patrols, supported by vehicles from theAustralian 1st Light Car Patrol, effectivelykept the Arabs away from the vital desert wells.For the Ottoman Army’s westwards attack

on Egypt from the Sinai Peninsula, DjemalPasha formed a 20,000-strong force under theGerman Col von Kressenstein. The Turksapproached the Canal on 28 January 1916,but were prevented from attacking by asandstorm. German aircraft of FeldfleigerAbteilung ‘Pascha’ operated in support, butthe attempted Ottoman crossing oninflatable rafts was disastrous, costing themsome 1,500 killed, and many others

surrendered. The hoped-for local uprising against the British failed tomaterialize. In March 1916 the Empire troops in theatre were placedunder LtGen Sir Archibald Murray as the Egyptian Expeditionary Force.Murray wanted to defend the Canal more securely by holding back a

smaller number of troops and establishing a forward line further eastthrough Katia, while building a freshwater pipeline and railway to supplyit. Access to the oases and wells was crucial for any large militarymovements in this theatre, and both sides sought to control them. Togain full advantage from their new pipeline, the British began destroyingall the wells the Ottoman forces might use to repeat their advancetowards the Canal, and Australian Light Horse and Bikaner Camel Corpsunits were employed to carry out this sabotage. By April 1916 thenorthern route across the Sinai was the only practical approach left, thus

making the Canal muchmore easily defensible.With his options for

attacking Egypt narrowing,Gen von Kressensteinlaunched a surprise attack onKatia on 23 April 1916,hitting isolated units at Katia,Ogratina and Duidar northof El Ferdan Station. Thedefenders scattered, but theANZAC Mtd Div quicklyadvanced and reoccupiedthe area. The affair at Katiaconvinced Gen Murray todouble the number of troopsin the Sinai, and the 5thAustralian Light Horse Regt,NZ Mtd Rifles Bde andBritish 52nd (Lowland) Divwere sent forward.Kressenstein gathered his

full strength of 18,000 men,

As the front lines above AnzacCove settled into stalemate, thenarrow beaches becameovercrowded with unloadedsupplies. Note the short distancebetween the edge of the seaand the base of the steepslopes at the right.At Gallipoli, ANZAC also includedthe British 13th (Western) Div,one brigade from the British 10th(Irish) Div, four battalions fromthe British Royal Naval Div, the29th Indian Inf Bde, 7th Bde ofthe Indian Mountain Artillery, theCeylon Planters Rifle Corps andthe Zion Mule Corps. (NationalLibrary of New Zealand,1/ 2-066281-F)

One of the rare Allied successesat Gallipoli was the taking ofOttoman trenches during thebattle of Lone Pine on 6 August.Note the solid construction ofthe captured position in whichthese men of 2nd and 3rd Bnswere photographed.(Australian War Memorial)14


and attacked the cavalry screen of the1st Australian Light Horse Bde and thereconnaissance trackers of the 2nd Light HorseBde on the evening of 3 August 1916 near thetown of Romani. The Australian Mtd Divcommander MajGen Chauvel left Brig CharlesCox’s 1st ALH Bde out under arms overnight,which proved decisive when the attack came.They were forced to retire by mid-morning on4 August, but had blunted the enemy attacksufficiently to allow the 2nd ALH Bde, British5th Mtd (Yeomanry) Bde and NZ Mtd RiflesBde to reinforce the defensive line. The Turkswere kept pinned in a low depression where they were in range of52nd (Lowland) Div, who eventually forced them to withdraw. TheAllies recorded 1,200 casualties, but the Ottoman and German forcehad suffered 9,200, reducing it to ineffectiveness.This victory at Romani provided a boost to Allied morale; it also

allowed the work on the Sinai pipeline and railway to continueunmolested, and left GenMurray facing a weakened enemy with a strongforce at his disposal. Buoyed by this success, he proposed chasing theretreating Ottoman force to El Arish. By early December 1916 thepipeline and railway had reached the Egypt-Palestine border near Bir elMazar. Despite regular harassment from German aircraft based inPalestine, the ANZAC Mtd Div increasingly conducted forward raidsagainst Ottoman positions at Bir el Mazar and in the Maghara Hills.At the beginning of December, Gen Murray reorganized his

advanced force as the Desert Column, placing it under the commandof LtGen Sir Philip Chetwode, with the ANZAC Mtd Div grouped withthe 42nd (East Lancs) and 52nd (Lowland) infantry divisions, the 5thMtd (Yeomanry) Bde and the Imperial Camel Corps. The EgyptianExpeditionary Force now numbered about 150,000 British and ANZACand 6,000 Indian troops. The Ottoman forces had made an orderlywithdrawal towards their desert base of Auja al-Hafir, but AustralianFlying Corps aerial reconnaissance missions brought Gen Murray goodintelligence on their movements, positions, camps and supply lines.

Light Horse patrols indicated that Magdhaba was held by only 1,600men, and on 22 December MajGen Chauvel led his ANZAC Mtd Div toattack this position. Kressenstein’s carefully prepared defences consistedof fortified redoubts and entrenchments on an approximately 2-milefront, defended by a combined German and Turkish force. The RoyalHorse Artillery, Hong Kong & Singapore Mountain Battery, Royal FlyingCorps and Australian Flying Corps all supported the attack. The initialbombardment was followed by a quick enveloping action, with the NZMtd Rifles attacking directly, and the Australian Light Horsemanoeuvring to outflank theOttoman positions. Following heavy fightingin the morning the New Zealanders and Australians charged the enemytrenches with fixed bayonets; most Ottoman units had surrendered by4.30pm, and all resistance had ended by nightfall. The attack hadsuccessfully captured Magdhaba – the last Ottoman strongpoint in theSinai – with the wells intact, at a cost of 22 killed and 122 wounded;Turkish losses were 97 killed, 300 wounded and 1,282 prisoners.

A number of ruses wereemployed to deceive the Turkswhile the troops were withdrawnfrom Anzac Cove in December1915. On 17 December, withtypical Australian insouciance,a cricket match was played on‘Shell Green’ despite shells flyingoverhead. When men left thetrenches for the last time theyrigged rifles to fire at randomintervals, by means of watertrickling from one mess tin intoanother attached to the triggerby a wire. (Australian WarMemorial)

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The Allied railway reached El Arish on 4 January 1917, and the pipelinearrived soon afterwards.At dawn on 9 January 1917, the ANZAC Mtd Div and Imperial Camel

Corps led an Allied column commanded by Chetwode to attack theOttoman garrison at Rafah. After a morning of intense fighting, in whichthe Allied forces struggled to make headway, a bayonet charge by theNZMtd Rifles Bde broke through the central redoubt, and men from theImperial Camel Corps captured key defensive works. The battle of Rafahcost the Allies 71 killed and 415 wounded, and the Ottoman defenders200 dead and 1,635 captured. With the Sinai Peninsula no longer underthreat, the British command turned their attention to a planned invasionof Palestine.

Palestine, 1917Despite misgivings in London, Gen Murray wanted to keep up hismomentum, and believed he could capture Gaza as a platform for a latermajor offensive. He was wrong: two attempts were made, on 26–27 March1917 and again on 17–19 April, but both these attacks failed to breakthrough the Gaza defences, at a cost of nearly 10,000 casualties. This ledto Gen Murray’s replacement in June by Gen Sir Edmund Allenby asGOC Egyptian Expeditionary Force. In August the new theatrecommander combined the two mainly Australian mounted divisions intothe Desert Mounted Corps, and placed it under the command of thecapable LtGen Chauvel.If the Allies were to move northwards and take Jerusalem, the enemy

defensive line between Gaza and the desert town of Beersheba had to bebroken. The Ottoman command were sure that the attack would againfall on Gaza, as an attempt on isolated Beersheba – far from good watersupplies – represented a huge risk. However, Gen Chetwode planned totake the Ottoman forces by surprise and break the Gaza-Beersheba lineat the Beersheba end. The advance was a remarkable endeavour,successfully transporting more than 40,000 men and horses across desertterrain virtually undetected. Alongside the Desert Mounted Corps were

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Light Horsemen watching localbedouin drawing water from thewells at Khalasa on the Sinai.Tight control of all water pointswas crucial in the desertcampaigns of 1915–17.(Australian War Memorial)


two infantry divisions from British XXCorps with artillery support.The attack on Beersheba began with

an artillery bombardment at 5.55am on31 October 1917, followed by aninfantry assault by units of XX Corps,which reached their objectives on theoutskirts of the town by 12.15pm. TheOttoman forces began to withdraw, but‘Bull’ Allenby had insisted that they becaptured, and LtGen Chauvel orderedthe 4th Light Horse Bde to take thetown. Although the Light Horsemen usually dismounted to attack on foot,this was to be a mounted charge by troopers brandishing their bayonets.The 4th, 11th and 12th ALH regiments formed up just under 4 miles(6.4km) from the Turkish trenches, and LtCol Murray Bourchier led thecharge in three waves, setting off at 4.30pm. Ottoman artillery opened upwith shrapnel, but the horsemen were so well dispersed that it had littleeffect, and they advanced more rapidly than the enemy gunners couldadjust their range. Machine guns that opened fire from the flanks werequickly silenced by the British horse artillery; Turkish riflemen began topick off the riders, but their pace was such that most of the bullets weresoon passing over their heads. The first wave jumped their horses over theTurkish trenches and dismounted to attack the defenders; the second andthird waves continued through the town on horseback, picking off thegarrison as they went. Beersheba was captured with 1,400 prisoners, and500 Ottoman troops were killed; the Allies suffered 1,200 casualties, butonly 31 killed.Defeat at Beersheba led the Turks to abandon the Gaza line, and in the

first week of November 1917 they were conducting rearguard actions inthe Judaean foothills as the Allies moved north. On 13 November men ofXXI Corps and the Desert Mounted Corps engaged in heavy fighting atMughar Ridge, where a 20,000-strong Ottoman force had attempted tohalt the Allied advance. The infantry divisions of XXI Corps attacked inthe centre with the Australian mounted divisions on both flanks. Defeatforced the Ottomans to give up Jaffa and withdraw towards Jerusalem,having lost 10,000 prisoners and more than 100 guns.Empire forces attacked at Nebi Samwill in late November and at Jaffa

in December, with XX Corps, XXI Corps and the Desert Mounted Corpsrepeatedly forcing the Ottoman Seventh and Eighth Armies back.On 4 December, Australian light armoured cars reported that the roadfrom Beersheba to Jerusalem through Hebron and Bethlehem wassecured, and on 11 December 1917 Gen Allenby reached Jerusalem.Although the first Christian commander in 800 years to capture the HolyCity, he was careful not to play the conqueror; he dismountedrespectfully and entered Jerusalem on foot, being followed soonafterwards by troops of the Australian Mounted Division.

Palestine, 1918In early 1918 winter rains ended campaigning, and the mounteddivisions were withdrawn to rest camps while Lawrence’s Arab Armycontinued to conduct raids on Ottoman positions.2 17

The operations of the EgyptianExpeditionary Force dependedupon the water pipeline and thelight railway constructed tobring supplies and men up fromthe Suez Canal zone to the frontlines in the Sinai desert andPalestine. Here Australianengineers supervise locallabourers, of whom some 13,000were employed in 1916. Manywere more or less press-ganged,and anger over their treatmentby the British would contributeto the Egyptian rebellion thatbroke out in 1919. (AustralianWar Memorial)


On 19 February 1918 the British attacked Jericho, seizing it from theOttoman Eighth Army after four days. The Turkish forces in the theatrewere on the brink of collapse, but the crisis caused by the successfulGerman spring offensive on the Western Front denied Allenby thereinforcements he had requested in order to deliver the final blow– indeed, more than half of his battalions were withdrawn to Europe.In late March 1918, Australian Mtd Div troops were involved in aningenious but abortive attack on Amman, and the outnumbered Alliedforce was obliged to withdraw.The Egyptian Expeditionary Force continued to move north,

conducting attacks in the Judaean Hills during April. Having clearedJaljulye and Qalqilye, the AustralianMtd Div was tasked with pursuing theretreating enemy as far as Tulkarm. On 11 April, Turkish aircraft bombedthe forces in Judaea, comprising the ANZACMtd Div, the Imperial CamelCorps and the 60th (London) Infantry Division. This was followed by aninfantry assault by the Ottoman 48th Div, but accurate artillery fire, anda flank attack by Australian light horsemen, forced them to withdraw.The Ottoman forces again attempted an offensive operation on 14 July

1918, when their 24th Div, with two battalions from the brigade-sizeGerman Asia Corps in support, attacked the 1st ALH Bde and an elementfrom the British Honourable Artillery Company near Abu Tellul. After anartillery barrage, the Germans attacked at 3.30am. A battery of RoyalGarrison Artillery and the Hong Kong & Singapore Mtn Bty provided firesupport as the Australians counter-attacked. After making good progressthe Germans found themselves caught in a cross-fire, and when theirOttoman allies failed to support them they were forced to withdraw. Thiswas the last offensive mounted by the Ottoman Army in World War I, andexposed the deepening rifts between the Germans and the Ottomans.After a pause in major operations during the hottest summer months,

Allenby made his plans to advance north for Tiberias, Haifa, andDamascus. Following the Allied victory at Beersheba the Ottoman Army’ssenior German commander, Gen Erich von Falkenhayn, had beenreplaced by Gen Liman von Sanders (the successful commander of theOttoman forces at Gallipoli). Von Sanders disagreed with his

Despite their defeats at Romani,Maghdaba and Rafah, it wasdangerous to underestimate theOttoman forces, who inflictedserious losses on Empire troopsin the two battles of Gaza inspring 1917. These soldiers aremanning half-a-dozen MG08machine guns, their mountingsadjusted for ground-level fire.In desert conditions a defensiveline like this would be almostinvisible at surprisingly shortrange. (US Library of Congress13709)

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predecessor’s policy of a fighting withdrawal, and determinedto dig in and resist the Allied offensive. Still harassed byLawrence’s irregulars, the Ottoman Army brought together3,000 mounted troops, over 30,000 infantry and 400 guns tomake a stand at Meggido – site of the biblical Armageddon.After an elaborate deception plan, the attack began on

17 September when Lawrence’s Arabs sabotaged the Turkishrailway at Deraa far to the east, while men from Chetwode’sinfantry also made diversionary attacks. At 1am on19 September aircraft bombed the Ottoman headquarters,disrupting their communications. At 4.30am the Allies opened anartillery barrage with 385 guns, following up with a frontal assault by theBritish infantry on the left. Mounted troops broke through the Ottomancentre and swung right to pursue retreating units, which were alsoharassed from the air. Early on 20 September the Desert Mounted Corpscleared Carmel Ridge and captured Al-Afuleh and Beisan, and the5th Mtd Div attacked Nazareth, where Gen von Sanders narrowly escapedcapture in his HQ. Haifa was captured the next day, and the AustralianMtd Div captured Jenin; this position threatened Mustafa Kemal’sSeventh Army, which began to retreat along the Nablus-Beisan road. TheAustralian Mtd Div spent the next few days sweeping up lost and confusedOttoman troops, and by 28 September the battle of Meggido had becomea decisive rout, with more than 70,000 Ottoman troops taken prisoner.On 30 September the Australians caught up with a retreating column ofGerman and Ottoman troops in Barada Gorge; when they refused tosurrender, they were destroyed.The Australian Light Horsemen continued to pursue the retreating

Ottoman forces towards Damascus, at the head of a column of mostlyBritish, Indian and Australian troops, while Lawrence’s Arab irregularskept pace along the Hejaz Railway out to the east. Early on the morningof 1 October 1918 the Australians observed retreating enemy forcespassing through Damascus and heading for the Homs road. DespiteLawrence’s instructions that he and the Arab Army should be first toenter and receive the formal surrender, the CO of the 10th Light Horse,Maj Harry Olden, judged that he would lose valuable time in the pursuitif they went around Damascus rather than through it. The 3rd and10th ALH pushed on into the city under sporadic sniper fire. The civilgovernor, Emir Said al-Jezairi, invited Maj Olden into the Serai, whichwas crowded with local dignitaries, and declared in Arabic: ‘In the nameof Damascus, I welcome the first of the British Army’. Much to theperplexity of the assembled noblemen, Olden declined their hospitality,and rejoined his men as they rode on after the Ottoman troops.Lawrence arrived some 2 hours later, and began his discussions with thelocal leaders as if nothing had happened. (In his later writings he madeno mention of the Australians’ entry into Damascus, and implied that hewas the first to enter the city.)The war in Palestine was over. Resistance continued in Syria

throughout October, but with the capitulation of Bulgaria the Ottomangovernment realized their position was hopeless, and signed anarmistice on 30 October 1918.

192 See MAA 208, Lawrence and the Arab Revolts

The Australian Light Horsewere effective in locatingand harassing Ottoman troopmovements. Here men from the3rd ALH Machine-Gun Squadronbring a Vickers gun into actionnear Khurbetha ibn-Harith in theJudaean Hills. (Australian WarMemorial)


THE WESTERN FRONT1916Although Gallipoli is often described as ‘Australia’s baptism of fire’, itwould pale in comparison to what the Diggers were to experience onthe Western Front.The Australian infantry began arriving in Europe in March 1916.

Following their reorganization, the 1st Australian Div (MajGen HaroldWalker), the 2nd Australian Div (MajGen James Gordon Legge), and theNew Zealand Div (MajGen Andrew Hamilton Russell) formed the newI ANZAC Corps. The NZ Div was replaced in July 1916 by 3rd AustralianDiv (MajGen John Monash). That same month the new 4th and 5thAustralian Divs (respectively, MajGens Herbert Cox & James WhitesideMcCay) formed II ANZAC Corps, incorporating the NZ Division.The 2nd Division were the first to sail to France, followed

soon afterwards by 1st Div, with the 3rd Div not arriving until July 1916.From April 1916, I ANZAC Corps began to feed units unobtrusively intoa quiet sector of the front line at Armentières. The AIF were not involvedin the opening of the Somme offensive on 1 July, but on the 19th the5th Div were thrust into the heart of the battle. They suffered terribly asa consequence, with 5,533 Australians killed during the attack onFromelles. That figure was equal to more than two-thirds of the totalkilled in eight months of fighting at Gallipoli, and remains the singlegreatest loss of Australian life on a single day.On 23 July the 1st Div played a key role in the taking of Pozières, and

bore the brunt of the inevitable German counter-attacks; the Australianofficial war historian Charles Bean wrote that Pozières ridge ‘is more20

Table 3: Campaign participation of the Australian Army in World War INew Guinea

Bita Paka (09/11/1914); Capture of German New Guinea (11–21/09/1914)

Gallipoli

Landing at Anzac Cove (25/04–03/05/1915); Battle of Baby 700 (02/05/1915); Assault on Gaba Tepe (04/05/1915); Assault on Achi Baba(05/05/1915); Second Battle of Krithia (06–08/05/1915); Battle of Kurna (31/05–01/06/1915); Battle of Sari Bair (06–21/08/1915); Battle ofLone Pine (06–10/08/1915); Battle of The Nek (07/08/1915); Battle of Hill 971 (08/08/1915); Battle of Hill 60 (21–29/08/1915)

Egypt, Sinai & Palestine

First Battle of Wassa (02/04/1915); Second Battle of Wassa (31/07/1915); Battle of Um Rakhum (13/12/1915); Battle of Gebel Medwa(25/12/1915); Battle of Halazin (23/01/1916); Battle of Romani (03–05/08/1916); Battle of Magdhaba (23/12/1916); Battle of Rafah(09/01/1917); First Battle of Gaza (26/03/1917); Second Battle of Gaza (19/04/1917); Battle of Beersheba (31/10/1917); Third Battle of Gaza31/10–07/11/1917); Battle of Khuweilfe (01–08/11/1917); Battle of El Mughar Ridge (13/11/1917); Capture of Jerusalem (08–26/12/1917);First Battle of Amman (27–30/03/1918); Battle of Es Salt (30/04–03/05/1918); Battle of Abu Tellul (14/07/1918); Battle of Megiddo(19–21/09/1918); Battle of Nablus (20/09/1918); Battle of Wadi Fara (21/09/1918); Second Battle of Amman (25/09/1918); Battle of Semakh25/09/1918); Battle of Kaukab (30/09/1918); Capture of Damascus (01/10/1918)

The Western Front

Battle of Fromelles (19–20/07/1916); Battle of Pozières (23/07–05/08/1916); Battle of Mouquet Farm (08/08–03/09/1916); Battle ofGueudecourt (05–14/11/1916); First Battle of Bullecourt (11/04/1917); Battle of Lagnicourt (15/04/1917); Second Battle of Bullecourt(03–17/05/1917); Battle of Messines (07/06/1917); Third Battle of Ypres (09–11/1917); Battle of Menin Road (20/09/1917); Battle of PolygonWood (26/09/1917); Battle of Broodseinde (04/10/1917); Battle of Poelcappelle (09/10/1917); Battle of Passchendaele (12/10/1917); Battleof Hebuterne (27/03–05/04/1918); First Battle of Dernancourt (28/03/1918); First Battle of Morlancourt (28–30/03/1918); First Battle ofVillers-Bretonneux (04/04/1918); Second Battle of Dernancourt (05/04/1918); Battle of Hangard Wood (07/04/1918); Battle of Zeebrugge(22–23/04/1918); Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux (24–25/04/1918); Second Battle of Morlancourt (04–09/05/1918); Battle of Ville-sur-Ancre (19/05/1918); Third Battle of Morlancourt (10/06/1918); Battle of Hamel (04/07/11918); Battle of Amiens (08/08/1918); Battle of Lihons(09–11/08/1918); Battle of Etinehem (10–13/08/1918); Battle of Proyart (10–12/08/1918); Battle of Lille (16–17/08/1918); Battle of Chuignes(23/08/1918); Battle of Mont St Quentin (31/08–02/09/1918); Battle of the Hindenburg Outpost Line (18/09/1918); Battle of St Quentin Canal(29/09–01/10/1918); Battle of Montbrehain (05/10/1918)


densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth.’Following heavy bombardment and gas attacks the 1st Div crept into NoMan’s Land and rushed the German trenches. They eventually took theruins of the village, but the German artillery response was savage, and overthree days the division suffered 5,285 casualties. Despite this, they heldPozières until they were relieved on 27 July by 2nd Division. Attempting totake objectives that the 1st had been unable to reach, 2nd Div too cameunder withering artillery fire. A second attempt on 4 August succeeded,but only at the cost of 6,848 casualties. The Germans launched an intensecounter-attack on 7 August, easily overrunning battered and thinlydefended positions; but a platoon led by Lt Albert Jacka, who had won theVictoria Cross at Gallipoli, attacked the Germans from the rear and tookthem by surprise. This act inspired other Australians, and the Germancounter-attack descended into chaotic hand-to-hand combat in which theAustralians prevailed. (Jacka was decorated with the Military Cross, butmany believed he deserved a Bar to his VC for his conduct in this action.)Having held Pozières, the whole of I ANZAC Corps was ordered to

attack the key strongpoint of Mouquet Farm east of Thiepval by advancingalong the Pozières Ridge, with British divisions in support. Despite heavyshelling they captured the position three times, but on each occasion wereforced to retreat by German artillery fire. By 5 September, having sufferedmore than 6,300 additional casualties, I ANZAC Corps was relieved by theCanadian Corps and withdrawn from the front line to recover. In all, theAustralians had suffered 23,000 casualties in just 45 days.

By November the weather was deteriorating, and major operationsceased. Since 1 July the Allied attacks had forced the Germans back bynearly 6 miles (9km), and, while falling short of a victory, the battles of theSomme had gained the Allies tactical advantages from which to launchtheir subsequent offensives. More importantly, they had inflicted on theGerman Army such shocking casualties, and such a degree of exhaustion,that their high command had to question their whole tactical doctrine.

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A column from 2nd AustralianDivision rest beside a Frenchroad near Armentières in spring1916. This was the first divisionto arrive on the Western Front,and was filtered into a quietsector of the line – knownas ‘the Nursery’ – in the firstweek of April. (From theAustralian Front, 1917)


1917During winter 1916/17 the Germans made the strategic decision towithdraw from a great swathe of territory between Arras in the northand Soissons in the south, falling back to build and man defences on theshorter front of their Siegfried (to the Allies, Hindenburg) Line.Convinced that they could not sustain the rate of attrition suffered onthe Somme, they began to incorporate ‘elastic defence’ into their tactics– the doctrine of holding back reserves, giving up ground in the frontline when it came under intolerable pressure, but counter-attacking instrength before the lost ground could be properly consolidated by themore or less exhausted attackers.In March 1917, while following up the German withdrawal, the

Australians captured Bapaume. The subsequent first battle of Bullecourtwas disastrous, costing over 3,000 casualties. Assisting the British 62ndDiv, the Australian 4th Div attacked Bullecourt on 10 April, but badweather prevented their tank support moving forward, and when it didarrive there were only 11 tanks available. By the time the attackproceeded on 11 April the forewarned Germans had bolstered theirdefences. The Allied artillery barrage had failed to cut the Germanbarbed wire, and although they occupied the German front line theAustralians’ heavy casualties prevented them from holding it.On 15 April 1917, Gen Otto von Moser, commanding German XIV

Corps, observed that the Australian 1st Div had become stretched outalong more than 7 miles (12km) of the Allied line, and decided topunish them. His ‘raid’ – by more than 20 battalions – punched throughright at the junction between the Australian 1st and 2nd Divs;the Germans then attempted to capture Lagnicourt, but effectivecounter-attacks by the Australian 9th and 20th Bns drove them off.The Australians had suffered 1,010 casualties from this attack, andinflicted 2,313 on the enemy.At 3.45am on 3 May, the Australian 2nd Div launched another attack

east of Bullecourt, while the British 62nd Div attacked the village itself.The British suffered horrendous losses and failed to take their

The 1st Div got its first truetaste of the Western Front on 23July 1916, when, as part of GenSir High Gough’s Reserve Army,they were ordered to capture thevillage of Pozières in the Germansecond-line positions on theSomme front. Despite sufferingdevastating casualties theysucceeded in taking the first lineof trenches, and later thestrongpoint of ‘Gibraltar Bunker’.(Australian War Memorial)

22


objectives, but the Australian 5th and 6th Bdes captured a long lengthof the trench system between Bullecourt and Riencourt, which theywere able to hold, though only at the price of 7,482 Australian casualties.On 7 June 1917, II ANZAC Corps joined the British IX and X Corps

to launch an attack near Messines, south of the Ypres Salient in Flanders.In preparation for the attack British, Canadian, Australian and NewZealand engineers had constructed an elaborate tunnel system underthe German lines, digging 22 mines in which they placed over 440 tons(450,000kg) of explosives. An artillery barrage preceded detonation,tricking the Germans into expecting an infantry assault, and as soon asit lifted they rushed back to their defensive positions. The mines weredetonated at 3.10am, and although three failed to go off, some 10,000German soldiers were killed in the destruction of their defences (and ofmost of the town of Messines as well).The Australian 3rd Div faced heavy counter-shelling while forming

up, including the use of phosgene gas, but still took part in the attack.A second intense Allied barrage followed immediately after thedetonation of the mines, this time a ‘creeping barrage’ that liftedand moved forward progressively in front of the advancing infantry.The men from II ANZAC Corps and British IX and X Corps attackingthe Messines salient from three sides faced relatively brief opposition,with many Germans surrendering in confusion. The German front lineswere taken in just 3 hours, all objectives were secured within 12 hours,and a counter-attack was easily repulsed. Nevertheless, II ANZAC Corpsstill suffered 6,800 casualties during the battle of Messines.The major British offensive in late summer 1917 was intended to take

pressure off the war-weary French Army, which was disrupted by mutiniesfollowing the catastrophic failure of the Chemin des Dames offensive.Field Marshal Haig’s objective was to push eastwards out of the YpresSalient to capture Passchendaele Ridge, which might then allow therecapture of the entire Belgian coast as far as the Dutch border. The mainthrusts were to be made using ‘bite and hold’ tactics, with each successiveobjective limited to what could be held against a counter-attack. 23

A surgeon captain attending awounded man in an AustralianAdvanced Dressing Stationduring the fighting at Hill 60,Ypres, on 26 August 1917.Heavy Australian casualtiesled to referenda over theintroduction of conscription, on28 October 1916 under theMilitary Service Referendum Act1916, and on 20 December 1917under the War Precautions(Military Service Referendum)Regulations 1917, but on bothoccasions the Australianelectorate rejected the proposal.Serving soldiers had a voice inthis decision alongside thevoters at home. (Australian WarMemorial)


British Fifth Army commenced their attack on 31 July1917 along a 15-mile (25km) front. In 15 days the Alliedbatteries, including Australian artillery, had fired morethan 4 million shells, but the Germans had preparedtheir defences in depth. The front lines were protectedby strong concrete pillboxes, and the infantry could sitout the barrages in deep shelters. Their barbed wireentanglements were designed to funnel advancingattackers towards enfilading machine guns, and Germanartillery was well positioned to cover any attacks. TheAllies made limited initial gains, but heavy and persistentrain throughout August blinded their aircraft, and

turned the shell-pulverized earth into a flooded quagmire that seriouslyhampered all movements. This prevented the artillery from gettingforward to exploit such successes as the infantry did achieve.I ANZAC Corps were committed to this battle of Third Ypres on 20

September, when the 1st and 2nd Divs moved out at 5.40am from Yprestown to Glencorse Wood, and then advanced along Westhoek Ridge. Thepreceding five-day barrage had weakened German resistance, but despiteeffective artillery covering fire the Australians faced strong oppositionfrom the concrete pillboxes, and suffered some 5,000 casualties. When6th Bn found themselves pinned down by machine-gun fire from apillbox Lt Frederick Birks captured its occupants single-handed, forwhich he was awarded the Victoria Cross. All the Australian objectives hadbeen reached by noon, and the troops found themselves at the westernedge of Polygon Wood. British casualties had also been severe, but atnighfall on 20 September the Allies found themselves in a tacticallysuperior position for the first time.The next day I ANZAC Corps were tasked with conducting the main

advance across the Gheluvelt Plateau to occupy Polygon Wood andZonnebeke, with British X Corps in support. Engineers struggled toconstruct plank roads and light railways across the deep mud to bring upsupplies and ammunition in preparation for the advance. The 4th and5th Divs were brought forward to relieve the 1st and 2nd at Polygon

Artillery was king on the WesternFront. Here Australian gunnerssupporting the July 1916 attackat Pozières man the mostcommon British fieldpiece ofthe war, the Mk IV 18-pounder.(Australian War Memorial)

Except during major operations,units were rotated in and out ofthe trenches at regular intervalsin order to give them a chanceto clean up, eat and sleepuninterrupted, and make goodtheir casualties. In practice,these ‘rest’ days were oftenspent in training, or in hardlabour carrying up stores. Here,men of the Australian 6th Bdemarch back from the line,watched by their replacementsfrom 2nd Brigade. (AustralianWar Memorial)

24 (continued on page 34)


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Wood, and a German counter-attack against the Australian position on25 September was successfully beaten off by the adjacent British 33rdDivision. At 5.30am the next day the British opened a barrage, and undercover of plentiful smoke shells the 4th and 5th Divs and five Britishdivisions advanced quickly to the German positions. Heavy fightingensued, with 5,770 Australian casualties, but the German defences sooncollapsed. In this battle of Polygon Wood the Australians introduced anew method for ‘mopping-up’, moving systematically through any intactGerman positions and clearing them of survivors.The German Army had suffered badly from their defeats on 20 and

26 September, but holding the ground gained against their counter-attacks was, as always, a bloody business. Nevertheless, Haig felt that aGerman withdrawal was imminent, and decided to press on with theattack, although his army commanders Gens Plumer and Gough wereunconvinced. On 4 October, 12 divisions, including both I and II ANZACCorps, advanced towards Broodseinde with tank support. I ANZACCorps’s attack was met in No Man’s Land by the German 212th InfantryRegt, which happened to be launching an attack in the oppositedirection. The Australians quickly overwhelmed the outnumberedGermans, continuing to their objective near the Zonnebeke ridge line,where they again faced fierce machine-gun fire from pillboxes. I ANZACCorps suffered some 4,500 casualties, and II ANZAC Corps about 3,500.Nevertheless, the Australian 3rd Div had managed to capture about amile of enemy territory, which by the standards of 1917 counted as aconsiderable success.After a third disaster within two weeks, the German deputy chief of

staff Gen Ludendorff ordered the abandonment of the tactics ofdefence in depth in favour of thinly held front-line outposts, which wereto retreat when assaulted in strength and call down heavy artillery fireon their attackers. Just when it seemed that the Allied offensive wasprogressing well and German resistance was on the point of crumbling,the weather broke once again, and it began to rain heavily. On9 October the Allies attacked Poelcappelle in bad weather; the artilleryfire was inadequate, the barbed wire was not sufficiently cut, and themud made progress slow and difficult. Some territory was captured, butno objectives could be held; the cost was 10,000 casualties, including1,253 Australians.It was still believed that the German Army were close to breaking, and

on 12 October another attempt was made to press towards Passchedaele.Five British divisions supported an attack by the Australian 3rd and theNew Zealand divisions, with the 4th Div in support. The weatherrendered the artillery support useless, and themen struggled to make anyprogress in the deep mud; the 3rd Div bogged down, and the NewZealanders were halted by uncut wire and slaughtered by machine guns.Some of the Australians did reach the village, but too few to hold it. Theattack was such an appalling failure that German troops decided not tofire on Australian stretcher parties, and in some instances even helpedthem to locate their wounded. The Australians had suffered more than4,000 casualties for no gains.The Canadian Corps was brought up to relieve II ANZAC Corps for a

second attempt on Passchendaele. I ANZACCorps was also to attack, on theleft flank, with the British attacking in the centre. Conducted in three phases

Trenches occupied for longperiods were usually deep andwell constructed, but duringperiods of mobile operationsthey might be little more thangouges in the earth, like this onenear Riencourt. (Australian WarMemorial)

33


on 26 and 30 October and 6November 1917, this secondbattle of Passchendaelecost the Canadians morethan 15,000 casualties. On10 November the Flandersoffensive was finally calledoff. The battles fought atMenin Road, PolygonWood,Broodseinde, Poelcappelle,and Passchendaele had costthe five Australian divisionsabout 38,000 casualties,including some 11,200killed. These appalling losseshad so weakened the AIFthat in November 1917 it wasdecided to reorganize thefive divisions into a singleAustralian Corps, with theNew Zealanders transferringto the British XXII Corps.

1918Despite the setbacks theyhad suffered in 1917, theGermans had been buoyedby the withdrawal of Russiafrom the war following theOctober Revolution, which

freed up vast manpower reserves for the Western Front. Conscious of theimminent risks posed by the entry into the war of the United States, GenLudendorff launched a massive spring offensive on 21 March 1918. ThisKaiserschlacht – ‘Emperor’s Battle’ – involved 63 divisions attacking alonga front of 68 miles (110km). Rather than long artillery bombardmentsheralding massed frontal assaults on wide fronts, the Germans employeda new technique: very heavy, well directed, but brief barrages, followed bydispersed infantry assaults by ‘storm troops’. These would break throughat decisive points and push on fast into the Allied rear areas, destroyingthe artillery and preventing reinforcement. This made the Allied trenchsystems vulnerable to being cut up into isolated positions that had notbeen prepared for all-round defence, and which could be mopped up bysecond-wave German forces.The first phase hit the British First and Fifth Armies and the French

Third Army on a front stretching from Vimy south to Barisis on 21March, and the British reeled back under the weight of this Operation‘Michael’. However, despite deep early advances the Germans sufferedbadly from their lack of motorized mobility; their artillery could notkeep up with the infantry, and the advances soon began to run out ofmomentum. Although a huge 40-mile-deep salient would be driven intothe Allied lines, the new Allied commander-in-chief, the French GenFoch, orchestrated rapid and determined reactions.

Originally a farmer fromTasmania, Capt ‘Mad Harry’Murray of 13th Bn had alreadybeen awarded the DCM atGallipoli, the DSO for his gallantleadership at Mouquet Farm inAugust 1916, and the VC forleading his company in thecapture of Stormy Trench atGueudecourt in February 1917.Here he is decorated by GenBirdwood with a Bar to his DSOfor his outstanding conduct atBullecourt in April 1917. Murraysurvived the war as the CO of4th MG Battalion. (AustralianWar Memorial)

34


The Australian 3rd and 4th Divs were moved from Messines south tostrengthen the line protecting the vital rail hub of Amiens. On 27 Marchthe 47th and 48th Bns repulsed a German attack at Dernancourt, and overthe next few days the 3rd Div turned back further attacks at Morlancourt.On 12 April, on the Flanders front, the German Sixth Army attackedHazebrouck and captured Merville, but the Australian 1st Div defeatedthem the following day.The main attack on Amiens began on 4 April, at Monument Wood near

Villers-Bretonneux, where 15 German divisions attacked seven Allieddivisions. One German attempt on the village was driven back witha bayonet charge by the Australian 36th Battalion. On the night of17/18 April the Australian positions were shelled with mustard gas, causingmore than 1,000 casualties. The Australians were relieved by British troopson 24 April, and the Germans subsequently took Villers-Bretonneux.However, before they could consolidate this gain the Australian 13th and15th Bdes were ordered to retake it; the brigade commanders refuseda daylight attempt, but instead attacked on the night of 24/25 April.The troops came under heavy artillery and machine-gun fire, andLt Sadlier earned the Victoria Cross by leading his platoon into thick woodswhere they destroyed sixmachine guns. Meanwhile 15th Bde had encircledthe village, and, although some of the Germans escaped in the confusion,Villers-Bretonneux was retaken.By the time the initial Operation ‘Michael’ was called off on 5 April the

Allies had already suffered 255,000 casualties, and the Germans 239,000

A very modest example of theFlanders mud that broughtoperations at Passchendaele toa halt in winter 1917–18. Underthe relentless rain, the shell-pounded dust of summer turnedinto a virtual liquid; this was sodeep in places that it could dragmen down like quicksand, to adreadful death. (From theAustralian Front, 1917)

35


– but many of the latter had been highly trained shock troops, who werenow impossible to replace. At Amiens a British staff officer reported: ‘TheAustralian Corps had gained a mastery over the enemy such as hasprobably not been gained by our troops in any previous period of the war’.In May 1918, LtGen JohnMonash took command of the Australian Corps,making it wholly Australian from top to bottom for the first time. Withtheir spring offensive stumbling, and increasing numbers of US troopsreaching the front lines, the Germans’ gamble was failing. At the end ofMay and in early June they made minor gains after the Third Battle of theAisne, but at a cost of a further 130,000 casualties.

Turning the tideGeneral Monash now proposed an attack in which a new type of combined-arms tactics would be employed at a level never before attempted, althougha limited implementation had been tried at Cambrai in 1917. For the firsttime in history, a meticulously planned attack would be launched withinfantry, artillery, aircraft and tanks all operating in mutual support.On 4 July 1918 the Australian Corps attacked Hamel. A creeping

barrage began at 3am, followed closely by advancing infantry masked bywell-placed smoke screens. Mark V and Whippet tanks moved forward,and aircraft bombed German positions. The first attack wave was closelyfollowed by supply tanks carrying ammunition and heavier items, andaircraft also dropped ammunition and supplies by parachute. Just one ofmany exemplary acts of bravery was that of the Tasmanian Pte HenryDalziel, who was awarded a Victoria Cross for capturing a machine gunwhile armed only with a revolver. General Monash had allowed90 minutes for the infantry to reach their objectives; they achieved it in93 minutes, penetrating more than 2,000 yards into German territory.The Allies suffered 1,062 casualties, the Germans over 2,000 killed and1,600 captured. This successful combined-arms assault at Hamel would be

Winter billets in farm buildingsbehind the line were far fromluxurious, but at least they gavethe Diggers a respite from thesnow and rain of the trenches,and a chance to eat hot food,rest, replace worn-outequipment, and yarn with theirmates from other companies.The corporal at far left, showinga 1st Div colour patch, is talkingto a soldier wearing a sheepskinjerkin. This was British Army1914/15 issue, but some weremodified, being cut short, orfitted with buckled front straps.(From the Australian Front, 1917)

36


a model for all subsequentBritish attacks.July 1918 saw the German

spring offensive all but cease,and it was finally abandoned bythe 20th of the month. TheAustralians were increasinglyadopting tactics of so-called‘peaceful penetration’ – thismeant aggressive patrolling,ambushing enemy patrols, andconducting trench raids (whichthe Diggers called ‘ratting’ or ‘prospecting’). Some Australians treatedthis particularly violent form of hand-to-hand combat as a grim sport.For reasons of stealth it was usually conducted with silent close-quarterweapons such as ‘knobkerries’ (nail-studded wooden clubs),knuckleduster trench knives, hatchets and bayonets, with pistols and handgrenades for emergencies. The raiders would sometimes capture enemytrenches, but on other occasions would simply sneak in, plant booby trapsand sneak out again. German troops began to recognize and fear theAustralians, whose most successful raid was on 11 July 1918. Men from the1st Div captured 1,000 yards of the front line, and took 120 Germanprisoners and 11 machine guns, without either the Allied or Germancommanders knowing that it had occurred. During July, Australian raidersoften found the German front-line trenches abandoned.Young officers were increasingly displaying not only courage and

leadership but initiative, and the Australian infantry had become adept atfire-and-manoeuvre tactics, making them valuable as shock troops forpunching holes through German positions. General Sir Herbert Plumer,commander of British Second Army, told them that ‘there is no division,certainly in my army, perhaps in the whole British army, which has donemore to destroy the morale of the enemy than the 1st Australian Division’.

The heavy ‘siege’ artillery wasemployed mainly for counter-battery work, seeking to destroyGerman artillery as part of theco-ordinated Allied fire plans.Here Australian gunners of oneof the two AIF heavy brigadesman a 9.2in howitzer.(Australian War Memorial)

In the absence of wireless,commanders at every level reliedupon field telephones linkedby ‘OG lines’ – ‘overground’or surface wires – for mostcommunications; since the wireswere exposed to cutting byshellfire, communications wereseldom reliable. The lines wereusually laid from the higher tothe lower echelon, so thisAustralian trench-and-dugoutposition incorporating themasonry of a destroyed buildingmay be a battalion HQ.(Australian War Memorial) 37


The ‘Hundred Days’With the German Army weakened, their spring offensive defeated, and theAmerican Expeditionary Force now deployed in strength, the Allies begantheir counter-offensive. On the Amiens front, Haig unleashed the BritishFourth and French First armies. Beginning at 4.20am on 8 August 1918, apreliminary bombardment was followed by 72 Whippet tanks advancingthrough dense fog. Ten Allied divisions, spearheaded by the AustralianCorps, Canadian Corps and British Fourth Army, moved forward behindthem. The Canadians and Australians, supported by a further 280 Mark Vtanks, broke through the German lines and advanced more than 2 milesby 7.30am. The Germans began to retreat, being prevented fromregrouping by pursuing aircraft and armoured cars, and the successfuldestruction of German communications prevented organized counter-attacks. By mid-morning the hole punched in the German front line wassome 15 miles (24km) wide. By the end of the day the Australians hadadvanced nearly 7 miles (11km), and the Canadians 8 miles (13km);five German divisions had been destroyed or captured, on whatGen Ludendorff referred to as ‘the black day of the German Army’.Although this battle of Amiens had revealed clear signs of collapsing

morale among the German troops, and Ludendorff’s armies were inretreat across a 34-mile (55km) wide front, they were far from capitulating.The Allied artillery and supply chain had difficulty in keeping up with therapid advance of the infantry and tanks, but Foch and Haig decided tocontinue their offensive. They attacked on the Somme on 15 August, atBapaume on 21 August, and at Albert on 22 August. Bapaume fell on29 August, and the Australian Corps crossed the Somme on 31 August, tobreak the German lines at the battle of Mont St Quentin. Here the

A Vickers MG team from 2nd Divpass a column of Pioneers nearPozières on the Somme;compare with Plate D2. TheGerman offensive in spring 1918would see renewed fighting oversome of the old 1916battlefields. (Australian WarMemorial)

38


Lt Leslie Cadell, 6th Bn, showingoff a German flamethrowercaptured during the heavyfighting in the Ypres sectorduring the enemy’s spring 1918offensive – a weapon typical ofthe new German ‘shock troop’tactics. Note that he wears anOther Ranks’ jacket with closedcollar. Under magnification itshows ‘rising sun’ collar badges,an arc-shaped ‘AUSTRALIA’shoulder title, and the purple-over-scarlet battalion sleevepatches; only the brass ‘pips’ onhis shoulder straps immediatelyidentify him as an officer.(Australian War Memorial)

2nd Div struggled to negotiate marshes before charging the heights – thelast major German strongpoint along the Somme line. The Germansbegan to surrender, and the Australians pressed on into their main trenchsystem, while Australian engineers set about repairing a bridge crossingfor the following troops. Although the Germans counter-attacked thesummit, by 2 September it was back in Australian hands, and they had alsocaptured the town of Péronne, although at a cost of 3,000 casualties. Theirachievement was highly praised by Gen Sir Henry Rawlinson, GOC BritishFourth Army, as an outstanding feat of arms.On 26 September 1918 the Americans began to attack towards Sedan

in the south, and over the next few days British, French and Belgianforces launched attacks in northern France and Belgium. The AustralianCorps were involved in further actions at Lihons, Etinehem, Proyart andChuignes, and then prepared for an assault on the heavily defendedHindenburg Line. On 29 September they attacked between Bellicourtand Vendhuille, where the St Quentin Canal passed into anunderground tunnel. Though worn down by months of constantfighting, the Australians were ably supported by inexperienced butenthusiastic Americans on their flanks. The Americans attacked first, butfailed to take all their objectives, so the Australian 3rd and 5th Divs hadto deal with intact machine-gun positions. The three days of fighting attimes forced the Australians to resort to combat with grenades and hand-to-hand weapons; but finally, on 3 October, they broke through theBeaurevoir inner ring of the Hindenburg Line, and on the 5th theycaptured Montbrehain.This would be the last action fought by the Australian Army in World

War I. They were pulled back for recuperation, and were preparing to 39


return to the front when the Armistice wasdeclared on 11 November. Eager to pressahead with the repatriation of Australianpersonnel, their government declined theinvitation to provide part of the occupationforces. The Australian soldiers had done morethan prove themselves the equals of any othertroops on the European stage of industrialwarfare. By the latter part of the war theirdetermination and skill-at-arms had earnedthem unstinting respect from their allies, andfear from their foes. By 1918 the Australianswere elite shock troops, playing a major role inthe defeat of the German Army on theWestern Front.

LEGACY

The experiences, character and record of theAustralian Imperial Force during World WarI did more than anything else to forge a newsense of national unity, and helped shape thecharacter of the young nation. Other than acommon British ancestry and varioussporting endeavours, the Australian states –

formerly separate colonies – had shared few experiences prior to WorldWar I, but the ordeal of Gallipoli brought a sense of commonnationalism sharply into focus. The AIF ‘Digger’ came to define what itmeant to be an Australian: egalitarian, meritocratic, hard-working butleisure-loving, giving others a ‘fair go’, and – above all else – neverletting his mates down.The Gallipoli campaign claimed 8,709 Australian lives, turning what

had begun for some as a boyish adventure into a stark reality. Theexperience scarred most towns and cities throughout Australia and NewZealand with the memory of lost sons – for the great majority of thatgeneration, a new experience. By the first anniversary of the landings, on25 April 1916, the significance of the failed operation was already beingsombrely commemorated. It was officially declared as ‘Anzac Day’, andvarious ceremonies were held throughout Australia, New Zealand, andeven in London by troops who were there on leave. Even units stationedin active sectors of the Western Front and Middle East made efforts toacknowledge the anniversary; many units held a dawn requiemmass, andthose away from direct danger followed this with mid-morning services,and fund-raising lunches, sporting and gambling contests. By the end ofthe war the observances on 25 April had come to commemorate all theAustralians killed throughout the conflict. The 1921 Australian StatePremiers’ Conference declared that Anzac Day should be observed byeach state on 25 April each year, although this was not fully achieveduntil 1927.The heavy toll of World War I had scarred the national consciousness.

In all, 416, 809 Australians voluntarily enlisted for service in World War I

Lt Gen Sir John Monashpresents a decoration to asoldier, whose side view showsthe voluminous cut of theService Dress jacket. On 12August 1918, HM King George Vknighted Monash on thebattlefield for his outstandingleadership of the AustralianCorps – the first such occasionfor more than 200 years. In thisphoto the patch of Corps HQ– a white on a black triangle – isnot clearly visible on Monash’sshoulder, but it is seen in otherphotographs. (Australian WarMemorial)

40


The very high casualtiessuffered during major battlesmade it difficult to evacuatethe wounded to clearingstations, where they could beassessed and given immediatelynecessary treatment. This wasparticularly the case during thedeep German penetrations ofspring 1918, which disruptedAllied lines of communicationand rear areas. Here, Australian‘walking wounded’ passstretcher cases waiting arounda ditched lorry. A few momentsafter the photo was taken aGerman shell fell close to thestanding men and killed severalof them. (Australian WarMemorial)

– over 38 per cent of the total white male population aged between18 and 44 years. Of these, 331,781 were deployed on overseas service.The number of indigenous (Aborigine) servicemen is not officiallyrecorded, but is believed to be between 500 and 800. In total, Australiasuffered more than 210,000 casualties – this 65 per cent casualty ratebeing the highest of any of the belligerent nations – of whom 61,519 losttheir lives. The final financial cost of Australia’s involvement in WorldWar I was also enormous.By the time new totalitarian regimes in Europe and Japan were

rearming in the 1930s, and a secondWorld War loomed, many Australianshad grown resentful and apathetic towards defence and the military,leaving the nation relatively unprepared for the outbreak of WorldWar II.

3

413 See Elite 153, The Australian Army in World War II


In 1919, more than 150 men ofthe AIF volunteered to serve withthe British Army during theAllied intervention on the side ofthe White armies in the RussianCivil War. The Welsh-born SgtSamuel Pearse, who had servedwith 2nd MG Coy AIF fromGallipoli until the Armistice, wasone of two among them – theother was Cpl Arthur Sullivan –who were awarded the VC forvalour during these operations.Sergeant Pearse was servingwith 45th Bn, Royal Fusilierswhen he was killed while single-handedly capturing a Bolshevikblockhouse at Emtsa. (AustralianWar Memorial)

42

FURTHER READING

Bean, Charles, ANZAC to Amiens (Australian WarMemorial, Canberra, 1946)Bean, Charles, et al, Official History of Australia in theWar of 1914–1918 (Australian War Memorial, 12vols, 1921–43)Charlton, Peter, Pozières: Australians on the Somme,1916 (Methuen Haynes, 1986)Coulthard-Clark, Chris, Where Australians Fought:The Encyclopaedia of Australia's Battles (Allen &Unwin, 1988)

Dennis, Peter; Grey, Jeffrey; Prior, Robin; & Morris, Ewan, The OxfordCompanion to Australian Military History (Oxford University PressAustralia & New Zealand, 1995)

Grey, Jeffrey, A Military History of Australia (Cambridge University Press,Cambridge, 1999)

Grey, Jeffrey, The Australian Army: a History (OUP, 2006)Gullett, H.S., Australians in Palestine (Angus & Robertson, 1919)Hill, A.J., Chauvel of the Light Horse (Melbourne University Press, 1979)Inchbald, Geoffrey, Camels and Others (Morrison & Gibb, London, 1968)James, Lawrence, Imperial Warrior (biog of Allenby; Weidenfeld, 1993)James, Robert Rhodes, Gallipoli (Macmillan NY, 1965)Laird, John, The Australian Experience of War (Mead & Beckett, 1988)Langley, George F. & Edmee, M., Sand, Sweat and Camels: The Story of the

Australian Camel Corps (Seal Books, 1976)MacKenzie, Seaforth, The Australians at Rabaul – Official History of

Australia in the War of 1914–1918, Volume X (10th edn, Australian WarMemorial, 1941)

McDougall, A.K., Australians at War: A Pictorial History (Five Mile Press,2007)

Monash, John, The Australian Victories in France in 1918 (Hutchinson,London, 1920)

Odgers, George, Diggers: The Australian Army, Navy and Air Force in ElevenWars (Lansdowne Publishing, Sydney,1994)

Palazzo, Albert, The Australian Army: a History of its Organization1901–2001 (OUP, 2001)

Perry, F.W., History of the Great War based on Official Documents: Order ofBattle of Divisions, Part 5a: the Divisions of Australia, Canada and NewZealand and those in East Africa (Westlake Military Books, 1992)

Philpott, William James, Bloody Victory (Little, Brown, 2009)Prior, Robin, Gallipoli: The End of the Myth (University of New SouthWales Press, 2009)

Robertson, John, Anzac and Empire: The Tragedy and Glory of Gallipoli(Octopus Publications, Melbourne, 1990)

Travers, Tim, The Killing Ground (Pen & Sword Books, 2006)Williams, John Frank, ANZACS, the Media and the Great War (University ofNew South Wales Press, 1999)


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‘AUSTRALIA’ shoulder-strap titles particular to thevolunteers of the AIF – are blacked to prevent sun-glint. Thetitles were usually curved, but sometimes made as a straightbar. His 10th Battalion ‘colour patch’ is visible on the uppersleeves – the purple bar identifying the second-seniorbattalion in his brigade, above the light blue bar identifying3rd Brigade (see commentary to Plate H for explanation ofbattalion patches). His slouch hat now has a folded fabricpuggaree rather than the original flat woollen band. Hisequipment set is modelled on the British 1908 pattern, but ismade from kangaroo leather instead of the standard wovencanvas webbing – a variation commonly issued to Australiantroops in the first half of the war.

B: EGYPT & PALESTINE, 1916–18B1: Major-General Henry Chauvel, GOC ANZACMounted Division; Magdhaba, Sinai, December1916‘Harry’ Chauvel was one of the most able and prominentAustralian commanders of the war. He fought at Gallipoli andin the Middle East, where he later became the first Australianto attain the rank of lieutenant-general as general officercommanding the Desert Mounted Corps, and he wassubsequently honoured with a knighthood. Australianofficers wore essentially the same uniforms as their Britishcounterparts, although Chauvel wears the Australian slouchhat with the emu-feather plume of his Australian Light Horse.His officer’s Service Dress consists of a pale khaki shirt andolive-drab necktie, a dark khaki open-collar officer’s tunicwith general officer’s red gorget patches, light-coloured cordriding breeches, and brown leggings with spurred ankleboots. His shoulder straps show the rank of major-general,which he held as a divisional commander at the time of thebattle of Magdhaba in December 1916. His ‘Sam Browne’belt is fitted with a sword frog, and he carries an ivorywalking cane.B2: Lance-Sergeant, 3rd Light Horse Regiment;Damascus, Syria, October 1918This lance-sergeant (now a defunct rank) serving with theANZAC Mtd Div also sports the ALH emu-feather plumetucked into the puggaree of his hat. His later-pattern SDjacket, made in khaki wool serge, displays rank chevrons onthe right sleeve only – as per Australian regulations – and hisbrass badges are darkened. He wears Bedford cord riding

PLATE COMMENTARIES

Uniforms, insignia and equipment

A: GERMAN NEW GUINEA & GALLIPOLI,1914 & 1915A1: Sergeant, Australian Naval and MilitaryExpeditionary Force; Rabaul, September 1914This sergeant of the AN&MEF continues to wear the 1912pattern militia uniform, featuring a two-pocket garment thatwe would today call a ‘field shirt’, tucked into trousers cutlike breeches – full in the thigh but tapered to the knee – withputtees and dark brown ankle boots. His felt slouch hat isthe first version with a simple woollen band instead of afolded puggaree, and has the brim turned up on the left sidein the regulation manner. The uniform is notable for its lackof badges or insignia, due to the very rapid formation anddeployment of the AN&MEF. He is equipped with British1908 pattern webbing, and armed with a .303in ShortMagazine Lee Enfield rifle, as manufactured since 1912 atLithgow west of Sydney. Early in the war the unmodified,hooked quillon of the 17in bayonet was typical of Australianissue.A2: Sergeant, 3rd Battalion AIF, 1st AustralianDivision; Battle of Lone Pine, August 1915The 1914 Service Dress uniform was worn for the spring1915 landings, but by summer the troops in the trencheswere suffering badly from the heat. Some, like this infantryNCO, began cutting off their trousers above the knees toturn them into shorts. He has discarded his tunic, and wearshis white cotton undress shirt with the sleeves rolled, as analternative to the collarless ‘greyback’ flannel shirt. (He doesnot need to display his badge of rank: all his men know him.)Although the peaked SD cap was routinely worn with anattached sun-flap at the neck, many Australians preferredthe slouch hat. In the exhausting heat of the trenches he haslaid aside all equipment other than his SMLE rifle andbayonet, and a leather 50-round ammunition bandolier.A3: Private, 10th Battalion AIF; Gallipoli,autumn 1915This South Australian soldier is wearing the first pattern ofthe 1914 Service Dress tunic, which differed in several waysfrom the British 1902 woollen serge pattern. It was of a moregenerous cut, resembling that of a ‘bush jacket’ withbuttoned cuffbands, and the lowest of the five front buttonswas set on a reinforced waistband that gave it a beltedeffect. Like the British jacket it had box-pleated patch breastpockets with pointed flaps, but instead of internal skirtpockets it had another pair of very capacious ‘bellows’ patchpockets with pointed flaps; it was said that a Digger couldcarry up to eight grenades in his pockets alone. The jacketlacked the British ‘rifle patch’ reinforcement at the shoulders,and used composition buttons instead of brass. It was madefrom a variety of drab-coloured materials, usually heavyflannel but sometimes even cord; with wear and washing thekhaki-brown dye faded and the flannel jacket showed arange of shades, from lighter khaki-brown to a distinct grey-green or blue-grey. Later in the war a khaki woollen sergeversion became standard, and the box pleats were omittedfrom the breast pockets for economy.His brass badges – the ‘rising sun’ of the AustralianCommonwealth Military Forces on the collar points, and the

The appearance of the earlyflannel Service Dress jacket isclear in this Gallipoli photo ofPte Jacka of 14th Bn, whoreceived the first of 63 VictoriaCrosses awarded to Australiansin World War I. On 9 May 1915,when a section of the ‘ANZACLine’ trenches near Courtney’sPost fell to the Turks, Jackacircled out into No Man’s Land,and wounded seven of theenemy before the rest fled.(Australian War Memorial)


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breeches and, instead of the infantry’s puttees, spiral-strapped leather leggings over ankle boots with spurs. Theunit colour patch was diagonally divided for all ALHregiments; for the 3rd ALH it showed the black of the juniorregiment in the brigade, above the white of the 1st ALH Bdewithin the division. The ALH operated as mounted infantry,usually riding to the battlefield but dismounting to fight; thisNCO’s primary weapon is the usual .303in SMLE rifle, butafter the charge at Beersheba on 31 October 1917 thetroopers were issued with 1908-pattern cavalry swords. (The9th ALH Regt had previously been issued these for theSenussi campaign of 1915/16.)B3: Trooper, 4th Light Horse Regiment;Beersheba, Palestine, October 1917This trooper caring for his mount after battle wears a hot-weather uniform issued to only a few units. Made fromcotton drill rather than wool, it was lighter and morecomfortable, but the breeches – of the same pattern as thewoollen or cord types – were prone to wear through afterextended periods in the saddle. The tunic had the usual fourpatch pockets and integral waistband, but pressed leatherbuttons and V-shaped cuffs. The colour patch of 4th ALHhad the added brass ‘A’ for ‘ANZAC’ that identified Gallipoliveterans. The trooper has folded the brim of his slouch hatdown all round as protection from the sun, and has thereforemoved the badge to the front, from its regulation place onthe outside/ underside of the left brim. The Light Horse wereissued a leather 90-round cavalry bandolier instead ofwebbing equipment.

C: WESTERN FRONT, 1917C1: Major-General John Monash, GOCAustralian 3rd Division; Flanders, August 1917After proving himself a capable brigade commander duringthe Gallipoli campaign, Monash rose to become a divisionalcommander in France, before promotion to command of thewhole Australian Corps in May 1918. His Service Dressuniform is indistinguishable from that of a British Armygeneral officer, with a dark khaki tunic embellished on thelapels with ‘red tabs’, and shoulder-strap rank badges; hewears light-coloured cord riding breeches, ‘trench boots’,and ‘Sam Browne’ belt equipment complete with a holstered.455in Mk VI Webley revolver. The British officer’s peaked(visored) SD cap has the distinctions of general’s rank – a redband, embroidered gold badge, and gold oakleaf decorationon the peak.C2: Lance-Corporal Harry Thorpe, 7th BattalionAIF, 1st Australian Division; Battle ofBroodseinde, 4 October 1917The number of Australian indigenous soldiers who served inWorld War I is not known, since officially they were notpermitted to enlist, but at least 500 did. One prominentAboriginal serviceman was L/Cpl Harry Thorpe, whoenlisted with the 7th Bn in 1916. Wounded at Pozières thatautumn, and again at Bullecourt in spring 1917, he wasawarded the Military Medal for his outstanding courage andleadership during the battle of Broodseinde. His appearanceis typical of the Australian infantryman on the Western Front:slouch hat, khaki wool serge tunic, taper-cut trousers,puttees and brown ankle boots, with the full 1908-patternwebbing equipment of Field Service Marching Order. Thecolour patch of this unit of 2nd Bde showed the brown bar

of the third-senior battalion in a brigade, over the scarlet barof 2nd Brigade.C3: Corporal, 1st Tunnelling Company, RoyalAustralian Engineers; ‘Hill 60’, 1917Six Australian tunnelling companies played their full part inthe underground war on the Western Front, being recruited –like their British counterparts – from among men who hadrelevant experience in civilian life. This work involved notonly driving mines under No Man’s Land in order to placeexplosives beneath the enemy’s front-line positions (andcounter-mining, to prevent German tunnellers doing thesame), but also digging large tunnels from behind the Alliedfront line to provide covered access to the trenches forassault troops. The work was done by hand and foot; it wasback-breaking, nerve-racking and dangerous, and had to becarried out in thoroughly unpleasant conditions. The minershad no specialist protective clothing beyond the hoods thatsome made for themselves from sandbags. This NCO simplywears his ‘greyback’ shirt, standard-issue trousers held upwith ‘Y’ braces, puttees and ankle boots, plus a knittedwoollen cap for warmth in the dank conditions. He carries apickaxe; tools were sometimes shortened for ease of use incramped conditions. For the colour patch of this company,see Plate H59.

D: WESTERN FRONT, 1917–18D1: Private, 29th Battalion AIF, 5th AustralianDivision; Ypres Salient, December 1917The winter of 1917 saw both heavy rain and snow, addingflooding and extreme cold to the muddy misery of theFlanders trenches. This soldier of the 29th Bn wears a calf-length ‘mackintosh cape’, and underneath it a sheepskinjerkin; some of these were British Army 1914/15 issue, someappear to have been home-made or modified. As furtherprotection he has a khaki woollen scarf, and grey woollengloves from which he has cut the fingers so that he can stilloperate his rifle easily. Hidden here, the colour patch of this

A corporal of 45th Bn, 4thDiv, in a shallow trench atGarter Point, preparing fora raid in autumn 1917during the battles forPolygon Wood andBroodseinde. For thismission he wears the‘small box respirator’gasmask, but no webbingequipment. His insigniaare polished collarbadges, shoulder titles,battalion sleeve patchesof a disc halved light blueover dark blue, rankchevrons on his rightsleeve only, and on hisleft forearm a good-conduct service chevronabove a vertical goldwound stripe. (AustralianWar Memorial)


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respirator’ gasmask for protection. He has chosen to armhimself with a rifle and fixed bayonet; it did no harm to limitthe features that distinguished officers as high-value targetsin the eyes of the enemy. Note two gold wound stripes onhis left forearm, as authorized for Empire personnel fromJuly 1916.

E: SUPPORT TROOPS, WESTERN FRONT,1917–18E1: Gunner, Y3A Medium Trench Mortar Battery,3rd Australian Division, 1918Skilled use of fire-support weapons made a crucialdifference in Allied offensives, and the Australian artillerymenwere highly effective with the 2in mortars employed byeach division’s three medium trench mortar batteries. (The3in ‘light batteries’ were infantry units.) All the divisionalbatteries were identified by a patch in the shape of thatdivision’s insignia – for 3rd Div, a horizontal oval (or ellipse)– in the artillery colours of red and blue diagonally divided,above a small blue ‘bursting bomb’ device. This gunner ispreparing the HE ‘toffee apple’ bomb for a 2in Stokes mortar.E2: Battery Sergeant-Major, 1st Field ArtilleryBrigade, 1st Australian Division, 1918On the Western Front the Royal Regiment of AustralianArtillery contributed 60 field batteries, 20 howitzer batteriesand two heavy ‘siege’ brigades. Each division had threeintegral FA brigades, each with three field-gun and onehowitzer batteries, and other units served under command ofhigher formations. Commanding a gun-party, this BSM wearsmounted troops’ leggings, and holds a ranging notebook anda megaphone. He displays the colour patches of the 1st FABde, in the shape of all 1st Australian Div units and in theartillery’s red/ blue (these are worn in a ‘handed’ pair).His right-sleeve rank badge shows a crown, above the RAAgun badge, above three chevrons. On his right forearm arethree blue overseas service chevrons, and on the left goldwound stripes. He displays the ribbon of the Military Medal,awarded for courage in the face of the enemy.

Victoria unit was in the 5th Div’s vertical rectangle shape,with the black bar of the senior battalion in its brigade on theleft, and on the right the yellow bar of 8th Brigade.D2: Sergeant, 2nd Machine-Gun Battalion AIF,2nd Australian Division, 1918Machine-gun sections were initially attached to each infantrybattalion, but by 1916 their firepower was concentrated toform one machine-gun company per brigade; in 1918, fourMG companies were formed into a divisional MG battalion.This sergeant wears his standard khaki serge service uniform,with a British Mk I ‘Brodie’ steel helmet painted khaki drab;many were fitted with hessian covers to prevent lightreflecting. His belt equipment is the 1908 pistol set withholstered revolver, and a compass pouch.His colour patch inthe 2nd Div’s diamond (or more exactly, tilted square) shapeis in the MG battalions’ yellow on black, surmounting crossedMG guns in brass – see also Plate H20; the added brass ‘A’shows that he is a veteran of the Gallipoli campaign. On hisright lower sleeve he displays the overseas service chevronsauthorized throughout the Empire forces in January 1918– one red for service in 1914, and three blue for subsequentcomplete years of service. Above his rank chevrons notethe ‘MG’ badge marking his skill-at-arms qualification.He carries a Vickers Mk I .303in machine gun with its‘emergency mount’ deployed, ready to get the gun into actionfrom a trench parapet.D3: Lieutenant, 2nd Battalion AIF, 1st AustralianDivision; trench-raiding party, July 1918This lieutenant is preparing to lead a raiding party. On hisOther Ranks’ jacket, the purple over green bars identify hisbattalion within the 1st Brigade. Note that the nationalshoulder titles and collar badges are polished instead ofblackened; the reputation of the Australians was beginningto cause unease amongst Germans when they wererecognized, and when they went ‘ratting’ the Diggers wantedthe enemy to know who they were. The subaltern has laidaside any unnecessary equipment to allow ease ofmovement, but wears his steel helmet and ‘small box

LEFTMany unidentified AIF men figure among some3,000 glass negatives from Louis Thuillier’sstudio in Vignacourt behind the Somme front,which were found many years after the war.These sergeants seem to wear the colourpatches of a trench mortar battery of 4th Div– a diagonally-divided blue/red disc, over a blue‘bursting bomb’. (www.sundaynight.com.au)

RIGHTAnother Thuillier studio portrait, showing astylish WO1 in 1918. His jacket is smartlytailored, particularly at the collar, and he wearsthe ‘Sam Browne’ belt. The brass Royal Armsbadge on his right forearm, above four blueoverseas service chevrons, marks the rankof warrant officer first class.(www.sundaynight.com.au)


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E3: Sapper, Royal Australian Engineers, 1917Each division had several integral Engineer companies and aPioneer battalion. The former were identified by plain purplesleeve patches of divisional shape (also worn by Signalsunits), and Pioneers by the same but with a white border.Both types of unit played a wide range of vital roles inmanaging the chaotic physical environment of the Great Warbattlefields on behalf of the other arms – most basically, insimply enabling them to move around, by removingobstacles, repairing roads and erecting bridges. They alsobuilt defences and created barriers to enemy movement,repaired damage to positions, and salvaged useful itemsfrom the battlefield. This RAE Sapper, taking a tea-breakfrom his labours, wears his steel helmet and carries his SBRgasmask at all times, in case of random shelling.

F: MEDICAL SERVICESF1: Surgeon, Australian Army Medical Corps;Harefield Park Hospital, Middlesex, UK, 1917This Australian Army Medical Corps surgeon, with the rankof lieutenant-colonel, is preparing to undertake an operation.He wears a white cotton surgical cap and face mask, and asurgical gown that reaches to below the knee and is tiedtightly around the waist with cotton tapes. Note that he doesnot wear gloves of any sort, having instead scrubbed hishands to an acceptable level of cleanliness. Underneath histheatre clothing he wears the usual uniform of an AIF officer.F2: Sister, Australian Army Nursing Service;Harefield Park Hospital, 1917The AANS provided 2,139 nurses for overseas service inWorld War I . Attached to both Australian and British medicalunits, they performed duties including first aid, ward staffing,surgical assistance, and general hygiene. They officially heldthe ranks of (in ascending order) staff nurse, sister, matron,principle matron, and matron-in-chief – the most senior inthe service. This sister wears the long-sleeved, ankle-length,slim-fitting grey dress, which most found restrictive anddifficult to work in. Over this she wears a white cotton clinicalapron; nurses of the VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachments)displayed a Red Cross centred on the torso. The red capehas shoulder straps bearing a single officer’s ‘pip’ to denoteher rank of sister, and polished shoulder titles.F3: Private stretcher-bearer, 36th Bn AIF, 3rdAustralian Division, 1916Unlike AAMC medical personnel, who wore Red Crossarmbands that would sometimes protect them from enemytroops who respected their status, infantry stretcher-bearerswere combat troops. Below the colour patch of his battalionon his left sleeve this soldier displays the white stretcher-bearer’s armband with red ‘SB’. Although he has laid asidehis weapon he still wears full 1908-pattern webbingequipment complete with cartridge pouches, plus bags forboth the P and PH fabric anti-gas helmets. He carries arolled-up collapsible stretcher.G: AUSTRALIAN FLYING CORPS, FRANCE,1917–18G1: Pilot, 1 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, 1917Australia was the only British dominion that formed its ownFlying Corps in World War I, although – like most of theothers – it also provided aircrew for the British RFC andRNAS. What they wore while flying was generally a matter ofpersonal preference, but in open-cockpit aircraft most

aircrew preferred warm clothing. This junior officer has justtransferred from the Light Horse. He wears the officer’s FieldService cap, and the Royal Flying Corps’ distinctive 1912-pattern ‘maternity jacket’ style of tunic in a light drab shade,with breeches and leggings. The stand-and-fall collar of thetunic bears blackened ‘rising sun’ badges, and theepaulettes the single ‘pip’ of the AFC rank of ‘pilot’,equivalent to second lieutenant. The AFC ‘wings’ brevet onhis left breast shows that he is qualified for solo flying. On hissleeves note the AFC colour patch common to all units of theCorps – a pale blue triangle with a central dark blue/ red/dark blue vertical stripe.G2: Captain A.H. Cobby, 4 Squadron AFC,November 1918With 29 confirmed aerial victories, Capt ‘Harry’ Cobby, DSO,DFC**, was Australia’s third-ranking ‘ace’ scout pilot of theGreat War, and the Australian Flying Corps’ leading ace.(Both Robert Little, with 47 ‘kills’, and Roderic Dallas with 39,flew with squadrons of Britain’s Royal Naval Air Service.)Going into battle for the first time with only 12 previous flyinghours in his logbook, Cobby proved a natural and high-spirited fighter pilot; he decorated his Sopwith F1 Camelwith a cut-out of Charlie Chaplin. He was awarded his firstDistinguished Flying Cross in May 1918, two further awardsof the DFC during September, and the Distinguished ServiceOrder in November 1918. In this portrait he wears standardArmy khaki Service Dress with the peaked cap and palerkhaki breeches. His tunic bears polished collar badges, theAFC pilot’s ‘wings’, and the AFC colour patches.G3: Pilot, 4 Squadron AFC, flying clothing,1917–18For colder conditions aircrew wore a variety of speciallydesigned flying clothing in leather or heavy proofedgabardine, usually lined with fur or fleece. These might betwo-piece suits with a three-quarter-length jacket or a longcoat, or single-piece combination suits. The British AirMinistry ordered issue patterns of both types, but privately-purchased alternatives were common among officers. Forwarmth, the torso usually had a deep crossover towards theright shoulder, as on the ‘maternity jacket’; many also had alarge external patch pocket for maps, set on diagonally orhorizontally for easy access in the cockpit. In addition to hislong flying coat this pilot wears thigh-length sheepskin-linedboots, gauntlets with optional mittens, and a leather flyinghelmet with goggles. In May 1918 the Air Ministry ordered thatnewly qualified aircrew leaving training units in the UK shouldhenceforth be equipped with the one-piece Sidcot flying suitof lined, proofed fabric rather than leather flying clothing.4

H: COLOUR PATCHESWhen the AIF departed Australia all units and ranks wore theAustralian Commonwealth Military Forces ‘rising sun’ badgeon both collars, the Service Dress cap, and centred on theupturned left brim of their slouch hats, and ‘AUSTRALIA’shoulder-strap titles. Throughout the war these wouldremain common to all Australian troops.While the AIF were encamped in Egypt early in 1915, theAustralian high command ordered the introduction of shapedand coloured cloth patches, 1in x 2in, to be worn at the top ofboth sleeves to identify units. With the exception of brigade

4 See MAA 351, British Air Forces 1914–18 (2)


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headquarters, divisional artillery, engineers and medical corps,all these unit ‘colour patches’ were to consist of two colours– the upper being the unit colour, and the lower the formationcolour. The patches of mounted units (including artillery) wereto be divided diagonally, and those of all other unitshorizontally. This original order was the basis for a system thatbecame much more complex, and eventually gave birth tonearly 300 patches issued to different units during World WarI. This plate shows a representative selection; see also Table 1on page 4 for infantry orders of battle.Infantry divisions:H1: 1st Division HQ personnel. All brigades and units of thedivision wore patches of this basic shape.H2: 1st Infantry Brigade HQ. This brigade’s component unitswere H3 = 1st Battalion, H4 = 2nd Bn, H5 = 3rd Bn, & H6 =4th Bn.H7: 2nd Bde HQ. Component units: H8 = 5th Bn, H9 = 6thBn, H10 = 7th Bn, & H11 = 8th Bn.H12: 3rd Bde HQ. Component units: H13 = 9th Bn,H14 = 10th Bn, H15 = 11th Bn, & H16 = 12th Bn.H17 = 1st & 2nd Field Artillery Brigades; H18 = 3rd (Army)FA Bde, attached. (‘Handed’ patches shown in left sleeveformat.)H19: 2nd Division HQ. The 5th, 6th & 7th Infantry Bde HQswore a diamond in green, scarlet & light blue respectively.Their component battalions mostly followed the sameseniority-colour sequence (black, purple, brown & white) as1st Div, in the top halves of their diamond patches; but 17thBn = dark grey/ green instead of black/ green. Divisionalsupport units included:H20 = 2nd MG Bn; H21 = medium trench mortar batteries;H22 = 2nd Pioneer Bn; H23 = 4th & 5th FA Bdes; H24 = 6th(Army) FA Bde, attached.H25: 3rd Division HQ. The 9th, 10th & 11th Inf Bde HQs worean oval in green, scarlet & light blue respectively. Theircomponent battalions mostly followed the same coloursequence as in 1st Div, in the top halves of their ovalpatches; but 42nd Bn = dark grey/ light blue instead ofpurple/ light blue. Divisional support and service unitsincluded:H26 = Engineers (9th, 10th, 11th Coys RAE);H27 = Ordnance Coy; H28 = Army Service Corps Train;H29 = Pay Corps; H30 = Ammunition Sub-Park.H31: 4th Division HQ

H32: 4th Inf Bde HQ. Component units: H33 = 13th Bn,H34 = 14th Bn, H35 = 15th Bn, & H36 = 16th Bn.H37: 12th Bde HQ. Component battalions followed thesame colour sequence as 4th Bde.H38: 13th Bde HQ. Component bns: H39 = 49th Bn,H40 = 50th Bn, H41 = 51st Bn, & H42 = 52nd Bn.Other divisional units included:H43 = Supply Columns; H44 = Cycle Coys.H45: 5th Division HQH46: 8th Inf Bde HQ. Component bns in each bde followedsequence black, purple, brown & white in left half, e.g.H47 = 29th Bn.H48: 14th Bde HQ. Component bn sequence as 8th Bde,e.g. H49 = 54th Bn.H50: 15th Bde HQ. Component bn sequence as other bdes,e.g. H51 = 59th Bn, H52 = 60th Bn.

No patch recorded for HQ of partly formed 6th Division.H53: 16th Inf Bde HQ; 17th Bde HQ wore scarlet.H54: 16 Bde Light TM BatteryH55: 69th Bn. The other 16th Bde components – 61st, 62nd& 63rd Bns – wore ovals halved black/ green, purple/ green& brown/ green respectively.H56: 65th Bn. Two of the other 17th Bde components – 66th& 67th Bns – wore purple/ scarlet & brown/ scarletrespectively, but H57 = 70th Bn.

Corps, etc, assets:H58: 2nd Fld Sqn, RAE (Mtd Divs, Middle East)H59: 1st Tunneling Coy, RAE; 2nd–6th same, but 4th–6th notnumbered.H60: Corps Signals Coy, RAEH61: Heavy (later Siege) Artillery GroupsH62: No.1 General Hospital, UK

ANZAC Mounted Division:1st, 2nd & 3rd Australian Light Horse Bde HQs worerectangles in white, scarlet & yellow respectively.Component units of each wore them halved diagonally, withtop half in light blue, green and black respectively.H63: 1st ALH Bde; H64 = 1st LH RegtH65: 6th LH Regt, 2nd BdeH66: 10th LH Regt, 3rd BdeH67: 1st MG Sqn, ALH. 2nd-4th Sqns wore purple/ scarlet,purple/ yellow, & purple/ dark blue respectively.

Australian Mounted Division:H68: 4th ALH Bde HQ (1917). Component units: H69 = 4thLH Regt; 11th & 12th Regts wore green/ blue & grey/ bluerespectively.H70: 5th ALH Bde HQ (1918). Component units: H71 = 14thLH Regt; 15th Regt wore green/ scarlet.H72: 1st Light Car Patrol, later Armoured Car Battery.H73: The national hat and collar badge showed a rayedarrangement of blades, around a Crown of St Edwardagainst a wreath, above scrolls ‘AUSTRALIAN/COMMONWEALTH/ MILITARY FORCES’. The nickname‘rising sun’ was bestowed on it well before World War I bysoldiers in Melbourne, whose Victoria Barracks was close toHoadley’s jam factory. That firm’s tins of ‘Rising Sun’ jam, aswidely supplied to Australian volunteers in the Boer War(1899–1902), bore a logo similar to the badge.

Albert Jacka endedthe war as a captain,having added an MC(August 1916) andBar (April 1917) tohis VC. Badly gassedat Villers-Bretonneuxin May 1918, he diedin 1932 at the age ofonly 39 years. Hispall-bearers wereeight other holdersof the VC.(Australian WarMemorial)


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INDEX

Figures in bold show illustrations. Pages inbrackets show Commentaries on Plates.

Allenby, Gen Sir Edmund 16, 17Anzac Day 40‘Anzac Spirit’ 3, 40Ashmead-Bartlett, Ellis, Hobart Mercury 11Australia and New Zealand Army Corps(ANZAC) 6New Zealand Expeditionary Force 5–6

Australian Army Medical Corps, HarefieldPark Hospital, Surgeon plF1(46)

Australian Army Nursing Service, HarefieldPark Hospital, Sister plF2(46)

Australian Flying CorpsSquadrons 1–4, 8–9, 151 Squadron, pilot plG1(46)4 Squadron, aircrew clothing plG3(46)

Australian Imperial Force (AIF) 3, 5, 401st Australian Division 4, 51st Australian Light Horse Brigade 5Colour patches plH(46–7)Heavy Artillery Brigade, 9.2in howitzer 37New Zealand and Australian Division 54th Brigade 5New Zealand Infantry Brigade 5

Table of Infantry Components 4Table of Mounted Components 7

Australian Naval and Military ExpeditionaryForce (AN&MEF) 5, 10Queensland Militia’s Kennedy Regiment 5Sergeant plA1(43)

Bean, Charles, war historian 20–1Berrima, HMAS (armed merchant cruiser) 10Birdwood, LtGen William 5, 6, 7, 34Birks, Lt Frederick, VC 24Bourchier, LtCol Murray 17Bridges, Brig William Throsby 5, 6

Cadell, Lt Leslie, 6th Bn 39casualties 3, 40–1Chauvel, MajGen Harry 7, 15, 16–17,plB1(43)

Chaytor, MajGen Edward 7Chetwode, LtGen Sir Philip 15, 16Citizen Military Forces (CMF) 4, 5Cobby, Capt Arthur ‘Harry’, DSO,DFC**, 4Squadron AFC 9, plG2(46)

conscription 7, 23Cox, Brig Charles 15Cox, MajGen Herbert 20

Dalziel, Pte Henry, VC 36EgyptANZAC Mounted Division3rd Light Horse Regiment, Lance-Sergeant plB2(43–4)4th Light Horse Regiment, TrooperplB3(44)5th Light Horse Regiment 149th Light Horse Regiment 13New Zealand Mounted RiflesBrigade 14, 15, 16

Australian 1st Light Car Patrol 8, 14Australian Mounted Division1st Australian Light Horse Brigade 15, 162nd Australian Light Horse Brigade 15

Desert ColumnANZAC Mounted Division 7, 15Colour patches plH(47)

Desert Mounted CorpsANZAC Mounted Division 7–8, 16Australian Mounted Division 15Colour patches pl H (47)

Imperial Camel Corps3rd Bn 10Australian Battalions 8, 10, 14, 15, 16

Gallipoli1st Light Horse Brigade, 2nd Light HorseRegiment 12, plA2(43)

3rd Light Horse Brigade 13Anzac Cove 11, 14, 15Australian 1st Division 4, 6, 111st Brigade 121st Bn 113rd Bn Sergeant pl A2(43)

2nd Brigade 123rd Brigade 11, 1210th Bn Private pl A3(43)

Australian 2nd Division 4, 6, 1113th Bn 1314th Bn 1318th Bn 13

Battle of Lone Pine 12, 14New Zealand and Australian Division6, 11

New Zealand Infantry Brigade 12gas mask, small box respirator 44,plD3(45), plE3(46)

GazaAustralian Light Armoured cars 17Desert Mounted Corps 16–174th Light Horse Brigade 17

Turkish defence line 18German New Guinea 5, 10Godley, MajGen Alexander 6

Holmes, Col William 5, 10Hutton, MajGen Sir Edward 4

Jacka, Lt Albert, VC, MC* 21, 43, 47

Kirkpatrick, Pte Jack Simpson and donkey13

Legge, MajGen James Gordon 5, 6, 20

McCay, MajGen James Whiteside 20Monash, LtGen John 7, 20, 36, 40, plC1(44)Murray, Capt ‘Mad Harry’, VC, DSO*, DCM,13th Bn 34

Murray, LtGen Sir Archibald 14–16

Olden, Maj Harry 19

PalestineANZAC Mounted Division 18Australian Mounted Division 18, 191st Australian Light Horse Brigade 183rd Australian Light Horse 193rd Australian Light HorseM/GunSquadron 19

10th Australian Light Horse 19Desert Mounted Corps 19Imperial Camel Corps 18

Pearse, Sgt Samuel, VC 42Petrie, Capt Henry 8

Russell, MajGen Andrew Hamilton 20

Sadlier, Lt, VC 35Smith, Brig Clement Leslie, VC 8Smith, Capt Ross, AFC 9Sullivan, Cpl Arthur, VC 42

Thorpe, Lance-Corporal Harry, MM, 7th BnAIF plC2(44)

Victoria Crosses 3, 12, 13, 47

Waler 8Walker, MajGen Harold 20water supply 14, 16, 17Western FrontAustralian Corps, I & II ANZAC Corps 7,34, 36, 38–9

I ANZAC Corps 20, 21, 24, 331st Australian Division 6, 20, 21, 22, 22,24, 35, 372nd Bn raiding party plD3(45)2nd Brigade 246th Bn 247th Bn plC2(44)9th Bn 22Mk IV 18-pounder 24winter billets 36

2nd Australian Division 6, 20, 21, 21,22, 24, 38–92nd Machine-Gun Bn 38, plD2(45)5th Brigade 236th Brigade 23, 2420th Bn 22trench system 33

3rd Australian Division 20, 23, 33,35, 3936th Bn 35Private stretcher-bearer plF3(46)Flanders mud 35Y3A Medium Trench MortarplE1(45)

Advanced Dressing Station 23field telephone lines 37walking wounded 41

II ANZAC Corps 20, 23, 334th Australian Division 6, 20, 22, 24,33, 3513th Brigade 3545th Bn 4447th Bn 3548th Bn 35

5th Australian Division 6, 20, 24,33, 3915th Brigade 3529th Bn at Ypres plD1(44–5)

New Zealand Division 6, 20, 33, 34Royal Australian Artillery, 1st FieldArtillery Brigade, Battery Sergeant-Major plE2(45)

Royal Australian Engineers1st Tunnelling Company, ‘Hill 60’plC3(44)Sapper plE3(46)

Woods, Tpr Harry Rankin, 1st ALHRegiment 8

MAA_478_INDEX.qxd:1 18/4/12 14:29

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Acknowledgments

My thanks go to the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, and to the National

Army Museum and the Imperial War Museum, London. I would also like to

thank Dr Alan Guy and Simon Dunstan for advice offered, and Ida Di Vicino for

support, and to give special thanks to my editor Martin Windrow, and artist

Mike Chappell.

Picture credi ts

Unless credited otherwise, all photographs reproduced in this book are of

Australian origin and are now in the public domain. Under Australian Copyright

Council Information Sheet G023v14 (Duration of Copyright) of February 2008,

all fall within Category B: Photographs taken prior to 1 January 1955; or

Category E: Commonwelath or State Government-owned photographs and

engravings taken or published more than 50 years ago and prior to 1 May

1969.

Art ist ’s Note

Readers may care to note that the original paintings from which the colour

plates in this book were prepared are available for private sale. All reproduction

copyright whatsoever is retained by the Publishers. All enquiries should be

addressed to:

Mike Chappell, 13 route d’Alaigne, 11300 Malras, France

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TITLE PAGE:Chateaux Wood, Ypres, 1917: soldiers from the 10th FieldArtillery Bde, 4th Australian Division, make their way acrossthe deep mud of the flooded, shell-blasted terrain by meansof duckboards. (Australian War Memorial E01220)

First published in Great Britain in 2012 by Osprey Publishing,

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Print ISBN: 978 1 84908 632 5

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Editor: Martin Windrow

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Organizational structure for Australian Army in World War I

Formation/ unit Strength Elements Commander rank

Corps 30,000 men 2 or more Divisions Lieutenant-General

Division 10–20,000 men 3 Brigades Major-General

Brigade 2,500–5,000 men 4 Battalions Brigadier (General)

Battalion 550–1,000 men 4 Companies Lieutenant-Colonel

Company 100–225 men 4 Platoons Captain / Major

Platoon 30–60 men 3–4 Sections Lieutenant

Section 9–16 men Corporal / Sergeant


The Australian Army in World War I (Men-at-Arms)

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Transcript of The Australian Army in World War I (Men-at-Arms)