–2–
COUSINS IN ARMS
Allen Hancock
I never really got to know my grandfather very well; he died in 1965 aged 70
following a long stay in the Dawe Park Repatriation Hospital suffering from a
bout of pneumonia and pleurisy. I was only 13 and my most vivid memories of
him are of pigeons. A flock of pigeons circling the house with a flag up, pigeons
clunking home through the traps, bins of seed concoctions stored in the shed. I
remember he once drove trams in Adelaide but in my time he operated a signal
box. And of course there was his pale green FJ Holden, kept immaculate in the
garage at the end of a driveway of neatly-raked white gravel. But Robert Claude
Hancock, Claude to his family, Bob to his friends and Grandpa to us, was more
than just about pigeons, trams and an FJ Holden.
Bob Hancock was the grandson of John Hancock on his father’s side and of
James Trowbridge on his mother’s side. The Hancocks and the Trowbridges had
lived in Vine Lane, Glen Osmond since the early days of South Australian
settlement. Bob Hancock, Alex Trowbridge and Frank Trowbridge were cousins.
With their uncle, Jim Trowbridge, this is the story of their war.
–3–
25 APRIL 1915
Alex Trowbridge peered out across the water to the east at the shadow of the
land disappearing into the darkness. As the moon disappeared behind him it was
suddenly pitch black on the deck of the transport. Only the lapping of the water
in the darkness could be heard as the men shuffled silently into the boats. On
his body Alex carried his rifle, 200 rounds of ammunition, two extra days’
rations packed into small white bags and a full pack fastened so that it could
easily be slipped off if the boat was sunk.
Ahead, small steamboats were towing three open boats each as the first wave of
the landing made its way silently towards the shore. 1500 men made up from
two companies from all four battalions of the 3rd Brigade would go ashore first
at 4:30 am. A second wave of 2500 men would follow beginning an hour later
made up from the remaining companies of the 3rd Brigade plus the entire 2nd
Brigade. Of this second wave the first ashore would be the 7th Battalion which
included 22 year old Alex Trowbridge. This was Gallipoli.
1914
At the outbreak of war the 2nd Brigade was raised in Victoria consisting of the
5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Battalions. At 22 years of age Alex worked as a clerk in
Castlemaine in the heart of the Victorian goldfields although his family was in
Adelaide. Exactly two weeks after Britain declared war Alex enlisted in the
Australian Imperial Force.
The 7th Battalion was led by the enigmatic Lieutenant Colonel Harold
“Pompey” Elliott and first assembled at Victoria Barracks on 18 August from
where its 15 officers and 536 other ranks marched to Broadmeadows Camp the
following morning. Altogether 2,500 men set off for Broadmeadows from
central Melbourne and crowds lined the streets as these men in civilian clothes,
some clutching Gladstone bags and some carrying neat parcels, walked to the
camp.
Broadmeadows camp was located on land owned by a patriotic Victorian, R.G.
Wilson, who offered its use to house a military camp. It was close to a railway
line, it was flat and there was plenty of room for a large number of soldiers.
Leaving the Barracks at 9.30am they reached the camp at 5pm where they found
a green plain, rather high and windswept, with rows of pine trees and an old
homestead. ‘A hard road made [for] many sore feet,’ one marcher reported. [i]
–4–
For 2 months the battalion trained hard under Lieutenant Colonel Elliott’s
leadership until by mid-October the unit was at its full strength of 32 officers
and 991 other ranks. One of Elliott’s eccentricities begun at the Broadmeadows
Camp was that he would always inspect the battalion mounted on his black
charger, Darkie. With an unseen signal from its rider Darkie would indicate any
slight imperfection in a soldier’s turnout prompting a berating from the
commander. It was a widely-held belief that it was the horse that had detected
the imperfection.
Broadmeadows Camp was also the source of another term now common to the
Australian language. This was the word 'furphy', which means a story of
doubtful accuracy. Water carts were used to deliver water to camp kitchens and
latrines. The driver of the cart would be questioned by the soldiers as to the
latest happenings and he would invariably be the carrier of camp gossip which
would be based on rumours. Water carts were used to deliver water to camp
kitchens and latrines. The carts, manufactured by J Furphy and Sons of
Shepparton, were typically placed near the latrine area, the only place in the
camp where soldiers were out of the controlling eye of their officers allowing
them the freedom to express their thoughts on the latest news that was, at best,
unreliable. Thus Furphy rapidly became a synonym for suspect information or
rumour. [ii]
On 18 October the battalion boarded the troopship Hororata and departed Port
Melbourne the following day in convoy with other ships carrying the rest of the
–5–
2nd Brigade. At the Western Australian port of Albany they waited to be joined
by other ships that had left from other ports.
On the roll call on the morning of the 27th one man failed to respond. The
Colour Sergeant of Alex’s Company, John O’meara, had been seen playing cards
in the Sergeant’s Mess the previous evening. Having left the mess at a little after
9:00, he was later found asleep in a latrine in the aft deck. At about 11:45 a
sentry heard a noise that he took to be somebody being sick from a porthole
below him but when he looked over the side he could see nothing. An officer
also heard the noise as what he described as a “gurgling sound” and after
consulting the sentry he concluded that it may have been somebody fallen
overboard.
The ship’s Captain was notified but it was too dark and the water in King
George Sound too rough to make an effective search. When the Colour
Sergeant was confirmed to be missing the following morning a boat was sent to
search but he was never recovered. A Court of Inquiry convened on board later
that day concluded that O’Meara was undoubtedly dead. The ship was soon
under way again and arrived in Egypt on 6 December.
After the 2nd Brigade had left Broadmeadows Camp the 4th Brigade began to
move in under the command of Colonel John Monash. The brigade was made
up of the 13th Battalion from NSW, the 14th Battalion from Victoria, the 15th
Battalion from Queensland and Tasmania and the 16th Battalion from Western
and South Australia. Within the ranks of the 16th Battalion was Alex
Trowbridge’s cousin Frank who had enlisted in Adelaide on 14 September.
–6–
At 7 am on 22 December the 16th Battalion also left Broadmeadows Camp for
Port Melbourne. After two days of continuous rain the camp was a quagmire
and the men had to trudge through thick mud to get to the station. By the time
they were able to get into the relative shelter of their troopship the Ceramic every
man was wet to the skin. The battalion’s Commanding Officer, Lieutenant
Colonel Pope, suspected that many of his men were showing symptoms of
influenza.
The convoy left Port Melbourne in the afternoon and after a day’s rest the men
settled into a daily training routine. On Boxing Day several cases of measles had
developed on the Ceramic and three cases of appendicitis. The next day the
appendicitis cases were transferred to hospital in Albany and additional medical
staff were requested.
On 21 January 1915 Frank’s company was disembarked when the Ceramic
anchored in Aden. Measles had continued throughout the voyage and on 20
January one of the battalion’s men died from a combination of measles and
pleurisy. The battalion’s band and Frank’s company presided over the funeral
ceremony in Aden, the first of many men of the battalion to be buried under
foreign soil.
The convoy eventually reached Alexandria on 3 February.
When the first convoy had arrived in Egypt with Alex Trowbridge the 2nd
Brigade joined with the 1st and 3rd Brigades to form the Australian 1st Division.
A second Australian division was planned along with a New Zealand division
but it was soon realised that not enough men would be available for either
–7–
division to eventuate. When the second convoy arrived with Frank Trowbridge
the 4th Brigade joined with the Australian 1st Light Horse Brigade, the New
Zealand Infantry Brigade and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade to form
the New Zealand and Australian Division under the command of New
Zealand’s Major General Godley. Bothe divisions made up the Australian and
New Zealand Army Corps, the ANZACS. Training for both divisions was
intense as their preparations were made for the ANZACS to join the war in
France at the end of the European winter.
THE DARDENELLES
On 2 January 1915 Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia appealed to Britain for
assistance against the Ottomans, who were conducting an offensive in the
Caucasus. Planning began for a naval demonstration in the Dardanelles, to divert
troops from the Caucasian theatre of operations.
After the failure of naval attacks to force a way through the mines in the
Dardenelles, ground forces were assembled and tasked with eliminating the
Ottoman mobile artillery so that minesweepers could clear the way for larger
vessels. The British Secretary of State for War, Lord Herbert Kitchener,
appointed General Sir Ian Hamilton to command the 78,000-strong
Mediterranean Expeditionary Force that was to carry out the mission.
The ANZAC troops, along with the regular British 29th Division, the Royal
Naval Division and the French Oriental Expeditionary Corps, consisting of
"metropolitan" and colonial troops, were subsequently placed under Hamilton's
–8–
command. With only five divisions the operation would be complicated by the
limited forces available, the rugged terrain of the peninsula and the small
number of suitable landing beaches, as well as severe logistical difficulties. As a
landing under fire had not been foreseen, the force was not prepared for such
an undertaking.
The British and French divisions subsequently joined the Australians in Egypt,
while over the following month Hamilton prepared his plan, choosing to
concentrate his force on the southern part of the Gallipoli peninsula at Cape
Helles and Sedd el Bahr. The Allies initially discounted the fighting ability of the
Ottoman soldiers.
In some cases relying on information gained from Egyptian travel guides, allied
intelligence failed to adequately prepare for the campaign.
“Turkish soldiers as a rule manifest their desire to surrender by holding their
rifle butt upward and by waving clothes or rags of any colour. An actual white
flag should be regarded with the utmost suspicion as a Turkish soldier is unlikely
to possess anything of that colour.” [iii]
ANZAC COVE
The landing started to go wrong from the start when the boats towing the 1500
men of the first wave drifted too far to the north in the total darkness. Once
released from their tows, the boats rowed independently ahead. The first had
just grated on shingle a few yards off the beach and men were climbing out in
three or four feet of water to wade ashore when there came signs of life from
–9–
the land. A yellow flame, evidently of a beacon, flared on a height not far to the
south. On the skyline, towering 300 feet above the beach, a figure moved. A
shot from there plunged into the water, near the boats, followed by a group of
four or five shots, the flashes seen along the skyline above. Then there broke out
a constant fire along the crest, the flashes sparkling like a necklace, while from
other heights on the flanks more rifles and a machine-gun joined in.
Far out on the black satin of the sea, where the main body of transports was
moving into place that flare was seen at exactly 4.29 a.m. It resembled a signal
lamp flashing from the shore. A minute later there was heard across the miles of
water the sound of distant shots growing to a continuous bubbling like that of
water in a seething cauldron. It was sustained minute after minute. Had the
advanced force in the boats been able to land?
Sky and sea gradually turned to a clear lemon yellow, smooth as silk. A ship’s
boat was passed, floating bottom up, the sign of an accident that had cost
several lives. Then, with a percussion wave that shook every transport, a
battleship opened fire and others followed. At 4.45, the whine of Turkish shells
was heard for the first time, and their fleecy white shrapnel puffs appeared high
over the water, the first of a slow succession of salvoes.
The destroyers carrying the first of the second wave, including Alex Trowbridge
and the 7th Battalion, had steamed in on a much wider front than the tows. They
came to within about 100 yards of the shore, and their troops began to get into
the rowing boats just as the Turks began firing at the first wave, which must
then have been scrambling ashore at Ari Burnu. The troops on the destroyers
heard a cheer somewhere on the land ahead. On the southernmost destroyers
bullets from Ari Burnu and from the heights ahead rattled on the forecastle
sides before the troops were all in their boats; and there and also north of Ari
Burnu the boatloads of the second wave were rowed to land through bullets
churning the water and thudding into the boats. [iv]
With the element of surprise gone, the second wave was under constant fire.
The remainder of the Australian 1st Division (the 1st and 2nd Brigades) began to
land from the transports between 5.30 am and 7.30 am. Boats from the
transport Galeka, bearing about 140 men of the 7th Battalion, made the most
northerly landing of the day, opposite Fisherman's Hut. They were met by a
withering fusillade from the Ottoman defenders and less than 40 men made it to
the beach.
As officers and men tumbled out of the grating boats and waded ashore, they
found themselves faced by a country utterly different from that described to
them in the lectures as to their tasks. They had been told to rush across the
beach and shelter under a bank such as lines nearly all beaches. They were to
– 10 –
drop their packs there, quickly form up, fix bayonets, load their magazines and
then advance over a belt of open land to a comparatively low ridge which they
would climb. On top of this they were to reorganise, and then push off again
towards specified points on a long ridge about a mile inland.
But that was nothing like the country in which they landed. They found
themselves at the foot of an exceedingly steep, almost precipitous hill 200 feet
high which, except for a minor lower knoll around which the boats grounded,
rose straight from the bank that bordered the shingle. The Australians ran across
to the bank fixing bayonets as they ran. They dropped their packs and pause to
take their breath in the meager shelter from the strong Turkish fire.
Before the day was over the 7th Battalion had received a total of 541 casualties
including 70 killed, 244 wounded and 227 missing. The highest casualty count of
any Australian unit that day. Among these Private Alex Trowbridge received a
gunshot wound to his neck. Alex was taken to Lemnos for immediate treatment
and by 30 April he was back in Egypt at the 1st Australian General Hospital at
Heliopolis.
At about 6 pm, Frank Trowbridge went ashore at Anzac Cove with the 16th
Battalion and they too made their way into the hills. The column occupied a
sharp edge of spur that afterwards bore their commanding officer’s name,
Pope’s Hill. They spent the night digging in along the edge under intense rifle
fire and for the next five days they stayed there, holding the hill, with Turkish
troops to their front and rear.
– 11 –
At dawn on 26 April, the warships shelled Russell’s Top, breaking up the Turkish
ranks, but there were still many accurate snipers. All that day, the battalion’s two
machine-guns sniped back at the Turks on Russell’s Top and many of the
original gun crew were killed or wounded.
During the next two days, there were attempts to reinforce the battalion, and on
27 April the 2nd Battalion took Russell’s Top and, together with a reinforcement
of New Zealanders, manned it strongly. At about 2.30 that afternoon, the Turks
organised a six-line attack, advancing on Walker’s Ridge, Russell’s Top and
Pope’s Hill. Shells from the navy ships stopped the attack but they continued to
snipe. Later that night, there was another determined attack, but the Turks were
practically annihilated by machine-gun and rifle fire.
On the evening of Friday 30 April, after being in action for five days, the 16th
was relieved by the 15th Battalion. They moved down one of the gullies where
they rested until Sunday 2 May. However, during those 2 days they lost 50 more
men from enemy sniper fire.
At nightfall on 2 May, the 16th Battalion went into attack again up a hill called
the Bloody Angle towards Quinn’s Post, and throughout the night they
continued to fight and dig trenches. The battalion’s exposure to continual firing
made it very dangerous to carry ammunition to them. “Again and again
volunteers were shot as they scrambled up with heavy cases; others took their
places only to fall dead across the boxes they were dragging, or to roll down the
steep side of the hill.”
Near dawn on 3 May, the 16th Battalion rose from their trenches to attack the
Turkish position about 100 metres away but were seen and met with heavy fire.
Their attempt failed and when dawn came their dead ‘lay thickly on the slopes’.
During that night, men of the Royal Naval Division had been brought in to
reinforce the battalion, but confusion prevailed and communication with the
16th Battalion became impossible. Attempts to dig a communication trench
through the hill failed and throughout the morning the men gradually fell back
in twos and threes. At 6 p.m. the remnants of the battalion were withdrawn.
At the landing on 25 April, the 16th Battalion had been about 1000 strong.
Overnight on 2 May they had lost 8 officers and 330 men. At roll call on 3 May
only nine officers and 290 men answered their names. [v] Frank Trowbridge was
not among them.
At some point during the action Frank had been struck in the back by shrapnel
from enemy artillery. A piece penetrated his lung and he was evacuated. He was
– 12 –
ultimately admitted to the Southern General Hospital at Birmingham in England
on 20 May with severe wounds to his back and shoulder.
The 1st Southern General Hospital in Birmingham was just one of many large
military hospitals that were developed to treat the flood of casualties coming
back to England from the fighting fronts and the training centres in the United
Kingdom. As part of the organisation of medical facilities in the home
countries when the Territorial Force came into being, it was decided in 1909 to
employ the new buildings at the University of Birmingham as a 520-bed
hospital, should war mobilisation ever be needed. Plans for the equipping and
supply of the hospital were made and carried out to the letter in August 1914,
some 5 years after the original planning was done. The first convoy of 120
casualties arrived on 1 September 1914.
By spring of 1915, more university buildings had been taken over, providing up
to 1,000 beds. 1916 saw a further expansion adding another 570 beds. At the
peak the hospital could cater for 130 officers and 2357 other ranks. [vi]
2 weeks after the news of Gallipoli reached Australia, Bob Hancock lined up at
Adelaide’s Keswick Barracks, with his father’s letter of permission, to enlist in
the Australian Imperial Force. Bob was allocated to the Australian Army Medical
Corps and, after some basic training was posted to the reinforcement group of
the 2nd Australian General Hospital in Egypt as a medical orderly. Bob’s unit left
Australian shores from Port Melbourne aboard the troop ship Anchises on 26
August.
– 13 –
Alex Trowbridge spent a month in hospital at Heliopolis before being
transferred to the Convalescent Camp at Helouan. Eventually he was able to rejoin his unit on 16 August.
For Frank Trowbridge, although his injuries were considered severe, it was a
fairly speedy recovery and on 27 August he re-joined the 16th Battalion at
ANZAC Cove. Nothing much had changed for either man except the faces of
men they no longer knew, reinforcements having replaced other men lost after
futile attempts to gain ground from the Turks.
Gallipoli was a stalemate and neither side held any advantage, except perhaps
the Turkish snipers firing from the high ground. It only took three days and
Frank was the victim of an unlucky rifle shot. This time however it only took a
short period of recovery and Frank was back with his unit on 2 October.
With the introduction of an additional Australian division the original ANZAC
units were finally able to take some time away from front. Throughout October
1915 both the 2nd and 4th Brigades were at the Sarpi Rest Camp on the island of
Lemnos. The 4th Brigade arrived on Lemnos in late September and the 2nd
Brigade arrived on 11 October minus the 7th Battalion which was for the
moment manning the trenches at Lone Pine and was still awaiting relief. The 7th
Battalion arrived on 13 October.
In England discussions were being undertaken about the future of the
campaign. The British Commander in Chief, Lord Kitchener, visited Lemnos on
– 14 –
his way to visit ANZAC Cove. But still no decision could be reached. No matter
what, preparations had to be made for the coming winter which, for the
Australians in particular, was going to be difficult, them being unused to the
freezing temperatures expected.
The 4th Brigade moved back to ANZAC Cove at the end of October and on 9
November Alex was transferred from the 7th Battalion to the 2nd Australian Field
Ambulance for duty as a stretcher bearer. The field ambulance was a mobile
front line medical unit, the most forward of the medical units and the first line
of formal documentation of the wounded. Each came under command of a
division, and had special responsibility for the care of casualties of one of the
brigades in the division. A division had three field ambulances.
The theoretical capacity of the field ambulance was 150 casualties, but in battle
many would simply be overwhelmed by numbers. The ambulance was
responsible for establishing and operating a number of points along the casualty
evacuation chain, from the Bearer Relay Posts which were up to 600 yards
behind the Regimental Aid Posts, through the Advanced Dressing Station, to the
Main Dressing Station. It also provided a Walking Wounded Collecting Station,
as well as various rest areas and local sick rooms. The Ambulances would usually
establish 1 Advanced Dressing Station per brigade, and 1 Main Dressing Station
for the division. [vii]
By mid-November the 2nd Brigade was preparing to move back to ANZAC
Cove. On 17 November the 2nd Field Ambulance boarded the troopship
Abbassich and waited. After several hours word was received that the move was
cancelled. The unit returned Sarpi Rest Camp and reopened the hospital by
nightfall. The remainder of the brigade had a similar problem, the delayed
return to ANZAC Cove being caused by bad weather but when the brigade did
eventually sail the 2nd Field Ambulance remained on Lemnos.
THE SILENT STUNT
A decision had been reached at last and a plan was in place for the evacuation of
Gallipoli. For the Australians at ANZAC Cove, this posed a special problem in
that they couldn’t simply leave their positions on the high ground, leaving the
beaches open to Turkish fire. The evacuation plan had to include a deception
plan.
In the preliminary stage the forces at ANZAC Cove were reduced to 41,000 and
at Suvla Bay to 51,000 and their material, to those required for winter. Much of
this work had already begun in preparation for winter anyway. In the
intermediate stage all men and material not required to hold the position for the
last two days would be withdrawn leaving about 20,000 men in each position. In
– 15 –
the final stage the remainder of the men would be withdrawn over two nights.
No lives were to be sacrificed in an effort to save guns.
At ANZAC Cove a plan was immediately put into action for accustoming the
Turks to periods of cessation of fire from the ANZAC troops. They’d been
doing this now for some time already as the units tested a number of different
ruses in an attempt to misdirect the attention of the Turks. From 6 p.m. on 24
November, the same day that Frank Trowbridge was promoted to Lance
Corporal, until midnight on the 27th, no shots or shells were to be fired or
bombs thrown except in case of danger or upon exceptional targets.
The Turks became puzzled and nervous. On the second day four of them were
allowed to approach Quinn’s Post and one even boldly walked along the trench
there until killed. On the third day larger parties emerged at other positions and
some coming close were quickly shot down.
On the night of the 27th a blizzard covered the peninsula with snow. In spite of
their discomfort the snow provided a great deal of interest for the Australian
troops but played havoc with the Suvla force whose low-lying trenches were
flooded. 220 men at Suvla drowned or froze to death and there were 12,000
cases of frostbite or exposure.
The ruse, nicknamed “The Silent Stunt”, had worked. Turkish staff had at first
suspected a partial withdrawal, but later concluded that the ANZACs wanted
quiet while preparing winter quarters which they themselves were doing. Shorter
silences were repeated almost every night, so that the Turks became thoroughly
used to them.
– 16 –
Thursday and Friday nights came, and in the darkness, crowded barges were
towed out to the transports lying out to sea. By day there was little rest. There
seemed to be a thousand things to be done in the short time available. Much
material had to be destroyed, rather than let it fall into the hands of the Turk.
Ammunition was buried or dropped into the sea. Condensed milk that would
have been invaluable earlier in the campaign was destroyed by punching holes in
the tins with bayonets. Jar after jar of rum was smashed. Blankets by the
thousand and piles of clothing were saturated with petrol ready to be burned.
Everything of value to the Turk was made valueless.
At Suvla where there was more room than at Anzac Cove, an inner position was
prepared by the erection of a strong barbed wire fence eight feet high, with
great gates across the roads. At Anzac Cove, barricades were made in all the
principal gullies and communication trenches. A final covering position, manned
by machine gunners, was prepared. Its left flank was on No. 1 Post, and ran by
way of Walker's Ridge, across to Plugge's Plateau and so down Maclagan's Ridge
to the sea.
There were now only two nights to go, Saturday night and Sunday night. The
20,000 troops remaining at Anzac and Suvla were to be evacuated at the rate of
10,000 per night. The numbers from the Australian and New Zealand Division
were 3491 on the second last night, and the final 3000 on the last night.
The New Zealanders and Australians on the northern end of Anzac Cove had
to make their way down down the three principal gullies to the piers on Ocean
Beach at Suvla Bay. The Australians from the centre and south of Anzac Cove
moved down Shrapnel Gully and along the beach towards the piers at Anzac
Cove. The New Zealand Mounted Rifles would come down the Aghyl Dere, and
the Infantry down the Chailak Dere to Williams Pier on North Beach. A
divisional rendezvous was formed at No. 2 Post. Here the troops paraded
according to a timetable, and were drafted into groups of 400, the capacity of
the big motor lighters that the men had christened “beetles.”
All through the night of that last Saturday at Anzac the little groups made their
way down and were packed into the lighters. By 4.30 a.m. on 19 December, the
last beetle cleared from the shore leaving the “Diehards” of the Division, only
3,000 strong, to hold the line against a mighty army. It was an anxious day, but
there was much to do.
– 17 –
Reinforcement drafts always went in reserve for a time after their arrival, so
down in Reserve Gully and Waterfall Gully enthusiastic parties entertained
themselves and mystified the enemy by spreading out blankets to dry even as the
new arrivals did. The innumerable small fires that smoked incessantly were made
to smoke more copiously than ever, for the Turks must fully understand that the
great new army was now arriving in strength.
The 3,000 men of the New Zealand and Australian Division still to be
withdrawn (New Zealand Mounted Rifles and the Australian 4th Infantry
Brigade) were divided into three: A, parties totalling 1,300; B, parties totalling
1,100; and C, parties totalling 600. All of A and B were to withdraw and embark
as the parties of the preceding night embarking in their groups of 400. Up the
gullies, great wire gates had been erected so that if the force was attacked the
gates would be shut down and the garrison left to its own resource, to fight
where it stood and cover the retirement until 2 a.m. and then retire to the beach.
It would not be possible to come down the ordinary communication trenches
for on the sign of an attack, the great barbed gates were to be dropped into
place in the entanglements and the gullies themselves heavily shelled by the
warships. The “last ditchers” were to be sacrificed for the army.
With only a rifle and bayonet and a stock of hand grenades the men of the
rearguards took up their positions in the front line. Machine guns were carefully
looked to. Ammunition was plentiful. If the Turk did come over he would pay a
big price. As one of the normal smells of Anzac was that of tobacco smoke,
men smoked packet after packet, and pipe upon pipe. Out to sea, the traffic was
quite noticeable to the anxious watchers on the hillside.
– 18 –
Soon after dusk the men of the A parties at Anzac and Suvla said goodbye to
their comrades of B and C, marched to their respective divisional rendezvous,
and passed down the sandbag-muffled piers to the waiting “beetles.”
B party commenced to leave at nine o'clock. With a “Goodbye, boys! see you
in Cairo!” on their lips, but with misgivings in their hearts, the second last
parties left their posts and made for the rendezvous. By 11.25 pm all of A and B
parties were safely embarked without a casualty.
Those left moved quickly from place to place, firing their rifles in order to
preserve the “normality” of things. The old trench mortars coughed
spasmodically, and the Turks returned the compliment.
No pains were spared to make everything appear normal. Some men went
round lighting candles in the empty dugouts, others concocted placards to
welcome the Turks. The soldiers bore no malice. “Goodbye Johnnie, see you
soon in the Suez Canal;” and “Remember you didn't push us off, we simply
went,” are typical. Others were more amusing if not quite so polite! Men
wandered up and down firing occasional shots, and at 11.30 the message came
round to the men in the line that everywhere the plans were working without a
hitch and well up to time.
Men devised all sorts of mechanism to keep rifles going mechanically after the
last party had left. The favourite method a device was whereby an empty tin was
suspended by a piece of string to the trigger of a loaded rifle. Another tin full
of water, but with a small hole in it, was placed above the empty one, so that the
– 19 –
water leaked into the bottom one, thus gradually increasing the weight until it
was sufficient to pull the trigger.
Midnight came and the firing died down as was the normal custom. Slowly the
minutes crept by. One o'clock! Still there was no alarm. Some men began to feel
the tension very keenly. Everybody else was safe. Would C party get away? At
1.30 the first of the C parties moved. At 1.45 the duty machine gun at the Apex
fired three shots three times in rapid succession. This was the signal for all the
machine guns to withdraw. With a quarter of the remaining infantry, the gunners
marched down the gullies and joined up with the other detachments. The
organization worked like clockwork.
At two o'clock another party left. The men of the last group were now looking
anxiously at their watches. At about 2.15 each man in the trenches quietly
walked out into the nearest communication trench. There was little time to lose.
The gate was to be closed at 2.25 and a staff officer carefully checked the
numbers and made sure that all were accounted for. [viii]
At 3.25 the last guard on Walker’s Ridge retired and at 3.30, with a minute’s
interval between the explosions, two mines on The Nek were fired. All over the
dark waters, troops in crowded lighters moving out to larger craft, and on ferry
steamers, transports and warships, saw the brilliant orange glow twice flush for a
moment the underside of low angry clouds. A growing rattle of rifle fire spread
along the Turkish line – a bullet from this stream hit a soldier in one of the
boats causing one of the two Anzac casualties of that night. The last lighter left
the North Beach about 4 a.m. The naval transport officer and his steamboat
with the last of the Anzac staff waited ten minutes for stragglers, but there were
none and at 4.10 am 20 December 1915 they pushed off leaving ANZAC Cove
a distant memory. By evening the last of the troops from ANZAC Cove had
settled into camp on Lemnos.
EGYPT
During the Gallipoli campaign the medical convalescent system in Egypt had
become choked up. On 15 June 130 men who had been sent to the Australian
convalescent home at “Al Hayat” (Helouan) were sent back to the hospitals
because the home was already full of invalids. Increased accommodation was
sought by further expansion of No. 1 Australian General Hospital. The Grand
Hotel at Helouan was taken over and staffed from the A.A.M.C. reinforcement
and reserve pool, and was used for a time as an additional home for
convalescents.
– 20 –
The Ras el Tin quarter of Alexandria is all that is left of the island of Pharos,
the site of the actual Pharos Lighthouse having been long ago weathered away
by the sea. On the east is an open bay; to the west a modern harbor lies where
the ancient port of Eunostos, with its inner basin Kibotos once existed.
The heat of summer was coming on, and the necessity for providing seaside
accommodation for the convalescents from Cairo became obvious.
Consequently the Ras el Tin school was taken over and turned into a
convalescent hospital for 500 patients. It consisted of a very large courtyard,
surrounded by (mostly) one-story buildings, and was about 400 yards from the
sea. In the courtyard a Recreation Tent, provided by the Australian Branch of
the British Red Cross, was erected by the Y.M.C.A. The whole formed an
admirable seaside retreat for those recovering from their wounds.
With the winter storms of the Southern Ocean behind them the passengers on
the Anchises must have felt some relief as the ship steamed north up the Suez
Canal and into the blue waters of the Mediterranean. Their first view of
Alexandria would have come as a blessing having arrived at last mixed with the
excitement of a foreign shore and the apprehension of the dangers surrounding
them.
– 21 –
It was hardly like going to war at all. On arrival in Alexandria Bob Hancock was
assigned to the Ras el Tin Convalescent Depot. It might not have been all sun
and sand taking care of wounded soldiers on their way to recovery within a
stone’s throw of the beach but it wasn’t struggling up the cliffs of ANZAC
Cove either.
The 4th Brigade spent Christmas on Lemnos resting but was back on board ship
within a couple of days. Wintering on Lemnos wasn’t considered ideal and after
the experience of the rest camps only a couple of months earlier the close
proximity to the source of many disciplinary breaches was something the senior
commanders wanted to avoid. Kitchener had his own plans to meet the newly
perceived threat to Egypt and had ordered the expansion of the camp at Tel-elKabir. The camp was close enough to the Suez Canal should men be needed
there in a hurry and far enough away from the temptations of Cairo.
The 4th Brigade arrived at Tel-el-Kabir on 1 Jan 1916 and the 2nd Brigade with
the 2nd Field Ambulance followed on 3 January. On 11 January Frank was
admitted to the 1st Australian General Hospital in Heliopolis with an aggravation
of his earlier wound received at the Bloody Angle.
On 1 February Bob Hancock was promoted to corporal an Frank returned to
his unit on 5 February. On 19 May though, he was back in hospital at the 3rd
Australian Auxiliary Hospital in Cairo with the same complaint. This time his
treatment went on for several months including convalescence.
– 22 –
ADELAIDE
It’s hard to understand what would make a 46 year old married man decide to
enlist in the Army and go off to war. Jim Trowbridge was uncle to Alex and
Frank Trowbridge and Bob Hancock. After a lifetime spent as a bachelor he
married Zella Angell, a widow with four children aged between 6 and 16 in
1902. By the time his nephews went off to war the children were all old enough
to make their own way in the world. One of his step-daughters was already
married to a young man his nephews’ age while his step-son was of an age
where he was likely to enlist himself.
In Egypt Jim’s bother’s son Alex was with the 2nd Field Ambulance at Serapeum
on the west bank of the Suez Canal where the 2nd Brigade was playing a
defensive role in expectation of a Turkish attack on the canal now that
thousands of Turkish soldiers were freed from the defence of Gallipoli.
Another brother’s son Frank was convalescing from his earlier wound. His
sister’s son Bob, recently promoted to Corporal, was looking after other
wounded soldiers convalescing at the Ras-el-Tin Convalescent Hospital.
By February 1916 the call to arms was strong on the home front as the
recruiting program started to take shape and with three nephews already serving
it would have been hard to resist. No matter what his motivation was, on 17
February 1916 Jim Trowbridge enlisted in the AIF and on 7 March 1916 he
joined with 759 other men at Morphetville Racecourse to form the 43rd Infantry
Battalion, a new battalion recruited entirely in South Australia to form part of
another Australian division.
– 23 –
On 4 March the ANZACs began the big move from Egypt to their new role in
France. The 2nd Field Ambulance boarded the troopship Briton on 23 March and
set out for Marseilles the next day. The short trip across the Mediterranean was
hardly a cruise. The ship was more crowded than the journey from Australia and
there was the constant threat from attack by German submarines. The
troopships were forced to zigzag to prevent any prediction of the route adding
days to the crossing and strict rules were enforced regarding small offences such
as breeching blackouts at night. Offenders were dealt with severely.
The Briton docked at Marseilles at around sunset on 30 March, The troops
disembarking early the next morning and marching to a waiting train. They
travelled for 3 days across the peaceful French countryside until they reached
Godewaersvelde, near the Belgian border north east of Hazebrouck. From there
they marched 10 km south again to Pradelles where the unit was plunged
immediately into action processing wounded from the front.
In Adelaide Jim Trowbridge was about to have a glimpse of what happens when
a foreign war reaches home.
In 1838 German settlement in Australia began in large numbers, with the arrival
of immigrants from Prussia to Adelaide. German immigrants became
prominent in settling South Australia and Queensland. These first immigrants
were Lutherans who had left their homeland mainly because of their rejection
of Prussian state enforcement of a new prayer book for church services. They
developed a settlement at Klemzig, six kilometers from Adelaide, named after
their namesake home town in the Prussian province of Brandenburg.
– 24 –
Another group arrived in December 1838, on the Zebra with Captain Dirk
Meinhertz Hahn. Captain Hahn, assisted this group in acquiring land in the
Adelaide Hills where they settled Hahndorf. The last of the initial wave of
immigrants arrived in January 1839, on the Catharina. This group settled
predominantly at Glen Osmond. With other large groups of immigrants
arriving later, from 1850 until World War I, German settlers and their
descendants comprised the largest non-British or Irish group of Europeans in
Australia.
For home front Australia the War had become a blur of the many themes that
had dominated nineteenth century Australian life - the working man’s paradise
vs. free trade and capitalism, the aspiration of a British Australia and an undying
loyalty to the concept of the British Empire. However for German Australia it
meant sustained scrutiny, suspicion and persecution that eventually erased nearly
all traces of the Australian-German community from the cultural landscape in a
hysteric ethnic purge. Many families of German descent quietly changed the
spelling of their names to more English sounding versions. For example, from
Monasch to Monash.
On 3 May 1916 the general suspicion surrounding anybody of German descent
mixed with the growing unrest of the German community until a rumour
developed about the likelihood of an uprising of Germans in Adelaide. The 43rd
Battalion was ordered to stand in readiness and await further instructions about
anticipated trouble in the German settlements. As a consequence all leave was
cancelled and no movement was permitted into or out of the camp. Further
information was received after dark and the Battalion assembled on the
racecourse. Each man was issued with 150 rounds ammunition and rations.
At 10 pm the fully armed battalion marched out along the Bay Road towards
Adelaide. Advance and rearguards were placed to protect the column on the
move and precautions taken to ensure the secrecy of the move. In the ranks the
destination was unknown but at 2 am they entered the Exhibition Camp in
North Terrace. Here the men took advantage of the chance to sleep in their
clothes with a further move expected at any hour.
The next morning the battalion made a practice attack from Montefiore Hill
against the Hindmarsh Bridge. No further unrest was reported and the men
were given the chance to rest during the afternoon but guards were posted at the
General Post Office and Government House, and the battalion held in readiness
to move at a moment's notice. On the following day a parade had been arranged
with the battalion, in full battle order, marching through the streets of Adelaide.
No instructions for a further move were received so a short march with a rest in
the Botanic Gardens was arranged for the 7th, and on the 8th, which was a
public holiday, a few hours' leave was granted to a small percentage during the
– 25 –
afternoon. Shortly after midday on the 9th the battalion returned to
Morphettville. [ix]
While Frank Trowbridge recuperated, his unit was engaged in the defence of the
Suez Canal with the rest of the 4th Brigade. On 29 May orders were received for
the brigade to move to Alexandria and on 1 June they embarked for the journey
to Marseilles.
On 9 June the 43rd Battalion sailed from Adelaide’s Outer Harbour aboard the
Afric. As the ship made its way across the Great Australian Bight rough weather
resulted in 70% of its passengers being seasick. By the time the ship reached
Albany several of the men had to be admitted to hospital on shore including 9
cases of measles. Jim Trowbridge had spent much of the voyage in the ship’s
hospital but had recovered enough to continue the voyage.
The Afric reached Colombo on 26 June and sailed on towards the Suez the next
day. On 28 June one member of the battalion died as the result of the measles
and was buried at sea. On the same day Frank Trowbridge was discharged from
hospital and, having missed the embarkation of his unit, joined with a small
group of men from his battalion undergoing machine gun training. In
Alexandria, Bob Hancock was admitted to hospital with tonsillitis.
By the end of June the 4th Brigade was in the trenches around Armentieres. Bob
Hancock was discharged from hospital on 7 July and returned to duty at Ras-elTin. The Afric arrived at Port Said on 12 July and began the journey across the
Mediterranean with an anti-submarine escort the next morning. When the Afric
docked at Marseilles after a week of zig-zagging the battalion disembarked and
immediately boarded a train bound for Le Havre.
MOUQUET FARM
As Jim Trowbridge choofed across the French countryside by train, his nephew
Alex was detached from the 2nd Field Ambulance, along with 87 other stretcher
bearers, to join with the 2nd Division at Albert in the north of the Somme Valley.
They moved forward with the 2nd Division to Pozieres and then turned left to
their forming up position between Pozieres and Mouquet Farm.
Pozières was located on the road running north-west from Albert to Bapaume
north of the Somme River and Mouquet Farm lay about 1.7 kilometres to the
north-west on the high ground. Following the fighting around Pozières in late
July 1917 the British decided to gain control of the ridge beyond the village in
order to create a gap in the German lines. A salient had developed around the
German-held fortress of Thiepval a few kilometres north-west of Pozières.
– 26 –
In military terms a salient is a part of the front line of a battle that projects into
enemy held territory. Such a situation is often created when the support to an
attacking force moves at a slower pace or stops moving altogether. Any bulge in
the front line is then exposed to counter-attack on three sides. By capturing
Mouquet Farm the British hoped that to destabilise the German position and
enable further gains.
During the battle, the three Australian divisions of I ANZAC Corps, the 1st,
2nd and 4th Divisions, advanced northwest along the Pozières ridge towards the
German strongpoint of Mouquet Farm, with British divisions supporting them
on the western side. The Australians moved quickly along the ridge while on
their flank the British Division became bogged down in the quagmire from the
constant rain of artillery onto the lowland mud. The approach to the farm by
the Australians was under observation from German artillery spotters who were
able to call down barrages on them from three sides.
This meant that the Australians were under fire, not only from the enemy ahead,
but from those units that were still operating from either side. Heavy casualties
resulted among the attackers before they even reached the farm. Over the
course of August and into September the Australian divisions managed to reach
the farm three times, only to be forced back each time.
– 27 –
During the initial action on 7 August the 2nd Field Ambulance detachment
suffered 6 casualties, 3 killed and 3 wounded or injured. While carrying the
wounded from the field Alex Trowbridge found himself being carried from the
field by his own unit with a shell wound to his back causing coughing of blood
from his respiratory tract. Alex was initially treated by the 13th Field Ambulance
at Warloy before being taken to the British 44th Casualty Clearing Station and
then on board the hospital ship Cambria to England and the Military Hospital at
Chatham in Kent.
On 6 August Frank Trowbridge also boarded a ship in Alexandria bound for
France and Bob Hancock’s sunny days in Egypt were also about to come to a
sudden halt. On 9 August Bob was hospitalised himself with an abscess in his
groin. While treatment of such an infection today would often be with
antibiotics, in 1916 it required surgical intervention to drain and clear the
affected area. Bob was admitted to the convalescent hospital at nearby
Montezah Palace and on 13 August he was evacuated to England aboard the
hospital ship Kanowna.
Just before the beginning of the war, the Liverpool Corporation rented 25 acres
in Fazakerley from the Hospitals Committee for a temporary hospital for
Infectious Diseases which was commonly known as "Sparrow Hall Hospital"
after the farm of the same name that previously occupied the site. With the
outbreak of war the hospital was site of the First Western General Hospital for
injured soldiers. [x]
Although his debility was described in his record as only slight it was enough to
keep him in the less than inviting climate of Liverpool until January 1917 when
– 28 –
he embarked from Folkstone aboard the Belgian steamer, Princesse Clementine
bound for France.
MADEMOISELLES FROM ARMENTIERES
From the earliest days of the war a number of problems became evident with
bringing some hundreds of thousands of men in the prime of life half a world
away from their homes. There they were to remain for several years under
conditions of great restraint, and frequently of great danger and hardship, with
occasional intermissions of leave with money to spend and no restraining home
influences. At home the Australians were not generally loose-living but it was
obvious that very systematic and definite measures would be required to avert a
serious interference with military efficiency.
A persistent problem was that of venereal disease and medical officers could do
little to prevent wholesale infection. Affected men were sent back to base
hospital for treatment but even placing notorious red-light areas out of bounds
could not stop the problem. On average 800 men a month were admitted to
hospital with one or other form of the disease. Lectures on hygiene were given
noting simple precautions that could be taken to reduce risk. Most were met
with a barrage of ribald comments, much to the general amusement of the men.
In Egypt the 1st Australian Dermatological Hospital was established at Abassia
to deal with cases of venereal disease. With the movement of most of the men
to France the hospital was relocated to England in September 1916.
Bulford Camp is a military establishment on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. In
1915 the British Army established the Bulford Military Hospital at the camp as a
specialist venereal disease hospital. In November 1916 it was handed over to
Australians, apparently owing to a large demand, and became the new home of
the 1st Australian Dermatological Hospital.
Armentieres was considered to be a nursery sector where the newly arrived
troops were able to get used to life on the Western Front. With only one week
out of every three actually spent on the front line there was plenty of time for
leave to take in the bright lights of Armentieres and among the bright lights of
Armentieres were the red lights of the local establishments for which the town
was becoming famous. Even to the point of having its own song dedicated to its
main attraction.
– 29 –
Having left Egypt for France on 6 August 1916 Frank Trowbridge’s official
record does not show whether he actually rejoined his unit at Armentieres.
Perhaps he did rejoin them thereor perhaps it happened somewhere else. On 12
September Frank’s record shows him as being admitted to the Bulford Military
Hospital, which at the time was still British.
Being admitted to hospital for venereal disease was a hardship that had a
number of consequences and disincentives for those who were sent there, not
the least of which was that while undergoing treatment a soldier’s pay was
stopped. Another was the treatment itself.
Although widely regarded as a mild disease, gonorrhoea was a cause of much
debility and its treatment was widely detested by servicemen. The complications
of arthritis, iritis and chronic prostatitis were severe and difficult to treat.
Treatment for gonorrhea generally required a stay in hospital of around six
weeks followed by training back to full health in a convalescent depot.
Frank left Bulford after a few weeks of treatment and was then transferred to
the No 1 Convalescent Depot at Weymouth. His cousin Alex’s record shows
that he too was at the No 1 Convalescent Depot at the same time recovering,
not only from his shell wound, but from a similar complaint as Frank. Frank was
discharged from the Convalescent Depot on 4 November and taken on strength
with the 4th Training Battalion at Codford on 7 November. Alex’s recovery was
not so good and he was admitted to Bulford Hospital on 5 December for more
treatment. He eventually returned to France on 3 February 1917.
– 30 –
TO FRANCE
After months of intensive training in trench warfare in England the 3rd Division,
now under the command of Major General John Monash and including the 43rd
Battalion, was as ready as it was going to be. On 25 November the battalion
crossed the English Channel to Le Havre and moved on by train to Steenwerck,
a few kilometres west of Armentieres, as the winter began to set in.
Throughout the war, the area around Etaples was the scene of immense
concentrations of Commonwealth reinforcement camps and hospitals. It was
remote from attack, except from aircraft, and accessible by railway from both
the northern or the southern battlefields. In 1917 100,000 troops were camped
among the sand dunes. The hospitals, which included eleven general, one
stationary, four Red Cross hospitals and a convalescent depot, could deal with
22,000 wounded or sick. [xi]
On 8 January Bob Hancock was moved from the Australian General Base
Depot at Etaples to the 2nd Australian General Hospital at Wimereux near
Boulogne.
A General Hospital was normally located on or near railway lines to facilitate
movement of casualties from the Casualty Clearing Stations on to the ports.
Many of the great hotels and other large buildings such as casinos were
requisitioned by the British, but other hospitals were hutted and constructed on
open ground. In the base areas such as Etaples and Rouen, General Hospitals
operated as normal civilian hospitals do, having all the departments and
– 31 –
paraphernalia. Bacteriological and X-ray units would be attached, and
pathological research on the field conditions found was undertaken. [xii]
On 27 February Alex Trowbridge was also back at his unit then located at
Becourt Chateau about 4 km east of Albert. For the next 2 months the 2nd Field
Ambulance was kept busy, often acting as the Corps Mumps Station looking
after soldiers struck down by an epidemic that spread through the trenches.
Trench conditions varied widely between different theatres of the war, different
sectors within a theatre, and with the time of year and weather. Trench life was
however always one of considerable squalor, with so many men living in a very
constrained space. Scraps of discarded food, empty tins and other waste, the
nearby presence of the latrine, the general dirt of living half underground and
being unable to wash or change for days or weeks at a time created conditions
of severe health risk (and that is not counting the military risks). Vermin,
including rats and lice, were very numerous; disease was spread both by them,
and by the maggots and flies that thrived on the nearby remains of
decomposing human and animal corpses.
The winter of 1916-1917 in France and Flanders was the coldest in living
memory. Whenever it rained the trenches flooded, sometimes to waist height.
The winter affected people in different ways. Some succumbed to influenza,
– 32 –
others suffered miserably from trench foot, while others caught infections
resulting from the appalling conditions under which they were forced to live.
By March the weather was changing, moving from constant rain to often fine
and sunny, with morning mists that concealed the enemy trenches for hours at a
time. It was even possible to stand outside the trenches, invisible to the everpresent danger of a sniper’s rifle. The drawback to the sun was that the ground
began to thaw and the trenches became channels of foetid mud.
The war was changing too. The German Army was withdrawing and attacks on
German outposts brought little resistance. Le Barque and Ligny-Thilloy were
taken bringing the ANZACs to just south of Bapaume. It was easy to believe
that the allies were gaining the upper hand but the reality didn’t justify the
optimism. The Germans were withdrawing to fortified positions along what the
allies would later call the Hindenberg Line.
By mid-Mach the Australians were at Grevillers, only 2 km to the west of
Bapaume. Early on the morning of the 17th the Australians moved into
Bapaume only minutes after the Germans had departed. In what could only be
described as exhilaration, they chased them across green fields seemingly
untouched by war. But as the Australians moved north their numbers thinned
leaving behind small groups to secure the vacated German lines and thus secure
their own supply line. Orders came from the British Command that they were
stop and to hold a line through Bapaume and Peronne.
– 33 –
As the Germans withdrew they left behind them nothing that could be of any
use. Trees were cut down, buildings and railways destroyed and many of the
roads were blown up to prevent their use by vehicles. At every town and village
small, determined garrisons remained to offer resistance to the allies. On 1 April
blizzards swept across the fields of Flanders leaving a blanket of ice across the
land reminding them that winter had not yet finished with them.
BULLECOURT
The Battle of Bullecourt was not the most decisive event of the war but it did
mark an important moment, particularly for the Australians. The British planned
to attack the German defences at Arras on 9 April but wanted a secondary
attack to take place at the northwest end of the Hindenburg Line at Bullecourt.
The plan was for the British 1st and 3rd Armies to attack the towns of Vimy
and Arras while the Australians, along with the British 62nd West Riding
Division attacked to the south at Bullecourt on the following morning.
Immediately to the east of the Australian line of attack on Bullecourt was the
town of Quéant. Quéant presented a risk of a German counter-attack so the
entire area was bombarded by heavy artillery fire. When it was realised that the
artillery had not destroyed as much of the German barbed wire as was hoped,
the British came up with a bold, new plan. Tanks, new to the battlefield, would
move forward in advance of the infantry and destroy the barbed wire instead of
relying on artillery.
– 34 –
At 4:20 am on 10 April with a heavy snow driving from the darkness the men of
the 4th Brigade waited in the open with only the black of the pre-dawn as cover.
4:30 am, zero-hour, rolled past with the light growing slowly through the lashing
snow as each minute passed. The tanks had got lost in the darkness and the
featureless terrain.
At 5:00 am the attack was called off, but it was already light enough for the
Germans to see the movement of men. Many men died heading back to the
safety of their own lines.
On the next morning, once more the men were lined up by 4:30 am waiting for
the arrival of the tanks to lead the attack. Running 15 minutes late, only three of
the expected twelve tanks arrived. The remainder had either broken down or
had again become lost.
For the 4th Brigade no tanks arrived at all and they were forced to cross the open
ground completely exposed to enemy fire. The Germans were ready for them.
Despite heavy casualties the Australians managed to fight through to their initial
objectives but by 10:00 am they were under a heavy counter-attack. Desperately
short of ammunition, they were forced to withdraw to their original start
positions.
For the gain on no ground whatsoever the 4th Brigade lost 3,000 men.
According to the official war historian Charles Bean:
“Bullecourt, more than any other battle, shook the confidence of Australian
soldiers in the capacity of the British command; the errors, especially on 10 and
11 April, were obvious to almost everyone”.
The Australian 4th Division had taken large casualties at Bullecourt and it was
taken out of line for the second attack. They were replaced by the 1st Division
that had been based a few miles to the south of Bullecourt. The Germans
launched a major offensive against the Australian positions on 15 April. Four
German divisions attacked along a six-mile line but they were repulsed by the 1st
Division that had built good defensive positions.
– 35 –
A large attack by Allied forces was planned along the whole of Vimy Ridge. The
attack would involve 14 divisions from the First, Third and Fifth armies. On the
extreme right of the attack was Bullecourt.
With its main hospital facility at Beaulencourt, to the south of Bapaume and
with dressing stations at Vaulx the 2nd Field Ambulance made its preparations
for evacuating the wounded
The second attack on Bullecourt began on 3 May. In this attack, the Australians
were supported by the 62nd (West Riding) Division and they were to receive
wholesale artillery support. In the week beforehand, Bullecourt was reduced to
rubble and a great deal of the wire protecting the German lines was destroyed.
The 2nd Australian Division and the 62nd Division were ordered to attack at 3.45
am and by 4.15 their first objectives had been destroyed. By 5.45, the Australians
were only 400m from their second objective at Riencourt. The 62nd Division
managed to get into Bullecourt. Here they found that the rubble created by their
own artillery gave the German defenders numerous places to hide and by 4.00
pm they had been driven back out of the village.
At 08.50 the Germans launched a counter-attack against the Australian
positions. While the Australians had done well, officers on the ground believed
that their manpower was too thinly spread over too large an area. With 62nd
Division unable to offer support, a decision was taken to withdraw the
Australians from their most advanced positions. This would be done under the
– 36 –
cover of artillery fire. Unfortunately, the artillery cover landed 200m short of its
target and dropped on the Australians.
A night attack was made on Bullecourt but this failed and another attack was
ordered for 4.30 the next morning. It was a temporary success but another
German counter-attack pushed back the Allied force.
On 3 and 4 May alone the Australians lost 7,000 men and even though they
were non-combatants the 2nd Field Ambulance suffered 30% casualties among
its bearers including Alex Trowbridge. With a gunshot wound to his thigh
classed as severe, Alex was evacuated by ambulance train to Boulogne, then on
to the Hospital Ship, Panama, for the trip across the channel to England and
ultimately to the 1st Southern General Hospital in Birmingham where his cousin
Frank had been treated two years earlier.
Another attack on Bullecourt was planned for 7 May. While major gains were
made around Bullecourt, the village itself was not captured and a German
counter-attack was inevitable.
The casualties of the 2nd Field Ambulance were reflected by those of other
medical units. On 12 May Bob Hancock was transferred to the 1st Field
Ambulance at Pozieres as a replacement and promoted to temporary sergeant.
The German counter-attack came on 15 May but any German gains were only
temporary. On 17 May, the Australians made another attempt to capture
Bullecourt but found that the Germans had withdrawn from their positions.
The capture of the Bullecourt salient ensured that the Allied frontline was now
complete. [xiii]
The 1st Field Ambulance moved back from the front line on 25 May to
Henencourt about west of Albert. Throughout June and July the unit remained
stable at Henencourt where the daily routine was training in the mornings
followed by recreation in the afternoons. While the unit was in the rest area
there was also opportunity for overhauling vehicles and equipment.
MESSINES
Launched on 7 June 1917, the Messine offensive was designed to force the
German enemy to withdraw from the main battlefront between Vimy and Arras.
The primary objective was the strategically important Wyschaete-Messines
Ridge, the high ground south of Ypres. The Germans used this ridge as a salient
into the British lines, building their defence along its 10 mile length. Winning
this ground was essential for the Allies to launch a larger campaign planned for
east of Ypres. Australian involvement came under the II Anzac Corps which
– 37 –
included the 3rd Australian Division, the New Zealand Division and the 25th
British Division with the 4th Australian Division in reserve for the attack. The
primary objective was to capture the village of Messines and advance to the flat
ground beyond.
The II Anzac Corps formed only a part of a 12 division attack; supported by
1,500 field guns and 700 heavy guns; relying on photographs of the enemy’s
defensive positions taken by the Royal Flying Corps.
For two years Australian, British and Canadian miners had engaged in
subterranean warfare digging an intricate tunnel system under the enemy’s front
line. The Allies used these tunnels to further tactical advantage, packing massive
charges of the explosive ammonal to obliterate enemy defences.
The attack, codenamed ‘Magnum Opus’, was set for 7 June 1917. After a seven
day preliminary bombardment the battalions were brought forward from their
billets to the farms around the south and west of Ploegsteert Wood. Raiding
parties regularly captured enemy prisoners to extract vital intelligence on
German preparedness for an attack. Battalion working parties prepared for the
impending battle, digging assembly or communication trenches, stockpiling
shells (gas, shrapnel, High Explosive and mortar) and assisting in the bringing
up of supplies to forward positions.
– 38 –
The Germans were aware of the impending offensive, but it was sheer
coincidence that they shelled the area with gas while attacking 3rd Division
troops were forming. In front of Frank Trowbridge, the 3rd Division’s attacking
line stretched from St Yves to La Petite Douve Farm. They were to capture the
ground to the east of Messines village all the way to the final Green Line
objective.
At 3:10 am all hell broke loose as the detonation of nineteen mines along the
Messines/Wytschaete ridge signalled the start of the attack. Many thousands of
German troops were simply obliterated as the earth erupted beneath them.
Climbing out of the trenches, waves of attacking British, Australian and New
Zealand soldiers II Anzac Corps sought to capitalise on the shock of these
explosions and the accompanying artillery barrage and occupy the enemy’s
positions before they had the chance to form a new defensive line. A great
machine gun barrage fired over the heads of the attacking infantry and pioneers
as they moved forward in the pre-dawn darkness, with choking smoke and dust
in the air from the great disruption of earth further hampering visibility.
The 3rd Division’s objective was to push all the way through to the Green Line.
This was achieved comparatively easily, the rigorous training on Salisbury Plain
having prepared them as well as possible including training in preparations for
consolidating craters such as they would encounter at Messines.
– 39 –
From approximately 4:30am, the barrage halted for an hour to allow fresh
battalions to move forward in preparation for the second phase of the initial
attack. The halt gave the Germans a chance to regroup, and after the initial
onslaught, they began to provide greater resistance to the attack, slowing down
the rate of the infantry’s advance.
When the attack was pressed forward again, two brigades of the 4th Australian
Division moved through the 25th and New Zealand Divisions to the final
objective. [xiv]
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
While Sir John Monash vigorously defended the discipline of the Australian
soldiers after the war he was most concerned by the lack of discipline by those
under his command as the war progressed. In September 1915, while the 4th
Brigade was resting at Sarpi Camp on the Island of Lemnos, he criticised the
general lack of control by his subordinate commanders. The 4th Brigade War
Diary for September 1915 contains several orders issued by Monash dealing
with serious disciplinary issues among the soldiers.
The Australians were all civilians who had volunteered for the duration of the
war plus 4 months. They were there to do a job and then to go home. There was
no widespread desire for a full time army career. Not even among the generals.
As volunteers, each one had his own reason for enlisting.
Gallipoli had left the men feeling disillusioned about the British commanders
and the early battles in France had cemented a complete lack of faith in them.
From the start there was always going to be a huge difference between what the
English army thought of as discipline and the attitude of the colonials. The
English system was based on class and in the AIF discipline was built on merit.
– 40 –
“Slovenly” ANZAC troops having a day off from the trenches
While these were all good sentiments, and the Australians were second to none
when it came to the field of battle, the problems came when the Australians
were allowed out. Drunkenness was a particular problem for soldiers on leave
with pay in their pockets nearly double that of the English. They were often
fairly relaxed about when they chose to return. No matter what the reason
though, the Army has a rule. You can’t just take off for a day or two. Not when
there’s a war on. They take a very dim view of that sort of thing.
On 30 June 1917 Alex Trowbridge was discharged from hospital and ordered to
report to the camp at Perham Downs for duty on 14 July after two weeks of
leave. Alex showed up five days late and for his trouble was confined to camp
for seven days. Alex’s active role at the front was over. He’d been wounded three
times now and it was time to take a more sedentary role. A Medical Board had
reclassified him to B1A which meant that he was still fit for service but not at
the front. Soldiers classed as B1 were to be reviewed weekly but Alex was to
remain in England for some time to come.
On the same day that Alex reached Perham Downs Camp, Frank Trowbridge
failed to return to Codford Camp. Frank was absent for a full week and as a
result he was court martialled and awarded 7 days of Field Punishment No 2
plus a loss of 16 days’ pay.
Field Punishment was introduced in 1881 as an alternative to flogging following
its abolition, and was a common punishment during World War I. A
commanding officer could award field punishment for up to 28 days, while a
court martial could award it for up to 90 days, either as Field Punishment
Number One or Field Punishment Number Two.
– 41 –
Field Punishment Number One consisted of the convicted man being placed in
fetters and handcuffs, or similar restraints, and attached to a fixed object, such as
a gun wheel, for up to two hours per day. In Field Punishment Number Two,
the prisoner was placed in fetters and handcuffs but was not attached to a fixed
object and was still able to march with his unit. This was still a serious but
relatively tolerable punishment. In both forms of field punishment, the soldier
was also subjected to hard labour and loss of pay. [xv]
On 6 August Frank headed off to Folkestone where he boarded a ship bound
for France and on 8 August he was taken on strength of the 4th Australian Base
Depot at Rouelles. Base Depots such as those at Etaples and Rouelles were
hated by nearly every front line soldier of no matter what country. The front
line soldiers believed them to be run by people who had no understanding of
what it was like to be on the line. Expectations were high and the discipline
hard.
After ten days at Rouelles Frank found himself before another court martial
charged with drunkenness and with being absent without leave for 1 hour. Frank
received 7 days of Field Punishment No 1 this time which meant he had to be
shackled to a stake for one hour each day for 3 out of every four days. After two
days of this though, Frank was moved back to his unit at Poperinge in Belgium.
2ND AUSTRALIAN CASUALTY CLEARING STATION
Bob Hancock’s time with the 1st Field Ambulance had initially been spent in the
relatively quiet period after Bullecourt during which the division was resting. On
31 July though, he was moved with a detachment of 20 to the 2nd Australian
Casualty Clearing Station at the small outlying locality of Trois Abres in
Flanders.
– 42 –
The role of the casualty clearing stations was to facilitate movement of
casualties from the battlefield on to the hospitals. The general rule was one
casualty clearing station per division but they were under Army Corps rather
than under divisional control.
A casualty clearing station was a very large unit, and could hold a minimum of
50 beds and 150 stretchers in order to treat around two hundred sick and
wounded at any one time. In normal circumstances the medical team would be
seven medical officers, one quartermaster and seventy-seven other ranks. There
would also be a dentist, a pathologist, seven nurses and other non-medical
personnel attached. In times of stress this number could be increased and a
specialised ‘Surgical Team’ could be brought forward. Because they were so large
they needed up to about half a mile square of real estate. Each casualty clearing
station would carry its own marquees and wooden huts so as to create medical
and surgical wards, kitchens, sanitation, dispensary, operating theatres, medical
stores, surgical stores, incineration plant, ablutions and mortuary, as well as
sleeping accommodation for the nurses, officers and soldiers of the unit.
Sanitation was dug, and a water supply assured.
They were usually situated about 20 kilometres behind the front lines; roughly
mid-way between the front line and the base area, and about 500 yards from a
main railway line or waterway system. Transportation to a casualty clearing
station could have been via horse-drawn or motor ambulances. This was the first
line of surgery and the furthest forward of nursing staff, but treatment was still
only limited.
– 43 –
The holding capacity was about four weeks in order for men to be returned to
their units or be transferred by ambulance trains or inland water transport to a
hospital. The seriousness of many wounds challenged the facilities of the
casualty clearing stations and as a result their positions are marked today by large
military cemeteries.
On the same day that Bob was sent to the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing
Station the First Division's artillery was in action for the start of the Third
Battle of Ypres, although for the infantry things still remained relatively quiet.
Bob spent a little over five weeks at Trois Arbres caring for a backlog of
wounded there and helping to move them on or back to their units ready for the
next phase of the battle. On 8 September Bob’s detachment rejoined the unit at
the Corps Main Dressing Station at Dickebusch, about 5 km south-east of
Ypres.
They were back in the war
THE MENIN ROAD
During the pause in Allied general attacks between late August and 20
September, the British changed some basic infantry tactics, by generally
adopting the "leap-frog" method of advance. Waves of infantry would stop
once they reached their objective, and then consolidate the ground while other
waves passed through the objective to attack the next one and the earlier waves
became the tactical reserve. General adoption of the method was made possible
when more artillery was brought into the attack.
Drier weather and extensive road repairs had made it much easier for the British
to move vast amounts of supplies forward from the original front line. Visibility
increased except for frequent ground fog around dawn, which helped conceal
British infantry during the attack, before clearing to expose German troop
movements to British observation and attack.
– 44 –
On 20 September the infantry moved forward. The Allies attacked on a 13,300
metre front. The main attack was made by the British X Corps and I ANZAC
Corps on a 3,700 metre front on the Gheluvelt plateau along the Menin Road
Ridge. The four divisions of I ANZAC Corps advanced behind a creeping
barrage of unprecedented weight. The increased amount of artillery allowed the
heavy guns to place two belts of fire beyond the two from the field artillery; a
machine-gun barrage in the middle made five belts of fire, each 180 metres deep
in front of the infantry. The creeping barrage started quickly, lifting 50 metres
every two minutes allowing the infantry to surprise the German outpost
garrisons still in their shelters.
Most German troops encountered were so stunned by the bombardment that
they were incapable of resistance and surrendered immediately. In the few areas
where the German defenders were capable of resisting, they were quickly
outflanked in the mist. The new system of local reserves allowed the Allies to
maintain momentum despite local checks.
In the few areas where the Germans were capable of resisting they inflicted
heavy losses before being overwhelmed. The Germans made many counterattacks, beginning around 3.00 p.m. until early evening, all of which failed to
gain ground or made only a temporary penetration of the new positions on the
Second Army front.
The attack was a great success and showed that the German defences could no
longer stop well-prepared attacks made in good weather. Minor attacks took
place after 20 September as both sides jockeyed for position and reorganised
their defences. [xvi] [xvii]
– 45 –
There’s a famous photograph taken by Frank Hurley that graphically depicts the
actions of the 1st Australian Field Ambulance at the Battle of Menin Road. The
photograph shows a number of wounded lying on stretchers laid out along the
road waiting to be carried to the casualty clearing station. One wounded soldier
sits on a pile of empty stretchers while behind him a truck lies almost on its
side, half hanging over the edge of the muddy road. Beyond, the line of
stretchers continues into the distance along the road while walking wounded
make their own way back from the front as best they can. [xviii]
Shortly after the photograph was taken a shell landed in the same spot. The shell
killed most of the wounded on the stretchers and one of the 1st Field
Ambulance medics was blown under the truck.
The 1st Division was relieved by the Australian 5th Division before a larger attack
by the Germans on 25 September recaptured pillboxes at the south western end
of Polygon Wood at the cost of heavy casualties.
BROODSEINDE RIDGE
Following on from the Battles of Menin Ridge Road and Polygon Wood, the
next operation planned before the winter set in was against the next ridge line
that ran from Broodseinde in the south-east to Poelcapple in the north-west.
Beyond that ridge was the town of Passchendale.
In an operation involving twelve divisions advancing on a front of thirteen
kilometres, the centre comprised I and II Anzac Corps fighting side by side for
the first time. The former had been sideslipped about three kilometres north, so
that its front now lay opposite the village of Broodseinde, and II Anzac Corps
was brought into the line on its left. Along slightly more than 4.5 kilometres of
front there were four Anzac divisions in line. The New Zealand Division in the
north followed by the 3rd, 2nd and 1st Australian Divisions successively to the
south. While the New Zealanders faced Abraham Heights, the Australians had
as their objective the main ridge at Broodseinde.
With another winter fast approaching it was feared that the fine weather
accompanying operations in September might change so preparations for the
attack were hurried forward. On the night before the scheduled start, rain began
to fall but it was decided to persist with the planned advance. At dawn on the 4
October, 40 minutes before the scheduled start-time at 6 a.m., the 1st and 2nd
Australian Divisions were suddenly assaulted by a mortar barrage falling on the
shell-holes where they were waiting. Although considerable casualties were
suffered in this bombardment, the troops could only keep their heads down and
wait it out.
– 46 –
At 6 a.m. the British barrage began. The Australians rose to their feet and
advanced only to be met by a line of troops from the German 212th Regiment
which also jumped to their feet at that moment 30 metres away. The Germans
had been in the process of advancing behind their own barrage in an attempt to
recapture some of the ground earlier lost. The German unit hesitated
momentarily, obviously disconcerted to find themselves confronted by a two full
divisions. The Australians opened fire with their Lewis guns and the Germans
quickly broke, pursued by the waves of attackers.
Following stiff fighting around pillboxes, the Australians gained all their
objectives on the ridge - though at the cost of 6,500 men: the New Zealanders
suffered a further 1,700 casualties. Along the whole line the attack had been
successful, giving the British their first glimpse of the Flemish lowlands since
May 1915. [xix]
The battle cost the 43rd Battalion 37 killed and another 102 wounded. Suffering
gunshot wounds to one of his hands and to his left leg, Jim Trowbridge found
himself being carried by stretcher back to the support line. An ambulance took
him quickly to the 44th (British) Casualty Clearing Station at Nine Elms near
Poperinge and two days later he was aboard an ambulance train bound for the
2nd Australian General Hospital at Wimereaux.
It was often said that for wounded soldiers, if they managed to get back to a
general hospital still alive they would probably survive. This was the case for
Jim. He survived all the way through to Wimereaux and all he needed was to
rest, keep his dressings clean and he would make it home again. But this was
1917 and he’d been shot during a battle in the bacteria-filled mud of what had
been farm land.
Frank’s division had been out of the line for the action at Broodseinde and for
the subsequent operation at Passchendale, but they were brought forward as
relief a few days later. On 21 October the 43rd Battalion was at Broodseinde
– 47 –
where enemy artillery was active spasmodically throughout the day. At dusk two
companies moved forward to relieve the 13th Battalion in the right half of their
sector between Dairy Wood and the Broodseind-Droogenbroodhoek Road.
This left the battalion’s other two companies in support.
Throughout the night the German artillery continued to fall, at times quite
heavy, and the battalion’s casualties for the 24 hours was 20 wounded, including
Frank Trowbridge who was hit in his right thigh. Suffering his third wound for
the war, Frank was evacuated quickly and by 25 October he was resting
comfortably at the Norfolk War Hospital in Norwich.
Jim’s recovery proceeded as expected and two weeks after his injuries his
prospects looked good. On 25 October Jim’s body temperature rose and he
began to experience facial spasms and stiffness in his neck. When he was seen
by a doctor the diagnosis wasn’t good. Tetanus had set in, most likely due to the
contamination of his wounds when he’d initially been shot. The incubation
period for tetanus varies according to the distance of the wound from the
central nervous system. It was usually about eight days but Jim’s main wound
was in his leg and two weeks was probably about right.
Jim was taken immediately into surgery where his leg was amputated in an
attempt to stem the infection and save his life. It was all to no avail. On 31
October, three weeks after his initial injury; Jim Trowbridge died and became
another occupant of the growing Wimereaux Military Cemetery.
WINTER 1917
When the fighting of 1917 ended in the impassable mud of another winter, the
British commander-in-chief, Field-Marshal Haig, was still hoping to rest his
troops during the wet months, and then to throw them again upon the Germans
in Flanders. The Australian divisions were among those intended to take part in
this attack, and they were sent in mid-November to winter in a part of the front
likely to be especially quiet on the ground won six months earlier, beyond
Messines.
In December Frank Trowbridge was discharged from hospital and transferred to
the Overseas Training Brigade. Bob Hancock was moved to Dranoutre, northeast of Bailleul, where his unit was operating the Corps Scabies Station.
Scabies [xx] is a contagious skin infection caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei.
The mite is a tiny, and usually not directly visible, parasite which burrows under
the host's skin, causing intense allergic itching. Under the general heading of
Scabies though, the unit received a variety of skin cases evacuated from the
– 48 –
various units, some of which were distinct from scabies while others were
superimposed on scabies.
Admitted under the heading of Scabies were cases such as Urticaria, a scaly rash
resembling Psoriasiform Seborrheic Dermatitis, an inflammatory skin disorder
affecting the scalp, face, and torso. There was also a curious condition
resembling a sudaminial rash (a form of heat or sweat rash) the vesicles of
which (small, fluid-filled sacs that can appear on the skin) appear in crops
associated with intense itching. Several other forms of skin problems were also
classed as Scabies and with such a variety the unit found that to follow the
routine treatment for Scabies as laid down by the Army in all these cases would
lead to even more problems. It was found necessary to inspect every soldier
every 24 hours during his treatment in order to identify any ill effects.
The common treatment for Scabies alone consisted of a bath every day for four
days and scrubbing with soft soap and a nail brush followed by the application
of a sulphur-based ointment. A complete change of clothing was needed after
each bath. All simple enough today, but not so simple in France in the middle of
winter in 1917. [xxi]
By January Frank had recovered enough to be sent back to the front and he was
relocated to Sand Hill Camp at Longbridge-Deverill from where he took leave
prior to boarding a ship at Southampton on 11 January. He should have been
back by 5:00 pm on the 10th but he eventually arrived at 9:45 pm the next day
with the ship leaving without him. The extra day cost him another seven days of
Field Punishment No 2 and he eventually left England on 23 January.
Bob Hancock was able to get away for two weeks of furlough in England while
his unit was in the Danoustre Rest Area. Alex Trowbridge was still technically a
member of the 2nd Field Ambulance but was on detached duty with the Group
Clearing Hospital at Sutton Veny. By the end of January both Frank and Bob
were back with their units.
February saw the 1st Field Ambulance move to Ravelsberg, a location that has
now been swallowed up by the growth of Bailleul. In 1917 Ravelsberg was the
site chosen for the Corps Gas School. While the unit maintained a large
detachment at the Main Dressing Station at Kemmel, Bob Hancock and several
of the staff undertook training in the effective treatment of gas casualties at the
Corps Gas School.
Chemical weapons in World War I were primarily used to demoralize, injure and
kill entrenched defenders, against whom the indiscriminate and generally slowmoving or static nature of gas clouds would be most effective. The types of
– 49 –
weapons employed ranged from disabling chemicals such as tear gas and the
severe mustard gas, to lethal agents like phosgene and chlorine.
The most widely reported and, perhaps, the most effective chemical of the First
World War was mustard gas. It was a vesicant, a substance that causes painful
blisters, that was introduced by Germany in July 1917. The Germans marked
their shells yellow for mustard gas and green for chlorine and phosgene; hence
they called the new gas Yellow Cross. It was known to the British as HS (Hun
Stuff) while the French called it Yperite, named after Ypres.
The skin of victims of mustard gas blistered, their eyes became very sore and
they began to vomit. Mustard gas caused internal and external bleeding and
attacked the bronchial tubes, stripping off the mucous membrane. This was
extremely painful. Fatally injured victims sometimes took four or five weeks to
die of mustard gas exposure. [xxii]
Of course it wasn’t only the Germans using chemical weapons during the First
World War. A German corporal described his personal experience with exposure
to mustard gas.
– 50 –
After a mustard gas attack soldiers might think nothing more about it for a few
hours or even a day. But eventually red spots would form on the skin that
quickly turned into painful blisters. If a soldier underwent a direct attack and
inhaled mustard gas, it wouldn't take long to feel pain and swelling in his nose
and throat as the blisters developed, sealing the airway.
Some of the more serious respiratory symptoms would take longer to surface,
needing anywhere from 24 to 48 hours to appear. This latent period played
havoc with soldiers exposed during the war, rendering troops incapacitated,
filling infirmaries, taking up valuable human resources, bogging down
reinforcements and generally demoralising soldiers.
Military doctors couldn't purge the effects of mustard gas in the body. Medical
staff could treat the skin with ointments consisting of bleaching powder and
white petroleum jelly and flush the eyes with saline solution which helped some.
For the more severe respiratory symptoms medics treated patients with a
menthol solution soaked into gauze administered through a metal breathing
mask. This treatment alleviated dry cough but didn't cure the bronchial
infection. For the most severe casualties, medics quarantined the affected
patients and hoped for the best. In the end early detection proved to be the best
way to defend against the most serious respiratory effects.
WITH SPRING RETURNS THE WAR
Since November 1917 the five Australian divisions had been holding the
relatively quiet Messines sector in Flanders, and at this time they were formed
into an Australian Corps under command of General Sir William Birdwood.
The Russian armies on the Germans’ Eastern Front had simply dissolved by the
end of November and the German forces in Russia were moving to the Western
Front at the rate of two divisions a week. It was evident that by the spring the
Germans would have built up there an army strong enough to deliver a most
formidable attack the prospect of which, as weeks went on, became almost
certain. [xxiii]
– 51 –
On 21 March 1918 the Germans unleashed an attack which, in scale and
destruction, surpassed any other in World War I. 32 German divisions, with 25
more in reserve, advanced over a 43 mile front. By nightfall a German flood had
inundated the British front. A week later it had reached a depth of nearly forty
miles, and was almost lapping the outskirts of Amiens. In the ensuing weeks the
Allied cause itself was almost submerged. These weeks rank with those of the
Marne in 1914 as the two gravest military crises of the war. The British
defended stubbornly but were steadily forced back. British casualties were over
300,000 as they achieved miracles of heroic endurance.
In response to the grave news of enemy breakthroughs forcing the front-line
back onto the old battlefields of the Somme, the 3rd and 4th Australian
divisions were dispatched south towards Amiens. Here they were committed
piecemeal to plugging gaps in the disintegrating British line and helping to stem
the German tide.
On 26 March Frank Trowbridge marched forward with the veteran 4th Brigade
along roads past streams of retiring British troops and of villagers. They
hastened in the direction of the reported incursion, and at dusk pushed into the
ruined village of Hébuterne on the edge of the old Somme battlefield, roughly
midway between Arras and Amiens. The 4th Brigade took position around
village and by morning the place was firmly held. To the south the New Zealand
Division was moving to plug a gap in the line.
The first of the German attacks was made as dawn broke on 27 March,
disclosing to the brigade a spectacle such as it had never before seen. Around lay
the Somme moorland, rumpled with old trenches like dug-out rabbit burrows in
an Australian paddock, and covered with long grass on which the gusts played as
on the flanks of a Shetland pony. But as the light grew the moorland eastward
was seen to be alive with distant movement: German wagon lines on the distant
slopes; a German battery blazing in the open.
At 11 o’clock the German infantry came on, wave after wave from the southwest, aimed at passing between the positions occupied by the Australians and
the New Zealand Division. When shelled to ground by British batteries they still
crept forward, by rushes from cover to cover. While the Australians were able to
hold their ground with relative ease, the security of their position was threatened
by German efforts to drive in the flank of the British 62nd Division north of
them and thereby open a gap. But neither then nor in their attempts on later
days had they the least success. On the contrary both Australians and New
Zealanders began to bite into the German front.
– 52 –
Meanwhile in the exciting, fast-changing developments of the German
offensive, the two other brigades of the 4th Division had not been left even for
a night behind Hébuterne, in the support position to which they had been
rushed. A new crisis had come into existence near Albert, a dozen miles south.
The 12th and 13th Brigades were ordered there at once and, after marching
through the night across part of the German front, they reached at dawn some
of the well-remembered locations north-west of Albert. Pozieres, Mouquet
Farm, Thiepval, Albert itself were in German hands.
The 3rd Division had detrained at Doullens and during the following night it
had been carried from that area by buses to the Amiens-Albert road. Like all the
Australian troops coming southward, they found themselves to be the only
traffic heading towards the enemy. Villagers and British soldiers, including heavy
artillery, streamed past, all in the other direction. By dusk the 3rd Division had
relieved the few completely exhausted British infantry in the triangle between
the rivers; and on the other side of the Ancre, farther north and two miles
farther forward, two battalions of the 4th Division held the embankment and
cuttings of the Albert-Amiens railway curving round the foot of the hills, near
the village of Dernancourt and the Ancre. [xxiv]
Through a shortage of recruits and the failure of the conscription referendum
the Australian divisions had become built up largely by men like Frank
– 53 –
Trowbridge who were gradually coming back from hospital through the
“hardening” depots in England. It seemed unlikely that they could maintain the
outstanding pitch of effectiveness which they had reached in 1917. Not without
reason some observers wondered whether men who had been through Pozieres,
Bullecourt and Ypres could retain that quality undiminished. It seemed very
possible that the A.I.F. had passed its zenith.
After a week in the trenches at Hébuterne Frank had developed swelling in his
right knee associated with severe joint pain. He was immediately removed from
the front line and on 6 April he was admitted to the Bath War Hospital with
Synovitis, the inflammation of the joint-lining membrane.
In the first week of April, the 1st Division, along with the 2nd Division, began
moving to the Somme to assist the other Australian divisions there when, on 9
April, the Germans launched a second operation; an attack north and south of
Armentières followed by a swift drive towards the vital rail junction of
Hazebrouck. The 1st Division, having reached Amiens and about to join up with
the Australian Corps, was ordered to turn around and hurry back north. They
reached Hazebrouck on 12 April, just in time to relieve the exhausted British
divisions.
South of the Somme the Germans fought through to the Amiens side of
Villers-Bretonneux, which was pounded by artillery fire. The advance by the
– 54 –
Australian 13th and 15th Brigades rolled forward, often straight into the face of
machine-guns. The fighting went on throughout the night, and the Australians
eventually got to the other side of Villers-Bretonneux.
In the north the Germans aimed their blow between Armentieres and La
Bassee, at a section of the front held by the Portuguese Corps who they rightly
assessed had little commitment to fighting for the Allies' cause. When attacked
on 9 April, the Portuguese broke. A second stroke the next day, falling north of
Armentieres, carried the German offensive towards Messines and placed in peril
the whole of the British Front in Flanders.
For the 1st Field Ambulance, still in Flanders, the activity meant some hurried
moves. First to De Zon on 23 March and then to Reningelst on 2 April. By 13
April they were set up at Borre 2 km east of Hazebrouck.
With the defences of the Messines sector vacated barely a week earlier by the 1st
and 2nd Australian divisions some of the remaining Australian units became
caught up in fighting associated with the British withdrawal. The 1st Division
was hastily re-entrained and returned north. Arriving on 12 April, the
Australians became part of the British Second Army reserve and took up
defensive positions about eight kilometres east of Hazebrouck, extending south
from Strazeele to in front of the Nieppe Forest. By dusk the next day, all
retreating troops had passed through and the Australian posts were effectively
the new front line.
After an artillery barrage beginning at 6.30 a.m. on 14 April, the Germans
launched their attacks. These were broken up by answering British guns and by
devastating rifle and machine-gun fire whenever the enemy ranks reached close
range. When the enemy attacks against the Brittish 33rd Division saw the town
of Meteren fall on 16 April, the Australian 1st Brigade (holding the left of the
Australian front) was required to push out its flank in this direction, to support a
counter-attack ordered to be made at dusk by the French 133rd Division but
which never took place.
While the Australian front was extended, the next morning it was subjected to
another heavy bombardment foretelling an attack to follow. The enemy were
easily driven off, however, and repeated attempts to advance throughout the day
were defeated before they could get under way. The next day, 18 April, the
Australian Division was ordered to sideslip further north and relieve the French
at Meteren. This was accomplished by inserting the 3rd Brigade, until then in
reserve, on the 1st Brigade's left, and withdrawing the 2nd Brigade from the right
into reserve after its positions were taken over by the British 31st Division.
Following this adjustment, an attempt was made by the 3rd Brigade to recapture
Meteren in a two phase operation carried out over successive nights. The first
– 55 –
phase (on 22-23 April) went smoothly, but the second was sharply repulsed,
bringing casualties in the failed attempt to about 200. Nonetheless the Allied line
in this area had been stabilised, and the Germans confined their efforts to
seizing high ground west of Messines.
THE WAR TAKES A TURN
After a busy few weeks supporting the volatile front line the 1st Field Ambulance
was able to break camp at Borre and move back to the relative peace of La
Kreule on the northern edge of Hazebrouck. While things were comparatively
quiet for Bob Hancock with the 1st Field Ambulance in France there was a
change in the activities of his cousins in England.
On 25 May Alex Trowbridge, having finally been classed as fit enough for the
front was able to rejoin the 2nd Field Ambulance at Longue Croix, north-west of
Hazebrouck.
In England still, Frank Trowbridge was transferred to the Machine Gun
Training Depot at Parkhouse Camp on 21 June and began training on the
Vickers Machine Gun.
In the early days of the war the allied armies suffered from the murderous
effects of the German firepower, in particular their use of machine guns.
Although all infantry battalions had two machine-guns and the number was
increased to four by February 1915, the experience of fighting in the early
clashes of the war had proved that the machine guns required special tactics and
organisation.
The British War Office decided to form one Machine Gun Company for each
infantry brigade using the existing Vickers Machine Guns. At the battalion level
they would be equipped with new, lighter weight Lewis Guns. The Australian
Army followed suit.
The Vickers Machine Gun had been the primary machine gun for the British
Army since November 1912. It had an effective range of 2,000 metres but could
deliver indirect fire for over 4,000 metres by firing at a high angle at target areas
well behind enemy lines. This plunging fire was used to great effect against road
junctions, trench systems, forming up points, and other locations that might be
observed by a forward observer, or zeroed in at one time for future attacks, or
guessed at by men using maps and experience. Sometimes a location might be
zeroed in during the day, and then attacked at night, much to the surprise and
confusion of the enemy.
– 56 –
The weight of the gun 11 to 14 kg depending on the gear attached with a 20 kg
tripod. The ammunition boxes for the 250-round ammunition belts weighed
10 kg each. In addition, it required about 4.3 litres of water in its evaporative
cooling system to prevent overheating. The heat of the barrel boiled the water
in the jacket surrounding it. The resulting steam was taken off by flexible tube
to a condenser container.
The gun and its tripod were carried separately. The tripod would be set up to
make a firm base, often dug into the ground a little and perhaps with the feet
weighted down with sandbags. The water jacket would be filled with water
around the barrel. The evaporative cooling system, though heavy, was very
effective and enabled the gun to keep firing far longer than air-cooled weapons.
If water was unavailable, soldiers were known to resort to using their urine. It
was sometimes claimed that crews would fire off a few rounds simply to heat
their gun's cooling water to make tea, despite the resulting brew tasting of
machine-oil.
A typical machine gun crew consisted of up to 6 men. The commander acted as
the gunner and was the one responsible for firing the gun. The loader sat to the
gunner's right, and fed in belts of cloth, into which the rounds had been placed.
The weapon would draw in the belt, pull each round out of the belt and into the
breech, fire it, and then drop the brass cartridge out of the bottom. The cloth
belt would continue through to the left side and wind up on the ground.
Two additional men were required to carry the ammunition and there were
normally two spare men as part of a crew. These men also acted as observers to
– 57 –
identify targets and to watch the fall of shots as well as hand loading the
ammunition into belts and providing protection for the gun crew.
The 1st Division remained active in Flanders from May to July, engaging in a
process of informal but carefully planned raiding known as Peaceful
Penetration. Peaceful Penetration was an Australian infantry tactic (though also
used by the New Zealanders), which was a cross between trench raiding and
patrolling. The aim was similar to trench raiding (namely, to gather prisoners,
conduct reconnaissance, and to dominate no man's land), with the additional
purpose to occupy the enemy's outpost line (and so capture ground). In some
units, it was treated as a competition, with units often competing to see who
could capture the most prisoners. Their greatest success came on 11 July when
they took 1 km of front, 120 prisoners and 11 machine guns from the German
13th Reserve Division. This unrelenting pressure had a severe impact on German
morale. [xxv]
They might have called it “Peaceful” but it wasn’t without its risks. There was
still a steady, but thankfully much slower, flow of wounded coming through the
Field Ambulance units to keep medics like Bob Hancock and Alex Trowbridge
busy.
On 5 August Bob was evacuated through his own unit to the Casualty Clearing
Station for surgery for an acute appendicitis. A week later Bob was shipped to
England to the 3rd Southern General Hospital at Oxford.
– 58 –
At the outbreak of war many of Britain’s institutions were converted to
hospitals to serve a growing number of wounded. Several buildings in Oxford,
including those of Oxford University were used to provide beds for the 3rd
Southern General Hospital.
Bob told the story later that he was awoken one night when the patient in the
bed next to him needed attending. Unable to get the attention of a nurse,
Claude got out of bed and began to see to the patient himself, ripping out his
own stitches in the process.
HUNDRED DAYS OFFENSIVE
On 8 August 1918, the Allies launched their offensive to the east of Amiens.
The 3rd Division was tasked with leading the Australian Corps in the attack along
with the 2nd, 4th and 5th Divisions. For the first time the Australians would fight
side by side with the Canadians who would attack on their right flank to the
south of the railway. The British, with the newly arrived Americans in reserve,
would attack on their left flank north of the Somme.
The weight of the Allied fire support was intense as over 2,000 artillery pieces
opened up on the German defences. The assaulting infantry battalions were
each assigned a frontage of about 900 metres which they assaulted with two
companies forward and two in support. Thick smoke meant that the attackers
found it difficult to maintain their spacing and some of the supporting armour
was also delayed. Nevertheless the attack proved successful, as the Australians
overwhelmed the German defenders and by the end of the day the division had
achieved all of its objectives.
To the north the British had struck difficulties and had been unable to move as
quickly. Enemy fire from the north bank of the river caused heavy casualties on
the exposed Australians until the US 131st Infantry Regiment was able to leap
frog past the British and take care of the threat.
The Battle of Amiens became a major turning point in the tempo of the war
and the Germans were forced to withdraw to the Hindenburg Line once more.
A daylight attack on Proyart by the 10th Brigade on 12 August, the capture of
Bray-sur-Somme by the allies to the north and a steady advance eastward saw
the Australians at the end of August facing the formidable barrier of the
Somme near the town of Péronne and behind it, Mont Saint Quentin.
– 59 –
The 4th Australian Machine Gun Battalion had been formed on 2 March 1918
from the 4 machine gun companies supporting the brigades of the 4th Division.
At the end of August the battalion had been in the line for two hectic months
and was withdrawn to Longeau just outside of Amiens to regroup and to rest.
By the end of August, the addition of 90 reinforcements brought the battalion
up to full strength at 902.
Frank Trowbridge must have had mixed feelings as he moved into the billets in
Longeau to join the 4th Machine Gun Battalion. It was almost 3 years since he
first landed at Gallipoli so he was no newcomer but his total time in at the front
was really only a few months. The rest of his military service had been spent
either in a hospital or convalescent camp recovering from wounds. By this time
he had probably learned the fate of his Uncle Jim and the question must have
been in his mind. Will the next one be the one?
On a hill, dominating the Somme and its lakes, Péronne was a well-fortified
place during the early Middle Ages. Its ramparts were built in the 9th century
and all that remains today of the ancient fortress is the Porte de Bretagne. Mont
Saint-Quentin overlooks the Somme approximately 1.5 km north of the town.
The hill is only about 100 metres high but because it is situated in the bend
where the river turns from flowing north to flowing west it dominates the whole
position and is of strategic significance. It was a key to the German defence of
the Somme line and the last German stronghold before the Hindenberg Line.
The commander of the Australian Corps, Lieutenant General Monash, was keen
to capture it and thus possess a valuable position.
– 60 –
The 2nd Division had crossed the Somme on the night of 31 August and
attacked Mont St Quentin at 5 am from the unexpected position of north-west.
It was an uphill fight for the troops, across very open ground where they were
vulnerable to attack from the German-held heights above. Rifle grenades and
trench mortars were used to outflank outpost positions. The battalions
positioned to the right made a lot of noise to distract the Germans, while the
centre and left battalions got a foothold on the hill and in Feuillaucourt.
By 7:00 am, the troops had gained the village of Mont St Quentin and the slope
and summit of the hill, by working in small groups. The five German divisions
were confused and dispersed, and many had fled. Allied troops also broke
through lines to Péronne by 8:20 am the next morning. The Germans quickly
regrouped and launched a counter-attack and the first day of September saw
fierce fighting and heavy losses. Germans attacked and heavily shelled Péronne.
The outnumbered Australians were pushed back off the summit of Mont St
Quentin, and lost Feuillaucourt. Relief battalions were sent, and with their
reinforcement, all the areas were retaken by the Australians, but at the cost of
3,000 casualties. After heavy and exhausting fighting, the Australians established
a stronghold on the area and forced the complete withdrawal of the Germans
from Péronne.
Monash said of the Mont St Quentin and Péronne campaign that it, “furnished
the finest example in the war of spirited and successful infantry action
conducted by three divisions operating simultaneously side by side”.
– 61 –
Forced out of Péronne, the Germans had to retreat to their last line of defencethe Hindenburg Line.
On 7 September the 4th Machine Gun Battalion moved forward once more to
Barleux to the south-west of Péronne. Barleux was little more than a ruin with
many graves of both French and German soldiers dating back to the Somme
Offensive of 1916. The ground was littered with the rotting carcasses of dead
horses and before the site could be made habitable these had to be buried or
burned.
After days of heavy rain the battalion moved forward across the Somme to take
up a new position at Catelet, south-west of Cartigny. The Heavy rain continued
throughout the next week as the Australian Corps prepared for the final assault
on the Hindenberg Line at the Saint Quentin Canal.
With a frenzy of activity it was almost an anti-climax when orders came through
on 10 September for one officer and seven other ranks to drop what they were
doing and report to the Battalion Headquarters. Each one of these men had
enlisted in 1914 and had all been at Gallipoli. With the Americans now joining
the fight the Anzacs were to be sent home for six months of leave that was to
become known as ANZAC Leave.
At 5:30 am on 18 September the battalion provided a barrage of fire to support
an attack by the division on the outer edge of the Hindenberg Line and the
Saint Quentin Canal. Before the attack had been completed though orders were
received for another 21, including Frank, to proceed to Le Havre and on to
England from where they were to embark for Australia. Altogether 7000 troops
were heading for home and there was a log jam at the ports. Eventually Frank
left Le Havre on 12 October. Alex Trowbridge had received his orders as well
and he left Le Havre on 23 October.
GOING HOME
With the Americans the Hindenberg Line was finally broken on 17 October. At
about this time Bob Hancock was released from hospital. Bob was transferred
for duty to the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital at Dartford, 26 km southeast of
central London. From Dartford Bob was sent off on leave with orders to report
to Littlemoor Camp near Weymouth two weeks later. Littlemoor Camp was little
more than a short stopover for Bob because he was sent on from there to
Number 4 Command Depot at Hurdcott Camp near the village of Fovant in
Wiltshire.
– 62 –
Hurdcott Camp was established in 1915 for various regiments from London,
and several from the north of England. A small hospital was established for
them but in August 1916, when the Australian forces took over the camp the
hospital was enlarged. No 3 Command Depot made its headquarters in the farm
house and the camp and facilities were greatly expanded to accommodate the
thousands of Australian wounded from the battlefields in France.
It was staffed by Australian medical services and had at least 172 beds. A report
quoted in the Official History of the Australian Army Medical Services
explained that, in the first six months of 1918 the Group Clearing Hospital
(Convalescent Hospital) at Hurdcott admitted 3,368 patients, discharged 2,118
to their units and sent 1,010 to other military hospitals. The average number of
patients in hospital being 172.
The White Horse of Salisbury Plain is probably more famous but Hurdcott
Camp is also famous for its hillside depictions of regimental badges including
the Rising Sun and a map of Australia carved by the soldiers living there
throughout the war.
Bob would have been kept busy at Hurdcott with a steady turnover of wounded
as the fighting in France continued.
The news of the Armistice came through while the ANZACs were still at sea
on their way home. The jubilation that the war was finally over would only have
been overshadowed by the later news that the soldiers already on route to
Australia would not be returning to France. They would be processed for
discharge when they arrived.
– 63 –
The Armistice was alright for most but medics like Bob still had work to do. In
December Bob was moved to the camp at Northbridge Deverill and then back
again to Hurdcott. Eventually though on 6 January 1919 Bob boarded a train
bound for Liverpool and on 8 January boarded the troopship SS Orsova for the
journey home. As a medic Bob was needed to look after the large number of
wounded on board. Even after he arrived back in Australia on 18 February it
took another two months before he was discharged.
Now you’d think that would be an end to it but no. Despite being kept busy Bob
obviously still had some time on his hands, as did his cousin, Alex. When they
arrived home in Adelaide they brought with them the promise of marriage to
their English fiancées. Bob set to work and built a home for his bride, Emmy, in
West Croydon and anxiously waited for her to make the journey out to Australia.
On the day she was due to depart however, Bob received a telegram. Emmy
couldn’t leave her mother and she wasn’t coming.
Alex’s fiancée, Gladys, did make it to Australia and they eventually made their
home in Canberra. Frank married Myrtle White in 1920 and they lived in
Woodville.
Sometime later Bob Hancock was in a café in Rundle Street in Adelaide when he
met Ellen Miller, Nell to most, Nan to us. They were married in 1922. In 1927,
Nell by then pregnant with my father, they moved into the house at West
Croydon. There they raised two boys and Bob kept his pigeons, worked for the
tramways and drove his FJ Holden. After the Chevy of course. The FJ Holden
hadn’t been invented yet.
Alex Trowbridge died in the Royal Canberra Hospital in 1962.
Bob Hancock died in 1965 at the Daw Park Repatriation Hospital.
Frank Trowbridge died in 1968.
i
http://anzaccentenary.vic.gov.au/history/victorias-contribution-wwi/
ii
http://www.furphys.com.au/the-furphy-water-cart.html
iii
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gallipoli
iv
Bean C E, ANZAC to Amiens Chapter VII - The Landing, 25th April 1915
v
http://www.anzacsite.gov.au/1landing/s_sixteenth.html
vi
http://www.1914-1918.net/southerngen.htm
vii
http://www.1914-1918.net/fieldambulances.htm
viii
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WaiNewZ-c17.html
ix
Colliver EJ, Richardson BH, (1920), The Story and Official History of the 43rd
Battalion AIF
x
http://fazakerleyhistory.blogspot.com.au/
xi
http://regimental-books.com.au/four-years-with-the-first-australian-field-ambulanceebook-p-3157.html
– 64 –
xii
http://www.ramc-ww1.com/chain_of_evacuation.php
xiii
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/second_bullecourt.htm
xiv
http://www.army.gov.au/Our-history/History-in-Focus/The-Battle-of-Messines-1917
xv
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_punishment
xvi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Menin_Road_Ridge
xvii http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/battlefields/menin-road-1917.html
xviii
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_of_Menin_Road__wounded_at_side_of_the_road.jpg
xix
http://desert-column.phpbb3now.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=303
xx
From Latin: scabere, "to scratch"
xxi
http://static.awm.gov.au/images/collection/bundled/RCDIG1012813.pdf
xxii http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_weapons_in_World_War_I
xxiii Bean C E, ANZAC to Amiens Chapter XXIII - Ludendorff strikes - March 1918
xxiv Bean C E, ANZAC to Amiens Chapter XXIV - Saving Amiens and Hazebrouck
xxv http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Division_(Australia)