CHAPTER VI1 BEFORE AMIENS DURINGthe night of March 25th, on which the pickets of rhe 4th Australian Division were, not without a grim eagerness, waiting for the Germans on the roads south-west of Arras, the 3rd Division had been entraining near St. Omer in Flanders to assemble next to the 4th. Some of its trains were intended to stop at Doullens on the main line of road and rail, due east of Arras, and twenty-one miles north of Amiens, and the troops to march thence towards Arras; other trains were, to be switched at Doullens to the Arras branch line, and to empty their troops at Mondicourt-Pas, where they would be billetted immediately south-west of the 4th Division. The eight trains allotted for the division were due to leave from 9.10 p.m. onwards at three hours’ intervals during the night and the next day; but, after the first trains had departed, carrying head- quarters of the 10th and 11th Brigades and some advanced units, there was delay in the arrival oi those for the rest of the division. The waiting battalions lay down at the roadside in the bitter cold; some companies were stowed into barns. During the morning of the 26th the trains again began to appear regularly. On the journey to Doullens the troops saw first evidences of the great battle in the south-a number of men who had been in the fighting, and several red cross trains full of wounded. There was a most depressing atmosphere of hopelessness about them all (says the history of the 40th Battalion),l but we saw some New Zealanders who told us that their division had gone down, and that the 4th Australian Division was also on the way, so we bucked up considerably. Outside Doullens station, which had been heavily bombed by aircraft during the night, and was bombed again while some of the battalions were near, almost all the trains were delayed The Fortieth, by P. C. Green. p. 113. 145 146 THE A 1 F. IN FRANCE [26th Mar, 1918 for several hours. It uas nearly 11 a.m. before the advance party of the 10th Brigade, with Brigadier-General RlcNicoll and the niachine-gun company, followed soon hy another train with the 37th Eattalion, reached RIondicourt. Iiere, as elsewhere on that day, the unloading Australians found themselves unexpectedly plunged into an atmosphere of panic. Brigadier-General Rosenthal, who happened to be in hloiidicoiirt making preliminary arrangements for the arrival of his brigade, wrote in his diary that this was due to the alarmist report of the arrival of German cavalry at Colincanips. Then commenced what can only be described as a disgraceful withdrawal. When military forces retire, of course the civilians did the same, and very soon Mondicourt was deserted, the inhabitants having simply walked out and left everything behind them. French civilians and British troups-largely of labour corps and railway companies, mixed with stragglers and wounded men-streamed continuously rearwards along the road from Pas, two niiles away, many of them carried arms, but General , M c N i co 1 1, apprehend- ing that the situation was very serious, halted a number and ordcred them, together with the loth Australian Machine GUI~Com- pany, to defend hlondi- court until sufficient of the 10th Brigade arrived to safeguard its own detrainment. Meanwhile he sent out Lieutenant Bertram* (40th Battalion) and four sergeants on bicycles to ascertain where the Germans were.3 * Lieut E. J. Bertram, 40th Btn. Clerk; of New Cisborne, Vic.; b. New Cisborne. 13 April, 1990. * Scouting parties of other battalions were similarly despatched later. 26th Mar, 19151 BEFORE AMIENS 147 About the same time. just before noon, the first train of the 9th Brigade, previously destined for Mondicourt. after being held for three hours outside Doullens, was brought into Doullens station, where its troops were faced by an even more csciting situation. This quiet old town, with its pretty river and Louis XIV citadel, was the normal meeting place for Haig's conferences with his army commanders. It appeared tIiat a particularly important conference \vas being held in the town hall at that moment, for (to quote a letter of General Monash, who passed through) " the Town Square was packed frill of motor cars and brilliantly uniformed French arid British officers.''4 The Town h,lajor-the officer respotisilile for the iocal defence-met the 9th Brigade's train with an urgent order from the chief-of-staff of the Third Army, Major-General \'auglian,5 for the protection of the town against the irruption of the supposed enemy tanks and cavalry. The advanced company of the 33rd under Captain Shreeve' with part of the machine-gun company was to be sent east of Doullens at once, to cover the tow11.~ At 12.15 this order \vas cancelled i)y General Vaughan. About the same time there arrived General Monash himself. He had just seen, at FrBvent, the commander of the S Corps, under whose orders his division came, and who was then trying to arrange for the concentration of several divisions east of Doullens, in order to re-establish the fluid line between Bucquoy (south-west of Arras) and Albert. Monash received from him a general direction to proceed to Doullens, concentrate his division in its allotted area, which lay east of the town, and await further instructions. fie now directed Roseiithal-who, hearing that his troops had been switched to Doullens, had hurried thither-to safeguard thc detrainment at that station. hlonash then hastened to Mondicourt, through which troops and civilians were still streaming, and helped McNicoll to take similar precautions. 'This. of course, is all that was heard by the troops at the time The fuller story is told in Chapter S Lieut -Gem Sir Louis Vaughan, K C B., K.B.E., D.J 0.. p S.C. G.S.O. (I), 2nd Ihv, 1915/16; B C C.S., XV. Corpa. i916/17; N.G.C.S., 'lhird Army, 1g17jig. Conimandant, Staff College. Quetta, ig rg/za. Of Cumberland, Eng.; h. Millom, Cuinl,erland. 7 Aug , 1875 OLieut.-Col. J. \V. Shreeve, 33rd Bn hlernber of Aust. Permanent Forces, of Garheld, Vic., L. h'orth Melbourne, 25 Jan.. 1880. 7 It was to take position near Thievres, so as to cover the two chief roads from Scnastre, and to patrol towards that village. 148 THE A I.F. IN FRANCE [26th Mar, 1918 Meanwhile at 12.30 the train with the leading battalion of the 11th Brigade, the 41st, also was switched into Doullens station, and the battalion detrained and marched through the town to its southern exit. The sight of the crowded traffic at the station cross-roads, and of the British military policeman there flourishing a Webley revolver as he controlled it, emphasised the emergency. The 41st crossed the little river and wound up the green hill beyond to the citadel overlooking the tree-lined Aniiens road. The area in which this brigade was to have been billetteda was said to be under shell-fire, and the troops were consequently held just outside Doullens. The Queenslanders sat on the grass beside the old citadel and quietly ate their lunch while they waited for the arrival of the next battalions of their brigade. An innkeeper in Doullens. about to leave the town, gave his stock of wine to the 42nd BPttalion, which happened to be halted there on its march. Towards evening, when its third battalion came up, this brigade, the niere sight of which had done much to relieve the anxiety of the travellers along that road, marched eastwards to its changed billetting area, at Autliieule. General RiIonash, after assuring himself that his division was safely arriving, and ordering the brigades to picket the roads around their detraining and billetting area, to reconnoitre the countryside, and to be ready for any emergency, drove to his allotted headquarters at Couturelle,8 whence, at about 4 p.ni., he went on to the 4th Division’s Headquarters at Basseux, in order to co-ordinate his measures with General MacLagan’s.1° He found that, although there was still excitement on the roads, which were being shelled, orders received at that headquarters provided ample safeguard against any local danger. The 4th Division had just been directed to send its 4th Brigade to BBrigade Headquarters was to have been at Couin, n+ miles south-east of Pas, 9th Brigade Headquarters was to be at Pas, and that of the 10th at Couin. bfajor Wieck had been here since the previous day, and other members of the statl had since arrived. News bad now been received that there was no confirmation of a German hreak4hrough. 10 Instructions to picket roads, keep the men at their billets, and generally be ready for instant action were given by Third Army, but, independently of them, Monash and MacLagan had each taken these steps as a matter of soldierly precaution In such circumstances divisional commanders had to act vigorously and to assume responsibility. The actual messages and correspondence, which have been preserved, however, show that divisional commanders this day were by no means so independent of higher authority as might be inferred by readers of Sir Tohn Monash’s hook, The Australian Victories sit France cn 1918. 6thMar., 19181 BEFORE AMIENS 149 recapture Hkbuterne, and its two other brigades-12th and 13th -were to follow at once and take position in close support and reserve at Hannescamps and Bienvillers-au-Bois respec- tively. All three would be close to the north-east of tlie 3rd Division’s area, and their artillery, which had arrived by forced marches from Flanders, was with them.