CH-qPTER VI11

DERNANCOUR'T. MARCH 28~~ THE forward companies of the , which, since before midnight on the 27th, had been holding the railway between Dernancourt and Albert, kept a keen watch despite the fact that they had marched all the previous night, and had received little rest on the night before that. They naturally expected the Germans to continue the advance at dawn. The outpost-line was very thin, and at certain points along the railway there were wide gaps merely watched by sentry groups. On the straight section of line, along the flats between Buire and Dernancourt-the sector of the 35th Division-the railway rose gradually on an embankment, which, near Dernancourt, became very steep and was pierced by a subway through which the Lavibville road led out of the village. After curving on this embankment around the down, touching the orchards and other back-enclosures of Dernancourt, the railway ran into a shallow cutting, and thence northwards along lower or higher embankments across the folds at the foot of the hill. In the first of these folds-where the railway ran out from the first cutting, across IOO yards of deep embankment, and then almost level with the country again-was a level crossing for a cart track. A platoon of the 47th Battalion's right company held the cutting south of this embankment-the garrison being in an old French practice-trench-and the southernmost platoon of the left company held the low bank north of it, but the embankment itself had no garrison. Two machine-gunners with a Lewis gun were placed at the level crossing, their nearest supports being the neighbouring post of Lieutenant Goodsall's company in

193 15 194 THE A.I.F. IN [z?th-28th Mar., 1918 the cutting to the south; and, as an extra precaution, Captain Symons of the northern company had ordered his scout sergeant, S. R. McDougal1,l and two men to watch the crossing, stationing them behind the embankment immediately north of the crossing. During the night, patrols of the 47th going across the open flats had found that there were Germans on the Albert- Dernancourt road, which ran parallel with the front. 250-300 yards away. The night passed without sign of attack. As dawn drew near, the flats were covered with mist, but day began to break without any disturbance of the prevailing silence, and McDougall accordingly allowed his two men to “ stand down ” and curl up for a rest at the foot of the bank while he continued to watch. About the hour at which, as one account states, “it seems to become darker in the half light,” the intelligence officer of the 47th. Lieutenant Reid,* and Lieutenant Robinson3 came past on their rounds. They had just walked on northwards, behind the embankment, when McDougall heard, from the mist, 50-100 yards ahead of him, the sound of bayonet scabbards flapping on the thighs of marching troops. He at once called to the two resting men. Lieutenant Reid hearing the voice sliouted : “ Is that you, Mac? ” “ Yes,” was the reply, “ come up here quick. I think they’re coming at us.” Reid ran up the bank. “By Jove they are!” he exclaimed. There followed an incident peculiarly typical of this year’s fighting-at all events so far as the Australian and New Zealand troops were concerned in it-arising partly from the more open nature of the action, and partly from the marked self-confidence of the troops. McDougall and his two men ran to summon the nearest files of their own company’s platoon, IOO yards away to the left. McDougal: ran along the top of the railway, and, as lie did so, he could see in the half-light, through the mist, Gernians advancing along the whole front towards the line. He quickly reached the platoon and, with

Sgt. S. R. AfcDougall. V.C., h1.M. (Xo. 4061; 47th and 48th Bns ). Blacksmith; of Recherche, Tas.; b. Recherche, 1890 ShIaJor C. C. Reid, M.C , 45th and 47th Bns.; and 2/25 Bn, AI F., 1940 Clerk. of Brisbane: b. Aberdeen, Scotland, 30 Dec, 1895. ’ Lieut. E Robinson, M C.; 47th Bn. Printer; of Casino. N S W.: b Sydney. I July. 1886.

28th Mar., 19181 DERNANCOURT 195 seven of its nearest men, rushed southward along the rails again, intending to line the men out behind the unoccupied bank. German bombs were now flying over this, and one burst fairly upon two Australians who had just opened fire with a Lewis gun. They were badly hit, but the gin was undamaged. McDougall, who was still on top of the bank, had formerly been a Lewis gunner, and, like most of them (as he afterwards admitted), always itched to “grab” one of these weapons in a tussle. He now seized the gun and began to fire it as he went. He was well ahead of his party-three or four of whom were quickly killed or wounded -when two Gerinaii light machine-gun teams started to cross the embankment seven yards away. McDougall, with his gun across his chest, at the “port,” switched its fire straight into them, like water from a hose, blew away half the head of the nearest man, and shot down the rest. Seven of McDougall’s opponents were killed ; their guns pitched forward and were aiterwards gathered by the 47th. Several other Germans who tried to cross the rails at the same time were shot down or scared away. McDougall then ran along the outer edge of the embank- ment to see what enemy was there, and found himself looking down on some twenty Germans, crouching in pot-holes and shell-holes on their side of the bank, obviously waiting for the signal to cross the line. He hosed them with his gun as he went, and they immediately fled, McDougall then standing on the bank, with his gun at the hip, chasing them with its fire. Thirty yards away across the flat were some old British military huts, behind which some of this and other parties hid both when advancing and when fleeing. Froin these hilts, and from farther north, came the fire by which McDougall’s compaiiioiis were hit. In the meantime Lieutenants Reid and Robinson also had been organising resistance. The northern half of the embankment was now garrisoned, but the southern half was still open, and other Germans had surprised and captured the Lewis gunner at the level crossing, and marched on southwards along the rails. Seeing a light flicker near the southern cutting,

I5A 196 THE A.I.F. IN FRANCE [28th Mar., 1918

Sergeant Morris,' in charge of two Vickers machine-guns farther along it, sent his scout, Private case^,^ to investigate. The scout also was captured, but the sentry in the cutting challenged the body of men that was approaching and, not receiving the password in return, fired and raised the alarm. The body of Germans which here had crossed the railway was about fifty strong, and the main part of it now headed south-westwards towards a bank on the open knuckle behind the right company of the 47th. If these Germans had taken cover quickly and opened fire, they would have placed the right flank of that battalion in a difficult situation. But they had not yet attempted to take position when they themselves were fired into from several directions. McDougall, seeing kd'ehbd de&, switched his gun on to them. Its barrel casing was then so hot that his left hand was blistered, but his mate, Sergeant Lawrence," held the gun and McDougall fired with his uninjured hand. Lawrence and another sergeant now started across the open, past the rear of ' the embankment, to take them prisoners. As the two men passed, there stood UP from a crevice in the bank behind them a German officer. He took a pace forward and levelled a revolver at their backs. -4 shout from McDougall. '* Look out behind you !" caused Lawrence to swing round and fire his rifle. Through the suddenness of this action he tripped and fell, and the German missed and was immediately shot by the other sergeant. The final stroke in this incident came unexpectedly from the neighbouring flank of the 48th Battalion. Here, in the tirst light of dawn, movement had been observed in front.

4 Sgt A E. Morris (No. 2021; 12th M.G. Coy.). Labourer; of Kalgoorlie \V Aust ; b hlt. Gambier. 5. Aust , 1880. 6 Pie A R B Casey (No 4259; 12th 1I.G Coy.) Bookmaker's clerk; of West Perth, \V. Aust.; b. Richmond, Vic, 188j. Died. 28 Jan. 1929 'Lieut. J. C. Lawrence 31 31.. 1I.S 31 : 46th and 47th Bns Station overseer of Clonrurry, Q'land: b. Can2lly Station. Balrannld. N S W, IS June, 1887 28th Mar., 19181 DERNANCOURT 197

Our men were all up immediately (says the diary of Captain Mitchell) waist high over the railway line. Lewis guns and rifles blended in a chorus. The grey mobs on our front wavered and broke at a.hundred yards. Away to the right, on the 47th’~front, the fire was continuous. The massing movement in front was still going on. Our men were shooting and cursing furiously. It was now half light. An exclamation caused me to look to our right rear. Coming over a rise a hundred yards away was a line of men. This was serious. Either the 47th were retiring or they were enemy broken through. Realising the urgency of the situation’ I tore down the steep bank, plunged through the steep h$ge half way down, and raced up to the skipper (Captain Carter). PpLain. I’ll go across and find out the strength of thye birds. . . . All right,” he said, and as I was out over the top, You are sure they are our chaps?” ‘‘ No,” I yelled back. “ I’m damned if I am.” Half way across, pistol in hand, I realised that they were Huns. With a yell of joy, rage, and delight I bounded forward, casting aspersions on their parentage and calling on them to surrender. They mustered together jabbering, their hands at their belts (What I did not know was that the Lewis gunners and riflemen along the embankment, with their weapons levelled, cursed me for being in the way.) I reached the nearest, an officer. His hands were at his waist, unbuckling his equipment. “Up! Up! Up! Damn you!” I said, thrusting the long barrel of my Smith and Wesson in his face. He apologised in broken English, French and German. By this time a host of our men had gathered around. He exphined that there was beer in his bottle and socks in his pack. . . The German party had already lost 2 officers and 20 men killed, and the remainder-the officer and 29 men-now surrendered. They had advanced about 150 yards from the railway; all who crossed it had been accounted for.8 Without unduly disclosing at this stage facts that were generally unknown to the British at the time, it may be stated, as indeed immediately became clear through the capture of prisoners, that the main attack this day was made by the 50th Reserve Division (the same which opposed the Australians on their first arrival at Armentieres in April, 1916, and which had since met the at Polygon Wood on 25 and 26 September, 1917). This Prussian division had taken part in the early fighting in the great offensive, at Vendhuille and . Later, on March 27, after several days’ rest at Mametz.9 when the

Mitchell had heen with the 48th when it was cut off at Bullecourt. “ I came out . . . with an encirclement complex,” he wrote afterwards, “and was prepared to go to no end of trouble to ensure that fire came from one side only.” *For his part in this action McDougall was awarded the Victoria Cross. Several Australians who had been captured by the Germans in their advance were recaptured during this fighting. One of them, Pte. A. R. B. Casey, dropped flat, as soon as the firing beaan. and quickly escaped. Another, Pte R. D Beale, had been ordered bv a German officer to lead his column to where the Australians were weakest It is said that &ale purposely led them to a strong point. In the confusion he also escaped. In the old British hutted camps which the Australians had helped to build. and often occupied.

ISB 198 THE A.I.F. IN FRANCE [qth-2Sth Mar., 1918 advance was held up at Albert and Dernancourt, it was marched up to , and at I 1.30 p.m was ordered to attack the railway embankment next morning. The artillery preparation would begin at 5.15 a.m. and the assault would be delivered at 6 The attack was to be made by the 229th R.I.R. on the right, advancing through the 9th Reserve Division north of Dernancourt. and by the 230th R.I.R. on the left, from the direction of . The I Battalion of the 230th would cross the Ancre and seize Dernancourt, and Its I11 Battalion would then pass through, and, together with the I1 and III/2zgth farther north, assault the embankment. Having captured this, the attacking force was to ad- yance north - west, in rear of the Australians facing the 9th Reserve Division, and then turn sharply to the south-west and advance towards astride of the Albert-Amiens road. The II/zJOth would follow the III/23oth for this purpose. To the commanders of both regiments it seemed evident that these plans could only succeed if the embankment was held by a weak British rear-guard. Moreover they doubted whether, in the short time at disposal, the British position could be reconnoitred or adequately bombarded. Both of them presented these views to the brigade commander, General von Maltzahn, but they were informed by him that the order must be carried out. Actually the Second Army commander seems to have been swinging towards the same opinion as the front-line leaders, for at 3 am. on the 28th he ordered that the XI11 Corps ( -Albert) and the XXIII Reserve (Dernancourt-Morlancourt) should not attack before noon, and afterwards again postponed the operation; but his orders did not reach the divisions in time. The attack was therefore launched at dawn It was the II/229th that came against the 47th Australian battalion, and from the regimental history it appears that the troops who penetrated the Australian line were advancing before their time. That narrative states : “ The railway embankment, which was strongly guarded, could not be taken by frontal attack. The 6th company, which, in the dark, advanced too far, was for the most part cut off bv the British and captured.” Although this dangerous irruption had been quickly and decisively ended, violent fighting with occasional short lulls continued along the whole front from Albert to beyond 28th Mar., 19181 DERNANCOURT 199

Dernancourt. The German artillery fire, though at first it had hardly touched the front line, had been severe on the supports and the back area. All the villages were pelted with gas-shell and high-explosive, and the bombardment of Lavieville, in a cellar of which General Gellibrand had his headquarters, was a spectacle for all within view in the back area.l0 On returning to his platoon of the 48th Lieutenant Mitchell noted: "The enemy were moving up in large numbers. Shell-fire was falling heavily behind us. Our men were up along the line shooting almost continually. We had carried in prodigious quantities of ammunition. and it was well. . . It was now about g o'clock. Shell-fire was growing hotter and hotter. Two ntbiencverfer had come into action and were dropping their explosives promiscuously. Enemy machine-guns had us in a double enfilade. Our two Lewis guns on the forward edge of the railway were getting in great work and getting it hot, too. The enemy was in large numbers in our front and our fire was holding them in check. From the 47th messages were coming time and time again. ' Hard pressed, enemy attacking heavily.' I went down three times. I was in fear of the right flank going. I think our Lewis gun fire saved them. On my trips I passed many wounded and dead men. . . . "A report came down: 'Cavalry seen massing on the right.' Had the right broken? we asked each other. Were the Roche pouring into our line and coming up behind us? We looked anxiously to ow rear again and again. Lining the bank we were putting up rapid fire as the Hun attacked. The men would step down every now and again and clean and oil their rifle bolts. Things were hot, damned hot. Every minute or two someone else would go down. Dead and wounded were lying all round. The miiienwerf ers were throwing behind us and on top of the line. Stink, roar, and concussion. . . . At one stage all our four Lewis guns [of the company] were knocked out. One was blown com- pletely to pieces. Pitt,'l working like a Trojan, constructed

10 This shelling. says the diary of the lath h1.G. Company, '' had its compensations." After the several bombardments the troops were able to help themselves to fowls eggs, potatoes, rabbits, and other food, previously not available. "Ptc. J. Pitt, hI.hl. (No. 3116~;48 Bn.). Labourer; of Sydney; b. Botany Bay, N.S.W., 1889. Dled, 19 Feb., 1933. 200 THE A.I.F. IN FRANCE [zSth Mar., 1918 two guns out of the wreckage. Lieutenant WhittlelZ was badly hit. . . . Lieutenant Holtonl8 came down from the left deadly pale, with a smashed arm. He asked the direction back. 1 showed him and cut off two bandoliers of cartridges he wore. He staggered away through the M.G. and shell barrage. “At this stage some Huns from the other side of the embankment sneaked up to the foot and threw bombs. The 47th retaliated by throwing stones. Two Huns popped up and were shot dead. This made me think again. We had not a bomb to our name.” Mitchell crept out to where the kits of the German prisoners still lay, brought in all their bombs, and passed them along the line. “The enemy were now moving about in all directions. Things eased off. The day seemed to have lasted a week. I asked the time. ‘ Eleven o’clock.”’ The Germans who attacked the 48th wer:. the III/229th R.I.R. The regimental historian says that this battalion, on account of the difficult terrain and the tough defence,” did not advance as intended. At 11 a.m. the commander of its 10th company reported that he was under a railway culvert (immediately north of the 48th’~ flank) with. 3 officers, 8 men, and a heavy machine-gun, but without ammunition. Machine-guns on the heights beyond prevented him from workiiig along the railway. If he was to proceed with clearing the embankment, he must have more troops. The railway embankment opposite Dernancourt, where the shelling was generally heaviest, was not in all respects an easy position to hold, since it was not then entrenched, and the defenders, if they had to fire, could do so only by standing up high over the edge, or lying on the top, and firing over the rails. In this position they were completely exposed to shell- fire. This sector was held on the left by the 47th and on the right by the pioneer battalion of the 35th Division, the 19th Northumberland Fusiliers, reinforced at the railway arch north-west of the village by the right gun of the 12th Aus- tralian Machine Gun Company 1he embankment here was deep, and the garrison was sheltering behind it from the shells when, at 9.30, noticing that the bombardment slackened, Lieutenant Pontin,14 commanding the right section of machine ”Licut. J. Whittle, 48th Dn. Carpenter; of Wallaroo, S. Aust.; b. Wallaroo. 4 Apr , 1892. Killed in action. 28 hIarch, 1918 ‘‘ Lieut. E. G. Holton. 48th Bn. Gardener; of Highgate, S. Ant ; b. Kensington, S Aust , 29 Aug. 1894. l’ Lieut J. A. Pontin. M.C.; 12th M.G. Coy. Clerk; of Sydney; b. Limerick. Ireland, 28 Sept.. 1892 aSth Mar., 19181 DERNANCOURT 20 1 guns, who had stationed himself there, crawled to the top and was astonished to see a row of German bayonet-points showing over the edge of the farther rail. His report stated: The officer in charge of the Northumberland Fusiliersl~and I held a hurried conference, and decided that our only chance was to bluff the enemy by charging him just as we were, hopelessly outnumbered. r/Lieutenant Gibson16 was despatched to the rear to select a gun position for me to fall back on in case we were forced to retire.17 . . . Neither side had any bombs, and a few stones were exchanged, as though trying to test our numbers. . . . Private Gray18 was posted at the railway water viaduct, and shot dead the first two enemy who tried to come through. No others made the attempt. At a signal from the infantry officer, we charged the enemy, my machine-gunners using their revolvers, and the Northumberland Fusiliers their rifles and bayonets. Privates Bruce19 and Johnston20 immedi- ately dragged their gun up on the metals. The first three Germans who attempted to rush the gun I shot dead with my revolver at an 8 or IO yards' range. Lieutenant Gibson's batman (Pte. Bigg2l) and the No. 3 gunner, Pte. Sheehan,zz ably assisted me, and we caused the enemy many casual- ties from revolver fire. By now Fte. Bruce had his gun in action, and the Germans fell back in dis- order under its demoralising fire. Those who escaped took refuge in the houses of Dernancourt, and, as these are mostly made of lath and plaster, we continued to sweep them with machine-gun fire. . . . Pte. Johnston received a bullet in the shoulder, and Pte. Sheehan took his place as No. z gunner. Shortly after, Pte Bruce (No. I) was killed by a bullet through the head, but not before he had thoroughly broken up the German attack on the embankment.

lBPossibly the reference is to Lieut.-Colonel W. P. S. Foord. who himself was wounded during the action. 'ELieut. J. H. Gibson, 12th M.G. Coy. Farm hand; of Quairading. W. Aust.; b Sydney, 27 Oct., 1896. 1'111 doing this Gibson was wounded, but he managed to crawl to a quarry on the slope behind, in which were the reserve machine-guns under Lieut C. H Hatcher (Perth, W. Aust.). Hatcher also was woundtd, and the guns there were under Sergeant R. J. Tipping (Melbourne). IBPte. J. Gray (No. 2889; 12th Y.C. Cor.). Mill hand; of Kalgoorlie, W. Aust., b. Orkney, Scotland. 1892. 'OPte. T A. Bruce (No 280; 12th M.C. Coy.). Carpenter; of Proserpine. Q'land; b. Bowen, Q'land, 1859. Killrd in xtion. 28 hlarcb. 1918. a Pte. W. G. Johnston, D.C.M. (No 602; 12th 1I.G. Coy.). Farmer; of hfantoq Q'land; b Knebworth, Herts, Eng., 18 Apr., 1893. *'Pte. S. Birg (No. 276a; 12th M.G. Coy.). Selector; of Rockhanipton, Q'land; b. Bexley Ileath. Kent, Eng., 1890. SPte J. J. Sheehan, M.M. (No. 430. 12th h1.G Coy) Labourer, of hfaclean, N S.W.; b. blaclcan, 1895. 202 THE A.I.F. IN FRANCE [Sth Mar., 1918

‘This account naturally relates chiefly the part played by the machine-gunners, but it should be added that the ‘‘ determined defence by the 19th Northumberland Fusiliers,” as it was termed in the report from the neighbouring company of the 47th, drew admiration from all Australians who remarked it.23 The Germans who had attacked in this sector were part of the 230th R.I.R. Its battalions reaclied their jumping-off position only just in time to advance, and the leading battalion, the Ist, fell far behind the barrage. It passed through the British barrage south of Dernancourt, and took the village in its stride, but on issuing thence received machine-gun fire from all parts of the railway. Part of the battalion reached the railway, but had no bombs and was forced to shelter behind the bank, where its machine-guns could not be properly used. Here the counter-attack of the Northumberland Fusiliers broke upon it and drove it back to the village. It lost heavily in the retirement, but its machine-guns, when once emplaced in the village, were effectively handled The I11 and I1 Battalions had been unable to get through Dernancourt. As they reached the village a tremendous bombardment fell upon it. The companies made for the cellars, which were mostly intact, and sheltered there. One company of each battalion avoided entering the village, but all possibility of continuing the attack had then passed. “The English were posted u:shaken on the railway embankment,” says the regimental historian, and between them and the village lay a completely open space. Whoever showed himself there was shot by English snipers.” As soon as he heard of that morning’s attack, Lieutenant- Colonel Imlay of the 37th had sent two platoons of the right support company (Major Hannay’~)~~to reinforce the right flank. A platoon was afterwards also sent forward on the left, and, later, a party with the urgently demanded bombs. Movement down the bare slope was even more difficult than on the qth. Lieutenant Nornmen~en,~~leading the platoons to the right, was killed, and, although Imlay ordered his company commanders to send their men in rushes, if necessary, “ well spread out,” the bombs did not arrive till late in the day. Meanwhile Gellibrand had placed at Jmlay’s call the 45th Battalion, which, it will be remembered, he had moved during the night to a position north of Buire. The commander of the Northumberland Fusiliers, feeling hi5 hold on the railway insecure, had asked for reinforcement, *a Corporal W. hf. Dodds of the Northumberland Fusiliers, who was afterwards killed, rushed his Lewis gun team to the left, and enfiladed the enemy ip front of the embankment. Lance-Corporal C. Hogg acted with equal boldness, sniplng from the meadows beyond the railway. ‘4 Major D V. Hannay, 47th and 45th Bns. Journal~st; of Toowoomba, Q’land, b IO Aug.. 1878. Lieut. C V. Nommensen. d7th Bn Architectural draughtsman; of South Brisbane; b. Armadale, Vic , i Jan, iSg5 K~lledin action, nS March. 1g18. 28th Mar., 19181 DERNANCOURT 203 and there were accordingly sent to him from the support battalion two companies of Highland Light Infantry. They arrived about the time of his attack, coming down the hill in plain daylight through the heavy barrage of the German artillery and under machine-gun fire. They reached the railway-at the cost of many casualties-and reinforced the garrison. The British this day had available a strong artillery, that of the 4th Australian Division having registered during the while the 50th and 65th Brigades, R.F. A., were still in the line. They shelled the Germans attempting to rally and the supports which continued to iiiove up. The enemy evidently had, on the 4th Division’s front, two chief areas for assembly-one (opposite the front of the 47th Battalion) at hf6aulte and Vivier Mill beyond Dernancourt ; another (opposite the 48th) south of Albert behind a narrow wood that ran 200-600 yards distant from the front of that Battalion. All day long Germans were seen in and behind this wood, their officers and N.C.O’s evidently attempting to niuster them there for renewed attacks. Their trench-mortars were shooting from it, but the British artillery, at Colonel Leane’s request, kept the copse steadily under fire, and any movement that emerged was stopped by the infantry and machine- gunners, who blazed all day at “ wonderful targets.” A machine-gun emplaced by the enemy on the bridge by which the Albert-Amiens road crossed the railway proved a serious annoyance, taking the garrison of the railway line in direct enfilade. Farther south the bombardment of the railway was more effective. But, with a loss of only 3 officers and 59 men, the 48th Battalion easily beat off every semblance of attack, and Leane, who was anxious to avoid exposing reinforcements on the bare hillside, sent to the railway only foiir men with two Lewis guns all day. Lieutenant Mitchell, who was in the thick of the fight, noted that these came through the barrage shortly after a party of stretcher-bearers had gone through in similar formation, and that “they were not n~achine-gunned.”~~

M The batteries registered on Albert Cathedral. The S.0 S. lines of the 10th Brigade were on the wood south of Albert and those of the 11th beyond Dernancourt. The batteries, still in the open, the pits ’not being ready, were detected by German airmen and were shelled. ” Reveille. I Sept.. 1934, p. :,I. In his diary he says, I‘ Fritz must have thought they were stretcher-bearers too. 204 THE A.IF. IN FRANCE [dth Mar., 1918

The Germans who had been massing for another attempt to break through the 48th were scattered through a rather strange occurrence. Mitchell relates how he was sitting in a dugout writing a report when '' a sudden great tremor ran through the ground, followed by a deafening esplosion on our own front. I ran up the bank and saw clouds of black smoke rise." An old British dump ahead of the line had been exploded by a chance shell. Germans were running in all directions, the Australians shooting them like rabbits, Lieutenant Potts, his head swathed in bloody bandages, leading the firing. The history of the 229th R I.R. says that the explosion of a dump by British artillery-fire caused a momentary panic to its I11 Battalion. Farther south, the Germans advanced several times in waves from the old huts to the railway embankment on the left of the 47th and threw bombs over it. All the neighbouring Lewis guns of the 48th Battalion were constantly turned upon that sector, the 48th depending on its rifles to defend its own front. The Germans at the railway were cleared out by Lieutenant Schulz, who with about 25 men scrambled on to the bank and charged over it. They chased the enemy across the flat into the huts, and finally out from these. Finding that position too hot to hold, Schulz dribbled his men back by ones and twos, and himself returned about noon. Farther south still, behind Dernancourt, German reinforce- ments had about 9 a.m. been brought by niotor omnibuses actually through MCaulte and emptied out into the meadows near Vivier Mill. Engineers also were seen trying to place pontoons in position for emergency bridges over the Ancre, and were shot down, and their boats riddled, by the fire of two machine-guns of the 12th The 50th (Prussian) Reserve Division reported that the British in a counter-attack had destroyed the bridges in and north of Dernancourt but that other bridges had been made and were, at 3 25 p m., lying ready Before noon the division had been aware that its attack was everywhere stopped. The assembly of troops in and near Dernancourt, however, continued. On receiving early reports of this assembly, Colonel Imlav called upon the 45th Battalion to send one company to his support position. The attack showed that Dernancourt, which till then was supposed to lie held by patrols of the 35th =Under Corporal T hi. Kinnerk (Townsville. Q'land), who was killed this day. 28th Mar., 19181 DERNANCOURT 205

Division, was in German hands. The village had accordingly been shelled; but at 12.30 the commander of the 106th Brigade (35th Division), to which the Northumberland Fusiliers were attached, hearing a report that the enemy was retiring from Dernancourt in small parties, asked that the artillery sllould lift its fire from the village at 2 o’clock, so that patrols from the Fusiliers might attetnpt to re-enter it; the brigade was too weak to undertake any other form of attack. The brigadier asked headquarters of the 12th Australian Brigade to co-operate by arranging that, when the Fusiliers went forward, the 47th Battalion should extend its flank, SO as to thicken the garrison of the embankment as far as the railway arch ; and that it should help to hold Dernancourt if the place was taken. Inilay was ordered to do this, and, the 47th being weakened by casualties, he directed the attached company of the .qStli to move from the support position down to the railway opposite Dernancourt shortly after the attack commenced. The attack was actually made by two companies of the Fusiliers, ahout IOO men in all. But, though Dernancourt had been heavily bombarded, the troops, on leaving the e1iil)ankment to cross the intervening fields, were met with intense niachine-gun fire, suffered many casualties, and fell back to the railway. At the same time the 4th Australian IXvision suffered, ~+Iiout necessity, the niost serious loss incurred that day. The commander of the supporting com- pany of the 45th had possibly received no special warning of the difficulty of getting his troops down the hill. At 5.20 p ni Inilly reported : The officer in charge of that company took them in artillery formation. and came under shelling. He then converged on a road and the trouble naturally came. He lost about IO killed and 30 or 40 wounded . . . and they are lying along that road now. We have no stretchers to bring them on, but I have asked brigade to send me some and a party to remove all wounded to night. I don’t know how many got to the sector. The shelling had started as soon as the reinforcements topped the rise. Lieutenant Mitchell of the &th, who watched the movement, says : Bars of spattering machine-gun bullets lay across their path. Shells hounded them the whole way. hlen fell at regular intervals. Their mates would kneel to inspect the fallen or pass on with a gesture of finality. One in four was the price left in their tracks. 206 THE A.I.F. IN FRANCE 128th Mar., 1918

The loss was caused mainly by machine-gun^.^^ “The fire was so severe,” wrote one of the 45thso afterwards, “that it was impossible to keep formation, but as everyone knew the objective, the railway, everyone went for it in his own way. A sunken road ran almost parallel to our course and quite a number were killed there, among others . . . the company sergeant-major.” lhe survivors, after sheltering where they could, and taking the Lewis gun panniers from the dead, dodged on-from quarry to ditch, to some haystacks, to some huts-and reached the railway at the foot of which the dead of the Highland Light Infantry lay thickly. Seeing the 47th farther east at the cutting north-east of Dernancourt, they made their way thither. In leading them across the railroad, Lieutenant Terras31 and two others were shot dead, but at dusk the remainder crossed over to the trench, a welcome reinforcement, since the day’s fighting had cost the 47th another 75 ca~ualties,~~and the hold on the railway with a garrison so thinned, and which it was so difficult to reinforce, seemed almost precarious. All day officers of the 48th at the embankment were gradually extending their line into the 47th’~sector on the right, so as to allow the 47th to con- centrate on its right and thus replace casualties. The situation was much improved in the evening by the arrival of the greatly needed bombs, which enabled the posts to clear the last Germans from the embankment. All day the artillery had fired on German troops obviously being rallied or reinforcing for further attack. At 4 p.m. there came from higher authority a warning of a probable attempt north of Albert. Gellibrand informed his last battalion, the 4Gth, that it might be required there, and ordered it to reconnoitre the spur north of the Amiens-Albert road.

‘0 The diary of the 45th gives its loss as 48, including II killed. ‘OPte. I. C. Galloway (No. 3779; 45th Bn.). Engineering apprentice; of Darling burst, N.S.W.; b. Alyth, Perthshire, Scotland, 13 Nov., 1898. “Lieut. J. S. Terras, 45th Bn. Schoolmaster; of Hornshy and Moss Vale, N.S.W.; b. Lesrnahagow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, za March, 1885. Killed in action, a8 March, 1918 8*About half this loss fell on the support companies. Lieuts. C. V Nommensen and F W. Lane were killed. In the 48th Capt. T. H. Elliot, raising his head to observe the enemy, and Lieut. J. Whittle were killed. (Nommensen belonged to South Brisbane. Lane to Lindisfarne, Tas ; Elliot to West Leederville, W. Aust.; Whittle to Wallaroo, S. Aust.) c L.

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e N h 28th Mar., 19181 DERNANCOURT 207

A company of whippet tanks had been warned for action there, and, if the 46th saw them advancing, it was to follow and counter-attack with them. ‘This operation, however, did not take place. Meanwhile, at about 4.30, the enemy had also been observed trickling large numbers into the outlying houses of Albert, a few hundred yards north-east of the 48th Battalion’s left flank. From German records it appears that these movements were due to an order from the commander of the XXIII Reserve Corps. On learning of the morning’s failure, he had visited the headquarters of his divisions, the 50th Reserve and 13th, and after discussion decided to renew the attack at 4.30 with the support of the artillery of the 9th Reserve Division and any guns that the XIV Corps on his southern flank could spare. A difference of opinion then arose between the corps commander and t:,e chief of the army staff, who favoured an attack down the peninsula, an operation which the corps commander disliked on account of the flankitrg fire that would be received. The decision was left to the corps commander. Shortly afterwards the army commander-who must have been absent earlier in the day-called at corps headquarters and expressed his astonishment that, in face of his previous orders to the contrary, the corps was fighting a battle. However, the corps commander maintained that his attack northwards across the Ancre was not likely to be more costly than the army commander’s plan of pushing along the peninsula; and, as it was found to be too late for a cancelling order to reach the troops, the direction to a:tack at 430 was allowed to stand The need for more artillery support was recognised, and the 3rd Naval and 54th Reserve Divisions (XI11 Corps) on the north, as well as the XIV Corps on the south, were ordered to help with counter-battery fire. No progress whatever resulted from the effort. The history of the 230th R.I.R. says that its I11 Battalion, with parts of the I and 11, attempted to advance, but were stopped at the outset As for the concentration of Germans in the houses south of Albert, the British artillery was turned on and drove them out again. At 5 p.m Germans who had been assembling on the 48th’~front were seen to retire in two parties, and at 6.30 large numbers, including transport and cavalry, were observed marching away up the distant road towards Pozisres and were shelled as they went. These local signs, cornlined with the now general knowledge that the Germans had heen sending troops southwards across the , and that farther south, at the junction of the British and French armies, they were making their most rapid progress-towards Monttlidier. on the Paris-Amiens railway -caused General RiacLagan of the 4th Australian Division to helieve, as did many others, that the Germans were now 208 THE A.I.F. IN FRANCE [z&h-zgth Mar., 1918

weakening their forces on the British front, in order to attack the northern flank of the French. The impression received that day by the Australian troops, whose spirit throughout was one of entire confidence, was that the Gernlans, though appearing in the morning to be full of audacity, had become correspondingly depressed upon being so definitely stopped. A special reason for their good spirits was evident-their packs were full of British canteen and red-cross stores from Albert, chocolate, biscuits, cigarettes, socks, and parcels of comforts, including some from Australia together with letters conveying the good wishes of the girls who sent them. “The German has his tail well up before he meets our men,” reported an experienced officeP3 at MacLagan’s headquarters next day, “but, when he is once stopped and slathered, it goes down very quickly indeed.” On the evening of the 28th the 47th Battalion was ordered to send a patrol to ascertain whether Dernancourt was held weakly, as headquarters suspected. The front-line troops knew that it was not-they had watched the Germans dribbling into the village all the afternoon, and, in spite of the effective fire with which they had picked them off, they themselves were being sniped with marked accuracy from the windows, 250 yards away. The patrol, sent out at IO p.ni., at once drew a concentration of machine-gun fire which settled all doubts. The men of the 12th Brigade, who had now been moving, marching. digging, and fighting for three days and three nights almost without sleep, were in a daze of exhaustion; and, as after all such severe fights, battalion commanders had some apprehension of further attack. But the rain, which began with a drizzle at 4 in the bleak afternoon, and became heavier during the night, rendered the renewal less probable. Although opposite Dernancourt the tired garrison was kept on the alert all night by the constant squealing of pigs and howling of other animals in the village, morning came without any attack. It brought indeed a surprise of a different sort--brass music was heard not far away, and a German battalion with its band at the head and cookers at the rear appeared marching along the slope below Morlancourt. Rifles and Lewis guns opened simultaneously, and the battalion melted into the nearest cover.

** Captain Arthur Maxwell, of Meshes fame, then on 4th D.H.Q 27th-29th Mar., 19181 DERNANCOURT 209

Coot1 iicws prrceiitly came through-that a great c!Tort hau been made by the enemy on the previous day 15-20 miles farther north, against the vital buttress of the British front at Arras, and had been completely deteated. It is now known that the 50th Reserve Division, which had made the attack at Dernancourt, was riot in a condition to continue it. The zzgtli R.1 R. had suffered 309 casualties, and the 230th 240. The 9th Reserve Division, instead of being relieved by the 50th Reserve Division. as it had hoped. had to continue iii the line, the 229th R.I.R. being withdrawn to bi6aulte. In the sector of the 23oth, the I1 Battalion having found shelter in the cellars of Dernancourt, was left to hold the front line and village 111 this apparently unenviable duty it proved. says Its historian, to have drawn the best lottery ticket '' Dernancourt abounded in poultry, and numerous pigs and sheep ran round it. In most of the houses there was wine. Before long a battle feast was in full swing. The I1 Battalion, In comradely spirit, gave up part of its treasures . . . The 7th company, which lay farthest forward in the village, asked to be allowed to postpone the intended relief." Next day the 23ISt R I R. took over the northern part of the village, the 230th remaining in the southern part. At noon, Dernancourt was bombarded,a' and, although the day was otherwise quiet, it cost the 230th 83 casualtie: To the 3rd Amtralian Division, separated from the 4th only by the sector of the 35th Division, March 28th had brought very diferent experiences : Init the estrenie flank or' the division was affected by the German attack. An attack uii the wholc front had been expected, but, the German linc being much more distant than at Dernancourt, there was not the same tension or danger of surprise. Indeed, on the left near the Ancre, the front of the 35th Division overlapped and sheltered that of the 3rd Australian, the 35th having reoccupied Treus hamlet, south of the AIicre, opposite Buire, and guarded hlarrett wood south-west of it, which after the withdrawal of the scouts of the 35th Battalion had lain open to the enemy. Late on the 2/'th General Monash had ordered the 10th Brigade to ascertain for itself whether the 35th Division really held the wood, and, if so. to take over the position. Shortly before this message was received, Captain W. J. Synions, (of the right battalion (37th) of that higade, had sent a patrol around the wood, and found, in a deep, sunken road hoi-dering its north-eastern corner, a post of thirty of the 18th Laiica.;liire Fusiliers. Receiving his Irigadier's

I' The 50th and 65th Brigades. R F.A , withdrew that day (March 29). The artillery of the 4th Aust Division (loth and 11th Brigades, A FA.) extended the]. 5 0 S lines to co\er the front. .4s observers detected niuch niovernent in Dernan- court, each field battrrq of the 11th Brigade fired 23 rouitds Into the billage and tke howlt7er hattery 40 16 210 THE A.I.F. IN FRANCE 128th Mar., 19x8 order, the commander of the 37th (Lieutenant-Colonel Knox- Knight)35 at 2.20 on the morning of the 28th arranged to “ hold the ground ” with patrols until the 38th took it over. At 8 am., however, when the wood was still defended only by the Fusiliers, together with a few Australian snipers with a Lewis gun rather short of ammunition, Germans were seen on the spur ahead, which screened the Morlancourt valley. The enemy was two-thirds of a mile away, advancing in small parties over the more distant of the two folds of that knuckle. AI: appeal from the Fusiliers for support was passed by Captain Symons to the 38th. At 9.35 Brigadier-General McNicoll ordered the 38th to hasten its action. and at 10.30 VII Corps Headquarters, fearing that the attack on Dernan- court might spread to , and that the tired British troops might not suffice, ordered the 3rd Division to take over the wood. At 11 Captain Fairweather’s company was sent, and it occupied the wood by 11.35. But the Germans had already attached. About 9 o’clock several hundred skirmishers had come over the nearer fold of Morlancourt spur and had been stopped ljy the fire of the British artillery and of the Lancashire Fusiliers, assisted by the Lewis gun and snipers froiii the 10th Brigade. Some of the Germans scuttled into the village of Ville on the flats; c few of their scouts worked ahead and were shot in front of Treus Wood ; the main part took cover on the Morlancourt At noon a second attempt was made by several - ‘5 Lieut -Col. E Knox-Knight. Commanded 37th Bn., 1917/18 Managing law clerk, and area officer; of hfalvern Vic.; b. South Melbourne. 4 Feb, 1882. Killed in action, IO Aug, 1918. “There was some conflict in the reports at the time. About g am it was reported that a German patrol was in or ne:; the Hood. At 8.30 two officers of the 38th went through the wood and reported, 04; snipers and observers htve estab- lrshed themselves on the far side of the wood a$ that the 37th had posted a Lcwis gun team on the right flank of the ;ood The nearest Germans were apparently a machine-grin team on the outskirts of the village, but 800 yards from the wood6o At IO 4s Lieut. C. H. Peters (38th) reported that the wood was occupied only by our observers.” and that the Lancashire Fusiliers held the siinken road Sth Mar., 19181 D ERN A N CO LIRT 211

German companies to continue the advance. But the Vic- torian\ were then strongly posted arouiid the wood; some of them at once ran to a positioii from which they could better bring fire to bear ; the artillery opened, and the Germans threw themselves down. At 1245 they made a third attempt, but were immediately stopped by the artillery At 1.5, all move- mcnt having ceased, the artillery slackened its fire. At 2.10 more lines of Germans appeared advancing over the farther fold of the knuckle and descending into the dip between the two. There they remained, out of view, and movement ceased. German records show that the attack on Treux Wood was only part of what was intended to be a general advance by the 13th German Dicision in conjunction with the 50th Reserve Division on its flank. The 13th was apparently to attack with the 15th IR. on the right, between Dernancourt and Buire, the 13th I K. on the left, between Buire and Treux Wood, and the 55th I.R. following behnd the right flank. This division, like tlie 50th Reserve. was to strike northwards, across the Ancre, and then turn westwards The 15th I.R. advanced against the front of the 35th British Division Its right reached Dernancourt church, and mingled with the 230th R.I.R. Farther west it twice attempted to reach Buire. without success The attack towards Treux was made by the 13th I.R, its 111 Battalion, with the I in support, advancing towards the village. and the I1 towards tlie wood. The advance began at 7 am., without ally artillery support. The 111, which, in accordance with orders, had worked up towards the village during the (lark, found itself immediately caught in such flanking fire from north and south-west that it was unable to yove. The 11, according to the regimental historian, found Treux Wood very strongly fortified and garrisoned.” It was also enfiladed from the direction of the Bray- road at Hill 108, and stopped. At 11.30 the 13th Division reported that it had “taken” Ville (which. however, had not heen held by the British) but not Treux, and that another attempt was being at once made against Treux and Buire. The 1/I.