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Some Wearing the Spiked German Helmets, Or Belts with the Motto “ Gott Mit Am,” Laughing and Exchanging Witticisms With

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Some Wearing the Spiked German Helmets, Or Belts with the Motto “ Gott Mit Am,” Laughing and Exchanging Witticisms With zgth-30th July, 19161 TAKING OF POZIkRES 599 some wearing the spiked German helmets, or belts with the motto “ Gott mit am,” laughing and exchanging witticisms with any British or Australian troops who stood watching them or passed them on their way to the front. The 3rd Brigade, relieved during the night of the 25th, reached the brickfields west of Albert on the morning of the 26th, and, after a hot meal and some rum, marched on to camp in the mood near Vadencourt. The 1st and 2nd Brigades followed. On this second day’s march they passed at Warloy the foremost brigade of the 4th Division, which was following the 2nd to the line. A young sergeant of the 14th BattalionlZahas left a description of this passage: Although we knew it was stiff fighting, we had our eyes opened when we saw these men march by. Those who saw them will never forget it as long as they live. They looked like men who had been in Hell. Almost without exception each man looked drawn and haggard, and so da7ed that they appeared to be walking in a dream, and their eyes looked glassy and starey. Quite a few were silly, and these were the only noisy ones in the crowd. What they must have looked like before they had a night’s sleep and clean-up miist have been twice as bad as what we saw. We could see that they had lost a lot of men-some companies seemed to have been nearly wiped out-and then again others seemed as if they had not fared quite so bad. In all my experience I have never seen men quite so shaken up as these. When our battalion came out of the same ordeal nine days after this, we were in no position to compare our boys with the 1st Division, but we were in a position to know what they suffered; and it was easily the worst battering we ever had to stand. The men who rested in Vadencourt Wood next day were utterly different from the Australian soldiers of tradition. The bright spirit and activity seemed to have gone out of them; they were like boys emerging from long illness. Many lay quietly apart from the others, rolled in their blankets under the trees, reading books, smoking, writing home letters. On the fourth day, in most cases, they moved on to the villages near the Arniens-Doullens road, where training was again taken up. X certain number of reinforcements arrived, and the battalions, outwardly at all events, regained their former spring and spirits. hieanwhile, twenty miles to the east, the 2nd Australian Division was facing a task even more difficult than that carried through by the 1st. - In Sergeant E. J. Rule. CHAPTER XVIII FIRST GENERAL ASSAULT UPON POZI~RESHEIGHTS. THE2nd Australian Division, which now took the strain of the Pozikres offensive, had never yet been engaged as a whole in any major operation except the evacuation of Galtipoli. Though at that time only half-trained, it had not, like the 1st Division, lost half its original personnel in the reorganisation in Egypt. Its fighting units, therefore, were probably at least as well-seasoned as those of the Ist, although its commander, hiajor-General Legge, and part of the divisional staff, had no experience of attacking on a large scale. Of its three brigades, the 5th, which was first to enter the PoziGres front relieving the 3rd Brigade in the eastern half of that battlefield, consisted of New South Welshmen, many of whom at the outbreak of war had rushed to serve in German New Guinea and had subsequently re-enlisted for general service under their old commander, Brigadier-General Holmes. Holmes-in civil life the secretary of the Water and Sewerage Board in Sydney, an experienced administrator, and a keen militia man-was of a hearty and cheerful disposition, but he enforced a high standard of duty. He was famed for hie courage-a fact which sometimes influenced his conduct- and enforced his standards on the brigade by daily visiting its most dangerous sectors and seeing that duties were being carried out to his satisfaction. These visits, during which his cheery face and the red staff cap-band (which he insisted on wearing in spite of the order to wear the steel helmet) must often have been only too visible to the enemy, were not always welcome to garrisons of outposts who sometimes suffered the shell-fire induced by them, but they undoubtedly helped to keep his officers and men at a high pitch of performance. He had deliberately officered his battalions with men chosen for qualities of leadership-partly young Sydney University 600 27th July, 19161 POZI~RESHEIGHTS 601 graduates-with the result that the brigade was exceedingly well led and at this time probably the most effective in the division. The 6th Brigade, which took over the left sector, north ot the village, was Victorian, and, since it contained the highest proportion of town-bred men, it might be expected-according to the general rule of which the truth was unquestionable in the Australian force, though less marked than in others-to be less hardened than at any rate those from the "outer" States such as Queensland and Western Australia. Its commander, however, was a man of exceptional personality, Brigadier-General John Gellibrand, of whom some description has already been given in these pages. A cultured soldier, staff-college graduate turned apple-grower, usually wearing an old " Aussie " tunic (as worn by a private) and living as simply as his men, sardonically humorous but sensitive to a degree, he was, like many sensitive men, a riddle to his superiors. His judgments sometimes appeared to them oblique, and he seldom explained them, since he loathed to thrust himself forward and attributed to those who dealt with him an understanding of his motives which they seldom possessed. He had the sensitive man's high code of honour-however unpalatable the truth, he told it bluntly and left it at that. These qualities made him a difficult subordinate-not popular with his superiors, but of far greater value to them than they were aware; for, in his ability to inspire his own staff and battalion commanders, and. through them, his whole brigade, he had no equal in the A.I.F. His brigade staff comprised a group of youngsters-E. C. P. Plant, brigade-major; R. H. Norman,' staff-captain ; Lieutenant Rentoul,2 brigade signal- ling officer ; together with Captain Gilchri~t,~engineer ; and Lieutenants Savige' and Roydhouse,8 " learners " (attached 1Lieut:Col. R. H. Norman, D S.O., M C., V.D. Shipping clerk, b. Kent Town, S. Aust., io Oct, 1893 'Lieut. D. N. Rentoul, hf C.; 2nd Div. Sig. Coy. Grocer and clerk; of Kensineon, Vie.; b. Deniliquin. N.S.W. 1894. Killed in action, 3 May. 1917 'Capt. W. R. Gilchrist. M.C.; 6th Fld. Coy. Engrs Surveyor; of Cremorne, N.S W.; b Paddington. N.S.W.. P Dec., 1889. Killed in action, 3 May, 1917. 4 Brig S G. Savige, D S 0 , M C ; 24th Bn. Commands 17fh Inf. Bde , A I.F., 1939. Draper, of Hawthorn. Vic., b Morwell, Vlc., a6 June, 1890. * Capt. J. Roydhouse. M.C.; 28th Bn. School teacher; of Subiaco, W. Aust ; b. Adelaide, 24 Sept., 1892. 29 602 THE A.I.F. IN FRANCE [27th July, 1916 for staff-training). All these lived together as one family. Any morning they-together with ‘‘ Gelly ’’ in his shirtsleeves and old felt hat-might be seen breakfasting in a large shell-hole outside brigade headquarters in Sausage Gdly. With the commanders of his four battalions and of the machine-gun company and a few others, this young staff shared in the little dinner parties or other convivial meetings to which Gellibrand invited his immediate subordinates whenever the brigade was out of the line, By such indirect means, with occasional advice, private and painfully direct, he had manufactured a team which pulled together like a crew in an eight-oared race. Whereas many unit-commanders even of fine character were inclined to look on the failure of a neighbouring unit as a grievance, it was remarked that those of the 6th Brigade regarded it only as an opportunity for offering instant assistance. Gellibrand was at this time endeavouring to tune his battalion commanders up to his own sense of obligation by refusing to accept, as reason for non-performance of tasks, such reports as ‘‘ shell-fire too heavy.” ‘‘ That excuse,” he said grimly during the first tour at PoziBres, “is not given now.” At the same time he had not secured among his subordinates the standard of personal supervision that he deemed necessary, and at critical moments felt compelled to undertake the supervision himself. His battalion conimanders were often sharply stung by this goad, but they knew that the brigadier and his staff would never fail them: however dense the barrage, Gellibrand or one of his “team” would be there with the necessary food, or ammunition, or advice when wanted. The result was an increasingly devoted spirit throughout the brigade. The 7th Brigade, which General Legge for the time being retained in reserve at Tara Hill near La Boisselle, was a composite formation, coming mainly from the less settled States-the 25th Battalion from Queensland, the 26th from Queenslarid and Tasmania, the 27th from South Australia, and the 28th from IVestern Australia. Consequently, with the exception of the South Australian battalion, its units included an unusually high proportion of country men-the 27th July, 19161 POZ12;<L:S HEIGHTS 603 Queenslanders and Western Australians, largely from the mining-fields and stations outback.
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