NEWSLETTER 1/2017 ISSN 2207-0400 APRIL 2017 Experience As Well As Two Other Men Associated with Duntroon’S Worst Day Duntroon
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NEWSLETTER 1/2017 ISSN 2207-0400 APRIL 2017 experience as well as two other men associated with Duntroon’s Worst Day Duntroon. Chris Appleton (1978) and The 5th Division and the Battle Richard Carfax-Foster (1971) As part of the doubling of the size of the Australia Imperial The First World War cost Australia as no war had before or Force after Gallipoli, the 5th Division was formed in Egypt in has since, touching every community in the nation and most February 1916. Major-General the Honourable J.W. McCay, of their families. From a population of less than five million formerly commander of the Australian 2nd Brigade and a (equivalent to the population of New Zealand, Singapore or former Minister of Defence, assumed command of the Queensland today) 332,000 Australians served overseas, Division on 22 March 1916. In June 1916 it moved to France, 62,000 of them died and more than 152,000 were wounded. taking over part of the ‘nursery’ sector near Armentières in The overwhelming majority of these casualties were on Flanders from the 4th Division AIF, 10–11 July 2016. the Western Front in France and Belgium where between The Somme offensive had begun disastrously on 1 July 1916 and 1918, 47,000 Australians died and more than 1916, and in an effort to discourage further enemy troop 130,000 were wounded. movements from Flanders to the Somme, the British planned A total of 133 Australian and 25 New Zealand graduates a ‘demonstration’ at Fromelles. As the other three Australian of the RMC served in the First World War. The cost was divisions in France had already been earmarked for (but not prodigious: 39 Australians and three New Zealanders died, an yet committed) to the Somme offensive, the ‘demonstration’ additional 52 Australians and 11 New Zealanders were was tasked to the 5th Division. Australia’s first major action wounded. Eleven graduates were wounded twice, three were on the Western Front would be fought by the least wounded on three occasions. experienced of the Australian divisions in France, within a The original 1911 intake lost eight out of 35 graduates, month of its arrival in France and only a week after going into five in the Gallipoli Campaign and two on the Western Front. the trenches. Graduates from the second (1912) intake fared the worst: 19 The British attack plan for the 5th Division and the 61st out of 36 died, 12 in the Gallipoli Campaign and seven on the (British) Division on its right flank mirrored the unsuccessful Western Front. The third intake lost 10 out of 34 graduates, British attack at the same place in May the previous year. In nine on the Western Front and one in Syria. The fourth intake the intervening year, the defending 6th Bavarian Reserve lost six out of 35 graduates, all on the Western Front. Division had strengthened what had already proved to be The extraordinary service of the first class to graduate was formidable defences which overlooked the Allied lines. detailed by Colonel Ross Harding (1948) and Major General The ‘demonstration’ required the 5th and 61st Divisions to Ken Gordon (1956) in ‘The First Class’ in Newsletter 2/2011. capture the enemy front line and support trenches. The latter It is well known (and commemorated by a plaque near did not exist, being old trenches and drainage ditches General Bridges’ grave at Duntroon) that 17 of 71 graduates incorrectly identified as trenches. The boundary between the to serve at Gallipoli died there; but is less well known that six divisions ran across the Sugarloaf, the heavily fortified salient graduates died or were mortally wounded in the course of a in the German line. night in the disastrous Battle of Fromelles 19-20 July 1916 The three brigades of the 5th Division attacked side by side where 5,533 Australians of the 5th Division were killed, in a southerly direction, each with two battalions forward, one wounded or taken prisoner. in support and one in reserve. The 15th Brigade on the right Among them was Major Tom Elliott, acclaimed by his and linking to the 61st Division, faced a 400-yard assault Brigade Commander as Australia’s Kitchener. Another across “a flat sweep of meadow” to the German positions, major, Arthur Hutchinson, was recommended for the Victoria which included the northern flank of the Sugarloaf salient. Cross. Yet little is known of them. The 14th Brigade in the centre faced an assault of 250 yards This article is about the six RMC graduates lost at towards the German lines. The 8th Brigade faced an assault of Fromelles, a chapter of the RMC story that deserves to be 120 yards as well as needing to secure the left flank of the better known. They were: Major Tom Elliot, Major Arthur battlefield. Hutchinson, Captain Charles Arblaster and Captain Clive After a short and ineffective artillery preparation, the Hopkins from the second entry graduating early in 1914; and attacking battalions left their forward trenches at 6.00pm, in Captain Ken Mortimer and Captain Gregor Robertson from daylight, three hours before dusk. Even before H-Hour, the the third entry graduating in 1915. Another 12 RMC assembling troops had suffered heavily from German artillery graduates survived Fromelles; brief mention is made of their fire. From the Sugarloaf, the attack was subjected to machine gun fire from the flank across the full frontage of the three 1 attacking brigades. The 15th Brigade’s 59th and 60th Battalions Foreseeing the disaster but unable to prevent it, Brigadier did not reach the enemy lines due to heavy casualties from General Elliott, tried to keep Major Elliott out of the action machine gun fire from the Sugarloaf. A later attack by two by transferring him to brigade headquarters. However, companies of the 58th Battalion similarly failed. The 8th Elliott’s own desire to return to the battalion and his Brigade’s 31st and 32nd Battalions and the 14th Brigade’s 53rd Commanding Officer’s pleas for the return of his second-in- and 54th Battalions breached the enemy lines and dug in up to command saw him return to his men. The 60th was the left 150 yards beyond them when they failed to locate the forward assault battalion of the 15th Brigade. supposed support trenches. During the night, enemy counter- Elliott was killed whilst encouraging the men of the attacks forced the eventual withdrawal of the remnants of second wave forward in the attack on the Sugarloaf, the these battalions. Some elements were surrounded by the strongest part of the German defences. Brigadier General Germans, forcing them to attack towards their own lines in Elliott would write that “everyone thought he would have order to withdraw. made a Kitchener” and that “his death was the greatest By 9.00am on 20 July, all Australians that could had individual loss this Brigade has suffered since its formation”. withdrawn to their front line leaving many dead and wounded Lance Corporal O’Brien, who saw Elliott wounded before he in no-man’s land and in the enemy trenches. The attack had was himself wounded, reported to the Red Cross that “he been a disaster. Of the 7,500 Australians of the 5th Division (Elliott) was a Duntroon man and a really good sort”. Private who went into the attack, 5,533 were killed, wounded or taken Forbes, also wounded, reported simply that “Major Elliott prisoner. German casualties were slight. was one of the best”. An unsuccessful recommendation for an unnamed Major Thomas Elliot posthumous award said “This officer was invaluable to Major Thomas Patrick Elliott joined the second entry to the RMC G.G. McCrae in his successful efforts to raise the morale and on 7 March 1912 aged 18 and was graduated specially for discipline of his battalion and gave repeated proofs of active service on 2 November 1914. From Marrickville in possessing the highest gifts of leadership. He fell mortally Sydney, he was the youngest of six brothers and had three wounded whilst most gallantly leading his men into action on sisters; his father worked for the Sydney Tramways. He was the 19th July 1916, but the effect of his work and the high ideal first placed in the entry exam for the 1912 intake and was he inculcated still remains upon those surviving officers and allocated the CSC number 43. At Duntroon he distinguished men with whom he happily came into contact”. himself academically, played in the 1st XV and was athletic Elliott’s remains were not recovered. He is champion in 1914. His three charges in one week for “being commemorated at the VC Corner Australian Cemetery and out of his (hospital) ward” led to him joining what would in Memorial at Fromelles. When he died, he was 22 years and later years be known as the strippers’ club. The Director of six months old. He is one of 1,179 Australians who remain Military Art noted in his final report that Elliott’s manner was missing from the costliest day in Australian history. rough but that he was likely to make a good officer “if he overcomes faults of manners”. Post-war correspondence from his mother suggest that Tom’s comments on the adequacy of rations at the RMC had attracted the displeasure of the Commandant, Major General Bridges. He graduated third in his class—had 70 points not been deducted for ‘misconduct’ from his total marks, he may well have graduated first in his class. He served at Gallipoli with the 7th Light Horse Regiment, from May 1915 as the Regimental Observation Officer and later as the Machine Gun Officer.