DIGGER “Dedicated to Digger Heritage” Above: The band of the 1st Australian Light Horse Regiment, taken just before embarkation in 1914. Those men marked with an ‘X’ were killed and those marked ‘O’ were wounded in the war. Photo courtesy of Roy Greatorex, the son of Trooper James Greatorex (later lieutenant, 1st LH Bde MG Squadron), second from right, back row. September 2018 No. 64 Magazine of the Families and Friends of the First AIF Inc Edited by Graeme Hosken ISSN 1834-8963 Families and Friends of the First AIF Inc Patron-in-Chief: His Excellency General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (Retd) Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia Founder and Patron-in-Memoriam: John Laffin Patrons-in-Memoriam: General Sir John Monash GCMG KCB VD and General Sir Harry Chauvel CGMG KCB President: Jim Munro ABN 67 473 829 552 Secretary: Graeme Hosken Trench talk Graeme Hosken. This issue A touching part of the FFFAIF tours of the Western Front is when Matt Smith leads a visit to High Tree Cemetery at Montbrehain, where some of the Diggers killed in the last battle fought by the AIF in the war are buried. In this issue, Evan Evans tells the story of this last action and considers whether it was necessary for the exhausted men of the AIF to take part. Andrew Pittaway describes how three soldiers had their burial places identified in Birr Cross Roads Cemetery, while Greg O’Reilly profiles a brave machine-gun officer. Just three of many interesting articles in our 64th edition of DIGGER. Thanks to all contributors for taking the time and effort in researching and writing their stories. New members Welcome to Denise Butcher, John Clingan, Arthur Harvey, Phillip Holding, Clare Percival and Roslyn Quarmby. Invitation to Remembrance Day event in Epping On Remembrance Day, Sunday, 11 November. 2018, St Alban’s Anglican Church, Pembroke Street, Epping, will be commemorating the Centenary of the Armistice which ended World War One. There will be a special service that day, at 9.30 am. The Church warmly invites all those who are interested in attending such a commemoration. Families of men whose names are recorded on the WWI Honour Board in the Church will be invited and will take part in the service. Please contact FFFAIF member Julie Evans via the St Alban’s Church office (02) 9876 3362 or [email protected] for further details or to RSVP for the event. John Laffin Lecture Day Vice-President Paul Simadas has organised the annual FFFAIF John Laffin Memorial Lecture Day for Saturday, 15 September, at 99 York Street, Sydney, from 10 am to 3 pm. Admission is $20 a head and lunch can be purchased for $15 a head. Speakers are Lieut Col Peter Sweeney RFD (‘The Battle of Hamel’); Nathaniel Sgambellone (‘Repatriation and its impact on Australians after the war’); Clare Ashton (‘Australian nurses in the Great War’.) Full details have been e-mailed to members. FFFAIF AGM for 2018 This year’s FFFAIF AGM will be held at 99 York Street, Sydney, on Saturday, 10 November, at 11 am. The AGM will be followed (at 1 pm) by a Western Front Association lecture with two presenters on WWI-related topics, to which FFFAIF members have been invited. Full details will be sent to members closer to the event. It’s a boy! Congratulations to our ‘Froggy cobber’, Yves Fohlen, and his wife Christine on the birth of their son, Hansi, on 21 July. Both mother and baby are doing well. Queen’s Birthday Honours Two of our members have been honoured with Medals in the Order of Australia this year: Andrea Gerrard for ‘services to veterans and their families’ (with the Tasmanian Headstone Project) and Mike Goodwin for ‘services to military history preservation’. Congratulations to Andrea and Mike on their well-deserved OAMs. Membership renewals Did you receive a notification of subs renewal with the last issue (via a green sheet or e-mail attachment), and have forgotten to renew? If so, this will be the last issue you receive unless your payment is received soon. Contact the Editor by e-mail or phone 02 6882 6270 if you have any questions. Cover photo Anyone wishing to know the names of the light horsemen in the ‘1st Imperial Australian Light Horse Band’ (as per the wording on the drum) should contact the Editor (see below), who will do his best to read the names on the frame. Copyright © DIGGER 2018. All material in DIGGER is copyright. [Note: Opinions expressed by authors in this magazine are not necessarily those of the FFFAIF.] Subject to the fair dealing provisions of the Copyright Act 1968, reproduction in any form is not permitted without written permission of the Editor or Author/s. DIGGER is published four times per year and is available to members in hard copy or electronic format. Images from the AWM are downloaded with kind permission of the eSales unit. Contributions of possible articles and illustrative material for DIGGER and any feedback should be sent to Graeme Hosken, Editor of DIGGER, 2 Colony Crescent, DUBBO NSW 2830 or e-mailed to [email protected]. Membership inquiries should be forwarded to Membership Secretary FFFAIF Inc, PO Box 4245, FORSTER NSW 2428 (Australia) or e-mail to [email protected]. Standard e-membership is $35 pa and concessional e-membership (students, under 18s, seniors) is $30 pa. Australian members wishing to receive the hard copies of DIGGER should add $20 (total of $55 or $50 conc. per annum). Overseas membership fees can be obtained by e-mailing [email protected]. Gift and two or three year memberships are available. A membership form can be downloaded from our website: www.fffaif.org.au or e-mailed to you. Telephone inquiries can be made to 02 6882 6270. Please leave a message if not answered and a committee member will return your call. DIGGER 2 Issue 63 Montbrehain: the AIF’s last battle of the war Evan Evans, Hobart, and Michael Ganey, Melbourne. he last major action involving Australian infantry on the Western Front in the First World War was at Montbrehain, France, on 5 October, 1918. The battle involved the 2rd Division’s 6th Brigade under T Major General Charles Rosenthal, with Lieutenant General John Monash in overall command of the Australian Corps. As was becoming typical of the open warfare following the battles of Le Hamel (4 July, 1918) and Amiens (8–12 August, 1918), the battle plan was put together at relatively short notice. However, the plan applied many of the successful tactics that had been learned since July 4th. These successes, although hard fought, resulted in the capture of substantial German territory, equipment and prisoners, in contrast to the bloody battles of the Somme (e.g. Pozieres, Flers) in 1916, and Bullecourt and the Ypres Salient in 1917 (‘Passchendaele’). In the aftermath of Billy Hughes’ failure to carry conscription in Australia, with the losses since July in the Somme Valley and the number of wounded/gassed men away being treated, the ranks of the AIF by October 1918 were depleted and physically exhausted. The 2nd Division was to be the last AIF division in the line before a spell of at least three months, before the Germans were expected to be finally finished off in 1919. The attack on Montbrehain on 5 October was spearheaded by the 21st and 24th Battalions (Vic). Critical support in the attack was provided by the 2nd Pioneer Battalion and the 6th Machine Gun Company (a unit of the 2nd Machine Gun Battalion). The reserve units were the 18th and 27th Battalions, while the 22nd and 23rd Battalions were to hold and cover the left flank (north of Montbrehain). The 21st and 24th Battalions had been used sparingly during the successful Australian contribution to the breaching of the Hindenburg Line and Hindenburg Support Lines between 29 September and 1 October by the Fourth Army. Importantly, the advance also included the capture of the Beaurevoir Line in several places. The Beaurevoir Line was the final formally organised German defensive line. One of the key uncaptured sections of that line was at Montbrehain, which Carne (6th MG Coy, writing in 1937) described thus: [Montbrehain] stood on a plateau dominating any further advance. More fully, Rankin (in 2014) wrote: the village was on a slight rise that overlooked the defenses and several valleys to the east. This made the area key terrain in preventing the Germans from regaining their lines. The strength of the depleted AIF battalions is laid bare in Table 1 [left]. Typically, a full- strength battalion would have 44 officers and 901 other ranks. The battalions tasked with the attack had barely half that number available for the attack once the sick, those on other duties and those reserved from the nominal fighting strength, which was further reduced by men left behind as a cadre for rebuilding if the unit suffered heavy casualties (Rankin, 2014). Rankin estimates that the 21st and 24th Battalions could muster only 20 officers and 300 men each, with the 2nd Pioneers contributing about 500 men. The reserve 18th and 27th Battalions, which had fought for the last week, each had a fighting strength of 10 officers and 180 men of other ranks. These 1 150 men were up against 1 500 German defenders. The weak strength of the Australian infantry necessitated that the 2nd Pioneer Battalion would, for the first time, be deployed into an infantry assault. The 2nd Pioneers were at near-full strength. Their usual duties during the war were the vital construction of supply infrastructure, such as roads, railways, bridges and dug-outs, typically behind (but close to) the front line.