Beaten Down By Blood

by Michele Bomford

  15. Monash, Australian Victories in France in 1918, p. 161.

  16. Ibid., pp. 171, 180, 182.

  Chapter 2

  1. David Potter, War and Government in the French Provinces: Picardy 1470-1560, Cambridge University Press, 1993, pp. 1, 91, 155–6, 236.

  2. Eustache de Sachy, Essais sur l’histoire de Péronne, Trepant, Péronne, 1866 (trans Amy and Michel Meallonnier), digitised by Google 25/6/08, pp. 154, 168.

  3. Charles Bean/Arthur Hall correspondence 1941, AWM PR87/085.

  4. A.D. Ellis, The Story of the Fifth Australian Division, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1919, pp. 346–7.

  5. Robert Embry, Les Rues de Péronne, Vol. 3, Societe Archeologique de la Region de Péronne, 2002, pp. 209–10.

  6. Ibid., pp. 95, 149–51.

  7. Ibid., p. 152.

  8. Harris, Douglas Haig and the First World War, pp. 438–40.

  9. Ludendorff, My War Memories 1914-1918, Vol. 2, p. 695.

  10. Monash, Australian Victories in France in 1918, pp. 189, 210.

  11. Bean, Official History, Vol. VI, p. 783; Ellis, The Story of the Fifth Australian Division, pp. 346–7.

  12. Ellis, The Story of the Fifth Australian Division, p. 345.

  13. Monash, Australian Victories in France in 1918, pp. 191–2; Frank Brewer, Papers 1917–1919, MLMSS 1536/3; Henry Rawlinson, The Times, 27/5/19, found in William Hawkins, Papers, MSB 477 SLV.

  14. Charles Bean, Notebooks, 3DRL 606/227/2: 17th Battalion, Manefield’s account.

  15. Chris Roberts in correspondence with the author Nov 2010–Jan 2011.

  16. Monash, Australian Victories in France in 1918, p. 188; 15th Brigade Report on Operations 1–5 September 1918.

  17. Monash, Australian Victories in France in 1918, pp. 150, 156.

  Chapter 3

  1. Monash Papers, AWM 3DRL/2316 Series 5/1, 29/5/18.

  2. Peter Pedersen, ‘Maintaining the Advance: Monash, Battle Procedure and the Australian Corps in 1918’ in Ekins (ed), 1918: Year of Victory, p. 134.

  3. Geoffrey Serle, John Monash: A Biography, Melbourne University Press, 1982, p. 398.

  4. Pedersen, Monash as Military Commander, p. 301.

  5. Roger Lee, 1918: Defining Victory, ‘The Australian Staff: The Forgotten Men of the First AIF’, www.defence.gov.au/army/ahu/docs/1918_Defining_Victory_Lee p. 9, consulted 3/3/10.

  6. Norman Nicolson, Diary, AWM 3DRL/2715 Part VII.

  7. Pedersen, Monash as Military Commander, p. 144.

  8. Paddy Griffith, Battle Tactics of the Western Front, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1994, p. 189.

  9. 58th Battalion War Diary, September 1918, Part 2, Accounts of Lance Sergeant Maddern and Corporal Edgar Daniel.

  10. Charles Bean, Folders, AWM38 3DRL606 Item 274, Account of R.G. Thompson, 56 Battalion.

  11. AWM Honours and Awards Database, citation for Albert Blackmore.

  12. 7th Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery War Diary, September 1918.

  13. Griffith, Battle Tactics of the Western Front, p. 128.

  14. J.M.A. Durrant, ‘Mont St Quentin: Some Aspects of the Operations of the 2nd Australian Division from the 27th August to the 2nd September 1918’, The Army Quarterly, Vol. 31, 1935, p. 90.

  15. John Edwards, Never a Backward Step: A History of the First 33rd Battalion AIF, Bettong Books, Grafton, 1996, p. 105.

  16. 26th Battalion War Diary, September 1918.

  17. J.P. Harris (with Niall Barr), Amiens to the Armistice, Brassey’s, London, 1998, pp. 35, 107, 149.

  18. Griffith, Battle Tactics of the Western Front, p. 114.

  19. Durrant, ‘Mont St Quentin’, pp. 91–2.

  20. William Hawkins, Diary and Papers 1916-1968, SLV MSB 477.

  21. Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson, Command on the Western Front: The Military Career of Sir Henry Rawlinson 1914-18, Blackwell, Oxford, 1992, p. 295.

  22. Monash, Australian Victories in France in 1918, p. 105.

  23. Account of Daniel Petersen recorded by Francis Brewer, MLMSS 1536/3.

  24. Pedersen, ‘Maintaining the Advance’ in Ekins (ed), 1918: Year of Victory, pp. 130–1.

  25. Peter Stanley, Bad Characters: Sex, Crime, Mutiny, Murder and the Australian Imperial Force, Murdoch Press (Pier 9), Sydney, 2010, pp. 21, 33, 80, 98, 99, 100.

  26. Pedersen, Monash as Military Commander, pp. 46–7, 152.

  27. Charles Bean, Anzac to Amiens, AWM, Canberra, 1983 (1946), p. 537; W.J. Denny, The Diggers, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1919, p. 199.

  28. Account of Percy Morris recorded by Francis Brewer, MLMSS 1536/3.

  29. 55th Battalion War Diary, September 1918, anonymous account: ‘The Battle of Péronne September 1-2 1918’.

  30. 7th Brigade War Diary, September 1918.

  31. War Service Records Series B2455 1914-1920, NAA, Joseph Maxwell.

  32. Hermann Cron, Imperial German Army 1914-18: Organisation, Structure, Orders-of-Battle, Helion and Co, Solihull, 1937, English version 2002, paperback 2008, p. 112.

  33. Harris, Douglas Haig and the First World War, p. 499.

  34. Travers, How the War was Won, p. 157.

  35. Bean, Official History, Vol. VI, p. 816.

  36. Ibid., p. 834.

  37. Ludendorff, My War Memories, Vol. 2, p. 700.

  38. Bean, Official History, Vol. VI, pp. 850, 867, 868.

  39. Account of W.J. Denny recorded by Francis Brewer, MLMSS 1536/3.

  40. John Monash, Papers, AWM 3DRL/2316 Series 4/1, inward wires 26/8/18-8/9/18.

  41. Jack Sheldon in correspondence with the author, November 2010.

  42. Operations Files AWM26, 473/2 Fourth Army.

  43. Bean, Official History, Vol. VI, p. 867.

  44. Charles Bean, Folders, AWM38 3DRL606 Item 274, Reveille, March 1930.

  45. 3rd Division War Diary, September 1918, Part 1, Intelligence Summary 189, 6pm 31/8 – 6pm 2/9.

  46. Histories of 251 divisions of the German Army which participated in the War 1914–1918, pp. 54, 720.

  Chapter 4

  1. John Monash, letter to J.W. McCay 6/9/18, NLA MS1884, Outward Letters, Series 1, Box 73, Folder 504.

  2. Monash, Australian Victories in France in 1918, p. 191.

  3. Battle Instructions, Series C, No. 10, 26/8/18, in 5th Division War Diary August 1918, Part 21.

  4. Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War (trans. Rex Warner), Penguin, London, 1972, 1.142 and 1.144.

  5. Monash, Australian Victories in France in 1918, p. 189.

  6. Ibid., pp. 189–90.

  7. Charles Bean, Folders, 3DRL606 Item 274b.

  8. 19th Battalion War Diary, August 1918; Charles Rosenthal, Diary 29/8/18, MLMSS 2739/1.

  9. Frank Brewer, Papers 1917–1919, MLMSS 1536/3.

  10. Bean, Official History, Vol. VI, p. 805.

  11. 15 Brigade Report on Operations 1–5 September 1918.

  12. John Monash, Diary 30/8/18, NLA MS1884, Series 5, Box 139, Folder 1034.

  13. Peter Sadler, The Paladin: A Life of Major General Sir John Gellibrand, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2000, p. 173.

  14. Charles Bean, Notebooks, AWM38 3DRL606/226/2, 38 Battalion.

  15. Ibid., AWM38 3DRL606/227/2, 37 Battalion.

  16. 10th Brigade War Diary, August 1918, Part 1.

  17. War Service Records, Frank and Walter Farquharson, Series B 2455 1914-1920, NAA.

  18. Frank Brewer, Papers 1917–1919, MLMSS 1536/3, account of Mark Lowndes.

  19. Ibid., account of Percy Morris.

  20. 19th Battalion War Diary, August 1918.

  21. Frank Brewer, Papers 1917–1919, MLMSS 1536/3, account of Percy Morris.

  22. Bean, Official History, Vol. VI, p. 802.

  23. Frank Brewer, Papers 1917–1919, MLMSS 1536/3, account of Percy Morris.

  24. Frank Brewer, Papers 1917–1919, MLMSS 1536/3.

  25. Charles Bean, Notebooks, AWM38 3DRL606/226/2, 20 Battalion.

  26. 33 Battalion Report on Operations 31/8/18 in 33rd Battalion
War Diary, August 1918, Part 3.

  27. AWM Honours and Awards Database, citation for George Cartwright and 33 Battalion Report on Operations 31/8/18 in 33rd Battalion War Diary, August 1918, Part 3.

  28. AWM Honours and Awards Database, citation for William Irwin and War Service Records, William Irwin, Series B 2455 1914-1920, NAA.

  29. Charles Bean, Notebooks, AWM38 3DRL606/228/2, 33 Battalion; Edwards, Never a Backward Step, p. 105; 33 Battalion Report on Operations 31/8/18 in 33rd Battalion War Diary, August 1918, Part 3.

  30. RMO’s Report, 33rd Battalion War Diary, August 1918, Part 3.

  31. Bean, Official History, Vol. VI, p. 822.

  32. A.T. Paterson, The Thirty-Ninth: the History of the 39th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, G.W. Green & Sons, Melbourne, 1934, p. 229.

  33. 38th Battalion War Diary, August 1918, Part 5; Charles Bean, Notebooks, AWM38 3DRL606/226/2, 38 Battalion.

  34. F.C. Green, The Fortieth: A Record of the 40th Battalion AIF, 40th Battalion Association, Hobart, 1922, pp. 181, 184.

  35. K.W. Mackenzie, The Story of the Seventeenth Battalion AIF in the Great War 1914-1918, Shipping Newspapers, Sydney, 1946, p. 281.

  36. Charles Bean, Notebooks, AWM38 3DRL606/227/2, 19 Battalion; 19th Battalion War Diary, August 1918.

  37. Bean, Official History, Vol. VI, p. 809.

  38. 17th Battalion War Diary, August 1918; Mackenzie, The Story of the Seventeenth Battalion AIF, p. 281.

  39. Frank Brewer, Papers 1917–1919, MLMSS 1536/3, his account and those of Percy Morris and Mark Lowndes; Charles Bean, Notebooks, AWM38 3DRL606/227/2, account of Manefield, 17 Battalion and 606/226/2, account of Forbes, 20 Battalion; Mackenzie, The Story of the Seventeenth Battalion AIF, p. 282; Bean, Official History, Vol. VI, p. 809.

  40. Charles Bean, Notebooks, AWM38 3DRL606/227/2, account of Manefield, 17 Battalion.

  41. Frank Brewer, Papers 1917–1919, MLMSS 1536/3.

  42. Bean, Official History, Vol. VI, p. 817.

  43. Frank Brewer, Papers 1917–1919, MLMSS 1536/3, account of Percy Morris; Mackenzie, The Story of the Seventeenth Battalion AIF, p. 287.

  44. Charles Bean, Notebooks, AWM38 3DRL606/227/2, accounts of Gill and Crofts, Allan, 17 Battalion.

  45. Charlie Skinner, transcript of Interview, AWM PR84/020.

  46. Fourth Army War Diary, August 1918, Part 4; Australian Corps War Diary, August 1918, Part 3 – outward wire to Fourth Army.

  47. Mackenzie, The Story of the Seventeenth Battalion AIF, p. 283.

  48. Frank Brewer, Papers 1917–1919, MLMSS 1536/3, account of Percy Morris.

  49. Ibid., account of William Miller.

  50. Ibid.

  51. Charles Bean, Notebooks, AWM38 3DRL606/227/2, accounts of Gill and Crofts, 17 Battalion.

  52. 19th Battalion War Diary, August 1918.

  53. 18th Battalion War Diary, August 1918.

  54. 19th Battalion War Diary, August 1918.

  55. 20th Battalion War Diary, August 1918, Part 2.

  56. Frank Brewer, Papers 1917–1919, MLMSS 1536/3, account of Percy Morris.

  57. Charles Bean, Mont St Quentin-Péronne August 27–Sept 6 1918, AWM38 3DRL 1722 Item 35, extract.

  58. 20th Battalion War Diary, September 1918.

  59. Frank Brewer, Papers 1917–1919, MLMSS 1536/2.

  60. Ibid., account of Percy Morris.

  61. W.A. Carne, In Good Company: An Account of the 6th Machine Gun Company AIF in search of peace 1915-1919, 6th MGC Association, Melbourne, 1937, p. 365.

  62. Frank Brewer, Papers 1917–1919, MLMSS 1536/2.

  63. Ibid., MLMSS 1536/4.

  64. Donald Coutts, ‘A First World War Diary: November 1916-February 1920’, AWM PR83/155.

  65. 6th Australian Field Ambulance War Diary, August 1918.

  66. AWM Honours and Awards Database, citation for Roy Brewer.

  67. Roy Thomas Brewer, Letter, 19/8/18, AWM PRO2010.

  68. War Service Record, Roy Brewer, Series B2455 1914-1920, NAA.

  Chapter 5

  1. Potter, Not Theirs the Shame Who Fight, p. 177.

  2. R.H. Chatto, The Seventh Company (Field Engineers) AIF, R.H. Chatto for 7th Field Company Comrades’ Association, Sydney, 1936, p. 176.

  3. Charles Bean, Folder, AWM38 3DRL606 Item 274; 56th Battalion War Diary, September 1918, account of Lieutenant Bull.

  4. Charles Bean, Notebooks, AWM38 3DRL606/226/2, 20th Battalion.

  5. Percy Ellesmere Smythe, Diary, 31/8/18.

  6. Frank Brewer, Papers 1917–1919, MLMSS 1536/3; Joseph Maxwell, Hell’s Bells and Mademoiselles, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1933, p. 218; W.J. Harvey, The Red and White Diamond: the Official History of the 24th Battalion AIF, McCubbin for 24th Battalion Association, Melbourne, 1920, p. 277.

  7. Harvey, The Red and White Diamond, p. 277.

  8. Charles Bean, Notebooks, AWM38 3DRL606/228/2, 23rd Battalion.

  9. ‘The Voice of the Battalion’, 23rd Battalion Magazine, 15 September 1918, in 23rd Battalion War Diary, September 1918.

  10. 6th Brigade War Diary, August 1918, Part 1.

  11. ‘The Voice of the Battalion’, 23rd Battalion War Diary, September 1918.

  12. Bean, Official History, Vol. VI, p. 840.

  13. Percy Ellesmere Smythe, Diary, 1/9/18.

  14. 6th Brigade War Diary, September 1918.

  15. The task of contact aircraft was to report to commanders the position of troops on the ground (see Chapter 8).

  16. Percy Ellesmere Smythe, Diary, 1/9/18.

  17. Cleve Potter’s term, which he used to mean something between a mêlée and a bloodbath. Potter, Not Theirs the Shame Who Fight, p. 178.

  18. Charles Bean, Folder, AWM38 3DRL606 Item 274, account of Tom Wignall.

  19. Montgomery, The Story of the Fourth Army in the Battles of the Hundred Days, p. 105; 6th Brigade War Diary. August. Part 3.

  20. Frank Brewer, Papers 1917–1919, MLMSS 1536/3.

  21. Charles Bean, Folder, AWM38 3DRL606 Item 274.

  22. Ibid., account of Godfrey Dobson.

  23. Stanley, Men of Mont St Quentin, p. 111; see pp. 102–118 for a full account of the actions of 9 Platoon, C Company, 21 Battalion.

  24. Charles Bean, Folder, AWM38 3DRL606 Item 274, account of Godfrey Dobson.

  25. Charles Bean, Mont St Quentin-Péronne August 27–September 6 1918, AWM38 3DRL 1722 Item 35 extract.

  26. Potter, Not Theirs the Shame Who Fight, p. 180.

  27. 24th Battalion War Diary, September 1918.

  28. ‘The Voice of the Battalion’, in 23rd Battalion War Diary, September 1918.

  29. Potter, Not Theirs the Shame Who Fight, p. 9.

  30. Ibid., p. 182.

  31. 6th Brigade War Diary, August 1918, Part 3, account of Edgar Towner.

  32. Percy Ellesmere Smythe, Diary 1/9/18.

  33. AWM Honours and Awards Database, citation for Edgar Thomas Towner.

  34. Charles Bean, Notebooks, AWM38 3DRL606/226/2, 42nd Battalion.

  35. 42nd Battalion War Diary, September 1918; Charles Bean, Notebooks, AWM38 3DRL606/226/2, 42nd Battalion.

  36. Charles Bean, Notebooks, AWM38 3DRL606/227/2, 44th Battalion.

  37. 41st Battalion War Diary, September 1918.

  38. James Marshall, Papers 22 Feb 1916–20 July 1919, ‘My Story of the Big War’, MSS 1164 Item 4.

  39. Monash, Australian Victories in France in 1918, p. 204.

  40. Marshall, ‘My Story of the Big War’, MLMSS 1164 Item 4.

  41. 54th Battalion War Diary, September 1918.

  42. Marshall, ‘My Story of the Big War’, MLMSS 1164 Item 4.

  43. Charles Bean, Folders, AWM38 3DRL606 Item 274, Reveille, 1 September 1935, article by William Smith.

  44. Marshall, ‘My Story of the Big War’, MLMSS 1164 Item 4.

  45. Charles Bean, Notebooks, AWM 3DRL606/189/2, 53rd Battalion.

  46. 55th Battalion War Diary, September 1918, Anonymous Account, ‘The Battle of Péronne September 1-2, 1918’.

  47.
Ibid.

  48. Marshall, ‘My Story of the Big War’, MLMSS 1164 Item 4.

  49. 53rd Battalion War Diary, September 1918.

  50. Bean, Official History, Vol. VI, p. 838.

  51. Charles Bean/Arthur Hall correspondence 1941, AWM PR87/085.

  52. Alexander Buckley, silk postcard 31/5/18, AWM PR91/082.

  53. AWM Honours and Awards Database, citation for Alexander Buckley.

  54. Bean, Official History, Vol. VI, p. 849.

  55. 54th Battalion War Diary, September 1918.

  56. Marshall, ‘My Story of the Big War’, MLMSS 1164 Item 4.

  57. Charles Bean/Arthur Hall correspondence 1941, AWM PR87/085.

  58. Bean, Official History, Vol. VI, p. 850.

  59. Report on Operations 1-2 September, 54th Battalion War Diary, September 1918.

  60. Bean, Official History, Vol. VI, p. 851.

  61. Norman Nicolson, Diary, AWM 3DRL/2715 Part 7.

  62. 59th Battalion War Diary, September 1918, Intelligence Summary 1-2/9.

  63. Charles Bean, Notebooks, AWM38 3DRL606/226/2, 58th Battalion.

  64. Norman Nicolson, Diary, AWM 3DRL/2715 Part 7.

  65. 15th Brigade Report on Operations 1-5 September 1918.

  Chapter 6

  1. 15th Brigade Report on Operations 1–5 September 1918.

  2. Charles Bean, Diary 2/9/18, AWM38 3DRL606 Item 116.

  3. 58th Battalion War Diary, September 1918 Part 1, account of Boadle.

  4. Walter Serle, letter 7/12/18, SLV MS8486 Box 1285/4.

  5. William Hawkins, Diary 2/9/18, SLV MSB 477.

  6. Report on Operations 1–2 September 1918 in 54th Battalion War Diary, September 1918.

  7. 58th Battalion War Diary, September 1918 Part 1, accounts of Slaughter and Sproule.

  8. Bean, Official History, Vol. VI, pp. 867–8.

  9. Ellis, The Story of the Fifth Australian Division, p. 353.

  10. 5th Machine Gun Battalion War Diary, September 1918.

  11. 15th Brigade Report on Operations 1–5 September 1918.

  12. War Service Record, Harold Dunstan Gordon Ferres, NAA Series B2455 1914–1920.

  13. 25th Machine Gun Company War Diary, September 1918.

  14. 15th Brigade Report on Operations 1–5 September 1918.

  15. 54th Battalion War Diary, September 1918.