Desperate German attempts to recover lost ground were repelled over the next four days in the face of intense artillery bombardments and enormous loss of life. The embattled Australians took cover in shell holes as the ground shook with deafening explosions. Troops were killed, concussed or blown apart, buried alive, dug out and buried again as the ceaseless shelling raged about them and the earth rocked under the might of the German artillery. Wounded and dead men lay in the blinding smoke and dust of an inferno that raged both day and night.
On 26 July the commanders of the 7th and 8th battalions sheltered in a captured fortification known as ‘Gibraltar’. So named by the Australians, ‘Gibraltar’ was a heavily fortified German concrete observation post that covered the approach to Pozieres, protruding some three metres above the ground with deep chambers beneath. Against the odds the commanders established telephone contact with the headquarters of the 2nd Brigade. Lieutenant Colonel Jess of the 7th implored his headquarters for reinforcements:
It has been impossible to construct adequate trenches owing to the pulped nature of the ground. Those that were constructed N.E. of Pozieres are wiped out, and men are so dazed that they are incapable of working or fighting. Consider relief imperative as we could not resist attack if this is the preparation of it. 6th and 8th Battalions endorse this.13
Relief came with the entire artillery of the 1st Division concentrating its power on the German front line. A deadly artillery battle continued until late into the night. The troops were exhausted. The effort of fending off continuous counter-attacks under such intense fire while desperately trying to dig in had shattered the fighting force. They were surrounded by the bloated bodies of the dead, covered in their blood and exhausted by the constancy of battle. The eager fighting force had been reduced to a disillusioned and traumatised group of exhausted men:
“They looked,” wrote a sergeant (E.J. Rule) of the 4th Division, which watched the 1st pass into a rest area, “like men who had been in Hell … drawn and haggard and so dazed that they appeared to be walking in a dream and their eyes looked glassy and starey”. When they reached bivouac in Vadencourt Wood, and had washed, shaved and rested, they were strangely quiet, far different from the Australian soldiers of tradition. They resembled rather boys emerging from long illness, many lying quietly apart in their blankets, reading books, smoking, or writing home letters.14
As the taking of Pozieres had been the only successful action along the 11-kilometre attacking front, the German counter-attack was focused on Pozieres Ridge.15 Nowhere were the bombardments as fierce as those that targeted Pozieres. On 27 July, as the 2nd Division completed its relief, the casualty list of the 1st Division reached over 5000 killed or wounded. George’s brigade had lost 1136 men including eight officers.16
AUGUST
In the days leading up to the beginning of August, the 2nd Division fared no better than the 1st, adding another 6846 killed, wounded or missing to the casualty lists, the heaviest loss suffered by any Australian division in one tour on the Western Front.17 The task of the 2nd Division was to drive further north and take the highest point of the battlefield, Hill 160, a strategically vital observation point where the Germans had converted the brick ruins of a seventeenth-century windmill into a defensive blockhouse. The windmill sat to the north, just off the road to Bapaume. In this action, the Australians would also seize the old German trench lines known as OG 1 and OG 2, strongpoints to the east of the village.
On 29 July, under cover of darkness, the 2nd Division pushed forward. The men were decimated. The belts of barbed wire had not been cut by the artillery bombardment as accurate sighting had not been possible in the haze of dust which had engulfed the ridge. Men died entangled in the barbed wire while others succumbed to clouds of gas. Those who survived were ordered to dig in and construct jumping-off trenches closer to the German line. The 2nd Division was to take the windmill and capture the OG lines at all cost. Remarkably, the depleted and exhausted force, albeit now assisted by more accurate artillery fire, achieved its objectives and, by 4 August, the Australians looked down on the valley, easily detecting signs of enemy movement. The ultimate objective — Bapaume — was clearly visible in the distance.
As the 4th Division under British General Sir Herbert Cox prepared to relieve the remaining soldiers of the 2nd, German artillery unleashed a heavy bombardment which thundered down on the heights of Pozieres. There were few fighting men left to relieve; many had been killed or suffered dreadful wounds and the survivors were shell-shocked. Pozieres was described by many as ‘hell on earth’.
By 6 August the 4th Division was in its jumping-off position in old German dugouts where the men were trapped by the relentless artillery fire. The next morning the Germans advanced, gaining ground and capturing some 40 men from the 48th Battalion. Lieutenant Albert Jacka, a 22-year-old forestry worker from Wedderburn who had worked in the Terrick Terrick Forest above Mologa, and who had won Australia’s first Victoria Cross at Gallipoli, was sheltering in a German dugout with his platoon. Two Germans rolled bombs into the entrance of the dugout, killing two of the Australians and prompting Jacka to lead his surviving men in a charge from the shelter. Once outside the dugout, they discovered a large group of Germans marching their prisoners back to the enemy line. In the heavy fighting that ensued, Jacka’s men and the prisoners overcame the Germans and, despite most being wounded, they took fifty Germans prisoner, recaptured that part of the line and effectively turning the tide of the battle. Witnessing the attack by Jacka and his men, other small groups of Australians sheltering in nearby trenches and dugouts rushed to take on the Germans in a deadly hand-to-hand fight. Jacka was badly wounded — shot seven times — but recovered to be awarded the Military Cross for this courageous action.
Withdrawn from the line, George marched back beneath the leaning virgin. The church had been transformed into a dressing station where medical teams tended the wounded as best they could. George simply wrote in his notebook, ‘Heavy Bombardment July 22 to 27 Pozieres’. When he next found the time to write to his family he chose not to describe the horror of Pozieres to his brothers — perhaps it was beyond words. His first letter after Pozieres was brief and guarded. He had survived, but this battle was not over. He was unaware that, across the field, one kilometre north of Pozieres, was the heavily fortified position of Mouquet Farm which had to be taken, once again, at all costs.
August 1st 1916
Dear Allan & Percy
Just a few lines to find out where in the world you are you must be over in this part of the world by now. Charlie sent your addresses to me, they tell me you have been delayed from coming before, through the meningitis breaking out, you are lucky in one way to miss as much of this “Big Push” as you can because I can tell these are terrible battles here where we are advancing I wont say much as you might not get this letter, am sorry to say that Arch Bailey got badly wounded in the advance Amos is alright, I havent seen Harry Burrows he is in the 6th Batt. Tom Alford and the others will soon be joining the 6 Batt now I have just received a letter from you and one from Percy dated May 11 it is the first one from you since Xmas. My address 2748 Light Trench Mortar Battery 2nd Inf Brigade Headquarters. They are small guns for firing bombs we be in the trenches with the battalion just the same. Well boys should you get this letter drop me a line straight away and let me know whereabouts you are. Remember me to all the other boys hoping all are well as I am at present.
I remain
Your loving Bro
George
As George wrote home, Archie Bailey was on his way to England. Archie, a carpenter who lived at Pompapiel, a short distance from the Marlows, had enlisted in July 1915. He had been shot in the face and arm at some point during the dreadful days of 22–25 July. While he survived Pozieres, he was wounded again on four separate occasions. On 25 February 1917 he was evacuated with severe gunshot wounds to his left leg and sent to England where he remained until July when he rejoined his unit. On 20 September 1917, a
t the Battle of Menin Road, he was again wounded in the left leg; he recovered in England and returned to the front in December. Archie was awarded the Military Medal for his courageous action on 9 August 1918 at Lihons, east of Villers-Bretonneux. As the 1st Division battled its way towards the village, Archie’s commanding officer was killed in fierce fighting and he took control of the platoon. Archie’s platoon captured two enemy machine-guns and their crews.18 During this assault he was wounded in the left arm and was once again hospitalised in England. This brave soldier returned to Australia in February 1919 and was destined to marry and live to the age of 81. He died on 21 September 1968.19
Amos Haw.
Harry Burrows was a local farm labourer from Tandarra who had also enlisted in July 1915. He recovered from wounds suffered on the first day of August 1916 and continued to serve on the Western Front until his return to Australia in July 1919.20 Amos Haw, a 24-year-old farmer from Mologa, was wounded by gunfire in April 1917; he returned to the front nine months later and, in the last months of the war, was in England training others in the techniques of gas warfare.21 Tom Alford was also a farmer from the local area who joined up in March 1916 and was to arrive in France in late September. He was allocated to the 59th Battalion of Pompey Elliott’s 15th Brigade (5th Division).22 Tom frequently wrote candid letters home to his mate Jim Marlow until his return in May 1919.
William Thomas (Tom) Alford standing. Written on the back of this photo is ‘Tom Bray’, possibly 5335 Thomas Bray of Goroke, Victoria, who was killed on 4 February 1917.
MOUQUET FARM, AUGUST
The Australians were immediately ordered to push forward along Pozieres Ridge and take the underground defences of Mouquet Farm, a kilometre further to the north of Pozieres. Mouquet Farm had been transformed into a German stronghold, the cellars extended to accommodate hundreds of men and fortified with logs and concrete. Secret entrances allowed rapid entry and exit. Perched on the ridge that runs from Thiepval through Pozieres and south to Guillemont, it was a fortress that protected the village of Thiepval.
The line of attack to the farm was on a narrow frontage which allowed the Germans to enfilade the Australians from the front and flanks. British forces were to attack on their left. Over a period of a week, the 4th Division lost 4549 men, advancing on the farm in the face of withering machine-gun and artillery fire. They were relieved by the men of George’s 1st Division on 16 August. It was a rainy, misty day, the churned-up ground now muddy and slippery. Since the division was last at Pozieres Ridge, the front had moved forward a mere 450 metres. Despite the arrival of reinforcements, the 1st Division was at two-thirds of its full strength. While the troops were rested and re-kitted it is unlikely that they were ready to endure more of what they had received at Pozieres. By 22 August, once the division had been withdrawn and the roll called, another 2650 men had been killed, wounded or were missing. Little ground had been gained and what had was a pulverised wasteland strewn with the bodies of Australians who had died in a torrent of murderous fire from the stronghold of the farm. The 2nd Light Trench Mortar Battery comprised some 50 men of whom over a quarter were now casualties.23
George had once more cheated death or a serious wound. The piece of heather his cousin had sent him was still bringing good luck. His notes briefly recorded, ‘2nd Stunt August arrived at Contalmaison [village 2 kilometres south of Pozieres] August 15 Tuesday left 21st.’
The 1st Division was now utterly exhausted. The 2nd Division was again sent to attack this most formidable of positions. In the final days of August, with the 2nd Division suffering the loss of a further 1270 men, the 4th Division returned to the fray and, in desperate fighting, broke through into the remains of the farm on the rain-drenched night of 29 August.24 The Germans emerged from their underground defences. But the tenuous position could not be held and the surviving Australian soldiers were forced to retreat.
Eventually, on 5 September, when the Australian forces could no longer continue, the 4th Division was withdrawn to be replaced by the Canadian Corps. In 19 attacks over a period of seven weeks, the Australians had incurred 23,000 casualties to capture just 1500 metres of ground. A total of 6741 Australians had been killed.25
The ruins of Mouquet Farm were eventually captured by British forces on 26 September. Having first taken Thiepval, the British chose a broader frontal attack rather than continuing from the rear on the narrow salient which had led to the decimation of the Australian lines.
On the spot where the Pozieres windmill once stood, a memorial has been built which marks the area of less than one square kilometre which, as official historian Charles Bean so aptly remarked, ‘marks a ridge more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth’.26 Thousands of Australians were listed as missing at Pozieres, wounded and left to die. It was often too dangerous to collect the dead; blown to pieces in the massive artillery bombardments, they simply disappeared, their bodies never recovered, lost to the fields of France. The soldiers who survived would never forget the carnage, the horror, the hell that was Pozieres.
* * *
The Leaning Virgin of Albert today (author photograph taken 27 May 2011).
FRANCE, 2011
Australian pilgrims are drawn to Pozieres to reflect on the sacrifice of the thousands of men who lost their lives on this once insignificant patch of earth. We begin by navigating our way to where the golden statue of the Virgin Mary proudly towers over the bustling community of Albert. George will have gazed on this sight as he marched towards the battlefield. Today a new statue (the other disappeared, possibly broken up and souvenired) stands erect, towering above Albert. Beneath the basilica is the entrance to a 230-metre-long tunnel used as an air raid shelter during World War II but now housing the Somme 1916 Museum. This collection brings to life the reality of trench warfare with audio and visual displays and relics of the devastation that shattered the town.
We plunge beneath the basilica, down a steep set of stairs and make our way through the tunnel amid the array of memorabilia. Eventually we emerge in a picturesque park and, as we turn to retrace our steps through the city to our starting point, we look up at the golden statue standing proudly above Albert. On the wall of a building in front of the basilica is a mural, a scene from 1916 in which three Allied soldiers march beneath the toppling statue as smoke billows from the town below. Today, the new statue rises above this scene, a reminder of the resilience and determination of the Allies and the residents of the town who were later to rebuild their community.
The Lochnagar Crater on the approach to Pozieres (author photograph taken 26 May 2011).
We continue our journey towards the village of Pozieres on the Roman road from Albert. As straight as it is, the road undulates; the old trenches beneath the bitumen have gradually subsided and the road has collapsed with them. We turn off the main road, through the village of La Boisselle and stop opposite the enormous Lochnagar Crater, the remains of one of ten Allied mines detonated on 1 July 1916, the opening day of the Battle of the Somme. Thousands of men, English and German, were killed here. It is 90 metres across, 30 metres deep and is at the head of Sausage Valley, or Sausage Gully as the Australians called it, from which the troops made their approach to Pozieres. We walk around the rim and try to make the leap from 2011 to 1916, to imagine how the countryside looked — the sights, the sounds, the smells. I wonder what George was thinking as he encountered this enormous crater and as he picked his way past shattered wagons and guns, past the wounded in the aid posts, past the bodies of the dead and into the inferno he could see and hear on the ridge beyond.
Flags mark the site of the windmill. In the centre on the horizon is Mouquet Farm, to the left is Thiepval. There were some 23,000 Australian casualties on this patch of earth and its surrounds in seven weeks (author photo taken on 26 May 2011).
Back on the road from Albert we approach Pozieres and pause at the memorial to the 1st Division. The information board reminds us that the division lost 5285 dead or wounded
here. Nearby is a viewing platform from which we look across the battlefield and its surrounds. From this point it is possible to understand the value of Pozieres to the German forces. The town of Albert is to the west. Swing around to the right and the dominating Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is visible on the skyline and a little further to the right is Mouquet Farm. Today it is quiet, with only an occasional vehicle on the road behind us to break the silence. There are skylarks singing far above, the undulating fields are golden and green and the wheat is shimmering in the sunlight. A farmer has planted new trees that will eventually obstruct the view to Thiepval, the ground over which so many Australians succumbed in such a small area. Close by are the remains of ‘Gibraltar’, the German blockhouse that stood some three metres high, captured by the 1st Division on 23 July. It was from this point, three days later, that Lieutenant Colonel Jess sent his urgent message to headquarters.
The AIF memorial at the entrance to Mouquet Farm (author photo taken on 26 May 2011).
We drive through the village to the site of the windmill and walk to the mound where the fortified structure had stood since 1610, over the ground where so many Australians fought and died. We stand on the high point. It is 26 April 2011. The mound is covered with small Australian flags and an occasional Aboriginal flag, flapping wildly in the wind, Australians paying homage to their brave forebears. Beyond, just visible on the horizon, are the silhouettes of Mouquet Farm and, further on, the imposing Thiepval memorial. The land in between is a patchwork of brown fallow and the green shoots of young crops. Every year, across this verdant pastoral ground, the bones of the missing are disturbed as the farmers plough their fields. The detritus of war — shells, bullet casings, pickets, wire and more — are continually uncovered and piled in the corners of fields. It was here that George carried the Stokes mortar into battle, preparing to fight for his life.
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