In Great Spirits

by Archie Barwick

  7th April. Put the day in cramped up in an old dugout. Mr Champion, Starkey & myself never got a wink of sleep the whole day for Fritz shelled heavily, some of them lobbing uncomfortably close to us. Towards evening rain & hail set in & we were faced with a bonzer night & so it turned out, for it was Hell — sleet & hail the long night through, & no chance of getting any hot stuff to eat or drink. In fact all the water we could get was out of the little puddle holes in the ground, for we dare not drink shell hole water as all that had been poisoned by the Boches.

  There are a fair number of German dead lying about; our boys must have got to close grips with them.

  You should see the way the hounds have destroyed things: blew great craters in the roads every mile or so, & especially at all cross roads; chopped all telegraph poles down, cut the wires & smashed the insulators to pieces; all the lovely avenues of trees have also been felled. They even went so far as to pull all the mangolds & turnips to let them rot so as the English could not get them. As for the villages they have been thoroughly destroyed before they abandoned them; they are nothing more than a mass of stone, plaster, brick & scattered over all is the timber & etc. They are a dreary & desolate sight & I can quite understand the silent & deadly rage of the French. God help the Germans if the French, or for that matter the British, ever get within touch of Germany.

  I have tried to fathom the reason why the Huns should destroy all the fruit trees, pull the lovely flowers up, destroy all pot plants & do everything in their power to make the country desolate. Surely they don’t think that such actions as these will have any effect on the war.

  8th April. We were supposed to go over the top tonight, but for some reason or other it was postponed.

  I had been working all night getting my men water & one thing & another, & about 3 o’clock I went over to see if our cooks had our hot meal ready. They were cooking in an old cellar which they had discovered full of china ornaments & etc, but they could only cook at night hence my visit to them. I was informed that it would be ready in half an hour so I started to go back. I had scarce got out in the road when all of a sudden every machine gun & rifle within miles seemed to burst out firing, & bullets flew thick as hailstones. I could see I was not in one of the pleasantest places so I just started to make a dash for our trench when “whack” a thrill shot through my shoulder like a thrust from a red-hot needle & I stopped in my track. I scarcely knew what had happened for a minute then I felt warm blood trickling down my arm. I realised then that I was hit & I about-turned & made for the safety of the cookhouse & there got my wound dressed. I was fairly cool as I took my clothes off, for to tell the truth I was rather glad & when I saw I would get away for a little while I shook hands with the boys & was as pleased as Punch. The cooks put some iodine on the wound & bandaged her up. I then had to wait till the shelling ceased a little & when it did I made a dash for Coy Hqrs.

  Just as I got there old Fritz put a most terrific barrage over the very road where Hqrs were. How we escaped being blown to pieces is another mystery to me, for 5.9s were flying & bursting all around us & we could scarcely breathe for the dust & foul fumes from these deadly shells. What makes our escape all the more marvellous is that we had no cover, only a little sunken road. We crept out of her by degrees & once more I breathed a sigh of relief.

  Just as day was breaking I went out through the back of Doiques. The shelling was still very heavy, though not quite so concentrated. I made my way slowly down to Batt Hqrs & here the Dr dressed the wound. An A.M.C. man took me down the road a little way & showed me the way to the next dressing station. Reaching this they directed me to a place where the wounded caught ambulances. Had to wait here a fair while & saw some horrible wounds. Got away at last in a horse ambulance & so ended Easter Sunday for me.

  9th April. Continuing our journey the ambulance dropped us at a field station & here they examined us, & worst of all inoculated us again, this time for lockjaw. Heavens how it stung; the needle was as blunt as it could possibly be & they drove it right home. It made me contract every muscle in my body, so painful was it; however after it was over we had a good feed of bread & butter & hot tea. This was a Godsend for we were famishing.

  In the morning we were carried out on stretchers — couldn’t walk for they took our boots away last night. We were put into motors & these ran us down to the hospital train. How splendidly they are fitted up, bonzer beds & all, & they put me snug into one of them, & there I stopped until the train reached Rouen. Hanged if it was just snowing again when we were taken out & driven to the hospital in motors again.

  I finally landed in No. 6, an English hospital & I never wish to get in one again. They are absolutely rotten & the tucker is worse. I nearly starved during my few days there & if they hadn’t let me out when they did I would have bolted & taken the consequences. That night when they took us in we were put into bed & our wounds dressed, but hang me if they would give us any tea. We were nearly all Australians in there & I can tell you that we kicked up a row.

  12th April. Fed right up to the neck & had a small row with the Dr & nurses. I wanted to get out of it & after a lot of argument the Dr consented.

  From the hospital we went into one of the worst, disgraceful & bullying camps as ever I wish to see. It was run almost by Tommies entirely. I wouldn’t be in the English Army for anything. I would be in the clink the whole time I am sure of that, & the tucker we got at this gaol was about enough to keep you alive.

  15th April. Woke up this morning to find it raining like blazes. Don’t know what’s come over the country at all. In the last 2 days we have had 2 snowstorms, 3 heavy frosts, 2 fine days & 1 wet one. Rather a funny mixture.

  We are all going to Etaples this afternoon.

  18th April. Got issued with clothing & equipment, so am a soldier once more.

  19th April. Ran across Stan last night, what do you think of that, & he had been living within a stone’s throw. One of the chaps in the orderly room said to me, “One of your brothers was here tonight looking for you.” I guessed who it was straight away, & I started off down to the 12th Batt lines to see him. I had only just got out of the tent when I spotted him coming up the line. I recognised him immediately, & he knew me. I don’t think Stan has changed at all. I was delighted to see him, & it was very late that night when we went to bed.

  20th April. Went up for examination this morning & was passed so will be going away tomorrow.

  21st April. Left Etaples this morning & marched down to the train & soon we were bowling merrily along. We went through Amiens & Corbie this time & called at Albert about 2 o’clock, then marched to the reinforcement camp just outside Albert. Here we all got our respirators & tested them. After this I came into Albert & here I am in an old Y.M.C.A. with plenty of shell holes in her, scribbling away as if my life depended on it.

  22nd April. Left camp about 10 o’clock & after a fair march pulled up at Bazentin Le Petit, a place I have been in before. On the way up we passed fairly close to Pozières — what a difference there is now to when I first knew Pozzy. She is all cleaned up & motors are running through her, huts are all over the place, & not a gun or a shell to be seen, but the ground still shows traces of the terrible battle that was fought for possession of this little village, & it will live in memory, for it was one of the places that made Australia’s name famous throughout the world.

  I thought that I would stroll round & have a look at some of the places I was familiar with. What a desolate place the station was compared to when I had known it last. Gone were the hustle & bustle of thousands of men & hundreds of trams that used to crowd round the dump, all the buildings have been pulled down, tents taken away, dugouts everywhere empty, while even the road was deserted. The place looks very desolate & lonely now. Of course the reason for this is very simple: it is too far behind the lines to be of any use now the Hun has been pushed back. They have started to clean the mess up in places; every here & there you will see great craters being filled with barb wire & such r
ubbish, while the big German dugouts are being stripped of their timber & then blown in & levelled off. We won’t know the place soon, for the grass is springing rapidly & will hide all the ugly great shell holes of this battered country.

  Away in the distance I can hear our guns rolling & grumbling like thunder, but slowly & surely battering the Hun to pieces. There is no doubt now as to who is going to win, the fingers point very plainly, but it has been a hard & costly struggle. I think we have entered on the last phase of the war. Soon she will be over, & what’s left of us sailing for all we are worth away to the Sunny South, the place which has been so long the land of our dreams.

  It is a bonzer afternoon & I am sitting by an old deserted dugout full in the glorious sunshine which is pouring golden beams down, making everything beautiful. Above me the larks are singing sweetly & the other birds are keeping company, while everything has a tinge of green telling of fast-coming spring. Away up in the Heavens the aeroplanes are droning as they pass backwards & forwards, going to or from the line.

  29th April. Packed up & left Le Transloy this morning at 9.30 & marched to the same trenches we were in a few days ago. It was a glorious morning & as we slowly marched along it seemed more like a huge picnic than anything else. All over the place horses were quietly grazing on the new spring grass & they were enjoying it properly while the chaps who were looking after them were lying on the grass sunning themselves. Wherever you looked you could see rows & rows of snow-white tents & hundreds of men moving busily about, & in the air the planes were practising, looping the loop, corkscrewing & tumbling about as if they were born in it (it is marvellous the way they can handle these things). But there was one thing that we could not help hearing & that was the slow & steady rumbling of the guns away in the distance. They held no terrors for us, only now & again brought us back to earth from our dreams by an extra heavy roll of thunderous reports.

  30th April. Hot & sultry today & feels like rain.

  Today we have been doing Coy drill & etc & yet in the morning & evening we have to “stand to”. It does seem ridiculous — we are easily 5 miles behind the firing line.

  Got a bit of a shock. The Capt told me that I would be going to England in a few days, but I am not counting on it. I will have to be right in England before I believe it.

  Got a bonzer parcel from Mrs Mitchell today & there was a fine cake in excellent condition, which was very welcome to us.

  3rd May. The guns opened up last night with a terrific bang. Just a few minutes before “zero time” there had been an ominous silence, then our guns let fly & before you could look round the whole crowd let fly for all they were worth. The Heavens were lit up by the flames from the gun muzzles; they stabbed the night with vivid bright red stabs of fiery flame. There seemed to be guns everywhere you looked & the night was filled with an awe-inspiring carronade which made the very earth rock & tremble & the air to vibrate so much that a candle would scarcely burn.

  We were going to have a bath at 9 o’clock this morning & started off merry & bright but we did not get far before a runner came hurrying over with the news that we were to return at once & get ready for the firing line as the 2nd Div had been badly mauled. This was a shock to us, but we hurried back & set to & threw our things together, & Sgts drew their bombs, ammunition & etc & issued them out to their men. All was hurry & bustle for a while, but everything was ready in no time & we were ready to march off, which we soon did, my platoon leading. The day was very hot & the roads dry & dusty, & soon we were all covered in sweat & were quite white with dust. We marched rapidly for it seemed we were urgently needed but when we reached Vraucourt we found we had to wait till dusk before we could go any further.

  German prisoners & wounded were passing through all day & so were our boys. The Red Cross cars were very busy & we could see that the casualties had been very heavy, but what could one expect, for breaking into the famous Hindenburg Line was a very great feat.

  All day long there has been a most terrific artillery battle going & the roar of the guns is deafening, especially the 60 pounders of which there are quite a lot close to us. There is one remarkable thing I have noticed since this battle started & that is the almost total absence of the German planes. It just shows that we have the mastery of the air. Whenever a battle is raging our planes go right over the German lines & engage the Hun over there & prevent him from having a squizz, & that is what is happening now. As I sit here at the door of our old ruined farmhouse I can see dozens of our planes scouting & wheeling about.

  4th May. Just about dusk last night we “fell” our platoons in & Capt McKenzie sent up for me as he wanted to speak to me before moving off, so down I went. “Look here, Barwick,” he said. “Tonight you are going up to the line with a new officer. Stick to him all you can & teach him what you know & you will be practically in charge of the men for I can trust you.” He told us we were going into a Hell & he wanted to give me a good stiff drink of spirits, but I never go in for that sort of thing & it does not appeal to me.

  I landed in the trenches. The portion I was in was mostly 5th Bde & they had the wind up properly as they had lost heavily, as the numerous dead lying about showed all too plainly. When we were taking over, old Fritz made a counter-attack but he was beaten off. I’m hanged if I knew where we were until day broke, for shells seemed to be coming from all sides & flares were going up practically all round us.

  5th May. When we were taking over the trenches, we asked them if any of our men were in front & they said no, so a little while after some of us saw some men stealing slowly over towards us. Jock Mackie ordered his men to line the parapet & wait for him to give the order to fire for he wanted to make certain, so he let them come fairly close, thinking of course they were Huns going to make an attack. When he thought they were close enough he gave the order to open fire, & the boys let fly into them but to their horror they found that they were firing on their own men. The fools in the trench did not know where their own men were to have told us such a thing. Luckily however none of the lads were killed. They belonged to the 21st Batt & they had just been relieved from a trench in front of us by the 3rd Batt & were on their way out.

  Up to about 11 o’clock the morning was fairly quiet & all the Sgts were busy organising their men & fixing the trench up a little, for we all expected to have to fight for it like tigers. We got a good number of the wounded out, collected all bombs, fixed posts & reliefs up & etc & soon we were ready for the Hun. We did not have long to wait for he started a bombing attack & things were pretty lively for a time but eventually he was beaten off with considerable loss. Then we thought that we would take a hand & A Coy attacked him & after a fierce fight succeeded in forcing him out of nearly 300 yds of trench. During this smart little action they captured between 30 & 40 prisoners, all big & young men, picked troops they were, which made our boys’ success all the more creditable. Some of these Germans must have stood nearly 7 ft high & were broad in proportion; they were the best stamp of men that I have ever seen in the German Army.

  It always seems to be the Australians’ fate to bump into these picked troops but the reason is very obvious, for there is no doubt about it the Germans look upon the Australians as very formidable troops & therefore they take no chances & put all picked troops against us. Consequently wherever the Australians are there is bound to be fierce fighting with heavy losses to both sides concerned. You have no idea how his crack troops, guards & etc have suffered from the Australians, & for this very reason I am sure that the bulk of the German Army have a lot of time for the Australians as fighters, although they hate & dread us for they know we will never yield an inch of ground till they are absolutely blown out of it & will fight to the death.

  The trench we are holding is the main one of the Hindenburg Line & in a few places, where it has not been battered down by shell fire, a good 10 feet deep & fairly wide. The traverses are especially strongly built & look like great buttresses of stone. This trench is also provided with big deep dugout
s & there are any amount of dead Germans in them. These dugouts are more than welcome to us once we get into their trench, for there all our wounded are taken & they are as safe as can be. The majority of them are 30 or 40 ft in depth & the whole concern is strong & well timbered. In these dugouts we find all sorts of things, such as bacon, butter, black bread & etc while all their water bottles are full of coffee. I don’t mind drinking their coffee but I could not come at the eatables.

  On both sides of this powerful trench they have barb wire fully 40 yards in width. It is a wonderful affair how our chaps got through it, but they did.

  We have had some terrific bombardments & the one today is very severe. As the day wore on it got worse & at 7 o’clock it reached a climax. I’m hanged if you could see 10 yds in front for the dust & earth raised by the bursting shells & this combined with the fumes, smoke & stinking irritating tear gas, of which they put over huge quantities, made life almost unbearable & almost certainly very precious. Men were being killed all along the trench & we were all “standing to” for we were expecting a counter-attack at any minute. The cry for stretcher bearers was very insistent & these brave chaps were kept very busy bandaging & getting the wounded under cover. Of all the things I hate to hear in a trench is “stretcher bearers” for it always means that some poor devil got a knock, perhaps killed & we are never satisfied until we know who it is.

  Jock & I had a lucky escape while this Hell was raging. We were trying to talk in the trench when a great shell, probably an 8 in., burst fair on the parados behind us, certainly not more than 3 yards above our heads. Hanged if I knew what had happened for a second or two, for I did not know whether my head was on or not & how my whole body tingled — it is a wonder the concussion never killed us stone dead I can tell you. Jock & I lost no time in buzzing round to the next traverse, where we overhauled one another & luckily found nothing the matter.