The Battle of Pozieres remembered

 

I couldn't let the month of July pass without a tribute to some of those who gave their all on the battlefields on the Western Front in 1916. They never made it home to Australia but are remembered on family headstones scattered throughout Rookwood cemetery.

After the horror of the Gallipoli campaign, many were patched up and sailed to France to join British and other Commonwealth nations troops for arguably worse horrors.

The name Fromelles reminds many of the battle that caused the single the greatest number of dead Australian troops in the Great War. There were 5,533 casualties, including approximately 1,900 deaths. The number of dead included 15 sets of brothers and one father and son. The British Division suffered 1,547. The Germans around 1,500. All the more shocking when you find that this happened in one 24-hour period; 19th July 1916.

If that was not bad enough, those that survived the bloodbath of Fromelles were then subjected to the Battle of Pozieres which ran from July to August 1916. Near that French village the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) lost as many men over a few weeks as it did in over eight months on Gallipoli.

The first attack was on the 23rd of July just four days after Fromelles. The 1st Division seized the German front and reached the main road through Pozieres a short time later, the German counter-attacked at dawn but were fought off; the rest of Pozieres fell within the next two days.


Troops going into battle at Pozieres - AWM H16396

Next the 2nd Division took over Pozieres village by 27th July and were ordered to capture Pozieres heights. The Germans were ready. There were 3,500 August casualties. The AIF fought back and seized Pozieres heights on 4th August. The exhausted 2nd Division were relieved by the 4th Division with another 10 days of action. When they reached Mouquet Farm the 4th Division were withdrawn and rested. The Germans held that position until 26th September 1916.

In less than seven weeks fighting at Pozieres and Mouquet Farm, three AIF Divisions suffered 23,000 casualties. Of these, 6,800 were killed or died of wounds.


Pozieres destruction - Wikipedia

Last year I published a blog about the horror of Fromelles and highlighted the lives of Frederic Leslie Sainty and William Bentley so this year I will highlight some of those that took part in the Battle of Pozieres.

Those men are commemorated on family graves in Rookwood and are as follows -

CHARLES MILLER

Charles was the adopted son of Mr. Compton Smith and Mrs. Esther Thomasina Miller from Burwood. His adoption in 1901 at the age of four was from the Central Methodist Mission Children's Home known as "Dalmar" in Croydon, western Sydney. Charles was their only child as Compton died in 1902 and his raising became the sole province of Esther.

Esther gave her consent for Charles to join the expeditionary forces as he had previously served in the Citizen Military Forces - a form of the Army Reserve. He enlisted on 7th May 1915 at the age of nineteen and a half years.

After the successful withdrawal from Gallipoli on 20th December 1915, the 20th Division of which Charles was attached, proceeded to France and had the dubious honour of being the first Australian battalion to be raided by the Germans. The 20th took part in it first major offensive around Pozieres between late July and the end of August 1916.

Charles was killed in action in the early days of the Battle around Pozieres on 26th July 1916, 107 years ago today. His Red Cross file contains a statement from an eyewitness that Charles was mutilated by a burst of shrapnel erupting so close to him to render him unrecognizable. He could only be identified by his identity disc. Another witness stated seeing him lying in "no man’s land" as due to heavy fighting his body could not be retrieved.

After the battle moved on Charles' body was never located and he lies somewhere in the fields of France; his name carved in stone at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux.

After many years of correspondence to the War Commission pleading that his parents were unknown, his adoptive mother Esther was issued with his memorial plaque and medals.

The headstone in the Independent Old Ground area of Rookwood states "Our beloved Charlie Boy. he died for England to awake with God."


Inscription on the Miller headstone with Company colours - author's own 

KENNETH ALLAN BELL

Kenneth, from Ashfield, was a University Law student at the time of his enlistment in early 1916. He had taken out a certificate in the Merchant Marines with the intention of becoming a Marine Barrister. He was offered a commission in the Royal Australian Navy upon the outbreak of war but declined the offer to join the Army. Upon enlistment Kenneth was enrolled as a Lieutenant.

He was killed in the first wave at Pozieres also on the 26th of July 1916, 107 years ago today. Kenneth was buried near the battlefield at the time. Fortunately, his body was later located, and he now lies in the Pozieres British Cemetery in France.

His file contains a great deal of correspondence between his father, Robert, and the War Office about a missing personal revolver from his extensive kit which was subsequently returned to Australia early in 1919 and the matter never resolved. Perhaps someone souvenired it from the battlefield - that was not unknown to occur. Robert Bell died later in 1919 never receiving his son’s Memorial Scroll or Plaque. 

The family headstone states that Kenneth, “a beloved son… died aged 26 years.” It is also noted that Robert died on 1st July leaving his wife, Amelia to mourn both her husband and son every July until her death in 1938.


The Bell headstone - author's own 

EDWARD JOHN FITZGERALD

Edward was originally from New Zealand but at the time of his enlistment in November 1915 was living in Homebush a suburb of Sydney near the Necropolis. After training in Egypt, he was dispatched to the Western Front where he suffered a bout of influenza in April 1916. He was designated fit for action on 18th June but just over a month later on 24th July he was reported as Killed in Action which was altered to “missing” as his body was not found. A Court of Inquiry on 14th June 1917 updated the status to KIA.

This news must have been distressing for his mother, Ellen, as her husband, James, had died in February, just a few months before.

Edward was originally listed as having no known grave and his name was carved on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, however, on 30th July 1937, a letter was forwarded to his mother with his identity disc, stating that his body had been found and that he had been reburied with full honours at the London Cemetery extension at Longeval France. Unfortunately, Ellen had died in June 1933.


The Fitzgerald headstone - author's own

It is generally acknowledged that Pozieres was a victory – but at what cost?

In the words of the Australian official historian Charles Bean, the Pozieres ridge “is more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth.”

For today’s blog I have referenced the Australian War Memorial’s information on Pozieres and various photographs from their extensive collection, National Archive of Australia enlistment files and Wikipedia.

I will close this blog referencing the anti-war song lyrics of “War” written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong in 1969 and originally sung by The Temptations.

“War what is it good for? Absolutely nothing.”

RIP. Lest We Forget

If you have any comments regarding this blog please add them below of at the Group Facebook Page found under

rookwoodcemeterydiscoveries

Of send me a personal message at my email address

lorainepunch@gmail.com

Until next week.

Comments

  1. This was so interesting with what they endured back then we still do the same today ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Conflict changes as technology alters but its aim remains the same tragically

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