Battle of the Yser
Bullecourt, The Bullecourt Digger
With proud deliberation and studied nonchalance – the 48th Battalion at Bullecourt
Australians prepare for an attack near Bullecourt, France, May 1917. [AWM E00454]
The tank track relic in the main square of Bullecourt beside the Church of St Vlaast is a reminder of the first Battle of Bullecourt fought in the fields all around the ‘Bullecourt Digger’ on 11 April 1917. The British and Australian attack at Bullecourt came two days after the opening of the ‘Arras offensive’ further to the north where, at Vimy, the Canadians successfully seized the heights of the ridge from the Germans. It was hoped that at Bullecourt some sort of breakthrough might be made into the German rear. These British operations were conducted to support a planned major offensive by the French under General Robert Nivelle.
The Australian attack was to be made east of Bullecourt roughly in the direction towards which the ‘Bullecourt Digger’ faces, through barbed wire entanglements and into the trenches of the Hindenburg Line. The wire would be broken by a new weapon – tanks – rather than the conventional artillery wire–cutting bombardment which usually alerted the enemy to the fact that an attack was imminent. The attack was initially scheduled for dawn on 10 April but the tanks, because of a blizzard, failed to appear. The historian of the 48th Battalion (South Australia and Western Australia), Chaplain William Devine, was unimpressed:
The hour came and the tanks were still waited for, and the minutes passed whilst the men shivered with cold in the snow. All the time they saw grow the daylight which should make their position an exposed and dangerous one. There they lay for an hour and at last the order was given to retire to the trenches … The men got up stiff and cold and cramped, damning the tanks, the stupidity of the higher command that backed the tanks.
William Devine, The Story of a Battalion, Melbourne, 1919, p.74
World War I British tank track, found in the fields of Bullecourt, outside the church of St Vlaast, Bullecourt. [DVA]
Next day the attack battalions – the 48th Battalion and the 46th Battalion (Victoria) – reassembled in the fields about 550 metres behind where the ‘Bullecourt Digger’ is. To their right other Australian battalions prepared to advance more directly towards the village of Riencourt–lès–Cagnicourt about two kilometres to the north–east of Bullecourt. Once again, the tanks failed to appear, and when one finally did so, the Australians had already commenced their advance towards the wire of the Hindenburg Line unaided by anything but their own determination to get through. By 5.30 am the 46th Battalion, despite heavy casualties, had broken through the wire and was in the first line of German trenches known as OG1. These trenches lay just behind the ‘Bullecourt Digger’ and ran on towards Bullecourt. Coming behind the 46th, the 48th fought its way into the next line – OG2 – which lay roughly along the banks of the sunken road which leads away to the right of the Australian Memorial Park towards Riencourt–lès–Cagnicourt.
Looking from the ’Digger’ statue, Australian Memorial Park, Bullecourt. It was across this area that the 46th Battalion (Victoria), followed by the 48th Battalion (South Australia and Western Australia), broke into the Hindenburg Line on 11 April 1917. [DVA]
For the next few hours battle raged in this area as the two Australian battalions tried to hold their positions. Because it was believed by higher command that the attack was proceeding well and reaching its final objectives well beyond OG2 the British artillery failed to fire near these positions. Consequently the Germans were able to mount strong counter attacks unhindered by shelling. By mid–morning the 46th Battalion had been forced out of its position, many being captured and dozens killed and wounded. Effectively this left the 48th Battalion cut off in OG2 and there was no choice but to fight their way out back to the Australian lines.
One who did not make it back was Private Kenneth Anderson. One of his mates saw him, badly wounded but still trying to make his way back down a communication trench to OG1. Another left behind, badly wounded, was Private John Healy:
He got hit beyond the first line of German trenches. He was carried into the trench. I [Private Percy Sims] spoke to him there a few minutes before we retired. He asked me what we were doing. I said we had got orders to clear out. He was wounded in the face and he said he was also hurt in the back. We evacuated the trench about mid–day.
Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau file, Private John Healy, http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/1DRL428/00016/1DRL428–00016–1300912.pdf
The ‘sunken’ road leading towards Bullecourt from Riencourt–lès–Cagnicourt. The flags at the Australian Memorial Park are visible and Bullecourt village in the distance. It was in this area that the 46th Battalion (Victoria ) and the 48th Battalion (South Australia and Western Australia) fought in the Hindenburg Line on 11 April 1917. [DVA]
Troops billeted in a sunken road, Bullecourt, France, May 1917. [AWM E02021]
Also left behind was Lance Corporal Albert Ticklie who was last seen, wearing his Military Medal ribbon and with his leg shattered, in a support trench just before the 48th were forced to retreat. While Anderson’s body was later found and he was buried in Tilloy British Cemetery near Arras; neither Healy nor Ticklie were ever seen again and their names are commemorated on the Australian National Memorial at Villers–Bretonneux.
German shells burst over the Australian support lines after the attack on Bullecourt, France, 7 May 1917. [AWM E00517]
Leading the survivors back to OG1 was Captain Allan Leane, nephew of the battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Raymond Leane. When they reached this trench, after having driven back the Germans, Leane realised that they were running out of ammunition and bombs. The only way now lay over the top of the trench, back through the wire and across no–man’s–land to the Australian lines. The badly wounded were made as comfortable as possible, a rearguard positioned to cover the withdrawal, and then Leane gave the order to leave. Many had given the 48th up for dead when an observer at the front line noticed men ‘quietly moving through the end of the wire, some of them looking back and talking’. Charles Bean later wrote:
So, a full hour after every other battalion had left the trenches the 48th came out – under heavy rifle and machine gun fire, but with proud deliberation and studied nonchalance, at walking pace, picking their way through the broken wire … carefully helping the walking wounded, and with their officers bringing up the rear. Wherever Australians fought, that characteristic gait was noted by friend and enemy but never did it furnish such a spectacle as here. For ten minutes the attention of half the battlefield was held while, leisurely as a crowd leaving its daily work, the 48th drew clear.
Charles Bean, The Australian Imperial Force in France, 1917, Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918, Volume 1V, p.340
Australian soldiers use a candle to warm a mess tin of tea during the fighting near Bullecourt, France, 19 May 1917. [AWM E00456]
Australian stretcher–bearers at Bullecourt, France, May 1917. [AWM E00440]
Some were hit crossing no–man’s–land, among them Lieutenant William Watson who later died, on 28 April 1917. For his courage and general performance at Bullecourt, Watson received the Military Cross. The recommendation stated, in part:
He with the few officers that remained covered the retirement of the men. He was hit near the spine just outside the enemy trench and crawled 800 yards [731 metres] before he was picked up by our bearers. By his courage and determination he set a fine example to his men.
Recommendation for Military Cross, Lieutenant William Watson, 48th Battalion AIF, http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/awm28/1/198/0127.pdf
William Watson’s younger brother, Lieutenant Herbert Watson, was also killed that morning fighting with the 48th Battalion. Captain Allan Leane was also hit and was last seen hopping towards the German wire. He was captured and eventually reported to have died in German hands on 2 May 1917. Leane’s body was never recovered for burial and his name is commemorated on the Australian National Memorial at Villers–Bretonneux. All in all, 11 April 1917 was a terrible day for the 48th Battalion, the official history listing their casualties as 436 killed or wounded, and the Australian War Memorial’s Roll of Honour lists 96 men of the battalion as having died on that day. The unit was withdrawn to recuperate at Bapaume and Bean recounts that they marched into camp ‘with brave show, singing’.
The ‘sunken’ road to the east of the Australian Memorial Park leading to the village of Riencourt–lès–Cagnicourt. It was in this area that the 48th Battalion (South Australian and Western Australia) held a section of trench in the Hindenburg Line on the morning of 11 April 1917 before having to withdraw. [DVA]
Captain Allan Leane, 48th Battalion (South Australia and Western Australia). [AWM P01723.001]
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© 2008 Department of Veterans' Affairs and Board of Studies NSW :: Last update - November 2008