Belgium 1917: Battle of Messines

Mesen (Messines), Island of Ireland Peace Park

The signal for a butchery – pillboxes at messines

A novel feature of the Messines battlfield for the Australians on 7 June 1917 was the German blockhouse or ‘pillbox’. These reinforced concrete structures, which could really only be destroyed by a direct hit with a heavy shell, allowed soldiers to take shelter during bombardments and then to re–emerge with their machine guns as the enemy advanced towards their line. Some had small slits in the concrete from which a machine gun could be operated but others were totally sealed off except for a door at the back. It was essential to capture such positions; otherwise strong enemy detachments would be left in the rear of a swift advance. Charles Bean describes how the resistance offered by the garrisons of these fortifications particularly maddened men already stressed by battle:

Where such tension exists in battle the rules of ‘civilised’ war are powerless. Most men are temporarily half mad, their pulses pounding at their ears, their mouths dry … When they have been wracked with machine gun fire, the routing out of enemy groups from behind several feet of concrete is almost inevitably the signal for a butchery at least of the first few who emerge, and somethimes even the helplessly wounded may not be spared … ruthlessness is a quality essential to hand to hand fighting, and soldiers were deliberately trained to it.

Charles Bean,The AIF in France 1917, Volume IV, The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918, Sydney, 1941, p.624

‘Huns Walk’, east of Mesen (Messines), captured by Australian soldiers during the Battle of Messines on 7 June 1917. [AWM E01295]

The N134 east of Mesen (Messines) in the vicinity of the ‘Hun’s Walk’ area of the Messines battlefield of 1917. [DVA]

In the countryside directly east of the Irish tower were a number of German pillboxes each of which had to be taken out, often with heavy casualties. One in particular, on a roadside about a kilometre due east of the tower, gave much trouble to the 37th Battalion (Victoria). A company under the command of Captain Robert Grieve, of Brighton, Victoria, was held up by this ‘pillbox’ as they attempted to file through a gap in the German wire. Half the company, and all its officers except Grieve, were struck down and Grieve felt that they would all be annihilated unless the German machine gun was subdued. Signalling his men to shelter in shell holes, he initially hoped to take out the machine gun, which he could clearly see firing from a slit in the blockhouse, with a mortar and fire from a heavy Vickers machine gun which were being brought up behind his unit. The mortar crew, however, had been shattered by a German shell and efforts to fire the Vickers by another officer, Lieutenant Alexander Fraser, 10th Machine Gun Company, of Kyneton,Victoria, came to nothing.

Captain Robert Grieve, 37th Battalion (Victoria). [AWM H00038]

German dead at the Battle of Messines on 7 June 1917. [AWM H09212]

Grieve now took matters into his own hands. Seizing a bag of granades he slowly worked his way towards the blockhouse. His method was to fling a grenade and then to run foreward in short bursts from shell hole to shell hole through the concealing dust thrown up by the explosion. The grenade burst also caused the German gunners to momentarily cease fire. In this way Grieve worked his way into the German trench to the left of the blockhouse. The trench was empty as the enemy soldiers were still sheltering from the British bombardment. Another grenade, thrown close to the loop–hole from which the Germans were firing, made them stop and Grieve then rolled two grenades more directly into the opening. After the explosions, he went around to the door at the back of the blockhouse and found the crew lying dead or wounded around their gun. Grieve now signalled his men up and the trench was occupied.

A German blockhouse or pillbox captured by Australian troops during the Battle of Messines on 7 June 1917. [AWM J00786]

A German blockhouse or pillbox destroyed in an explosion of a mine near Mesen (Messines), 27 November 1917. [AWM E01269]

Captain Robert Grieve’s prompt action had undoubtedly saved the day for his men and enabled the line to advance and for his outstanding bravery Grieve was later awarded the Victoria Cross. Sadly, he was himself badly wounded by a sniper shortly after his action as he stood and signalled to more of his depleted company to come up and occupy the trench. At that point there were only 40 of them left out of more than 100 who had started out that afternoon.

Mesen (Messines) church, January 1917. [AWM E01488]

Round Tower of the Island of Ireland Peace Park seen from the south of Mesen (Messines). Mesen church is in the right background. [DVA]

Trees, Island of Ireland Peace Park. [DVA]