Battle of the Yser
Noreuil, Noreuil Australian Cemetery
Your very gallant son – Noreuil, 2 April 1917
The D5 between Langicourt–Marcel and Noreuil. [DVA]
As he toured the area east of Bapaume during the Australian advance, British journalist Philip Gibbs described the effect the deserted villages had on him:
There was a queer sense of illusion as one travelled through this desolation. At a short distance many of the villages seemed to stand as before the war. One expected to find inhabitants there. But upon close approach one saw that each house was but an empty shell blown out from cellar to roof, and one wandered through the streets of the ruins in a silence that was broken only by the sound of one’s own voice or by a few shells crashing into the gutted houses. The enemy was in the next village, or the next but one, with a few field–guns and a rear–guard of machine–gunners.
Philip Gibbs, Now It Can Be Told, London, 1920, internet edition, www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext02/nicbt10.txt
Field, Noreuil. [DVA]
The valley beyond Noreuil where the 50th Battalion (South Australia) fought on 2 April 1917. [AWM E00506]
Of the 156 Australian graves at Noreuil, ninety–four (60 percent) are of men of the 50th Battalion. Moreover, eighty–two of these are ‘Special Memorials’ indicating that the soldier is ‘believed to be buried’ in this cemetery. All of the South Australians were buried after the action in which they died, on 2 April 1917, but constant German shelling of this area during the two battles of Bullecourt most likely destroyed the original wooden crosses, making subsequent identification impossible.
For the 50th Battalion, the operation began during the night of 1–2 April, when they lay out in the fields on either side of the D5, the road which today still runs between Lagnicourt and Noreuil. Private Gilbert Jacob recalled how they waited for the dawn and the action to begin:
… the ground was frozen on the surface, and the scanty grass was covered thick with hoar frost … it was a fine night with only a gentle breeze. I watched the red moon set. It sank slowly among a few thin clouds, then, for only a little while, the night was darkest before the dawn … there was a strange stillness now – a hush in the darkness.
Private Gilbert Jacob, 50th Battalion, quoted in RR Freeman, Hurcombe’s Hungry Half Hundred: A Memorial History of the 50th Battalion AIF, 1916–1919, Norwood, 1991, p. 97
The church at Noreuil. [DVA]
Noreuil village. [DVA]
Barn, Noreuil. [DVA]
Noreuil village as seen from the D5 Langicourt–Marcel to Noreuil road. This was the direction of the attack on the village by the 50th Battalion (South Australia) on 2 April 1917. [DVA]
Corporal Jorgen Christian Jensen, 50th Battalion (South Australia), who was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions at Noreuil on 2 April 1917. [AWM H06203]
At 5.15 am three companies of the 50th Battalion advanced down the hill towards Noreuil in the direction of Noreuil Australian Cemetery. The covering artillery barrage had little effect on German positions in and around the village and enemy machine–guns caused many casualties. On the Lagnicourt–Noreuil road a particular enemy position was causing all sorts of problems, when it was attacked alone by Danish–born Private Jorgen Jensen, with hand grenades. One of Jensen’s platoon shot the enemy machine–gunner while Jensen charged forward, flinging two grenades into the German post. He then took out two more, pulled the pin out of one of them with his teeth and, holding them aloft, called out in German for the Germans to surrender as they were surrounded by Australians. They believed him and gave themselves up. Jensen was awarded the Victoria Cross.
The 50th Battalion reached Noreuil. Here they were to pivot right and advance through the village, taking out the remaining enemy and make for their objective, a roadway about a kilometre to the east. They were then to form a line with the 51st Battalion, which had attacked to the north of Noreuil. Numbers of ‘moppers up’ would be left in the village to deal with any pockets of German resistance still holding out. Things went wrong. Emerging from Noreuil, unsubdued enemy machine–guns opened fire on Captain David Todd’s right flank company, with terrible results. The South Australians were forced to ground. Behind them the ‘moppers up’ found there were not enough of them for the task; they were gradually eliminated and the remaining few were captured.
Two companies on the left flank, under Captains Harold Armitage and James Churchill–Smith, reached a trench close to the objective east of Noreuil and joined up with the 51st Battalion. However, from there they could see a gap in the line to their right where Captain Todd’s men had been shot to ground as they moved out of Noreuil. One of them, Sergeant William James, tried to hold back Germans advancing towards them out of the village with his Lewis machine–gun, but it was a suicidal gesture and he fell back mortally wounded, calling out ‘Look after me’. Many of Todd’s company were killed or captured. At this point, Captain Armitage, who had led from the front all morning, was hit and killed. Major Harry Seager, 50th Battalion, later wrote to Armitage’s father in Adelaide:
… your very gallant son was killed during the latter part of the morning on the 2nd of April, shot through the head whilst looking over the top of the trench to see what had become of the companies in the valley. His last words were ‘watch the right flank’ just before he looked over the top. His poor men were heartstricken with grief.
Major Harry Seager, 50th Battalion, quoted in RR Freeman, Hurcombe’s Hungry Half Hundred: A Memorial History of the 50th Battalion AIF, 1916–1919, Norwood, 1991, p. 96
Armitage must certainly have endeared himself to his men. On the first anniversary of his death at Noreuil, Sergeant Roy Clark wrote an unsolicited letter to Armitage’s father, passing on his condolences and those of the company. Knowing the family would appreciate it, he enclosed some photos of Armitage that he had found when looking through some old company roll books.
Later on 2 April 1917, the earlier perilous position of the 50th Battalion was rectified when reinforcements appeared and plugged the gap in the line. The Germans were not committed to holding on to Noreuil and were withdrawing. The 50th Battalion’s casualties for the day were significant: 100 killed or died of wounds, 169 wounded and 91 missing. Of the missing, an estimated 29 had been killed and 62 taken prisoner. All up, the battalion took 360 casualties and did not participate in the upcoming attacks at Bullecourt.
A view across the fields at Noreuil to the Noreuil Australian Cemetery. [DVA]
Noreuil Australian Cemetery, Noreuil. [DVA]
Captain Harold Armitage, Sergeant William James, and the other South Australian dead were buried in a new cemetery at Noreuil. Private Harold Willmott, 50th Battalion, helped to create it:
We were told there were a lot of our chaps lying dead on the battlefield, so myself and a few more chaps volunteered to go out and bury them. We went out for two nights and made a little cemetery just outside Noreuil, the village we captured. We had to scrape the snow off them, and Fritz shelled us several times while we were digging the graves.
Private Harold Willmott, 50th Battalion, quoted in RR Freeman, Hurcombe’s Hungry Half Hundred: A Memorial History of the 50th Battalion AIF, 1916–1919, Norwood, 1991, p. 103
It is a burial ground which certainly deserves the title ‘Noreuil Australian Cemetery’.
Noreuil Australian Cemetery, Noreuil. [DVA]
Headstone of Captain Harold Armitage, 50th Battalion (South Austrtalia), Noreuil Australian Cemetery. [DVA]
Headstone of Sergeant William James, 50th Battalion (South Austrtalia), Noreuil Australian Cemetery. [DVA]
Private Harold Hughes, 50th Battalion (South Australia), killed in action on 2 April 1917 and buried at Noreuil Australian Cemetery. [AWM H05570]
An Australian machine–gunner at Noreuil cools his gun after heavy firing on enemy aircraft, 23 April 1917. [AWM E00459]
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© 2008 Department of Veterans' Affairs and Board of Studies NSW :: Last update - November 2008