Battle of the Yser
Pozières, The First Australian Division Memorial
Look after the boys – the capture of Pozières, 23 July 1916
‘Impressed itself on the minds of the members of the 1st Division’ – that phrase suggests that there was something about what happened to Australian soldiers here in 1916 that would forever live vividly in their memories of the war.
The Australian struggle for Pozières began on the evening of 22 July 1916 with a mighty bombardment. After dark, men of the First Division began moving to their ‘jumping–off’ positions in the fields to the south and across the Albert–Bapaume road from the First Division Memorial. Minutes before the attack, Lieutenant Lawrence Thurnhill, 6th Battery, Australian Field Artillery and his men dragged their field gun along the road to within 360 metres, a position not far from where the Pozières British Cemetery is today. From there they fired 115 rounds at point blank range down the main street. At 12.30 a.m. 23 July 1916, the leading battalions of the First Division rushed forward and seized the German position around the southern part of the village known as the Pozières Trench. Not far from the memorial a gallant German machine gun crew set up their weapon and got away a few rounds before the Australian advance reached them and they were killed. Australians were soon digging in behind the ruins of houses in the main street of Pozières.
At noon, a British reconnaissance aircraft reported that the remainder of the village north of the main street was deserted. On the ground, however, enemy sniper fire was still coming from the ruins and the Australians advanced cautiously. Just opposite where the First Division Memorial now is, was a white reinforced concrete structure some 3 metres tall, with a block tower at its western end, and the barrel of a machine gun protruding from the side. Men of the 2nd Battalion (New South Wales), led by Captain Ernest Herrod, stormed the place and found it to be occupied by 26 Germans with three machine guns.
As the Australians burst in a German Sergeant had his finger ready to press the button of one of these guns but he and all his countrymen surrendered. Deeper cellars revealed much enemy equipment and it appeared that this had been a German forward observation post. The strong concrete tower had withstood every British bombardment and even after the complete destruction of Pozières remained a landmark to the Australians who fought there. Initially, it was christened ‘The Cement House’ but it soon gained the more evocative name ‘Gibraltar’. It was photographed and sketched many times and the ruins of ‘Gibraltar’ are still visible today.
‘Gibraltar’ strongpoint, Pozières, Charles Bryant, 1918. [watercolour, charcoal on paper AWM ART00187]
British Legion poppy crosses, ‘Gibraltar’ site opposite the First Division Memorial, Pozières. [DVA]
The ruins of ‘Gibraltar’ opposite the First Division Memorial, Pozières. [DVA]
The ruins of ‘Gibraltar’ opposite the First Division Memorial, Pozières. [DVA]
This had been the First Division’s first operation since its withdrawal from Gallipoli in December 1915. Although its infantry battalions and support units had been reinforced in Egypt many of those who fought at Pozières were Gallipoli veterans and among them was Captain Ivor Margetts, 12th Battalion (Tasmania and Western Australia), age 24, of Wynard, Tasmania, who at dawn on 25 April 1915 had led his men up the cliffs at the Sphinx behind North Beach on Anzac. At 8 pm on 23 July, Margetts prepared to take out a patrol across the main street to begin clearing the north–eastern end of Pozières:
Margetts did not return and the news soon spread that he – who had fought with his battalion unwounded from the Landing until it left Gallipoli – had been killed by a chance shell … [After he was hit] Margetts asked to be pulled down into shelter from shell fire and, knowing his hurt was mortal, told his helpers to ‘look after the boys’.
Charles Bean, The Australian Imperial Force in France, 1916, Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918, Volume III, pp.541–542 and footnote p.542
Captain Ivor Margetts, 12th Battalion (Tasmania and Western Australia), killed in action at Pozières 23 July 1916. [AWM H15808]
Captain Margetts was an early casualty of the German shell fire which, in the wake of the Australian capture of Pozières, commenced falling on the village on the morning of 24 July 1916. Pozières was the key to controlling the heights to the east along the road, and having failed to retake this important position, the Germans determined to destroy the Australians by bombardment and turned all their available guns on Pozières.
The grave on the Pozières battlefield of Captain Ivor Margetts, 12th Battalion (Tasmania and Western Australia), February 1917. The grave was subsequently lost and Margetts is commemorated at the Australian National Memorial, Villers–Bretonneux. [AWM E00193]
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© 2008 Department of Veterans' Affairs and Board of Studies NSW :: Last update - November 2008