Butte de Warlencourt

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Butte de Warlencourt

Buried him near at hand – Butte de Warlencourt, 25-26 February 1917

Australian soldiers fill sandbags to strengthen the newly won Australian positions near Le Barque, France, during the advance on the Somme in early 1917. [AWM E00230]

On 25 and 26 February 1917 there was much Australian action around the Butte de Warlencourt. On 25 February, in the dark, the 18th and 20th Battalions (New South Wales) advanced through thick fog on either side of the Butte, meeting minimal resistance. Across the fields to the left (as one looks back towards Le Sars), the 9th Battalion (Queensland) and the 10th Battalion (South Australia) were ordered to advance in the fog towards the village of Le Barque. As they moved off at a quick marching pace down the slope, the fog lifted and shells burst all around them on the muddy ground. Between them the two units lost thirty men killed in that day’s charge at Le Barque, but the German rearguard moved quickly away into a small wood fringing the village.

During 25 and 26 February 1917, the 18th Battalion fought its way slowly forward in the countryside in front of the Butte, along the road to Bapaume. An observer on the Butte would have had a good view of the action as the battalion met enemy machine gun fire from above the road to the left and went to ground in a dry watercourse called ‘Thames Ditch’ close to where today a side road (the D10E) turns right for Le Barque. There the 18th established a firing line, while on the left the 20th Battalion moved to the bank of the road between Warlencourt village and the main road. Later that day the 18th were ordered to assault a German trench called ‘Malt Trench’, which ran across the countryside ahead of them and across the main Albert–Bapaume road.

Looking towards the Warlencourt British Cemetery from the junction of the D929 Albert to Bapaume road and the D10E road to the village of Ligny–Thilloy. Australian soldiers fought their way along this road in late February 1917. [DVA]

Trying to advance from crater to crater against strong German fire, casualties were heavy; in one company of ninety men a third were hit, and of eight stretcher–bearers in another company, ‘A’ Company’, seven were hit, four of whom died. German snipers took no chances, and fired on any wounded man who moved. One of those from ‘A’ Company who fell to a sniper’s bullet was Lance Sergeant Harold Sweaney of Inverell, New South Wales. Two men who went out to find Sweaney were themselves killed. Then his mate, Lance Corporal James Jameson, knowing that virtually all the stretcher–bearers were gone, went himself to look for Sweaney and brought him in:

He lingered on for about three hours after we brought him in. He was conscious right up to the end. I buried him near at hand the same night. I was alone when I did this … he was my greatest pal in the Bttn.

Lance Sergeant Harold Sweaney, Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau file, www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/1DRL428/00034/
1DRL428–00034–2680310.pdf

Three others who fell to German bullets at Warlencourt were Privates Edward Cochrane, Ralph Duncan and Ernest Goode, all buried nearby after the war in Warlencourt British Cemetery.

Aerial view towards Bapaume from the Butte de Warlencourt, early 1917. The road today is the D929. [AWM J00270]

Australian stretcher–bearers carry a wounded soldier through Le Sars, 20 March 1917. [AWM E00431]

Butte de Warlencourt

Buried him near at hand – Butte de Warlencourt, 25-26 February 1917

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