Typed account of action 'From Our Correspondent' to the Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald

PR82/8

Armentieres, July 22

(From Our Correspondent)

Four days ago I was talking to a member of the Fedl.

Parly. party abt the war in general and asked him what Mr Tudor
ws driving at, when, at Collingwood on May 22, he sd he hoped the
piece of Europe in wh so many thousands of Austns lay dead wd be
handed over to Aus when the terms of peace wr drawn up. He cd nt
enlighten me. I told him th Austns wr lying dead in many parts of
France, and we sighed laughed at Mr Tudor's remarks, for it seemed 

he contemplated asking Europe to present Aust with the biggest slice 

of France.

But within 24 hours of our chat Mr Tudor's words hd an 

awful meaning. On a strip of land  France not many metres fr where 

I am now writing 1000 Austns approximately lie dead and 5000 others 

are incapacitated. Hospitals are full of Austns. Many will never 

have the use of their limbs again. And all as t result o one day's 

fighting. This a brief story of what took place.

On the evening of July 19 I rode out to the Austn 

portion of the line held by the Austn troops. The weather was 

beautifully mild, for it ws the middle o summer in France. Fields 

of ripening corn and green potato crops framed the broad white road

It ws a peaceful scene. Immedy overhead a lark ws singing his evng 

carol.and In the distance a school of 20 areoplances cd be seen 

flying at a tangent to the road. They wr on business bent. One cd 

glean this on account of their speed.

Three A miles fr the line we ran across newly erected 

Field Ambulances and sign posts directed the attention of soldiers 

to them. Ammunition wagons wr proceeding to the firing line in a 

long drawn out line and further on we passed hundreds of transport 

of all descriptions carrying bully beef, biscuits and stores in 

general. Nextx Thousands of soldiers now came in view. Seated In 

ditches and on the roadside they sat as near to the hedges as 

possible to escape the vigilant eyes of hostile flying men. They 

wr in full fighting order their blue steel helmets pulled well down 

over their eyes. Near by wr huge cookers fr wh men fed their comrades. 

Some of the cookers wr being wheeled towards bunches of men further 

along the road and Commanding Officers wr seeing to it th none of 

their personnel neglected the inner man. Two men wr sharpening their 

bayonets, others wr trying their rifle bolts and some xamined

their pouches of ammunition. It ws clear the men wr leaving nothing 

to chance and knew what their errand was. fully realised the gravity 

of their job.

As our car ws halted for a moment or two a man of forty 

yrs of age or so came up and asked me to post to his mother a soiled

green envelope. "I feel this is the last I shall write", he sd." and 

she will treasure a last line". I gladly accepted the commission and 

told the man to keep his spirits going. "My feet are hot enough" he 

added" but I have a funny feeling". A few mins later he ws killed. 

His green envelope containing his last note I posted the following 

morning.

Short, sharp shots suddenly rang out and all heads turned 

towards a blue patch of clear blue sky. There a Taube was being 

a fine target for our a.a. gunners. White patches of smoke encircled 

the German aeronaut and some of the sheels appeared to burst very 

close to the machine but it contd on its way over our lines and ws 

soon out of view. Thexe How well the Observer hd performed his 

work ws demonstrated as soon as we left the car to walk into the 

lines. Crowds of men wr huddled together to make themselves as 

invisible as possible; but in the twinkling of an eye a high 

xplosive burst amongst them. The men heard the screeching message a 

few seconds earlier; but cd nt effect an escape in all cases. 

One man ws blown into fragments. Orders wr at once given to the

men to scatter themselves as much as possible; but anticipating the 

order the Bosche pelted shrapnel into the area and did a lot of

damage for some time. until our batteries got on to them.

The German trenches seemed very quiet and their Artillery 

was quiescent and again one cd hear the lark. Near by was an old 

roan cow

2.

The sun was now setting on red tiled farm houses and the whole 

scene seemed set for a painter or a poet.

But how suddenly was all this changed. One of the "original" men 

who landed at Gallipoli on Apl 25 ws telling those men around him th 

there ws no better chance in the world than going into a charge." It's 

a 3to 1 chance"he xplnd. "You can be wounded, captured or get out with nothing; but there's only one chance of being killed". His words did nt 

seem too assuring for the likes of some men. All wr keyed up, however. 

The task set one Aus division ws to attack the three lines of German 

trenches th faced them, and hold them till reinforced. Three hundred 

yds the men hd to run bef they wr into the trenches - three hundred yds 

three murderous fires thro the fire of the most murderous guns yet

emplaced. Maj-Genl McCay ws in charge of the Div wh ws made up to a 

large xtent by new men, men who had nt sailed fr Aust 8 months bef. 

It ws awful to see the men as they stood in the trenches and the 

supports waiting for the order. Some fidgetted with their rifles, 

others. toyed with puttees, shook their packs higher on to their backs shoulduers and made commonplace remarks to those standing abt them. There ws nt a man with the trace of fear or anxiety on his face, yet 

they all knew it ws less than a three to one chance on their returning 

to the trenches in wh they wr now standing.

Over the parapet they jumped at the signal. and never have I 

seen thousands of men and on to No Man's Land. Battalion after Battn. 

raced towds certain death; but nt a man hesitated. After traversing 

abt half their frightful journey they wr amazed to see thousands of

Germans flleing fr the trenches they wr ordered to take. They ran as 

fast if nt faster than the Austns. Hunxxxx Our men dived into the 

empty trenches, and one Bn nt content to stay there immedy left them 

to chase the enemy. This ws a ruse on the part of the Germans and those 

who gave chase ran into a concentrated fire and fell in hundreds. Others finding the fire too hot took shelter in ditches and holes.

All this time the German batteries wr booming out death to the 

more adventurous Austns. Suddenly  Then the Germans completely disapprd and it appears they entered a dummy trench. By a very clever strategic 

move they actually succeeded in xxxxx getting behind the whole of the 

whole of the Austns who wr in the original German trenches. Our men 

went down like pins as the result of the rifle and machine gun fire 

hundreds wr cut off and taken prisoners. Then the whole of the German artillery ws turned its attention to the Austns in the German trenches 

Parapets flew abt and for hours the place became absolutely untenable. 

But worse ws to follow, for at this stage the enemy flooded the trenches drowned the wounded and caused the whole to evacuate. An Imperial Divn succeeded in driving out the Germans from the trenches rear of the Austn 

and inflicted tremendous losses on the enmy with mortar and machine gun rifle and bomb fire. The Germans fled - well clear of the returning

Austans - back to their original lines. From information wh they wr able 

to supply the German batteries xxxx and snipers completed the work o

construction so far as the wounded wr concerned.

Night fell and shut out a ghastly scene. Magnificent work 

on the part of stretcher bearers, who faced the guns that enfiladed 

No Man's Land, and the never say die spirit of the Austn enabled the 

waiting motor ambulances to dash off with hundreds of our wounded. 

All thro the nt Austns- some with broken legs and frightful wounds - 

crawled into our lines. We did all th ws humanly possible for them and bandaged them, fed them and whirled them off to hospitals near by. It 

Many wr unwounded, yet they wr unable to speak or act. Horror-stricken 

at the sights they hd witnessed their faculties hd lef deserted them 

entirely. Those who wr the victims of shrapnel fire wr the most 

fortunate for their wounds wr mostly confined to the head and chest 

and upper part of their bodies. But the bombed men wr hooribly knocked 

abt. and heavy artillery fire hd rid many of arms and legs. I never 

wish to witness such a sight agn. Moaning, groaning, dying men wr everywhere. Doctors cut their clothes from them and as they did so l

imbs wr perforce taken, too.

The following morning was foggy, and this proved a God's

send. In the dim light scores of men made our lines. They had lain all 

nt on No Man's Land and crawled back thro mud and water and sniper's bullets. They wr accorded a warm reception by our their comrades. 

and everything ws don humanly possible ws done to restore them.

3.

All this day men came to hand in dribs and drabs till at 

nt Five thousand wr now accounted for-killed, wounded. Still there 

wr hundreds nt whose whereabts wr nt known. Hope ws abandoned till 

the first relay of stretcher bearers returned. They hd succeeded in 

finding a large no of wounded and reported there wr scores yet to be 

found on No Man's Land. All available bearers went forth and their 

work ws rewarded. The men they restored to the lines wr found in 

ditches and long grass where they hd managed to subsist on nothing 

for 30 hrs. or more. The majority wr wounded, too.

One man who managed to get back without aid was immersed in t 

German trenches when they wr flooded. There he remained until the 

enemy re-occupied them. He saw the Bosche approaching and with escape impossible decided to crawl as far fr the point they wr nearing as 

possible. He then dug a hole in the mud and lay flat - entirely covrd 

by mud and slime. "I ws like one of thos mummies they showed us 

at Cairo as possible" he said"bef they placed him on an ambulance. 

"I thin that's where I got the idea from. It was just possible by

lying on my back to breathe. German soldiers and officers walked past 

me all day, and a working party stooped not 20 yds away for a long time repairing their parapets. I thought them the slowest workers in the 

world. But I suppose every minute seemed an hr to me. I ws very weak 

and as cold as an icicle. When nt arrived and I decided to start for 

home I made a horrible discovery. The sun had dried the top surface of 

t earth and I cd nt get up. No doubt I ws too weak. I thought I wd 

starve to death and knew if I wr seen it mean a knock on the head and 

finish. A big push saved me and I ws on the earth again. But then I cd 

nt stand.I ws too weak. So I crawled and after "snaking" it for hours 

through corn fields, ditches, barbed wire and mud I got into some 

"Tommy" lines. Here I had my nearest squeak, for one chap fired twice & 

missed me bef I stood up and surrendered. They came out for me and marched me in. When they found I ws one of themselves they cd nt 

believe themselves. "Bli me" sd the Guard" they h paint od yer properly. 

I cd nt follow their conversation, but they wr very knd wr those 

Cockneys. Some tea, a nip of rum and a rest fitted me up and I got 

back here just as it was coming light".

4.

After breakfast I visited the principal collecting station 

for the wounded. This ws a brewery at wh the Cn Price stayed f wks. 

for the Aust wounded. The men wr sitting on forms in the sun outside 

the hospital waiting to take their turns on the tables. Orderlies 

wr dashing round the yard with dixies of tea, bread and butter and 

cigarettes. To see a wounded man drink tea and eat after having hd

nothing for over a day and a half, during wh time he has been wounded 

and xposed to wet, cold and awful danger, is something a man can never forget so long as he lives. Men snatched at the food and drank tea 

as they ate and drank one cd live returning to them. Some wr too 

weak to do eat or drink, and strangely enough the only thing they 

asked for ws a cigarette. In a heap nt far fr the wounded men wr

boots, clothing, covered with blood. These hd bn cut off the owners 

and and thrown to an Orderly to burn.

Any scrap of news ws eagerly sought by the wounded. The more 

serious cases wr dealt with first and as the men, as they waited 

discussed the charge, the shell fire and their painful efforts to 

get back. They wr all sadly disappointed to think they hd nt hd a 

chance to get into grips with "Fritz". I told one th when the enemy 

raced away fr their own trenches to disappear they wheeled behind 

our men and into the trenches we hd left. He cd nt believe the news 

The wounded maintained wonderful spirits and actually discussed their chances of getting into it again.

For two days the doctors and medical personnel worked without 

sleep, and out of the pockets of the Orderlies came money to buy bread 

for the wounded. To offer a man who is more dead than alive a hard 

biscuit is something the ordinary individual cannot understand. I saw 

one man grab a biscuit and try to chew it. But he cd nt manage it. His 

mouth hd bn shot through. He recd a slice of bread and butter bought 

by the Orderlies at the Hospital. After being bandaged and doctored 

up sufficiently to allow of their travelling the wounded where possible 

wr taken in cars to Base Hospitals.

As the result of one day's fighting approximately 6,000 

physically fit Austns wr either rendered casualties. At least one in 

six of these ws killed, and a large percentage will never be fit agn 

for active service. At the landing Aust did nt pay such a heavy price 

as this. Hundreds of men are still unaccounted for. Hundreds are 

prisoners, but it will be months bef it is known how many perished 

of hunger and thri wounds, hunger and thirst on No Man's Land.

s thiIs ^^the piece of Europe wh Mr Tudor hopes to have handed 

over to Australia.

[Front of Envelope]

[Stamp VICTORIA   BALLARAT 26 SEP 16 10 15AM

Ausralia Postage Stamp 1 ONE PENNY  1 

"The Editor

Sydney Morning Herald

Sydney