Sir John Monash, Personal Files Book 15, 1 April - 10 May 1917, Part 14

10th AUST.INF.BRIGADE,

3RD DIVISION,

A.I.F

 

1st May 1917.

 

M E M O R A N D U M

to the

Officers, Non Commissioned Officers, and men of the 

10th Australian Infantry Brigade

 

            I desire to make all ranks acquainted with 

the very high opinion I hold of the fighting qualities of the 

Brigade.

          We have now completed 5 months service in

close contact with the enemy.  During that time the enemy has 

attempted to carry out carefully-planned raids against us on

nine different occasions.  On not one occasion has he achieved

the least success.  The garrison has always stood up to the 

most severe bombardment and driven the Boche back with considerable

losses to himself.  On the other hand the Brigade has carried

out with irresistible dash eight raids on the enemy's lines, the 

results of which have brought congratulations from Divisional, 

Corps, and Army Commanders, and the Commander in Chief.

          The spirit of the Brigade, as shown in the 

skill, leadership, and personal example of Officers and Non

Commissioned Officers and the courage, devotion to duty, and 

initiative displayed by the men in the ranks, is wholly admirable,

and I desire to express the pride I feel in having under my command

such a fine body of fighting men.

 

W. Ramsay McNicholl

Brigadier-General

Commanding 10th Australian Infantry Bridge

 

 

 

s.s.559

DIAGRAM SHOWING THE ORGANIZATION & DEFENCES OF SECTOR 1a/32971

(FROM A GERMAN DOCUMENT CAPTURED IN APRIL 1917.)

 

                    3rd.. Regiment                       2nd.. Regiment                       1st. Regiment

 

Hand drawn diagram/map - see original document

 

Zone of Artillery deployment

 

Note by General Staff.

The particular features of the system shown in this diagram

are:-

     (a) Distribution in depth greater than usual in the past.

     (b) Only the front trench of each position is continuous, at any

            rate above ground.

     (c) To cover all the ground and obtain additional depth, various

           trenches (shown dotted) are disposed chequerwise and 

           machine guns provided.

     (d) No machine guns are shown in front trench itself, but

           they are shown so close to it as to be very exposed to any

           bombardment of that trench.

     (e) The distribution of the troops is :-

            (1) In front system            ...            ...       1 Battalion.

            (2) In intermediate system          ...       1 Battalion.

            (3) Resting            ...          ...             ...       1 Battalion.

         

 

 

2/5/17.

EXTRACT FROM SECOND ARMY DAILY INTELLIGENCE SUMMARY  2/5/17

Part II.     Foot of Page 2. 

Document captured during the French Offensive, dated

April 3rd, 1917 

          "After an intense bombardment of several days, the enemy will

"probably only bring up his assault troops into the trenches on

"the night preceding the attack.  It is very important to discover

"the exact moment when this takes place, in order to carry out an

"effective annihilating bombardment.  Each day during the artillery

"preparation, even when the weather is unfavourable, each Corps

"must send out an aeroplane at daybreak.  This aeroplane, flying

"at a low altitude, will be responsible for ascertaining whether

"troops are assembling in the enemy's trenches.  The result of the 

"reconnaissance will be communicated to the other Corps and a 

"report sent direct to the Army.

          "This procedure has proved of great service in other Armies"

 

 

2. May / 1917

[[S?  ??]]

 

Points G.or.  [[S?  ??]]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

57

 

THIRD AUSTRALIAN DIVISION, 

Divisional Headquarters, 

3/5/17.

 

Major-General The Hon. J.W.McCay, C.B., V.D., 

          A.I.F Depots, Tidworth

                 E N G L A N D

 

My dear McCay,

     Very many thanks for your letter of April 27th only

recently received.  Also, today, I saw my Corps Commander, who 

told me about his meeting with you.

     Regarding your question as to our immediate future 

destiny, I think it is not betraying secrets to say that we are

not at all likely to move from where we are at present, owing to

the fact that we have very recently moved to the position which

we now occupy, and which we do not intend to leave except to go

in a direction towards the desired goal of all of us.  -  The 

most active preparations for such a journey have been in hand for

a considerable time, and on a gigantic scale, and we are all

anxiously speculating how soon the people at the top will give us

permission to start the journey.  -  You will, possibly, not

appreciate the intentional obscurity of the above information, but

it is the best I can do.

     Very many thanks for your promise to look into the 

questions of command in connection with my Training Group, which

I referred to you before.  -  I am sorry I say that matters have 

taken a very much graver complexion as regards the whole position

 

 

-2-               3/5/17.

 

of the relations between myself and the Brigadiers on the one hand,

and the Training Group and the 3 Training Battalions on the other 

hand.

     I shall try to be very/brief in pointing out to you some of

the troubles.

     To begin with, it is very hard indeed to get at correct

information about the Staffing and Officering of the Training 

Battalions, and about the disposal of officers generally.  - E.g. -

A communication from Lieut-Colonel LOGAN dated 19/1/17, forwarded

under cover of your C.R., A.I.F. 17113/A of April 24th, contains

information about the disposal of officers which is totally at

variance with the nominal roll of officers issued by the Depot

Authorities dated April 23rd.  -  There are also many inconsistencies

between the lists themselves; officers' names appear in one

list, disappear in the following list, and then make their re-

appearance in subsequent lists.  Some places are marked on some

occasions as 'Vacant' and on other occasions as 'Filled'.  -

We have found it quite impossible to keep pace with, or keep 

touch with, what is actually required.

     A complaint has recently been sent through from the A.A.G., 

A.I.F. to the effect that the larger proportion of officers now

employed in my Training Group, are reinforcement officers.  -  On

a close and careful scrutiny of the latest information in our

possession, however, it appears that no less than 21 officers are sent 

at various times since November last from this Division to my

Training Group have not been absorbed on the permanent cadre, but

that reinforcement officers are being employed in their places.  -

 

 

-3-            3/5/17.

 

Why this should be, I do not know.  -  It is perfectly useless

sending over from here valuable officers to take prescribed places

in the Training Battalions if they are simply put upon the footing 

of 'Awaiting absorption' week after week.  -  Either the C.O.

Training Group is in some subtle way blocking the carrying out

of my wishes in this matter, or else, when officers are sent xxx

from here, he has not been told by Depot Headquarters what my 

wishes in respect of them were.

      In a similar way, two of the three Training Battalions

have been put under command of officers without any reference to

me, although I have totally different views as to filling these

places.  This, Major PRINCE has been put in command of the 10th

Training Battalion, and Major RODD of the 11th Training Battalion, 

although both officers are total strangers to their respective

Brigadiers.  These selections appear to have been made to suit

the personal predelictions of the O.C. Group, rather than to suit

the wishes of the Brigadier concerned, or mine.

     There are several specified instances of officers having

been requisitioned from us to fill specific appointments, and such

officers having been sent, not once, but two or three times over from

here for the specific purpose; yet the officers sent are not put

to employment to fill such vacancy.  These, and similar matters

will be dealt with in official correspondence, and will, I hope, 

be unravelled in due course.

     There is still another grievance, and that is in connection

with the exchange of officers from the front for officers of the 

Training Cadres.  Two attempts have been made to effect such exchange,

but although the officers have duly left their fighting

 

-4-     3/5/17.

 

Units at the front, the officers asked for in exchange have not

put in an appearance here.  In some cases officers sent from

here nearly 3 months ago, to be exchanged for specifically named

officers in the Training Battalions, are still marked in the

latest lists as 'Awaiting absorption', while the exchange officer

is still shown as doing duty in his old place in the Training

Battalion, instead of having been sent over here with the minimum

possible delay.

     I have, on several occasions, written officially/both direct to

the A.I.F Depots and to A.A.G., A.I.F submitting precise complaints

about these matters, quoting dates, correspondence numbers,

names, &c., &c.  -  You will doubtless find lots of them on your

files.  But nothing whatever has eventuated, and I feel like

washing my hands of the whole business.

     In regard to all these matters I have almost arrived

at the decision of letter Training Battalions go hand, as I cannot

afford to further deplete the fighting Units of good officers so

long as my efforts to equip the Training Battalions are dealt with

so unsympathetically at the other end.  -  Whose the fault is I 

cannot say.  -  It may be LOGAN