Sir John Monash, Personal Files Book 16, 3 September - 9 October 1917, Part 2

Headquarters,

2nd ANZAC Corps.

9th September ,1917.

My dear General,

The Corps Commander has asked me to write

to you on the subject of Pack Transport; as you know, in 

view of the work in front of us, he attaches great importance

to the organization and the perfecting of this

form of Transport, and he would be glad if you would introduce

the use of it as much as possible into your

various schemes of training.

As you will agree, it is essential that

the drivers should be stout-hearted fellows, the  animals

carefully selected, and both in hard condition, whilst 

the fitting of the packs and harness generally requires

constant supervision and attention. Rapid and good loading

can only be obtained through practice, and the Corps

Commander considers that present conditions afford a

first-rate opportunity.

When your arrangmens are complete, he

would be glad to know, so that he can come and see the

Pack Transport working.

Yours sincerely,

[[Alec. De la Voy?]]

Major-General John MONASH,

C.B., V.D.

*HEADQUARTERS *

THIRD AUSTRLALIAN DIVISION

10 Sep. 1917

No. Q 74/14

THIRD AUSTRALIAN DIVISION.

Divisional Headquaters

10th. September, 1917.

D.A.G. – A.I.F.

attached 1st. ANZAC.

In reply to your D.A.G.-A.I.F. No.22/92 of 19/8/'17., I

forward herewith my recommendations, (in duplicate) for the grant of

Brevet promotion to Officers of this Division. -

I have divided my recommendations into two groups, viz:-

(a). Officers of the Australian Permanent Forces.

(b). Officers of the Australian Militia Forces.

With regard to Group 'a', as the number of grants of

Brevet rank to be made has not been determined, I beg to state the 

order of preference of the five Officers now recommended is as 

follows, viz:-

(1). Major R. E. JACKSON.

(2). Major J. F. WOOTTEN.√

(3). Major T. R. WILLIAMS.√

(4). Major G. F. G. WIECK.

(5). Major T. B. W. JAMES.√

(1).

(2).

10/9/1917.

With regard to Group 'b', I submit seven names, which are

not stated in order of preference. - These Officers have been

selected in compliance with the following conditions. -

(1). That they they have earned in the Field a rank

senior to that which they hold in the Militia

Forces.

(2). That they are not likely to be recommended

for an award in the forthcoming Honors Despatch.

(3). That they have rendered Distinguished

Services.

These Officers are :-

(1). Colonel - temporary Brig.-General -H.W.GRIMWADE.

(2). Colonel - temporary Brig.-General- J.H.CANNON. C.B.

√(3). Lieut.-Colonel W. G. ALLSOP.

(4). Lieut.-Colonel F. L. L. HENLEY. D.S.O.

√(5). Major R. J. DONALDSON.

√(6). Major H. F. WHITE.

(7). Major S. KING.

There are, at present, no other Officers in this Division

who comply with the conditions I have set out above. -

JM

Major-General.

Commanding Third Australian Division.

10/9/17

for Rev. Cuttriss

M E S S I N E S 

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

7 / 6 / 1 7.

A shell-struck Souvenir of hellish War,

A monument of Man's stupendous hate!

Can this have been a Paradise before?

now up-blown, blasted, drear and desolate -

Aye, once with smiling and contented face,

She reigned a Queen above a charming place.

But soon the Sport of leaders and of Kings -

Transformed her to a resting place for guns,

Rude scars across her breasts the Worker flings,

To shelter countless hordes of hell-born Huns,

The while, upon the next opposing crest,

Our men died gamely as they did their best.

And thus for years with cold relentless zeal.

With fiendish Science both sides fought and watched,

From loopholes or from clouds which half concealed.

Or in deep tunnels all their skill was matched.

On sentry in the firebay, or the hov'ring 'plane ,

Mining and counter.mining yet again.

And far behind such scenes, great Engineers,

Pondered o'er problems without parallel,

And planned with wisdom of a thousand years,

To blow the other to eternal Hell -

Their calculatations left no callous scheme untried,

To slaughter hundreds of the other side.

But hush - the whole machinery's complete,

All plans are folded ^^and the great work is done,

The work of building up to a cause defeat -

The level's pulled and lo! a new work has begun -

(The task of falling on a shattered foe ,

And doing things undreamed of days ago).

Hush! Hark! A mightly rumbling roar breaks thro'

And see! Her crest line leaps into a flame

The foul disease within her bowels she blew

HIgh into the air to rid her of her shame,

In one hugh vomit she now flings her filth

Far o'er the country in a powdered tilth.

And so the vassals of a fiendish foe,

Are scattered far and wide into a dust.

Those who have revelled as they wreck red woe,

A shattered sample of their own blood-lust -

Whilst from out hill crest and its Catacomb.

A new life comes a-pouring from the Tomb.

Eager and burning with the zeal of youth,

Our second ANZACS sprang from the ground,

Bound by their mateship and their love of Truth,

The 3rd Division its new soul has found -

Straight o'er the top amidst a hail of shell -

To their objective which they knew so well.

On, on thro' poison gas and rattling roar,

Past ulc'rous craters, blackened foul and deep,

These comrades "stuck' as they ne'er had before.

And kept together in their rushing sweep,

Deafened and rattled, hung up in the wire.

Helping each other thro' such fearful fire.

On still until they reached; the furthest goal,

There to dig in and hold the new-won line.

By linking up each torn and shattered hold,

By no means easy, but their grit was fine.

They fought and worked like Demons till the Dawn,

Harried and pestered by the "Kaiser's spawn".

And, baffled from his gun-pits far away,

low-down , well South, an angry foe doth roar,

He opens out again upon another day,

And rakes the Slope with shrapnel as before.

But only working parties on the top are found,

The rest, save A. M. C., are underground.

Strange sights are seen upon that Battle-ground.

(But stranger still are unearthed from below),

Here many supermen may now be found,

Just watch those Stretcher Bearers where they go,

And see those parties bearing Food and Drink.

Past all those blizzard shells - then stand and think!

But one poor shell-crazed loon roamed far and wide.

Sweat-grimmed, wild-eyed, and now bereft of all,

"Me mates? W'ere is my mates?' he plaintive cried,

"They's in that 'ole with ME when IT did fall".

We took him to three huddled heaps near by,

But he roamed on as tho' he wished to die.

And as the Sun's grreat light bursts o'er the scene,

1A PETIT DOUVE, one-time a sparkling stream,

Now sluggish slides, red tinted, she has been,

Past horrors thro' the Night, and DID NOT DREAM: -

For many days she'll, silent, strive to bear,

Such human wreckage down a path once fair.