Latest media articles

10 August 2007 by Craig Tibbitts. 2 Comments
To Flanders Fields, 1917, Exhibition

10 August – Year of bloodshed best not forgotten, The Sydney Morning Herald

10 August – Exhibition evokes cruel days of 1917, The Canberra Times

11 August – Miners of Messines, The Australian

Reminder – Exhibition opens tomorrow !

09 August 2007 by Craig Tibbitts. No comments
To Flanders Fields, 1917, Exhibition

Just a reminder that this exhibition will open here at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra tomorrow – Friday 10 August.

Admission to the Memorial and this exhibition is free. Hope you can come and see it.

Check our web page ‘Planning your visit’

Also check out online, an excerpt (nearly 3 mins) from the exhibition’s 15 minute film

/blog.awm.gov.au/awm/2007/08/06/exhibition-film-preview/

Exhibition Film – Preview

06 August 2007 by Craig Tibbitts. 2 Comments
To Flanders Fields, 1917, Exhibition, Photographs & Film

The exhibition will feature a 15 minute film, based on the photographic and film work of Captain Frank Hurley, Official War Photographer during the Ypres-Passchendaele Offensive.

This is a short excerpt from that film (2 mins 43 secs).

[MEDIA=1]

Title: To Flanders Fields, 1917: through the eyes of Frank Hurley
Produced by: the Australian War Memorial
Producer: Ray McJannett
Sound & sound effects: Lenny Preston
Original music: Antoni Rudnicki
Narrators: Craig Marvel, Sharron Parmeter
Archival film and photos: Captain Frank Hurley
Diary extracts of Frank Hurley (courtesy of National Library of Australia)
Copyright: Australian War Memorial (2007)

The Drivers

03 August 2007 by Craig Tibbitts. 4 Comments
To Flanders Fields, 1917, Frontline troops, Passchendaele (Ypres)

The following extract is from C. E. W. Bean’s Official History, Volume IV, pp 729-730.  It highlights an often overlooked branch of the AIF during their most gruelling trial at Ypres during 1917.

From the August fighting [at Ypres in 1917], the Australian infantry was so fortunate as to be spared, but the detached artillery bore its share. That of the 2nd Division, whose new battery positions were north of Hill 60, now began to suffer severely, but the impact of the suffering had somewhat changed; in this morass of a battlefield the services of supply bore a heavy share of the strain.  A war correspondent records on August 17th a statement of Major Manton, whose battery, the 15th, had so far lost 35 men.

Manton said that in this phase of the battle the palm should go, not to those who, like himself, worked at the battery positions, but to the drivers from the waggon-lines at Dickebusch, who daily and nightly brought up ammunition across the mud.

‘It was looked on almost as a cold-footed job before,’ Manton said, ‘one which did not take a man into action.  But . . . . like all those Australians who were supposed to be in fairly safe jobs, the drivers took a pride in showing what they could do when they came into the thick of it.’

He added that even the animals came to know when a shell was coming close; and if, when halted, the horses heard the whine of an approaching salvo, they would tremble and sidle closer to their drivers, burying their muzzles in the men’s chests.

These Australians (he added) had won themselves a special name on this battlefield for the way in which they went straight through the nightmare barrages laid on the well known tracks which they and their horses had to follow.  Where many might hesitate, these men realised that the loss would be less, and the job better done, if they pushed on without hesitation. This comment was justified.  It was undoubtedly through the conduct of the drivers, as well as through that of the gun-crews and observers, that the Australian divisional artilleries in this battle – as General Gough wrote when they left his army in September – ‘earned the admiration and praise of all.’

                            

Read C. E. W. Bean’s Official History online, Volume IV, pp 729-730

Rain and Mud: the Ypres – Passchendaele Offensive

01 August 2007 by Craig Tibbitts. 3 Comments
To Flanders Fields, 1917, Battles, Commemoration, Exhibition, Passchendaele (Ypres), Research material

Swamp around Zonnebeke, Oct 1917 (E01200) E01200

When considering the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917, what immediately springs to mind is a desolate, shattered landscape of mud.  So when looking through the photographs of this battle here on the blog, and in the exhibition, it may be puzzling that some depict this morass with men and horses up to their waists in mud, yet many others show a rather dry and dusty landscape.  The answer is that this was a lengthy campaign (July to November), and the weather conditions proved quite changeable and fickle.  The same applies to the Somme Offensive which ran for a similar period during the previous year.  The other factor at Ypres was the physical characteristics of this part of Flanders.  The water table in this area is very high and indeed parts of the battlefield were swamp or reclaimed swamp.  So even when the surface appeared dry, it could in places be sodden below the crust and digging into the ground even to a shallow depth would invite water.  Naturally the blanket coverage of shell craters only made the situation worse.

According to Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson in Passchendaele: the untold story (p 97), during August 1917, 127 mm of rain fell in Flanders, which was double the normal average for that month.  October also proved another very wet month, with 30 mm of rain falling in just the five-day period 4-9 October (pp 126, 159).  However the month of September was mostly dry and this coincided with the three major pushes that the Australians spearheaded in the Ypres sector (Menin Road 20 Sept, Polygon Wood 26 Sept, and Broodseinde 4 Oct).  During these attacks the troops marvelled at how strong and utterly dominant their supporting artillery fire was. 

But in the afternoon of 4 October, right after the Broodseinde operation had been completed (it was over by noon), the weather broke and the rain set in, quickly turning the devastated battlefield into a quagmire.  In these conditions it was impossible to drag forward enough artillery and ammunition to maintain such strong support.  So the troops that attacked in the wet after 4 October noticed a dramatic drop-off in supporting artillery fire to the point where at times it was barely noticeable.  Another pitiful result was the greatly increased difficulty of evacuating the wounded.  The decision therefore to continue the offensive and capture Passchendaele in the rain and mud was a weighty one.  As C. E. W. Bean later wrote,

‘In these circumstances Haig made the most questioned decision of his career.’ (Bean, Vol IV, p 883).

Interestingly, at this point Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig acknowledged the weather and terrain problems, telling war correspondents on 11 October:

‘It was simply the mud which defeated us on Tuesday [9 October].  The men did splendidly to get through it as they did.  But the Flanders mud, as you know, is not a new invention.  It has a name in history – it has defeated other armies before this one…’ (quoted in Bean, Official History, Vol IV, p 908).

One wonders with this admission of the difficulties presented, why Haig then persisted with the offensive.  However it must be considered that there were real dangers in halting the offensive where they stood.  They were still short of the final ridge at Passchendaele and had they remained short of it, it would have been very difficult and costly in lives to hold such a poor position.  So perhaps it can be argued that the final push to capture Passchendaele through the dreadful mud of October and November was a combination of this tactical necessity, Haig’s perception of an imminent German collapse and his desire to see his grand plan through to a successful conclusion.

For the Germans the onset of rain was a Heaven-sent.  Indeed Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, the Field Marshal in command of the entire northern sector of the Western Front (i.e. that principally opposing the British and Commonwealth forces), made a relieved note in his diary;

12 October 1917

‘Witterungsumschlag.  Erfreulicherweise Regen, unser wirksamster bundesgenosse.’

(trans. Sudden change of weather.  Most fortunate rain, our most effective ally).

It should also be remembered that despite these dreadful conditions and the grievous losses, the British Army and its Commonwealth troops did succeed in capturing Passchendaele and part of the final ridge.  It was the Canadian Corps that finally achieved this on 6 November.  The Canadians would by 1918 become past masters at providing massive artillery support for their infantry, but in the mud before Passchendaele in November 1917, these techniques they were trying to perfect must have been greatly frustrated.  With this in mind, their capture of Passchendaele is all the more impressive.

Finally, in one of the war’s ‘what ifs’, it may well be speculated that the offensive at Ypres during 1917 might have succeeded had it gotten underway several weeks earlier, and the final ridge at Passchendaele been captured in early October, before the weather really broke.  One can only wonder…

Viewing the IWM exhibition, Part Two

13 July 2007 by Mal Booth. No comments
Exhibitions,Lawrence of Arabia and the Light Horse, Less than six degrees of separation, Loans, Our exhibition

A while back, actually a long while back, I promised to enlighten you about a couple of inspiring things that I saw in London in 2006 during my visits to view the IWM’s Lawrence of Arabia, the Life, the Legend exhibition and to negotiate our UK loans. So after a long delay and absolutely no requests to read the second part of my story, here it is. I must tell you that what I’ve written below were my impressions, recorded in London over Easter 2006. Since then, I’ve worked on the challenges presented by our exhibition and I’ve developed an even deeper appreciation of the work that went into these exhibitions.

Firstly, I found the IWM’s relatively new Churchill Museum absolutely stunning. Located with the Cabinet War Rooms, it is visually splendid and makes full use of modern exhibition technology to educate visitors about Churchill’s amazing life by very clever use of sound, documents, images, film footage, interactives and the display of selected objects. I went for a quick visit, just to breeze through and found myself there for some hours. You get a very good sense of the man and his achievements without being confused or overwhelmed by too much content or context.

read on

Commemoration – Latest news articles

13 July 2007 by Craig Tibbitts. 1 Comment
To Flanders Fields, 1917, Commemoration

Pilgrimage to Passchendaele: a killing field haunted by family memories, Telegraph (UK), 30 July 2007

Diggers remembered in Passchendaele ceremonies, ABC News (Australia), 13 July 2007 (includes online audio feature)

Last Post sounds again at Passchendaele, but no old comrades are there to hear it.  The Times, 12 July 2007.

Hell on Earth: The never before seen colour photographs of the bloody battle of Passchendaele, The Daily Mail, 12 July 2007. 

Queen honours fallen soldiers 90 years after Passchendaele.  CBC News (Canada), 12 July 1917.

Relief maps of the Western Front

13 July 2007 by Dianne Rutherford. 1 Comment
To Flanders Fields, 1917, Maps & Aerial Photos

The Memorial holds some very interesting three-dimensional relief maps made in 1919 by the Australian War Records Section (the parent organisation of the Australian War Memorial). They were made in London by men who were still in England, waiting to be repatriated home.

Section 5AW, who created the maps was established sometime around December 1918 and was managed by Lieutenant Cyril Isaac. In civilian life Lieutenant Isaac worked for the Education Department in Victoria. During the war he served with 58th Battalion in Europe before joining the AWRS. The Role of 5AW was to create three dimensional maps of the battlefields of France and Belgium and to later train staff in Egypt how to make similar maps of Gallipoli and Palestine.

Very few records from 5AW exist today and the reasons behind the creation of the maps are unclear. Records indicate they were created either to assist people who could not read contours on maps, understand the terrain Australians fought over, or as a precursor to making the larger plan models (such as the Gallipoli plan model, currently on display). The latter seems unlikely as section 4AW was making the plan models at the same time the relief maps were being made.

A third possibility is the story which has circulated around staff at the Memorial, that the maps were created to aid Official War Correspondent CEW Bean in writing the official histories of Australians in the First World War. It is possible that Bean did use them whilst writing, but nothing has yet been found in the Memorial’s files to confirm they were created for that purpose.

The maps were created by modelers and draftsmen. The modeler gradually built up the contours by making levels, or ‘steps’, possibly from plywood. Once all the levels were complete a coating of papier mache was placed over the levels. The papier mache was made with very fine paper pulp and a heated clear glue called ‘small cake glue’. The modelers mixed the hot glue with paper pulp, which had most of the water squeezed out of it. They relied mostly on their sense of touch, working the mixture until it felt smooth, like plastic. The papier mache was smoothed and rounded out to make the contours.

Once the map was dried, draftsmen transferred the details from the relevant 1:10,000 or 1:20,000 trench map by hand. All details, including map grid squares were included on the items as they were maps in the truest sense of the word, not just models of the landscape.

The Memorial only holds maps of France and Belgium. While they had planned on making maps of Palestine and Gallipoli, they never eventuated. There are 22 relief maps in the Memorial’s collection covering a number of areas in France and Belgium, including Pozieres, Peronne, Villers-Bretonneux, Bullecourt and Fromelles. One of the relief maps, showing the area south of the River Somme, including Hamel and Harbonnieres, is currently on exhibition in the Western Front Gallery. Another relief map will be on display in the To Flanders Fields exhibition, showing the area from Ypres to Passchendaele.

Further information on the maps, along with the plan models and dioramas is available from the article, ‘Teaching the terrain: First World War battlefields at the Australian War Memorial.’  Published in The Globe Issue 55, 2004.

Victoria Crosses of 1917

12 July 2007 by Craig Tibbitts. 1 Comment
To Flanders Fields, 1917, Frontline troops

The Victoria Cross is the highest British and Commonwealth award for acts of bravery in wartime. In the First World War 64 Australians were awarded this medal. During the battles of 1917 on the Western Front eighteen Australians won the Victoria Cross.

Captain Henry William (Harry) Murray (13th Infantry Battalion, 4th Division AIF). 4-5 February 1917, at Stormy Trench, NE of Gueudecourt, France. View recommendation

Captain Percy Herbert Cherry (26th Infantry Battalion, 2nd Division AIF). 26 March 1917, at Lagnicourt, France. View recommendation

Private Joergen Christian Jensen (50th Infantry Battalion, 4th Division AIF). 2 April 1917, at Noreuil, France. View recommendation

Captain James Ernest Newland (12th Infantry Battalion, 1st Division AIF). 7-9 April & 15 April 1917, West of Boursies and at Lagnicourt, France. View recommendation Part 1. Part 2

Private Thomas James Bede Kenny (2nd Infantry Battalion, 1st Division AIF). 9 April 1917, at Hermies, France.View recommendation.

Sergeant John Woods Whittle (12th Infantry Battalion, 1st Division AIF). 9-15 April 1917, near Boursies and Lagnicourt, France. View recommendation Part 1. Part 2.

Lieutenant Charles Pope (11th Infantry Battalion, 1st Division AIF). 15 April 1917, at Louverval, France.View recommendation

Corporal George Julian Howell (1st Infantry Battalion, 1st Division AIF). 6 May 1917, near Bullecourt, France. View recommendation Part 1. Part 2.

Lieutenant Rupert Vance Moon (58th Infantry Battalion, 5th Division AIF). 12 May 1917, near Bullecourt, France. View recommendation Part 1. Part 2.

Captain Robert Cuthbert Grieve (37th Infantry Battalion, 3rd Division AIF). 7 June 1917, at Messines, Belgium. View recommendation

Private John Carroll (33rd Infantry Battalion, 3rd Division AIF). 7-10 June 1917, at St Yves (near Messines), Belgium. View recommendation

Private Reginald Roy Inwood (10th Infantry Battalion, 1st Division AIF). 20-21 September 1917, at Polygon Wood, near Ypres, Belgium. View recommendation

Second Lieutenant Frederick Birks (6th Infantry Battalion, 1st Division AIF). 20 September 1917, at Glencourse Wood, near Ypres, Belgium. View recommendation

Sergeant John James Dwyer (4th Machine Gun Company, 4th Division AIF). 26 September 1917, at Zonnebeke, near Ypres, Belgium. View recommendation

Private Patrick Joseph Bugden (31st Infantry Battalion, 5th Division AIF). 26-28 September 1917, at Polygon Wood, near Ypres, Belgium. View recommendation

Sergeant Lewis McGee (40th Infantry Battalion, 3rd Division AIF). 4th October 1917, at Broodseinde, near Ypres, Belgium. View recommendation

Lance Corporal Walter Peeler (3rd Pioneer Battalion, 3rd Division AIF). 4th October 1917, at Broodseinde, near Ypres, Belgium. View recommendation

Captain Clarence Smith Jeffries (34th Infantry Battalion, 3rd Division AIF). 12th October 1917, near Passchendaele, Belgium. View recommendation

Online biographical details of all Australian Victoria Cross holders are featured on the

Australian Dictionary of Biography

Thirty Years of an Artist’s Life

12 July 2007 by Janda Gooding. No comments
George Lambert: Gallipoli and Palestine Landscapes, Exhibition

In 1938 Amy Lambert produced a book titled G.W. Lambert, A.R.A. (Thirty years of an artist’s life). Amy used a lot of personal correspondence from her husband including substantial accounts of his time working as a war artist in the Middle East and Gallipoli. Through these letters we get an insight into Lambert’s working methods, his relationships to officers and troopers of the Light Horse, and his reactions to the landscapes and historic battlefields he visited.

When he first arrived in Egypt in January 1918 he wrote that “I am ridiculously happy. Already I have done three pieces of work and everywhere I look there are glorious pictures, magnificent men and real top-hole Australian horses.” The beauty of the place overwhelmed him and he developed an abiding respect for the men of the Light Horse which eventually found expression in his large commissioned paintings. Towards the end of his second visit in 1919 and as he was packing up to return to London, he wrote to Amy: “Everything is closing up here, and there is a beastly left-over feeling about us all.” The Australian camps were being dismantled and Lambert, like others was returning to a post-war world.

This book is full of information and insights into the character of Lambert and despite Amy virtually erasing herself from the narrative, there are also many clues for the reader about their long lasting and devoted marriage.  First published in 1938 it was reprinted in 1977 by Australian Artist Editions.  Copies of the 1977 edition of the book are also available through the Memorial’s bookshop.