150 The Lost Soldiers of Fromelles, After the Battle
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
//-->NUMBER155 0FROMELLES9770306154097No. 150£4.25NUMBER 150© CopyrightAfter the Battle2010Editor: Karel MargryEditor-in-Chief: Winston G. RamseyPublished byBattle of Britain International Ltd.,The Mews, Hobbs Cross House,Hobbs Cross, Old Harlow,Essex CM17 0NN, EnglandTelephone: 01279 41 8833Fax: 01279 41 9386E-mail: hq@afterthebattle.comWebsite:www.afterthebattle.comPrinted in Great Britain byWarners Group Publications PLC,Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PH.After the Battleis published on the 15thof February, May, August and November.LONDON STOCKIST for theAfter the Battlerange:Motorbooks, 13/15 Cecil Court, London WC2N 4ANTelephone: 020 7836 5376. Fax: 020 7497 2539United Kingdom Newsagent Distribution:Warners Group Publications PLC,Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PHAustralian Subscriptions and Back Issues:Renniks Publications Pty LimitedUnit 3, 37-39 Green Street, Banksmeadow NSW 2019Telephone: 61 2 9695 7055. Fax: 61 2 9695 7355E-mail: info@renniks.com. Website:www.renniks.comCanadian Distribution and Subscriptions:Vanwell Publishing Ltd.,622 Welland Avenue, St. Catharines, OntarioTelephone: (905) 937 3100. Fax: (905) 937 1760Toll Free: 1-800-661-6136E-mail: sales@vanwell.comNew Zealand Distribution:Dal McGuirk’s “MILITARY ARCHIVE”, PO Box 24486,Royal Oak, Auckland 1345, New ZealandTelephone: 021 627 870. Fax: 9-6252817E-mail: milrchiv@mist.co.nzUnited States Distribution and Subscriptions:RZM Imports Inc, 184 North Ave., Stamford, CT 06901Telephone: 1-203-324-5100. Fax: 1-203-324-5106E-mail: info@rzm.com Website:www.rzm.comItalian Distribution:Tuttostoria, PO Box 395, 1-43100 ParmaTelephone: ++390521 29 27 33. Fax: ++390521 29 03 87E-mail: info@tuttostoria.it Website:www.tuttostoria.itDutch Language Edition:SI Publicaties/Quo Vadis, Postbus 188,6860 AD OosterbeekTelephone: 026-4462834. E-mail: si@sipublicaties.nlCONTENTSTHE LOST SOLDIERSOF FROMELLES3WAR FILMThe War Lover22WAR CRIMEReturn to Cefalonia28READERS’ INVESTIGATIONTank Fight at Sinalunga38UNITED KINGDOMCoventry Blitz — November 194041REMEMBRANCEThe Civilian War DeadRoll of Honour44FROM THE EDITOR48Front Cover:The dedication of the newmilitary cemetery at Fromelles, Franceon July 19, 2010. (Gail Parker)Back Cover:The Memorial to Londonerskilled in The Blitz now to be seen atHermitage Wharf, Wapping. (Gail Parker)Acknowledgements:The Editor is verygrateful for the assistance given byLambis Englezos, Dr Tony Pollard, JeanPaul Pallud and Tim Whitfield duringresearch for the Fromelles article. AlanTomkins provided background materialforThe War Loverand Sergio Andrea-nelli and Dionissies Arvanitakis gavehelp with the article on Cephalonia.Photo Credits:AWM — Australian WarMemorial; CWGC — Commonwealth WarGraves Commission; GUARD — GlasgowUniversityArchaeologicalResearchDivision; IWM — Imperial War Museum;USNA — US National Archives.2With this 150th issue over 37 years have passed since I ventured to Normandywith my Jeep to see if it was possible to match up wartime photos. Since the 1970sthe exploration of battlefields has become big business for many tour companiesalthough many locations have since been commercialised or have changed out of allrecognition. While the internet has vastly aided research, at the same time many ofthe official bodies that we relied on to help us with information have closed theirdoors, hiding behind the wretched Data Protection Act.And that attitude is different depending on the country concerned. Gettingsimple grave references for French servicemen is well-nigh impossible; likewise thelocation of the graves of US servicemen repatriated to the States. On the otherhand the Americans are willing to provide copies of complete files, including court-martials. It is now impossible to get servicemen’s records in Britain but theAustralians have no problem in making the same information freely available onthe web. German personnel records now have redactions added but the Belgianauthorities will provide them in the fullest detail.My mind often goes back over all the stories and events we have covered thesepast years and which were the most significant. Readers will have their own opinionsbut for me I think it has to be finding General Eisenhower’s pre-D-Day HQ atPortsmouth(above),described in issue 84. No book, document, historian or museumknew where it had been located . . . the place where he must have agonised over thedecision to send a million men on the largest amphibious operation in adverseweather, and where he penned in advance an admission of failure should it be neces-sary. It surely has to be one of the most important places we have discovered.I am grateful that so many readers have supported us from our very first issue.Since then many of our authors and contributors have passed away, in some caseslike Bart Vanderveen (2001), the fountain head of all knowledge on military vehi-cles; Roger Freeman (2005), the foremost Eighth Air Force historian; Peter Cham-berlain (2006), the German armour expert, and Alan Hall (2008) who foundedAviation Newswith me, leave a void very difficult to fill. One of our journalists onthat publication was Jerry Scutts and back in the 1970s he wrote me a piece on themaking ofThe War Lover.For some reason it never got used so I have included itin this issue in memory of Jerry who died in December 2008.More recently we lost Connie Richards who was steeped in the Glenn Millerera as she lived on the edge of Twinwood Farm aerodrome from where he departedon his fatal flight. She was such a charismatic lady — readers will have met her onpage 53 of issue 117 and page 53 of issue 138 in her role with her husband Gordonas UK representatives of the Eighth Air Force Historical Society.WINSTON G. RAMSEY, EDITOR-IN-CHIEFConnie Richards being interviewed with a Glenn Miller fan at Twinwood Farm.ATBATBTHE LOST SOLDIERS OF FROMELLESFollowing the assassination of their Arch-duke Franz Ferdinand, Austria-Hungarydeclared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914. Ger-many and Russia joined in on August 1 andFrance followed on the 3rd. Great Britainentered the war the following day althoughthe honour of firing the first shots wasclaimed by the commander of Fort Nepeanon Port Philip Bay, Melbourne. News of thedeclaration of war by Great Britain wasreceived by the Governor-General in Aus-tralia at 12.30 p.m. (Eastern AustralianTime) on August 5. Consequently, a Germanvessel attempting to leave the bay received ashot across the bows (seeAfter the BattleNo.90).Top:This is the little French village ofFromelles some 12 kilometres west ofLille, before the ravages of war reduced itto a ruin. On March 10, 1915, the BritishFirst Army launched an attack againstnearby Neuve-Chapelle, capturing the vil-lage within an hour. In that case the pre-assault bombardment had lasted just 35minutes giving the Germans no lengthyadvance warning. Two months later theBritish Expeditionary Force followed upwith a more-extensive assault on a five-mile front between Festubert andFromelles, the latter village being held bythe 6. Reserve-Infanterie-Division. How-ever, by now German pioneers hadworked to create an impregnable frontline. The attack which followed on May 9devastated the village. It was called theBattle of Aubers Ridge by the British butGefecht (fight) von Fromelles by the Ger-mans: ‘The ruins of the shelled churchtower loom in the dim light of the moon-lit night. Prussian subalterns await thetransport and conduct [the men] into thenew positions. The light of dawnremoves tension and curiosity: a levelfield with water channels, willow treesand willow stalks, in the distancetowards the enemy lines lies an insignifi-cant wood with barbed-wire entangle-ments. A veritable no man’s land.’By 1918 over 330.000 Australians hadserved and more than 60,000 had lost theirlives of whom 23,000 were recorded as miss-ing. Although the Australian Imperial Force(AIF) had fought long and hard at Gallipoli,what has been described as ‘the worst 24hours in Australia’s entire history’ occurrednear the little French village of Fromelles onJuly 19/20, 1916.The Australian 5th Division, under MajorGeneral James McCay, had only arrived inFrance the previous month. It had beenformed in Egypt in February and, apart froma few trench raids, this was to be the firstoccasion that the Australians would fight amajor battle on the Western Front. AlthoughBy Gail Parkeruntried, General McCay wantedhis5th Divi-sion to have that honour.Designed partly to be a diversion for themain battle of the Somme that had beenlaunched on July 1, it was hoped that the oper-ation would also eliminate a bulge or salient,which included a heavily fortified positioncalled the ‘Sugarloaf’, in the German linesnorth of Fromelles village. The Australianforce comprised the 8th Brigade (Brigadier-General Edwin Tivey); the 14th Brigade(Colonel Harold Pope), and the 15th Brigade(Brigadier-General Harold ‘Pompey’ Elliott).The Germans even changed the name of the village to Petzstadt and also the streetnames — this was Linke Hochbahnstrasse.3ATBBy the end of the war Fromelles was a total ruin, the mound of rubble being all that was left of the church.FROMELLESMajor-General Colin MacKenzie’s British61st (South Midland) Division would be ontheir right flank. However over the previousyear this territorial unit had been denuded ofmany of its most-experienced officers andmen to reinforce other divisions. For thecoming battle, its three brigades were the182nd (Brigadier-General Alistair Gordon);the 183rd (Brigadier-General Cosmo Stew-art), and the 184th (Brigadier-GeneralCharles Carter).This sector of the German line was held bythe 6. Bayerische Reserve-Infanterie-Divisioncommanded by Generalleutnant Gustav Scan-zoni von Lichtenfels. As part of the RoyalBavarian Army, it had been formed in Sep-tember 1914 mainly by calling up reservists(one notable being Gefreiter Adolf Hitler, amessage runner with Reserve-Infanterie-Regi-ment 16 ‘List’). Having been in action for twoyears, the division was battle-hardened com-pared to the Australians even though some ofthe latter were veterans of Gallipoli.ATBRight:To the Germans this was BraunStrasse. The church was rebuilt by 1927.4AWM E O3962AWM H 01890Major-General James McCay, the com-mander of the newly arrived 5th Aus-tralian Division.The operation had been formulated byLieutenant-General Sir Richard Haking ofthe British XI Corps. He had first proposedan assault using three divisions by includingthe 31st Division, but when he wasinformed that the only artillery supportavailable would be provided by the Aus-tralians, he had to scale his plan back to justtwo divisions. His orders stated that: ‘Eachdivision will attack with three brigades inline, each brigade with two assaulting bat-talions and each battalion on a front ofabout 350 yards.’In command of the British 61st (SouthMidland) Division was Major-GeneralColin MacKenzie.Most of Haking’s subordinate comman-ders were unhappy with the plan and wentover his head to General Sir Charles Monroof First Army but Field-Marshal Sir DouglasHaig confirmed the operation on the 15th.The artillery shelling, designed to preparethe way forward by destroying the wireentanglements, began at 11 a.m. even thoughthe infantry were not attacking until 6 p.m.Such bombardments often failed in their pur-pose and instead served as a warning that anassault would follow. The German gunsimmediately replied, battering the BritishGeneralleutnant Gustav Scanzoni vonLichtenfels commanding the 6. Bay-erische Reserve-Infanterie-Division.front line and obscuring observation posts sothat a later British report admitted that ‘noeffective destructive or neutralising of theHun infantry, artillery or MGs took place.The total effect of our artillery preparationon the Hun resistance was nil.’At 5.45 p.m. the infantry climbed out oftheir trenches to be immediately greeted byheavy machine-gun fire causing many casual-ties. Advancing a quarter of a mile to capturewhat they had been told was the Germanfront line, in fact the ‘trenches’ turned out tobe pulverised water-filled drainage ditches.July 19, 1916. Down in the trenches, Charles Lorking pho-tographed the men of the Australian 53rd Battalion, 15 min-utes before the signal was given for the attack to commence.All these men would become casualties, only three survivingwounded including Private Frederick Turvey, the soldiersmoking a last cigarette(left)before going over the top.5AWM H 16396AWM A 03042BAYERISCHES STAATSHAUPTARCHIV
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]