Tuesday 30 May 2017

Battle of Messines

Wednesday 7 June 2017 will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Messines. Launched on the 7th June 1917 the battle was used in preparation for the Flanders offensive the allies were to undertake in the northern summer. For many years tunnellers had dug huge mines beneath the German trenches in the area and had packed the mines with explosives. Before dawn on June 7 1917, 19 mines were detonated causing a massive explosion which they said at the time could be heard across the English Channel. The German trenches were totally destroyed. This event was made famous by the Australian film Beneath Hill 60. The explosions killed 10,000 Germans.

British, New Zealand and Australian troops advanced to take the strategically important Wyschaete-Messines Ridge. The ridge which was situated on high ground south of Ypres was used by the Germans as a salient into British lines and to build their defence along its 10 mile length. Taking the ridge was of vital importance for the summer offensive to be successful. The fighting continued until the 14th June and claimed 6,000 Australian casualties, of these 500- 2000 were a result of a gas attack launched by the Germans. Two Australians Private John Carroll and Captain Robert Grieve were awarded the Victoria Cross during the battle.

The allies success at Messines was often referred to as what could be achieved on the Western Front  when a campaign is carefully planned by competent leaders and the infantry was not asked to advanced any further than the distance their artillery could cover.

Messines was historic for the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). It was the first the 3rd Division under Major General John Monash saw action on the Western Front and it was also the first time since Gallipoli that Australian and New Zealand troops had fought along side each other.

Below is a report in the Ballarat Courier of an interview given by Major General Monash following the Messines attack.

Ballarat Courier 7 July 1917


 Below is a photograph of Australian soldiers at Messines in July 1917, standing in German trenches demolished by the mine blasts.
Photograph Courtesy of the Australian War Memorial





Wednesday 24 May 2017

After Bullecourt: the Four Sons of Mrs Buckingham



This enquiry came to us in the Australiana Room from a gentleman doing some research on his wife’s family:


In my research for my Family Tree, I have been given photos of the four Buckingham boys – George,  William, Bob and Frank – under the heading “Four Sons of Mrs Buckingham”. I believe the photos come from the Ballarat Courier but they have no date, except for a caption under Frank’s photo “Now in France”. All four were soldiers in the first World War. Two of them were killed in France – George and young Sam both on April 11 1917, and Bob wounded three times. Frank enlisted for two tours of duty.  I am told the photos were in the Ballarat Courier some time in 1917, because Mrs Buckingham and two of the sons came from Ballarat. But two came from WA, so it could be a WA paper.


I responded to this enquirer that he should get onto Trove as the National Library has digitised newspapers all over Australia from the Great War period.  By looking in Trove using the title of the article as a search term he should be able to find what he was looking for – it wouldn’t matter which newspaper – he didn’t need to search papers individually.


The next day my colleague Simon was turning the pages of the 100 year old Ballarat Courier, and I noticed the page he had selected for display included about 8 photographs in the “Roll of Honour”.  I remarked what a good page it was to have open, and stepped closer for a better look.  Imagine my surprise to see two of the Buckingham sons included in those images!

The Ballarat Courier, May 12 1917 p. 5





                                                         

Before I could email my enquirer about this coincidence, there was a phone message from him, to say he had located the article required, in the Kalgoorlie Sun.  You can try the search yourself in Trove if you wish to see it.


The two Buckingham men killed on the same day were with the 16th Battalion at Bullecourt.  They had enlisted together in Perth (Service Record Numbers 6237 and 6238), they both sailed to England on the Suffolk, and then to France together, and died together in the same battle on the same day.  


Poor May Buckingham, William’s wife, could not accept William’s death and in 1930 wrote a tragic letter to the Base Records, questioning whether he really was killed in action – or was he a Prisoner of War? – as she had such strong dreams of him coming home.  She received a brisk letter from the Army records department, advising “all prisoners of war have long since been repatriated” and that his name would be inscribed on the Villers Bretonneux memorial.


Only two of the Buckingham sons are memorialised in the Avenue of Honour in Ballarat, the two sons who enlisted from Ballarat - Tree 787, R.T. Buckingham 5th Battalion:  Tree 1111, Frank Buckingham 16th Battalion (planted 13.7.15 by Mrs Buckingham herself in the “Sunnyside Woollen Mills Employees section”).  The two sons who enlisted from Perth are memorialised at Villers Bretonneux, and in this death notice in the Ballarat Courier on May 12th, 1917, which reflects the numbers of casualties from the Bullecourt battles:


 

Monday 15 May 2017

Battle of Bullecourt

The 3rd of May commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Second Battle of Bullecourt. Despite the failure of the first attack on Bullecourt on the 11th April, General Gough decided  to try and break the Hindenburg line again near the village of Bullecourt in France. The second battle was launched on the 3rd of May when the 2nd Australian Division attacked with the British alongside. Bitter fighting continued for over two weeks after which time the Germans gave up the fields around Bullecourt. The fighting led to 7, 482 Australian casualties.  The depleted Australian battalions were withdrawn to recover. Following Bullecourt  British attention was turning to Belgium where in the coming months the Australians would suffer their greatest losses of the war.

War historian Charles Bean writing in the official history described the Australian attack at Bullecourt as : 'The second Bullecourt (battle) was, in some ways, the stoutest achievement of the Australian  soldiers in France'

Following is how the Ballarat Courier reported the Battle.


Ballarat Courier 14 May 1917


Photograph of Bullecourt, France c1917, view of trenches close to village.


Photo courtesy of Australian War Memorial