Now all roads lead to France
And heavy is the tread
Of the living; but the dead
Returning lightly dance:

Edward Thomas, 3 March 1878 - 9 April 1917 ¹

It is a wide road that leads to war and only a narrow path that leads home again. Knox, Sir Alfred, With the Russian Army, Vol.1, Hutchinson, 1921

John Henry's first tour of duty in France

According to John Henry's Casualty Form - Active Service (Army Form B103) he proceeded overseas during the night of Saturday 25 November 1916.

The Battalion left Amesbury in three trains, which arrived at Southampton at 11a.m., noon, and 2p.m. respectively. Here in large sheds adjacent to the wharf we remained waiting for darkness to fall. It was not advisable for transports to cross the English Channel in daylight.

During the long hours that elapsed we consumed countless buns and cakes, vast quantities of chocolate, fruit, chew-gum and other kinds of edibles which were purchasable at the canteens in the sheds. We smoked countless cigarettes and drank every kind of liquid available. This was the only relief we got during the tedious and monotonous afternoon and evening. At last the long weary wait came to an end and we gladly received, and cheerfully obeyed, the order to "Fall in." Embarkation on the Channel transports started at 8 p.m. and after a rough passage, Le Havre was reached the following morning (Sunday). 2 In snow and sleet the Battalion disembarked at midday to be greeted by a mass of French civilian populations. A six mile march took them to the desolate 'Rest Camp', where rows of discoloured and sodden tents stood in oozing mud. Dripping and leaking tents provided an uninviting atmosphere of gloom and dejection. Left: Postcard sent by John Henry CROMPTON to Alex POSTANS, date and postal address unknown. Source: Alex POSTANS' letters

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Above: Possible route of 42nd Battalion to Armentiéres

Fortunately this was an over night stop, for the next day the Battalion marched down hill to the station for a 30 hour train journey in French cattle trucks infamously labelled '8 chevaux, 40 hommes' . Bailleul was reached at 3pm on the afternoon of Tuesday 28 November. 3 From there the Battalion route marched to Outtersteene arriving at 5pm. Training, including marching, bayonet fighting and gas drill began the next day and lasted until 05 December. Above '8 chevaux, 40 hommes' rail travel Source: 42nd Battalion War Diary November 1916 AWM4 23/59/1

Right: Photographs of '8 chevaux, 40 hommes' rail travel

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The first of many transfers to hospital, whilst in the 'field', occurred nine days later when on 04 December 1916 John Henry was transferred to hospital with dysentery, but was admitted the next day with diarrhoea. Nine days later, on 13 December, he returned to duty. By this time the Battalion and marched to Armentieres, via Bailleul, where they became 'F' Battalion billeted in a 'Cotton Factory' in Rue de la Paix, with headquarters at 23 rue Sadi Carnot.

Above: 42nd Battalion War Diary 06 December 1916 For Outtersten read Outtersteene

After the British occupation of Armentieres, between September 1914 and April 1918 the town remained in German hands until finally liberated on 02 October 1918. At this point the town was raised.

In everything connected with the spinning and weaving of linen Armentieres ... was considerably in advance of Germany. Consequently, the Germans destroyed all the mills, factories and metallurgical works, and what machinery could not be taken to pieces and sent to Germany, they ruthlessly smashed.⁴

Hoverbox Photo Gallery - rue de la Paix, Armentiéres - Author: 03 October 2007 This feature does not function correctly on phones and tablets

The old cotton factory still gives every appearance of the building where the 42nd Battalion were billeted over Christmas 1916. From the rue de la Paix entrance courtyard, rooms of whitewashed brick, now dark and dusty with age, are no longer used in the modern production process. Even in the 'office', where friendly and helpful staff work with modern computers, it is possible to imagine by-gone days. In broken French these ladies were intrigued to hear about a past life. Whether this is the original building or a post war reconstruction depends on the damage sustained between 1917 and 03 October 1918.

Hoverbox Photo Gallery - The cotton factory 5 billet, rue de la Paix, Armentiéres - Author: 03 October 2007 This feature does not function correctly on phones and tablets

Hoverbox Photo Gallery - 42nd Bn. Headquarters, 28 rue Sadi Carnot 6 Armentiéres - Author: 03 October 2007 This feature does not function correctly on phones and tablets

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Above: Trench map of Armentiéres 36NW2 dated 10 January 1917 Source: TNA WO 297/872 7      Click on the image opens an A4 landscape image in a new window

Brahms commented that, whilst part of the town was the Front Line, the civilians ... 'carried on their various avocations, whilst cafes and estaminets reaped a rich harvest from the constantly arriving and departing 

	troops. Little mademoiselles came round to our billets in the cold dark hours of the wintery mornings with cakes and coffee, for which they charged deux sous (two half pennies), and the young boys ... came to our subsiduary (sic) lines to sell us the daily papers. ... Whilst here we made purchases of many kinds of fancy goods such as lace and silks and elaborate post cards.'
Above An elaborate postcard Source: Alex POSTANS' papers

In his early chapters, Brahms gives flavour to life of the 42^nd Battalion in the Armentieres nursery trenches in December 1916 and January 1917. However, the route to the trenches, as described below, seems to have poetic licence as it is not the shortest route on the map above.

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The following day, Saturday, December 23rd, fifty per cent, of the specialists, that is, machine-gunners, signallers, bombers, etc., of the 36th Battalion, then holding the line, were relieved by the same number of specialists of the 42nd Battalion. The rest of us made our initial entry into the front line trenches the next day. In the early hours of the morning, before the dawn of Christmas Eve, under the cover of

darkness, we stole silently across Half-past Eleven Square and Barbed-wire Square, which were enveloped in a blanket of snow. We were loaded up with full pack and equipment and went steadily on until a large red building was reached. This was called "The Gum-boot Store". Here every man was issued with a pair of rubber boots which had to be returned when the term in the trenches was over. These boots reached from the toes up to the thighs, and after a while, created a freezing sensation in the feet.

Above: Armentieres Half Past Eleven Square in 1917 Source: AWM 8 ART92814

They seemed to accumulate as much moisture as they were designed to keep out. This was due to the condensing of the perspiration from the body. Alongside of the Gum-boot Store was a Y.M.C.A. canteen, where tea and biscuits could be obtained prior to entering the trenches. The system of trenches in front of Armentiéres was eventually entered by a communicating trench called Lunatic Lane, so named after the Lunatic Asylum which stood at the head.

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Hoverbox Photo Gallery - The way to the front today - Author: 03 October 2007 This feature does not function correctly on phones and tablets

1. Armentiéres Barbed-wire Square, now at the intersection of rue de l'Octroi and rue des Déportés in 2008 2. A modern front to the Asylum grounds in avenue Gustave Dron, in 2007. Wings have been added to this building. The Asylum grounds are a modern psychiatric hospital in

landscaped rows of barrack-like buildings. 9 3. A possible location of the Gum-boot store: a red-bricked building on rue General Leclerc, in 2008. This is a best guess based on the information from Google. The adjacent building makes a creditable YMCA.

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Above: Composite map of Armentieres trenches showing Lunatic Lane exiting from the Asylum. Maps 36NW2&NE1 of 18 January 1917 and 36NW2 of 02 September 1918 (Squares I2,3 and 4). The 1918 map shows the position of the German trenches and wire during their occupation of Armentieres. It is assumed that these are the old British trenches and wire as used by 42nd Battalion in late 1916 and early 1917. Click on the image to open an 124Kb, A4 landscape map of the British and German front lines of 18 January 1917. Source: Both TNA WO297/872

... you were led away into the grounds of another, larger building, this time made of brick, that was an Asylum; and from there, via Lunatic Lane, into the lines. Lunatic Lane began as a cobbled street, then became dirt, and before you quite knew it you were on planks. From this point the duckboards, for all their twisting and turning, led straight to war. ¹⁰

We experienced much difficulty getting through the trenches with our full packs and equipment, and an unauthorised blanket or two. Especially was this so when we met parties of troops coming from the opposite direction whom we had to pass. We, however, were learning. Ever afterwards, our packs and blankets were left at the Quartermaster's store prior to taking over the line, and they were called for again upon our relief.

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Hoverbox Photo Gallery - The 42/Bn's way to the front yesterday - Source: AWM This feature does not function correctly on phones and tablets

1. On patrol December 1916 Source: AWM E00096 2. On their way to Lunatic Lane, enter the Asylum grounds. December 1916. Source: AWM

3. Number 12 Platoon, return to their billet in the cotton factory. December 1916. Source: AWM E00111

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Hoverbox Photo Gallery - Houplines 1916-17 - Source: AWM This feature does not function correctly on phones and tablets

1. The Houplines Asylum as it appeared in 1917. Source: AWM H01083 2. 3rd Division inspect Houplines ruins

December 1916. Source: AWM E00108 3. 38Bn in the Houplines ruins December 1916 Source: AWM E00106

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Left: 3/Pioneers celebrate Christmas 1916 in Armentiéres Source: AWM E00109 Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, 1916... were unexpectedly quiet. A pleasing feature, and to us a great surprise, was to discover how exceedingly well the organisation of the Battalion was being maintained. The transport brought their limbers right up close to the firing line. Working and carrying parties, working forwards and backwards, like streams of ants, kept the troops supplied with ammunition, wire and all the necessities for carrying on warfare.

The comfort of the men was not neglected. The Battalion cooks, who were always referred to as "The Babbling Brooks," installed their travelling kitchens in the subsiduary (sic) lines. There were four of these cookers. One to each company. Throughout the day the cooks kept us supplied with hot food. There was tea, morning and evening, and stew at midday. These meals were brought up from the cooks by mess-orderlies who worked together in pairs. Strapped to the back of one of them was a large vacuum container filled with either stew or tea. These were always acceptable and generally quite hot. The mess-orderlies also distributed the large Army biscuits, which we called "Anzac Wafers," on account of their thickness and weight. They also brought round issues of cheese, tins of bully beef, jam and bread. The latter, when plentiful, would work out at a daily ration of "four men to a loaf". These commodities were carried around in sand bags, which had a way of shedding their jutey hairs on the contents. Especially did they spread themselves on the cheese and margerine (sic), which was the name of the substitute for butter.

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Some of these parcels of comforts were delivered to us on Christmas Day and contained among other things, Christmas puddings. These were served up to us, steaming hot and in perfect condition. The parcels also contained tins of cocoa and milk, ready to be made hot at any time by the aid of blocks of composition containing mainly Benzotine, and known to us by the name of "Tommy Cookers." Besides these, there were fruit cakes, confectionery and tins of various delicacies. There were socks, gloves and cap-comforters, knitted by loving hands. These prevented the cold penetrating the extremities whilst large sheep-skin vests kept our bodies warm.

Although there is no record that shows that anything of outstanding importance occurred during this, our first term in the trenches, yet it was a period over which the Battalion had been subjected to a most serious and vital trial. Officers and men alike had been put to the test. It was our initiation. All ranks from the Battalion Commander down to the lowliest private soldier had learnt what was likely to be expected of him, and how he might be called upon to act spontaneously in cases of emergency. Here we had received first-hand knowledge and insight into the workings of the military machine [and] hardened us to withstand the rigours of intense cold and discomfort, and here it was that we learnt that it is possible to bear the deafening and demoralising roar of hostile artillery barrages unflinchingly and with unimpaired nerve.

Nightly our wiring parties and patrols climbed over the top to strengthen our defences and to learn what could be learnt about the enemy's. It was during this period we experienced the eeriness of No- man's Land, got used to machine-gun bursts, to the "ping" of bullets, to the weird shadows moving up and down, [...] as the enemy's star- shells rose and fell, and to the feeling that at any moment a hostile patrol might be encountered.

Above: 44th Battalion Trench raid, in the Houplines area, in April 1917 Source: AWM ART03534

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On [New Year's Day, 1917] ... we were relieved in the trenches by the 14th Battalion, and assumed that we were out of the line or a while, but we had yet to learn of a military paradox that existed, namely "When you are in the Line-you are in. And when you are out of the Line-you are still in."

And so it was with us. No sooner were we relieved in the trenches than the entire Battalion was ordered back again employed as working parties. ... A working party consisted of detachments of men sent out to perform certain laborious work, such as digging trenches and laying cables. There were also "carrying parties," for taking up to the front line barbed wire, duckboards, ammunition, etc. "Wiring parties" laid barbed wire entanglements in No-man's Land in front of our trenches. There were also "ration parties" for carrying rations and "burial parties.".

Above: 40/Bn working party at Houplines December 1916 -  Source AWM E000105

A working party might be under the supervision of an engineer and build railways and construct concrete dug-outs, or be directed by some pioneer officer in the reveting of trenches and the laying of duckboard tracks. They also built gun pits for the artillery and emplacements for the Stoke's Mortar Batteries.

The Brigade Staff was particularly fussy about certain details, such as the exact time the working party reported, the quantity of work performed, but most especially, the exact number of men who were detailed for the job.

Instinctively we learnt how to avoid difficulties and to observe the brewing of trouble. On one occasion a working party of one hundred was detailed to report to an engineer officer for the job of burying a cable. Only ninety-six men assembled. It was too cold to wait about for the other four stragglers, so the N.C.O. in charge marched them off and everyone thought all was well, until suddenly a Staff Officer was observed standing ready to check their numbers. Half the party marched by the officer and was counted, and then whilst he was busily engaged in checking the remainder, the four men who comprised the leading file doubled round the nearest street corner, re-joined the party at the rear and marched past as the last four, and thus made up the full complement.

Whilst at Armentieres we occupied a sector in the Houplines district called L'Epinette Salient, which was approached by trenches known as Quality Street [Road] and Willow Walk. The names of the communicating trenches to right, left and centre sectors were, respectively, Plank Avenue, Japan Road, and Second House Avenue.

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Above: Map 36NW2&NE1 of 18 January 1917 and 36NW2 of 02 September 1918 showing L'Epinette Salient Source: Both TNA WO297/872 Click on the map to open a 68kB A4 landscape showing a wider area Note: Whilst Japan Road is clearly named Second House Avenue may be Avenue Road. There is no trench marked Plank Road. Lunatic Lane enters from the west.

On 01 January 1917 the War Diary records the Battalion as the 'D' Battalion, behind the lines of Armentieres employed on working parties and at Raiding School. The Battalion moved back to the same trenches on 06 January 1917.

The 42nd remained in this locality, until relieved by the 35th Battalion on March 11th. In the meantime the usual trench warfare continued, casualties occurred daily, whilst the weather was exceedingly rigorous; in fact, it was the coldest winter known in these parts for many years past.

John Henry again reported sick on 03 January 1917 to the Victorian 10^th Australian Field Ambulance (AFA) in Armentieres. He was then transferred first to the 2^nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station (ACCS) at Trois Arbres, a small outlying locality of the French town of Steenwerck, and then on to 3^rd Canadian General Hospital at Boulogne with enteritis. 2/ACCS, at Trois Arbres, which was featured in the World War 1 Australian Army Nursing Service in the 2014-15 Australian television series 'ANZAC girls'. Enteritis kept John Henry away from the front until 14 June 1917 when he was attached to H& D Dept, Rouelles. On 07 July 1917 John Henry returned to 42nd Battalion in the Messines sector, after the battle of 7-14 June 1917 and shortly before the Battalion moved to 'Rest Billets T2 Central Belgium - La Douve Camp'.

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Map locating 2/ACCS at Trois Arbres and 9/AFA on Ravelsburg Ridge Source: Trois Arbes and 2-ACCS (Accessed: 01 November 2014)

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Monash and 3rd Division at Messines ¹¹

Pedersen's account records John Henry's experiences prior to Messines. Sir John Monash, as CO 3rd Division, appreciated thorough attack preparation together with the quality and training of assaulting infantry. Messines would be the first Australian attack using the new platoon structure: self-contained units comprising of a sections of Lewis Ginners, bombers, rifle grenadiers and bayonet men. Prior to Messines, each section was trained to their skills, together with the taking and holding of craters.

The 3rd Division took over its front of attack on 27 April. [from River Lys on the south to Ash Lane inclusive (map referencee U.8.c)] ¹² During the next month, brigades completed their rotation through the training area at Quelmes. Detecting the frequent changes, the Germans raided on 17 and 18 May, but were unsuccessful. Five raids had also been repelled in March and April, prompting Bean's comment that in defence, the 3rd was 'to say the least, fully up to the standard of the older divisions'. ¹³

After 31 May, as the offensive approached the entire 3rd Division line was held by 41st Battalion who launched a series of raids to capture prisoners and to check the effect of their bombardment on the wire and defences.

On 3 June the Germans had begun nightly gas bombardments of Ploegsteert Wood, and on the 6 July the gas and high explosive shelling commenced just as the 3rd Division started to move through it. The gas, laying stagnant, seriously delayed the approach march, necessitating the prolonged wearing of gas masks. The high explosives caused confusion to the four columns. In all the Division suffered a thousand casualties and was seriously delayed. Bean recorded: 'Throughout the night the moving factor was the determination of the men themselves to reach the "jumping off" position in time' ¹⁴ by 0310.

The 11th Brigade and therefore 42nd Battalion were not directly involved in 3rd Division’s Messines attack. When participating in the Warneton Stunt, they would benefit from Monash’s experiences.

The Warneton Stunt - John Henry's second tour of duty in France

Above: Map of 42nd Battalion's route to Warneton 4 May 1917 to 26 September 1917

Warneton Stunt – the strategic overview ¹⁵

On the morning of 31 July 1917 John Henry, as a member of 'A' Company, may have been involved in a 'highly successful diversion operation carried out by 'A' and ' B' Companies' close to Messines, known as the Warneton Stunt.

At the time of the Warneton Stunt, General Plumer, with Second Army, was planning a large feint towards Lille in order to spread the German artillery away from General Gough’s main Fifth Army attack further north. II ANZAC were to prepare minor operations, the so-called stunts, on their respective fronts.

When 3rd Division took over the Messines sector, the outgoing 25th Division had created an inverted salient at Steignast Farm, which was well behind the flanks. Over a difficult period of eighteen days, Monash ordered the construction of new defensive trenches. In response, the Germans reinforced their advanced posts, the strongest of which were on the Windmill Ridge: a long low spur overlooking Monash’s lines and preventing his view of the Warneton Line. (See maps below)

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On 3 July, after the failure of attacks by small patrols, Brigadier General John Cannan of 11th Brigade proposed a larger operation to clear the ridge. Monash, on returning from leave, developed into a wider and deeper thrust confining the Germans to the Warneton Line and establishing a more secure winter defensive line. Monash had proposed a smaller operation with a greater chance of success.

To convince the Germans that a serious attack was pending, Monash ordered two strategies. Wire cutting raids began on the Warneton Line and 37th and New Zealand battalions began to mop up the German flank outposts to screen the real attack. At 0345, the Australian attack, preceded by untried Stokes mortar smoke bombs developed by 3rd Division, Lieutenant A. S. Varley, to confuse the Germans when 3rd Division’s attack coincided with Fifth Armies.

‘On 11 July 1917 the 9th Brigade entered the line to allow the 11th to commence training for the attack. Monash discussed the plan thoroughly with Cannan, criticized his rehearsals and, on 24 July, held a 'long and important conference ... of all concerned'. The ground resembled a quagmire, and the approach marches of the 42nd and 43rd battalions on the 31st took five and seven hours, respectively, after buses dropped them at the old Messines front line. By 4.05 a.m. the first wave had reached the wire of the Warneton Line to protect the second and third waves while they established outposts behind it.’ ¹⁶

The smoke-screen on both flanks was effective. It seemed as if the Germans believed that a heavier attack was about to follow, for they began to withdraw their guns, resulting in little shelling until 2 p.m. By then they realized the advance had ceased and, as steady rain fell, the new line was bombarded heavily. One post was temporarily lost during the night, but when a second counter-attack was launched at dawn, it was broken by the artillery and the machine-gun barrage, which the Divisional Account described as excellent. Monash was observing his own principles when he relieved both assaulting battalions shortly after daybreak […]. ¹⁷

Although the Germans knew that Gough's attack was the main offensive, and Plumer’s diversionary attack was a failure, they believed the 3rd Division would attack the Warneton Line, an objective far exceeding Monash's modest aims. Through Monash’s skilful planning of the artillery and machine-gun barrages Windmill Ridge was retained against counter-attacks, though some positions had to be abandoned.

42nd Battalion's part in the attack

Warneton, a village to the south of Ypres and east of Messines, was the focus for operations of the 3rd Australian Division in mid-1917. The village gave its name to a strong German defensive line consisting, like most German defensive positions around the Ypres Salient, of mutually-supporting concrete pillboxes and thick belts of barbed wire. Following the battle of Messines, efforts were made to advance the British front to within striking distance of the Warneton Line. On 23 June 1917 the 3rd Australian Division joined this effort and the 11th Brigade was tasked with digging a new front line several hundred metres forward of the old one. Assailed by both the elements and German fire, it was not an easy task for the working parties, and the brigade's time on this task was subsequently remembered as a feat of endurance which became known as "the eighteen days". As well as its defensive works, the Brigade was also required to mount a series of raids and small attacks in an effort to drive-in the German outposts established forward of the main defences.

In order to finally destroy these advanced posts an attack was launched by the 42nd and 43rd Battalions of the 11th Brigade on the night of 31 July, which also served as a diversion for an offensive taking place further to the north. The posts were captured and held in the face of heavy counter-attacks, the Germans had a ready supply of reinforcements in the posts of the Warneton Line, advancing the British line another few hundred metres. ¹⁸

The Unit history confirms the objectives of the Stunt. See also the aerial photograph and map below.

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We were relived in the Messines sector on July 11th by the 36th Battalion and moved into tents and shelters by the side of a small stream called "Le Petit Douve." Thence onwards until the end of July a continuous series of downpours saturated the ground, turning it into one huge bog. The little streamlet became a swiftly flowing-river, ready to burst its banks at any moment, so that the conditions under which we existed were moat discomforting. Our strength was increased on July 14th by a draft of 108, and again on the 16th by a further draft of 50. ¹⁹

Above: Modern aerial photograph of the battlefield 2014. Click on the image to open a 100kB A4 map in a new window.

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The Warneton Stunt, which we carried out in conjunction with the 43rd Battalion, although directed mainly towards wiping out the enemy's strong posts established in No- man's Land, which had caused us so much annoyance, was also devised to serve as a diversion for the offensive taking place on the North-west (Belgium) Front.

On the night of July 31st we returned to the trenches, performing part of the journey by motor lorries. The ground was sve hours to make the approach march.

The 43rd Battalion attacked on the right. The 42nd Battalion attacked on the left. The operation was highly successful. Strong post after strong post was attacked and captured along with many prisoners and counterattacks beaten off. It is estimated that 150 of the enemy were killed in our first attack.

Our casualties were fairly light but our captures were many. Our men were utterly exhausted by the strain of fifty hours continuous fighting and digging, in the most abominable weather. The Corps Commander awarded eight of our men military medals for their conspicuous achievements on this occasion. ²¹

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Above: Diagrammatic map of Warneton Stunt approach and objectives. Left: Map key Sources: Trench map 28SW4 18 July 1917 TNA WO 297/803

Above: From Steignest Farm north-east to the assembly trenches, approximately by the overhead wires in 2008.

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Right: War Diary diagrammatic map of the Warneton Stunt - 31 July 1917 Note the slight differences to those reported in Bean. Source: AWM4-23/59/9

The approach march, camp and headquarters - Author: 03 October 2007 This feature does not function correctly on phones and tablets

1. La Petit Douve Farm know as La Basse Cour 2. Farm and river Douve along the N365 towards Messines (Mesen) church.

3. La Petit Douve Farm 4. 2nd Bn's HQ at Steignest Farm

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Above: Schnitzal Farm from Petite Douve showing the 43 rd Bn's water logged approach march across the valley of the river Douve in 2008. Behind Schnitzal Farm was Ungodly Trench and the present Bethlehem West Cemetery.

Above: Diagrammatic map of Warneton attack Background source: TNA WO 297/803

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Above: Composite map of the Warneton Stunt Background source TNA WO 297/803

The map represents my interpretation of the data available. An exact representation of the situation on the battlefield is difficult to determine because of data conflicts within the War Diaries.

• The planning document of 11^th Brigade give map references for both the German posts and those to be dug by the Australians.
• The battle narratives of the 42^nd and 43^rd Battalions often give different references. It is assumed that these references are created as a result of the action but the preciseness may vary because they were determined in the heat of battle.

Map sources

• Trench map - Ploegsteert 28SW4 trenches correct 25-8-17 TNA WO 297/803
• 11th Brigade War Diary July 1917 - Australian War Memorial AWM4 23/11 (Accessed: 25 March 2015)
• 42nd Battalion War Diary July 1917 - Australian War Memorial AWM4 23/59/9 (Accessed: 25 March 2015)
• 43rd Battalion War Diary July 1917 - Australian War Memorial AWM4 23/60/11 (Accessed: 25 March 2015)

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Aerial photographs of the Stunt

Above: A north pointing high altitude aerial photograph, taken by 'B' flight 48 Squadron at noon 12 July 1917, showing the pre-Stunt cratered landscape of the attack. Click on the photograph to open an A4 landscape annotated photograph in a new window. This is my interpretation of the locations and visible trenches, from the 28 SW4 map shown above. Source: IWM 22 Box 235/1703

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Above: A north pointing aerial photograph, taken at 3pm 23 July 1917, showing the shell marked area of 43rd Battalion's attack. Source: IWM 23 Box 235/1632 Click on the photograph to open an annotated A4 landscape image in a new window.

The War Diary continues with the results of the Stunt.

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Following the Warneton Stunt the 3rd Division, exhausted by their march to the rear, move into Second Army Reserve for six weeks’ rest, with the 42nd based at Lumbres. The ample time for relaxation was tempered by continued disciplined training and Company inspected clean-shaving and smart dress.

Bean observed […] The 10th and 11th are remarkably healthy . . . they are great families. The battalions in them stick together, are enthusiastic about one another and don't crab one another as some of our battalions do'.

The number of estaminets increased sharply in response to demand [...] 'in the village of Lumbres which could scarcely have 400 inhabitants a French woman told me (Leo) that ... the advent of the British Army the number [of houses that sold beer] had doubled. Of the remainder of the houses a large percentage catered for the egg and chip demand ... The Lassalle family estaminet in Lumbres was for eating purposes only. ²⁴

The battlefield today

Above: Looking from the junction of Hun's Walk and Military Road to the modern Kiwi Farm objective 2008

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Back to hospital

Right: 9/AFA at Point d'Achelles 04 December 1917 (Very close to the position of 2/ACCS in the map above) Source: AWM E01313 On 13 August 1917 a cut to the left hand sent him to 9th AFA, (Dressing station occupied by the NSW 9th Field Ambulance at Ravelsburg (Heights/Ridge between Bailleul and Neuve Eglise (Nieuwkerke)) only to be transferred 3rd A.D.R.C. eight days later. He rejoined his battalion on 23 August 1917 farm billets at Remilly Wirquin, 19 miles (31km) west-south- west from Hazebrouck.

End Notes

1. Edward Thomas, 3 March 1878 - 9 April 1917, Killed in Action at the Battle of Arras. by a shell's concussive blast wave as he stood to light his pipe.
2. Brahms, p.20
3. ibid p.21
4. Illustrated guide to the battlefields (1914 1918), Ypres and the Battle of Ypres, Michelin, London, 1919
5. Began as Groupe Coisne et Lambert, Armentieres in 1866 in the same building, but with a modern extension, it is part of TRP Charvet.
6. Marie François Sadi Carnot - President of France from 1887 until assassinated by an Italian anarchist named Sante Geronimo Caserio, Lyon, 24 June 1894
7. The National Archives (TNA)
8. Australian War Memorial
9. The building now has two modern wings.
10. Adapted from David Malouf, Fly Away Peter, 1982
11. Pedersen pp169-170
12. 3rd Division War Diary April 1917 (Accessed 06 December 2020)
13. Pedersen p.170
14. CEW Bean quoted by Pedersen p.170
15. Pedersen pp.181-4
16. ibid p.182
17. Pederson quoting bean p.184
18. Australian War Memorial (Accessed: 23 December 2014 - no longer accessible)
19. Brahms, page 40-41
20. The War Diary of the 42^nd Battalion AIF, July 1917 (Accessed: 08 December 2020)
21. Brahms, page 40-41
22. Imperial War Museum, Photographic Archives, Lambeth Road, London SE1 6HZ
23. ibid
24. Graham Howie, Stand To! No.135, Journal of the Western Front Association

Sources:

• Bean, CEW, 'The official history of the Australians in the war of 1914-18', Vol IV, ' The Australians in France' Angus and Roberts, Sydney, 1933 pp.712-721
• Brahms, Vivian, The Spirit of the Forty-Second', Smith & Paterson, Brisbane, 1933 - Naval and Military reprint
• Pedersen, PA, Monash as Military Commander, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Victoria, 1992

This page was created by Richard Crompton and maintained by Chris Glass		Version A14 Updated 18 August 2024