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Chapter 9: Stories from the Front & War weddings

Some of Uncle Vern’s stories were sent to me by Clyde Smythe (Viv’s son) and I have his permission to enter them here. I have also recorded some stories (and in other chapters) from my cousin Dorothy Bremner’s book on the Smythe Family History.

Vern was a signaler at the landing and was ordered with his mate to run a field telephone line inland from the beach head across the gullies and through the bush to the proposed future possible front line (or until they ran out of phone cable). They pushed through the bush unwinding the reel of cable, nervously looking out for Turks.

When the cable ran out it was daylight. They had expected the infantry to follow close behind them but there was no sign or sound of them after waiting an hour or more. They were already feeling isolated and vulnerable when they heard rifle and machine gun fire in the bush behind them and realized with shock that they were behind the Turkish positions and in danger of death or capture. They cautiously retreated through the bush back too the beach head without seeing a Turk, but exhausted by the stress of their actions. Never again did they advance as far inland as they did in the dawn light on the morning of the landing.

Vern said on the first day in Gallipoli was the most stressful and tiring. They started the day at 2am on the troopship and kept going until 10pm when he settled into a ”funk hole” he had scraped in the lee of the overhanging ridge up from the beach. Every time he dozed off he would have a nightmare of a Turk creeping through the bush and bayoneting him as he slept.

***

Percy had met his brothers in dug-outs in Shrapnel Gully (Gallipoli) and thought Bert looked unkempt and Vern a bit haggard. As they didn't smoke, they gave their cigarette allowance to friends from Sydney. Bert was used as a sniper because of his marksmanship.

A few days later Vern’s officer, Goldberg was hit in the throat and taken out of the trenches with no one available to replace him. Vern aged 20 took over in the emergency. General Hamilton mentioned him in dispatches and he was promoted in spite of his youth. He was described as “short in stature, trim of build and dapper in appearance. His face had the frank expression of a healthy schoolboy.” He liked to carry a baton and always looked tidy. He was well-liked and known as a very witty person.

***

While in Egypt, one Uncle was in charge of Guards escorting A.I.F. prisoners on a train to the docks in Egypt, to be sent back to Australia for dishonourable discharge. His comment was “They would murder their own mother for six pence.” as a description of their character. I have been told that many of these men changed their names, re-enlisted and returned overseas.

***

Clyde was told, when he met some men from the 56th Btn. at a dinner that they all considered Vern as a very brave man. The action at Fromelles, where Vern won his first Military Cross was repeated to us a few times. At that action, some soldiers were trapped in the 1st German Trench and Vern asked for volunteers to dig a trench towards the men, so they could try to escape that way. Dorothy Bremner covered this incident briefly. Evidentally, he was new to the company and they just sat and looked at him and thinking something like this we were told “Who is this upstart of a young officer – who does he think he is?” Vern climbed on top of the trench and walked along for a short while. He knew the way the Maxim machine guns worked and how long it took to reload (from his time at Gallipoli) and knew how many seconds it would be before the bullets could hit him and he could then jump back down. The men all volunteered but sadly some of them and those they tried to save died in the attempt. Vern would never go back to the battlefields, as he said he lost too many young men there.

Further stories about this are below and these vary slightly but the facts are much the same. You must remember these are from remembered conversations and time does dim the details sometimes.

Fromelles, France. German reoccupy their second lie trench. Australian dead and wounded remain. After three days of rain, at 6am on 19 July 1916, the 5th division AIF attacked the German trenches across the boggy No Mans’ Land under heavy German artillery bombardment to capture the 1st and 2nd enemy trench lines. Massed machine gun fire from the 3rd line caused crippling casualties among the Australians and over 1,000 became trapped in the 2nd German Line. At 1am, Captain V.E. Smythe organized volunteers from his 56th Bat. Reserve to dig an escape trench across No Mans’ Land linking hollows and shell holes to the German lines allowing most trapped Australians to get back to their own trenches. Captain V.E. Smythe was awarded the Military Cross for his actions.

Captain V.E. Smythe was a Gallipoli veteran newly promoted as Company commander in the new 56th Btn. AIF in France. His Company consisted of Gallipoli veterans and many new reinforcements who had no confidence in him. Fromelles was their first major action on the Western Front. When he called for volunteers to dig across No Mans Land under withering machine gunfire, to attempt the rescue the response was negative. He then climbed out of the trench and stood on the parapet saying he would not ask anyone to do anything that he would not do himself. As a machine gun traversed towards him, he walked along the parapet and jumped down into the next bay of the trench. He confided in Clyde that he knew from Gallipoli experience that German Maxim machine guns traversed slowly to avoid jamming the belt. He estimated he had 5 seconds before he was in the line of fire.

***

Viv's son Clyde, advised that Pozieres was Viv’s worst experience of the war with Bullecourt and Passchendale close behind. Clyde also wrote on another report that Viv described Posieres and Mouquet Farm as 'his worst of the worst trials in W.W.1.' He particularly felt that being 'packed tight in "K" Trench (Pozieres) in total darkness - ordered not to move - while being shelled by an intense German barrage was virtually beyond endurance. The successful attack on the Hindenburg Line at Bullecourt was regarded by his father as his most satisfying action of the war.

He had not been at Gallipoli but those who had, said that in this single battle, divisions were subjected to greater stress than the whole of the Gallipoli campaign, with greater loss of life.

***

In 1916 Bert was in England teaching signalling. He was regarded as an expert in semaphore and got 299.5 out of 300 in signalling, beating everyone including the officers. He had attended a special course in instructing and became part of the First Training Battalion.

***

Uncle Viv told his son that his closest shave was at Bullecourt. The Australians were fighting for control of the German trenches when an enemy bombing party came storming along the zig-zag trench throwing grenades in front of them. A stick grenade landed on the trench top right next to his head. The blast threw him against the trench wall. He thought he had been mortally wounded and felt his head and face and found no injuries. He could hear nothing but a screaming ringing in his ears. The battle raged on and after a few minutes later he was back in action. He explained that the grenade was a ‘dud’. No mention was made of this incident in his letter home to his parents about Bullecourt, where his brother Bert was killed.

***

My mother told me that Viv suffered very badly with hay-fever many times. There are a few entries on his Service Documents of being sent to England to hospital. One Uncle told me that he found it almost unbearable to send men out on patrol, when he knew that he would not see many of them again. He had to repeat these orders far too often.

***

Viv told my brother David, in response to a question that he never saw any soldiers who drowned in mud. However, he did see some who drowned in water in shell-holes. Many were stuck in mud and had to be hauled out mainly at night, with the help of willing hands and sometimes mules or horses were necessary to get the job done.

***

One uncle often talked of his memories to other visiting old soldiers. He was heard having discussions about moving up to the front under crushing shellfire and some men who shot themselves to get out of the line and some dying, as a result because their nerves were so shattered by their experiences.

***

My Uncle Perce wrote in his diary about one man being reported to him as being murdered by two others in his tent. I checked these men’s documents and they both returned to Australia and I could see no mention of any Courts’ Martial. One was in lots of trouble over his service life for being AWL and lots of other misdemeanors. The “allegedly” murdered man’s documents had nothing about enquiries except a note on a yellowish piece of paper “Court of Inquiry re Death In Safe”. His father received word from some of his son’s mates about the murder but there is nothing about any replies to his enquiries to the army about his son’s death, is in the Service Documents. I have not found any documents in the National Archives about the inquiry. Perhaps they are still secret. I am very curious and will make further inquiries at a later date.

***

The Germans were withdrawing from the Somme to the Hindenberg line in March 1917, fighting a rearguard action as they went. It was very difficult to find where the Germans were as they often strongly defended some trenches but not others. One Uncle, when fighting near --- was in the front line at dusk and saw a German trench about 500 yards away across ‘no mans’ land that appeared to be deserted. He called on other officers and sergeant to confirm that there was ‘no one there’. Several large shell craters were about 50 yards out in ‘no mans’ land’ and it was considered that the German trench raiders could occupy the craters during the night and make a surprise attack on their front line trench. To forestall the Germans, this Uncle ordered a platoon of 35 men armed with Lewis guns and grenades to occupy the craters. The 35 men lined up in their trench, there was a blast of Uncle’s whistle and they scrambled over the top and charged towards the craters. No one got there! Five German machine guns killed everyone of the 35 men. Uncle as so distraught at witnessing this horrible event, he tried to climb out of the trench to die with his men but his C.O. ordered him back. This incident haunted him all his life and he was visibly upset when talking about this in 1967.

***

Uncle Perce wrote in his diary of an incident Mt. St. Quentin about accepting a German soldier’s surrender, when an Australian came up swearing, then shot and killed him . My Uncle was very upset but understood some mens’ anger at recently losing mates caused men to act irrationally at times. This happened during a battle and I do not know the outcome. Shooting an unarmed soldier, who thought he was now safe, was not an isolated incident and sadly happened on both sides during the war.

***

Uncle Perce told his daughter Betty that the official wording of the granting of his Military Cross at Mt. St. Quentin was not exactly as he remembered it.

***

Percy wrote in his diary “Sunday 11th (November 1917) ... they (Germans) plastered our front line with gas shells, most of them, however falling higher up than our positions. The pungent reek of gas floated down our way, but we gave it little heed. Then they gave us some high explosive shells for a change and some of them came uncomfortably close. Once the sighing whine of a shell in flight ended with a savage hiss and an explosion just behind our dugout, and I felt the sandbag wall heave in several inches. “That one nearly smashed our dugout,” I remarked, thinking it was an H.E., but the next moment a strong smell of gas rushed in. “Get your respirator on.” I yelled at Gus, making a grab for my own. I held my breath but the powerful fumes got into my eyes, and the tears poured from them in streams. The tapes of my respirator were twisted up with the mouthpiece somehow, and there I was struggling to get them free. Had to open my eyes several times and endure a fresh flow of tears, and it soon became impossible to hold my breath any longer. However, just as I got a good deep breath of poisonous gas, the mouthpiece came free of the tapes and I got it into my mouth. It was easy enough to adjust the rest of it. We stood to with respirators on for about half an hour, and when the “all clear” message was sent along, I looked at the corner of the dugout, just two feet from where my head rested against the sandbags! Had it been an explosive shell of even the smallest calibre, this record would have never been written.

***

The officer, who took over from Capt. later T/Major E V. Smythe in 1918, (when he was posted to England) was killed in the last battle fought by the 24th Battalion at Montbrehain.

                     

George Ingram  received the only Victoria Cross awarded in the 24th Battalion.

***

Uncle Viv told me that too many times he had to order young men to go out on patrol.  He said it was necessary to appear confident in the mission he was sending them on, when he knew it was likely that some or all of them might not return. He found it so hard to look at their faces and not betray how he was feeling.

***

A LITTLE KNOWN TRUE STORY
On Anzac Day, when watching the marches OR other films on T.V. you may see what you think is the landing at Gallipoli. This was not taken on the beach on the 25th of April but was a staged newsreel. Read the copy of Uncle Perce’s entries from his diary below, written before he embarked for the Middle East. I have been told that Turkish uniforms from the battlefields were sent to Australia and used in this film. I do not believe any cameraman would have stood there on that day and I do not think any movies were taken, until some days after the landing. Perce was part of the 7th Reinforcements for the 3rd Bn.

DIARY ENTRIES BY P.E. SMYTHE
July 1915

Friday 2nd. Several companies went out abt. 4.30 am. to Middle Head, to act the landing at Gallipoli for some picture film company.

Tuesday 6th. It was comparatively warm last night. Was rather feverish all night and not at all well today. A.B., we were served out with uniforms and kits. It was a job to get tunics large enough. They were all on the small side. A.D., we turned out for drill in our uniforms. Mr. Tyson told me we were to go to Middle Head tomorrow to act the landing at Gallipoli for a cinematograph Company. Last week's performance was a failure, for when the operator called out "Every fourth man fall dead," the whole crowd went down to it.  Mr. Wilson gave us some company drill and we mucked it up a bit. No. 3 platoon was specially awkward, and in the end Wilson got desperate and told Woods to take us away and give us squad drill for the rest of the afternoon. Some of the men seemed to be absolute mugs, and the platoon kept getting tied in a knot, till Woods got fairly ropable, and swore a treat.
A.T. (after tea) we were told to turn out in the morning in full marching order. Reveille will go at 4 am. Gave my old tunic and breeches to Viv. Wrote to Ettie Cunynghame, Oberon.

Wednesday 7th. At 3.30 am. someone came and rapped along the corrugated iron walls of our hut and woke everybody up. We got up and prepared for the day's work. Had a hurried breakfast, and fell in about 5 am. The companies from the first four tin huts, the seventh of the 13th., 1st., 2nd., and 3rd., took part. Marched up to Liverpool and took a special train for Sydney at 5.5am. As we neared Sydney, day began to dawn. The train was blocked at one place and a few people in the houses below saw the troops and started waving to us. Another train somewhere near by was whistling its inside out with a variety of spasmodic blasts, and I wondered what was wrong with it. Then we moved on, and soon another engine somewhere seemed to suddenly go mad and started demonstrating its whistling powers. Then I tumbled to what was the matter. They were cheering us. More trains came by and almost blew their whistles off, while our boys answered with cheers and shouts. Soon we approached the engine sheds at Redfern, and engine after engine joined in the mad chorus, shrieking and screeching, till the hundreds of locomotives there were using their whistles to the utmost, while men gathered about and waved their hats and yelled as we went past. It was a regular pandemonium of shrieks, wails, yells, shouts and cheers. Even the old steam cranes contributed their share towards the general din. As we rumbled through Redfern, men quickly gathered on the platform to cheer and wave to us, sharing in the general delusion that we were leaving Australia. On we went, and every train we passed tore the throat out of its whistle, till at last we landed at Sydney. Just as we got there it started to rain. We marched from the station down through College St., up William St., and out past Rushcutter's Bay to some Navy place. Folks appeared at doors and windows all along the way and waved to us. A drizzling rain continued throughout the whole march, and before we halted the rain was beginning to soak through to the skin. At the naval place we broke off for a while and went into a large room where a lot of sailors were having breakfast. We made ourselves at home and the sailors provided us with what sausages they hadn't eaten, besides plenty of bread and jam, and tea with milk in it. 

About 9am. we fell in again and were put into boats and taken in tow by motor launches. Enjoyed the run out in the boats to Middle Head. After hanging about there for some time we were landed on the tiny beach at Obelisk Bay. A company of men there were dressed in the Turkish uniform. Some land mines were placed in the sand on the beach and connected up by wires, to be exploded by electricity. There were a few in the water too. After waiting there for a while we got in the boats again. It was rather amusing. We had to wait till the water receded and then rush down and clamber into the boat before the water came swirling up again. Several would make a rush together, and their frantic efforts to escape the water were very laughable. In the excitement one chap lost his footing and managed to sit down in the water as it came washing up.

Having embarked, we put off a bit and got ready for the great event. The Turks were placed some on the beach and some further up the hill. The cinema camera was placed on a rock at the left of the beach. It was still cloudy now, but all the rain had disappeared and the air was very clear. When everything was ready and the boats arranged in position some behind the others, we got the command to fix bayonets, and then the sailors started to pull for the shore. Things began to get exciting. When we got near the shore the troops on shore opened fire, and some bombs began to explode, and for some time there was quite a respectable din. As our boat, which was one of the last, ran up on the sand, we sprang out and charged up the hill with bayonets fixed. A lot of men, and some Turks, had fallen dead on the beach. Old Williams was there, and he had allowed his rifle to fall where the waves washing up each time completely covered it. With the others, I charged up that hill till the whistle blew without noticing myself getting particularly tired. But when we stopped, I was almost exhausted, although it was only quite a short distance. We had full kit on, and the hill was some steep. Had a bit of a rest and then formed up on the beach again, while a couple of chaps acted the struggle on the cliff between the Australian and the Turk. The Turk was behind a bush sniping and the Australian crept up to bayonet him, but altered his mind, and laid his rifle down and struck the Turk with his fist and then came to grips with him. A brief struggle followed and then the Turk lay helpless. He got up, and a stuffed dummy was put in his place. The brave Australian then picked up the dummy and shot him over the cliff with truly wonderful ease.

That ended the play. It didn't appear to me to be too well done, but might look all right on the pictures.

We all got into the boats again, and after wasting a good deal of time, were taken in tow again by the launches, and in due time arrived back at the naval place. Marched to a small reserve adjoining the park at Rushcutter's Bay and there halted for lunch. After lunch I studied Topography for some time, and then went off to sleep. It was getting on for four when we moved on again. Marched back through Sydney the way we had come, and got a special train about 5pm. It was about 6pm. when we got in to camp.

 

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