In Briefing Room No. 8, we again join Stuart Curry as he travels through the Messines Ridge area, south of the Ypres salient.
Previously Briefing Room No. 3 focussed on the Battle of Menin Road on 20-21 September 1917, Briefing Room No. 4 focussed on the Battle of Polygon Wood, 26-28 September and Briefing Room No. 5 focussed on the Battle of Broodseinde Ridge, 4-5 October, 1917 and the Battle of Passchendaele, 9-12 October, 1917 as part of the battles that Australians were involved in to drive the Germans off the Passchendaele – Messines Ridge.
The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918, Volume 5: THE A.I.F. IN FRANCE 1917, Chapter 14 THE FLANDERS PLAN and Australians at War: Western Front 1916-1917: the Price of Honour provides the context for the Battle of Messines.
The Battle of Arras commenced on 9 April 1917 intended to draw German troops from the Aisne sector in advance of a major French offensive. This includes the British First Army under General Horne with the Canadian Corps at Vimy, the Third Army under General Allenby around Arras and to the south the Fifth Army under General Gough with the Australian 4th Division at Bullecourt.
The French offensive commenced 16 April with four armies but achieved little ground with severe casualties (108,000) and over the following days French troops in 68 of the French Army’s 112 divisions mutinied. Field Marshal Haig extended the Battle of Arras into mid-May with a second offensive along the front from Vimy to Bullecourt, partly to take the German focus from the French held sectors.
On 3 May, the great attack of which ”Second Bullecourt” formed part commenced (3-17 May involving the Australian 2nd Division), while the British Prime Minister and senior Government representatives crossed to France for a conference with French counterparts in Paris. All were agreed that “breaking through the enemy’s front and . . . at distant objectives” were out of the question as these approaches had proved too costly. The only successes presently attainable seemed to be those secured by minutely-prepared offensives with limited objectives. With the artillery now available to the Allies, at nearly any point where guns could be massed, the Germans could be thrust back for a mile or so and the position consolidated. Serious trouble seemed only to begin when the attacking infantry attempted to pass beyond the protection of their guns and then incurred heavy losses out of proportion to the value of the gains. Accordingly, future advances were to be limited to the ground that could be enclosed within an overwhelming artillery-barrage.
The conference also agreed that the time and place of the various attacks” were to be left for decision by the military commanders, but it was understood that the British would deliver the main stroke, a long-planned blow in Flanders.
The commander of the British 2nd Army, General Sir Herbert Plumer, had been organising a major offensive in the Ypres salient of Flanders since 1915. General Plumer ordered the laying of 21 large explosive mines under and beyond the German lines. British, Canadian and Australian tunnellers (including the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company) commenced constructed tunnels in early 1916 and installed and maintained the mines until the battle date was set. This was a difficult role, made more hazardous by the counter-mining operations by the Germans, particularly around Hill 60 (a 60 foot high hill of railway spoil).
As a preliminary to the main “push” to drive the Germans off the Passchendaele – Messines Ridge, the 2nd Army was to capture a 5 mile (8km) arc of the Messines ridge. The 2nd Army consisted of 3 army corps, the southern most being II ANZAC under General Godley and comprised of the Australian 3rd Division under Major-General John Monash, the New Zealand Division under Major-General Sir Andrew Russell and the British 25th Division and in May the Australian 4th Division under Major-General Holmes was added.
Plumer was a painstakingly thorough planner as was Monash, and the preparations for the Battle of Messines involved Engineers building models of the battle terrain, with which officers and men familiarised themselves with landmarks and objectives. It was the Australian 3rd Division’s first major engagement on the Western Front and it was planned with meticulous detail to counter the Division’s lack of experience.
Photo: Captain Jacka, VC, studying the contour map of Messines prior to the battle. [AWM E00631]
Photo: Messines Ridge
The British (including the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company) set off nineteen underground mines including Hill 60 and the Caterpillar causing panic among the German troops killing over 10,000 men and a further 7,000 men were taken prisoner on the first day. This allowed the allies to straighten the front line on the ridge so they could then proceed with the 3rd Battle of Ypres without being flanked by German Artillery who could have fired shells right in behind them. The ground conditions around Ypres had turned into a quagmire after a few months of fighting. The Australians suffered 38,000 casualties in eight weeks and this resulted in the sixth Division being disbanded.
Following the Battle of Passchendaele (9-12 October), Stuart’s family moved into different areas on the Messines ridge.
The Australian 5th Division where pulled out of Passchendaele on the 10th of November 1917 and swung around the back roads of Ypres and headed south to the Messines ridge area just when the winter was coming.
Stuart’s maternal grandfather Henry John Marchment and his brother Robert Westall Marchment, both from Wauchope, were ranked Drivers in the 14th Machine Gun Company of the 5th Division and had lost their youngest brother Stan Hastings Marchment at the Battle of Polygon Wood a few months earlier. They were sent to the village of Gappard located one mile east of the village of Messines. They arrived on the 12th of November 1917 and held the position.
From family documents Stuart has been able to fit together a ‘picture’ of the battlefield experiences of his relatives:
The Company fired 10,000-20,000 rounds from 16 guns on targets every day for two weeks and then went back to their base camps.
They were always training and keeping highly motivated when they returned from the front line with gun drills, packing and unpacking limbers, cleaning guns, bomb throwing, anti aircraft techniques, pistol targeting, barrage work and numerous games of football and physical training. They formed their own canteen and had Church and Bath parades on certain days and sometimes were presented with medals from their generals or superior officers.
Photo: The road to Gappard, April 2008.
The Australian 14th Machine Gun Company returned to Messines ridge on the 1st of February 1918. This time the two Marchment brothers were at the northern end of the ridge very close to The Bluff / Hill 60 at a location near the White Chateau known as Ravine Wood. Initially it was pretty quiet but on 21 March 1918, the German Offensive (Operation Michael) commenced and the 14th Machine Gun Company fired over 25,000 rounds that day. They were relieved by the 2nd Machine Gun Company on the 24th of March 1918 and sent to Kemmel to regroup in readiness to head south to the Somme to help counter the German advance.
Photo: Ravine Wood
Stuart’s paternal grandfather, Gunner Albert Alfred Curry and his elder brother Gunner Henry Ernest Curry, No 3067 were both from Granville in Sydney and in the 51st Battery of the 13th Field Artillery Brigade.
Stuart’s grandfather Albert Alfred Curry suffered double pneumonia caused from the Somme winter of 1916. He survived the 3rd Battle of Ypres and was involved in the battles of Broodseinde Ridge and Passchendaele. After the 3rd Battle of Ypres campaign had finished the 13th Field Artillery Brigade had to ride their gun carriages teams down to Hill 63 located south of the Messines Ridge at least ten miles away. With the cold conditions riding up high on the horses in the open air, Albert’s pneumonia came back and on the 19 of November 1917 he also was sent back to England to recover from his pneumonia for a second time. His brother Henry Ernest Curry was still in England recovering from gunshot wounds to the head and shoulder that he received at the battery location on the 7 November 1917 at J.8.c.75.93 at Nonne Bosschen. Thus, the Curry brother both spent Christmas 1917 recuperating in England.
Meanwhile, the Battery did not fire a shot while at Hill 63 and retired well inland to the village of Montcavel to rest over the Christmas break for two months and close down for the winter.
By 14 March 1918 the Curry brothers had recovered from their previous illnesses and returned to their battery location at U.13.a.80.80. on Hill 63 near the Messines Ridge. They where transferred from the 51st battery to a new battery, the 50th, but still part of the 13th Field Artillery Brigade. On 21 of March 1918, very hostile shelling hit the whole area with Gas Shells when the German Offensive (Operation Michael) commenced. It was at this location on the following day when Albert was involved in a major “gun incident”. He was hit in the face from the recoil of an eighteen-pounder field gun.
The unit war diaries states: “Whilst engaged in digging in trench at O.P during the night 22/23 1 O/R severely wounded, 2 O/R slightly wounded. Lieut. M.C. CLARK proceeded on leave.”
Photo: Shaded area showing Medical Arrangements of II ANZAC Corps
His brother Henry Ernest Curry was close to where the gun incident had happened. He went back to pickup a bit of Albert’s ear and then carried his brother for two days over a distance of four miles (six kilometres) by himself from Hill 63 to Trois Albres where the 2nd casualty clearing station was located on a railway line between Armeteries to St Ommer and saved his brothers life. Albert’s service record casualty form shows he was admitted to the 2nd Casualty Clearing Station on the 25th March 1918.
Photo: CWGC Cemetery at Trois Albres
Albert’s youngest daughter Myrell Curry, now aged 80 and still living in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney told Stuart .”There was a terrible battle and Albert had been hit by the gun in the face and stomach and was carried by his brother for two days. When he finally arrived at the hospital he was in a very bad shape. He was tagged to be left alone and there were hundreds of wounded soldiers lying in their beds and in the isles at the hospital. Apparently a doctor was walking past, saw him move and stopped and started to attend to him. He began to recover and was sent by rail to another Hospital. His brother Henry Ernest Curry was able to join his artillery unit again as the gun carriage teams were heading down south from Hill 63 to Somme Area. He did not get court-martialled for leaving his post – maybe there was too much going on at the time”
Photo: Railway at Trois Albres
Posting prepared by FFFAIF members Stuart Curry and Jim Munro.
*****
The Families and Friends of the First AIF thanks the Australian, UK and French governments for affording Australian and British soldiers – presently buried in mass graves at Pheasant Wood – dignified individual reburials in a new CWGC cemetery at Fromelles, and applauds Minister Snowdon and his British counterpart, Parliamentary Under–Secretary of State for Defence and Minister for Veterans, Kevan Jones MP, for their joint decision to DNA test the remains at exhumation and use every reasonable method to attempt identification of each soldier.
