The Blood Tub: General Gough and the Battle of Bullecourt 1917 by Jonathan Walker

Author:Jonathan Walker [Walker, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2015-03-30T00:00:00+00:00

NOTES

1 I ANZAC Corps Order no. 124,10/4/17, W095/982, PRO.

2 There are good portraits of many of I ANZAC staff in Baroness de la Grange’s, Open House in Flanders 1914-1918.

3 Bean Diary p.24, AWM 38 3DRL/606 (113).

4 Bean Diary, AWM 3DRL 606/183, p. 44-45; T.H.E. Travers, ‘Haig and GHQ 1916-18’, The Journal of Strategic Studies, Vol 10, no.10 (Sept. 1987)

5 E.M.Andrews, C. E. W. Bean & Bullecourt: Walking the battlefield and new findings – Paper given to AWM History Conference, November 1991.

6 Although the badge is often thought to represent the ‘rising sun’, it is derived from the badge worn by the first regiment to serve in the South African War. This was a trophy of swords and bayonets surrounding the crown.

7 Peck to Bean, 14 March 1923, Bean Diary AWM 38 3DRL/606 247.

8 Unfortunately, it was not until after the Arras battles that the improved Mark IV appeared on the battlefield. This model was a dramatic improvement on the Mark I and II. The fuel tanks were moved, gun barrels shortened and a proper exhaust system was fitted.

9 Fifth Army Intelligence Summaries 2 to 8 April 1917, WO 157/209, PRO; Maps of German Battery positions on Fifth Army front, 10 April 1917, WO 153/961, PRO.

10 Letter Otto Michaelis to author, 6/10/93; Richard Brechtle, Die Ulmer Grenadier, p. 93.

11 W. C. Groves Papers, AWM 2 DRL/0268.

12 According to captured soldiers from the 124th Regt. garrisoned in Riencourt, there was no sign of any infantry attack before 4.00 am, 14th Battalion, Precis of events, W095/3494, PRO.

13 Groves Papers, AWM 2 DRL/0268.

14 According to Watson, this tank was destroyed shortly after evacuation, Watson, A Company of Tanks p. 62.

15 4th Division Order no. 54 WO 95/3443, PRO.

16 Major-General Birch (MGRA) to Falls 22/11/37, CAB 45/116, PRO.

17 William Oakes Papers, AWM MSS 0954. Although there were tracts of wire intact in this sector, the artillery had created some large gaps through which the 16th Bn. passed.

18 ‘The Death of Major Percy Black’, Journal of AWM, Oct. 1989.

19 Das Württemberg Kaiser-Regt. no. 120, p. 65.

20 War Diary 14th Battalion, W095/3494, PRO; History of the 14th Battalion, p. 192.

21 Ray Leane to Bean 27/7/37, AWM 38 3DRL 7953 Item 30. See also Bean’s comments in the margin of his letter.

22 Interview with Private Bown’s sister, Clara Hayles 10/11/93 (Michael Drakely); also History of 124th Grenadier Regt. p.66; Watson, A Company of Tanks, p.62.

23 Lieutenant Birkett to Charles Swears 11 Sept. 1917, Swears Papers, Anne Davison. Swears’ body was later found and buried by the Australians on the battlefield. He, like virtually all the casualties at Bullecourt, had no known grave and was listed as ‘missing in action’.

24 Letter Birkett to Charles Swears, Swears Papers; Haigh, Life in a Tank, p. 87; Watson, A Company of Tanks, p.63. Birkett spent the rest of the war in hospital.

25 Bean IV, p. 320.

26 Geoff Leane Papers, 25/4/17, AWM 1 DRL (0411).

27 In 1993 during excavations near Lieutenant Money’s tank, Australian battlefield archaeologist, Terry Nixon, discovered a ‘digger’ sitting upright in OG1 surrounded by unused cases of British and German bombs.

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