The Lost Legions of Fromelles by Peter Barton

Author:Peter Barton
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472119377
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group

Action Report, II Battalion,

21st Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment, 21.7.16

The most effective Australian tactical manoeuvre of the assault phase took place here; ironically, it is also where the battle would later be terminated. Whereas upon their arrival in enemy territory the neighbouring 8th Brigade almost instantly faced vigorous hostile pressure, at Rouges Bancs the situation for the 14th Brigade appeared considerably healthier. Minimal resistance gave them time and space. They found three clearly defined trenches. The first had a good 8-foot- (2.4-metre-) high parapet; the second—ten metres behind—contained basic sleeping dugouts. In the third the Diggers encountered comfortable billets, including headquarters dugouts. All could be made eminently defensible. Except on the left, the second line was in good condition, while an early message noted the third to be ‘damaged in places but not much’. This was excellent news as, using matériel to hand, they could be quickly re-engineered to form a functional new front line.

The first essential tasks were to set up advanced posts to warn of enemy approach, and to establish union with the 15th Brigade, whose assault upon the Sugar Loaf was well underway. For an hour there was no contact, but at 7.18 p.m. they received their first message. It held a certain degree of promise: the 14th Brigade was informed by the 15th that ‘60th Battalion had taken front line and were bombing support line’, and that the 8th Brigade was in the enemy’s second line but ‘now being shelled by own artillery’.

The latter was true—again the Allied guns had failed to lengthen their range. The former, however, was only partly accurate. A handful of 60th Battalion men had managed to enter enemy territory, but only by drifting left of their objective and sliding in alongside the 53rd Battalion: they were not in the Sugar Loaf. What the message omitted—because no one knew—was that the rest of their comrades in both the 60th and 59th Battalions were either dead, pinned down in No Man’s Land, or back in their original line. No Digger was in any part of the Sugar Loaf. The 60th Battalion war diary is painfully brief:

Battalion established in [Australian] front line trench by 4.20, Lewis guns excepted, a few casualties having occurred, some serious. Battalion scaled parapet and advanced in four waves, the first wave leaving at 6.45, the last at 7. Each wave advanced under very heavy artillery, machine gun and rifle fire, suffering very heavy casualties. Advance continued to within 90 yards of enemy trenches. The attack was held up, although it is believed some few of the battalion entered enemy trenches.

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