Fromelles by Peter Pedersen

Author:Peter Pedersen
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783379736
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books

3/21 BRIR's view of the ground over which 32 Battalion attacked.

None of these precautions worked. The wind was unfavourable for gas and neither the bombardment nor the fire from 60 Brigade could stifle 9 Company. Mouquet Farm and the Tadpole were active immediately and losses among the leaders in the first wave, which went over at 5.53 pm, were heavy. They included Major John Higgon, the attached British regular commanding A Company on the left. The mine blast at 6 pm made no difference as 10 Company continued to man its parapet. Its daring in trying to halt the Australians was later commented upon.

Heading into the fields beyond, the following waves inclined towards the ruins of Delangré Farm, to which 10 Company had withdrawn. The fire from it was severe and, without their Lewis Guns, the Australians could not properly reply. Captain A.R. White, D Company's commander and one of the few officers left, looked for the second and third trenches, which were prominently marked amidst a maze of connecting alleys on his map. Apart from a water-filled switch trench, he could see only the usual muddy ditches in the grass. White ordered his men to establish a line in some shell holes and the farther of two ditches beside the Kastenweg. From there they eventually met the advanced line of 31 Battalion near N.10.c.7.3. Like Toll, Lieutenant Colonel Coghill sought reinforcements but Tivey, who had no authority to send them, could only tell him to hold on ‘at all costs’.13

The ruins of Delangré Farm. (M. Delebarre)

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