Category: WW1

~ Story contributed by Peter O’Halloran, a member of Avoca & District Historical Society; first published in Pyrenees Pioneers no 289 October 2018 and no 290 February 2019

In 2018 we celebrated the centenary of the armistice that ended the horror that masqueraded as  The Great War.  Conservative estimates suggest that there were more than forty million military and civilian casualties during the course of the conflict, twenty million deaths and another twenty one  million wounded. 

In October 2018 it will also be 101 years since Frank Lindsay was decorated for his heroism during the Great War following which he suffered intolerably as a result of his brave actions, his life  considerably and unjustly shortened because of the shocking effects of the gas inflicted upon him and thousands of other diggers on the fields of France. 

As a young lad it was my privilege to visit Lamplough and stay with Uncle Frank and Aunty Jo.   Actually, Josephine Howell who was George Cartwright’s grand-daughter, via her mother Priscilla who had married Frederick Howell, was my mother’s cousin which makes her my second cousin, once  removed.  So, Frank was related by marriage. I only knew him towards the end of his life when the toll of the  wartime gassing had taken a great toll on his lungs and eyesight which significantly incapacitated him.  Nevertheless, he was always warm and welcoming despite his obvious difficulties about which he never  complained.  With my parents, I visited him in hospital shortly before he died, a sad sight that has never left me. 

Frank was born in Broken Hill on 22nd September, 1894.  Sometime after Frank’s birth the family moved to Talbot Creek in Victoria where, judging by the births of Frank’s next four brothers and sisters they lived until 1905.  The 1906 electoral roll shows no Lindsays resident in Lamplough but the Howells (Josephine’s parents) are well established.  Lawrence was born in Broken Hill in 1907 but by 1909 however, they were back in the Talbot district, probably at Lamplough, where Kathleen and May Veronica were born.  The next available electoral roll on which the Lindsays appear is for 1919 when the family is shown living at Lillicur, Amherst in the electoral sub-division of  Talbot.  I suspect that the births registered as having occurred at Talbot Creek acknowledge the birth district rather than the actual home location.  In the 1919 roll, John Joseph’s occupation is shown as farmer as is son John. Daughter Leila also appears on this roll, living at Rocky Valley and engaged in home duties. 

Frank may have done some schooling in Broken Hill but he was also likely to have been schooled in the old Lamplough schoolhouse at some stage as well.  It is difficult to know just where the Lindsays settled in these early years but we do know that it was not in the house that Frank and Josephine occupied in Lamplough for much of their lives because Josephine was already living there with her parents William Frederick Howell and Priscilla  Cartwright as shown in the photo below: 

Frank must have returned to Broken Hill as it was there that he enlisted for War Service in the AIF on 8th January 1915.  At the time of his enlistment his papers record that his parents, living at Lamplough, were nominated as his next of kin.  In the documents Frank is described as 5’ 7” tall, weighing 143 pounds with light brown eyes, red hair and a fair complexion.  He was assigned to D-Company of the 22nd Battalion and shipped to Broadmeadows in  Victoria for basic training. 

The 22nd Battalion of the AIF was formed on 26th March, 1915 at the Broadmeadows Camp. The Battalion  eventually became part of the 6th Brigade of the  2nd Division. Most of the battalion embarked for Egypt on 8 May 1915 and Frank’s war record confirms that he  was one of the hundreds of soldiers who sailed out of  Port Melbourne aboard the HMAT Ulysses on that day. 

Launched in 1913, the Ulysses at 14,499 tonnes was the largest ship to serve as a troop carrier, and was leased by the Commonwealth until 15th August 1917. On 8th May 1915 she set sail from Melbourne with the first contingents of the 21st and 22nd Battalions and 6th Brigade Headquarters.  On a subsequent voyage on 27th October 1915 she  transported the 6th reinforcements 22nd Battalion to Egypt.  

The Ulysses also sailed between Australia and England  during the Second World War, again ferrying Australian troops and airmen to the front. The Ulysses was torpedoed by an unknown German submarine in 1942 and sunk off Florida after apparently disobeying an order that would have led her through safer waters. 

The battalion deployed to Gallipoli in the first week of September 1915 allowing elements of the 2nd Brigade to be rested from their positions in the front line at ANZAC. The battalion served on the peninsula until the final  evacuation in December 1915, and were then withdrawn to Egypt and brought back to strength with reinforcements. While most of the battalion was serving on Gallipoli the transport drivers, along with the other drivers from the  6th Brigade, were sent to the Salonika front to support the Serbs. They did not rejoin the battalion until after the evacuation of ANZAC.  

In March 1916, the battalion embarked for France and experienced their first service on the Western Front in  reserve breastwork trenches near Fleurbaix at the end of the first week of April 1916. The battalion’s first major  action was at Pozieres, part of the massive British offensive on the Somme. In September/October they were moved to the Ypres sector then back to the Somme for the winter. The battalion spent most of 1917 bogged in bloody trench warfare from Bullecourt to Broodseinde in Flanders. In 1918 the battalion returned to the Somme  valley. After helping to stop the German spring offensive in March and April, the 6th Brigade participated in the  period of peaceful penetration of the enemy lines. It was in mid-May that Sergeant William ‘Rusty’ Ruthven earned the 22nd Battalion’s only Victoria Cross. In the last days of August and September the battalion helped capture Mont St Quentin. The 22nd Battalion took part in the last action fought by the AIF on the Western Front, the battle of Montbrehain, in October 1918. At 11 am on 11 November 1918 the guns on the Western Front fell silent.  The November Armistice was followed by the Peace Treaty of Versailles signed on 28 June 1919. The last  elements of the battalion began their journey home from the Western Front in May 1919 to return to Australia for demobilisation and discharge. 

In November 1915, Frank came down with influenza and also developed an ulcerated arm which turned septic, the cause of which is not noted on his record.  As a result he was evacuated to the hospital located in the Ras el Tin barracks at Alexandria where he remained for some four weeks.  In February 1916 he came down with mumps and spent a couple of weeks in the Army hospital at Abyssinia. In February 1917, Frank was back in hospital for a few days with a problem shown only as “cardiac” and then in June 1917 he spent a further 44 days in the Giza Field Hospital suffering from a virus. 

On returning to duty at the end of June 1917, Frank re-joined his unit now stationed in France where the Allies were engaging the Germans in some very heavy offensives in the determined push from Ypres towards Passchendale.   Somewhere in the middle is Broodseinde Ridge where Frank’s valiant endeavours earned him the award of the  Military Medal.   

 

The following press report from a first-hand witness that appeared in the Daily Mail dated 17th October, 1917 [syndicated article appeared in the Birmingham Gazette of 15 October 1917] gives some indication of the shocking conditions faced by the Australian and Allied troops:

SWAMP OF DEATH AND PAIN              

Every inch we gained in Friday’s battle is worth a mile as common distance is reckoned.  Some troops went forward 1,700 yards or even more, fighting all the way; and when their relic came back some part of that heroic journey no enemy dared follow them, so foul and cruel was their track. 

They left behind them a Golgotha, a no man’s land, a dead man’s land.  Five or six miles separate our troops from any place where you can step firm, where you can find any place in the swamp.  It is a  nightmare journey to traverse it , in spite of the ceaseless labour of pioneers. 

Our soldiers coming out of this swamp of death and pain maintain incredible serenity.  If we could advance so far in such conditions we could go anywhere in fine weather.  We were nowhere beaten by the enemy, though more defensive wire was left round shell-holes and pill boxes and fewer machine gunners knocked out than in any recent attack.  We were beaten by the rain that began to fall in torrents at midnight before the attack, so they all say and feel, and so it was. 

One of them, still full of humour, said he considered Friday an unlucky day for him.  “you see,” he argued,  “I was first hit in the shoulder by a machine gun bullet, and as I stumbled was hit in the foot,  and as I lay another hit me in the foot and another hit me in the side.  Decidedly, Friday is an unlucky day.”  It was a  terrible day for wounded men, and alternate advance and retreat now always leave a wide, indeterminable no man’s land from which escape to the mercy of either side is hard.  But the best is being done, and the immortal eroism of the stretcher bearers was backed by both the daring and skilful work of doctors at  advance dressing stations and ambulance drivers a little further back.. 

The trouble was how to find people or places.  Wounded men, runners, contact officers, and even whole platoons had amazing journeys among shells and bullets searching for dressing station headquarters, objective or what not, and, as we know, even Germans on the pure defensive had similar trouble and their units were inextricably  confused.  It was all due, as one of them said, to the sump, or morass. The swampy terrain of Broodseinde Ridge  12 October, 1917  

All that can be said of the battle is that we are a little  higher up the slope than we were and a little further along the crest road to Passchendale.  How we succeeded in capturing 700 prisoners is one of the marvels of the day.  A marvel too, is the pile of German machine guns.   They are some small concrete proof of the superhuman efforts of our infantry.  If the world has supermen they were the men who waded forward up to their hips astride the Ravelbeck and stormed concrete and iron with flesh and blood.  They were at least the peers of the men who fought “upon their stumps” at Chevy Chase. Today the artillery fire has died down, the sun bright, though the cold west wind threatens showers. 

Wikipedia describes the actual battle at Broodseinde Ridge as follows:   [note the Wikipedia article has been much edited since 2018 when this article by  Peter O’Halloran was written] 

The Battle of Broodseinde Ridge now commenced a few kilometres south of Passchendaele. The Australian  4th and 5th Divisions were replaced by the Australian 1st and 2nd Divisions which were also joined by the  Australian 3rd Division as well as a New Zealand division. It was the first time that 4 Anzac divisions had fought  together. Twelve divisions would attack on a 12 kilometre front, the 4 Anzac Divisions Australian 1st, 2nd and 3rd facing Broodseinde ridge and the New Zealand division facing Abraham heights. 

The attack commenced at 6am October 4, 1917 after rain  commenced falling the day before. Coincidentally, the Germans planned an attack for exactly the same time. At 5.20am the  German artillery opened up and then at 6am the Australian  artillery started, both in preparation for impending attacks.  After both troops emerged from their trenches to commence  attacking to their surprise they found the enemy doing exactly the same. The Australians managed to recover from the shock quicker than their opponents as the Australian machine gunners opened up and cut the German lines to pieces. The Germans broke and the Australians managed to capture the ridge.  The New Zealanders also secured Abraham Heights. 

The triumph at Broodseinde presented the Allied High Command with an opportunity, perhaps in the upcoming spring, of breaking the German hold. The German tactic of immediate counter attacks had proved ineffective since the British never pushed beyond the range of their guns. In all the fighting in the 3rd Battle of Ypres, in and around Passchendaele the 3 Australian divisions lost 6,500 men which represented 20% of its operational strength. It is believed that the Germans lost 25,000 men and 5,000  prisoners. The German High Command officially recorded October 4, 1917 as a “Black Day”. Fresh German troops were put in the line opposite the Anzac troops on October 5 despite Haig’s attempts to break the German lines. Wanting to push his advantage Field Marshall Haig committed the Australian 2nd Division to an attack on Keiburg Spur on October 9, 1917 over wet ground. The Australian 2nd Division formed the flank for an attack by the British 66th Division. The Australian 2nd Division controlled a front of about 800 metres. To the north, the French and  British 5th armies couldn’t hold gained ground. The Australian 2nd Division ( of I Anzac Corps ) drove to Keiburg but being unsupported was driven back. On the strength of reports from the 9th of October the High Command believed that enough ground had to be gained to justify the next attempt to seize and pass Passchendaele on October 12, 1917. 

The attack at dawn on October 12, 1917 towards Passchendaele was made by the Australian 3rd and New Zealand Divisions. The 4th  Australian division of I Anzac supported the advance on the right while British Divisions supported it on the left. Heavy rain was continuing to fall and the New Zealand Division was halted by Germans firing from pillboxes who, without British artillery, were firing with impunity. The Australian 3rd Division became bogged down in the mud of Ravebeek valley below Passchendaele, however a fragment of the division,  20 men mostly of the 38th Battalion, did reach the Passchendaele church at the edge of the town while some of the Australian 4th  Division reached Keilberg. Both were forced to fall back being  unsupported. 

The Australian 3rd Division suffered 3,199 casualties in the 24 hours of the battle, while the Australian 4th Division suffered 1,000. The New Zealand also suffered around 3,000  casualties in an action that achieved no valuable gains and only served to lift enemy spirits as they saw their  attackers struggle. 

The Canadians were brought in on October 18, 1917 to do in three stages what had been attempted by II Anzac in one. Between October 26 and November 10, 1917 the Canadians finally captured Passchendaele Heights.  By November, 1917 the last Australian division had been withdrawn from Ypres. The third battle of Ypres had  comprised eleven great attacks, five of which I or II Anzac had formed the spearhead, as did the Canadians for the final four. 

The 5 Australians Infantry Divisions had fought in the line for eight weeks and suffered a total of 38,093 casualties. As a result of his heroic role during the Broodseinde Ridge offensive, Frank was mentioned in despatches and in recognition was awarded the Military Medal.  A copy of the actual citation that came from the front, signed by his commanding officer, Brigadier General, J Paton is shown below.  The  handwritten piece at the beginning reads “In recent attack on Broodseinde Ridge, 4 October, 1917…” 

The Military Medal was established by King George V on 25 March 1916 and was awarded to other ranks  including non-commissioned officers and warrant officers. It ranked below the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM), which was also awarded to other ranks including non-commissioned officers and warrant officers.  

When the medal was first introduced, it was unpopular among regular soldiers many of whom held the view that it had been introduced to save awarding too many DCMs. The old regular soldiers thought very little of the new  decoration.  Both the DCM and the MM attracted a gratuity and the decoration allowance of an extra sixpence a day to veterans with a disability pension. However, decoration allowance was only awarded once even if the recipient was awarded more than one gallantry award. The ratio in the First World War was approximately five MMs awarded for every DCM.  

Following the rout of the Germans at Ypres Frank fell ill in November 1917 firstly with scabies, then tonsillitis and finally trench fever which was serious enough for him to be evacuated to England for treatment and recovery.   Perhaps fortune favoured him by way of his afflictions as he would take no further part in the conflict. Initially, he was treated as an in-patient at the Royal Surrey County Hospital at Guildford.  In April 1918 he was transferred to the Fargo Military Hospital at Larkhill on the Salisbury Plain.  In May 1918, Frank was again on the move this time to the Australian Auxiliary Hospital at Harefield House in London where he was now being treated for chronic pleurisy no doubt as a result of the frequent German gas attacks inflicted on the Allied troops.

Frank continued as unfit to return to active service and was transferred to other military hospitals at Parkhouse,  Tidworth and Weymouth before his eventual departure for Australia on 18th October, 1918.  His war record notes that when discharged he was still under care for pleurisy with effusion. 

Just a word about trench fever, a highly infectious disease characterized by sudden onset with fever, headache, sore muscles, bones, and joints, and outbreaks of skin lesions on the chest and back. It is transmitted from one  person to another by a body louse. There may be one period of fever, or the fever may recur several times at  intervals of four to five days. Most persons recover within about two months but relapses are common.   However, the disease can become chronic in about 5 percent of the cases. Treatment with chlortetracycline brings permanent relief of the symptoms, but the patient continues to carry the rickets bacteria and remains infectious for lice. First recognized in 1915, trench fever was a major medical problem during World War I. It reappeared in  epidemic form among German troops on the Eastern front during World War II. The control of body lice is the chief means of prevention. 

On his return to Australia it seems that Frank settled with his parents in Lillicur from where he set out to win the heart of Josephine Howell.

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Wikitree: Francis James Lindsay (1894-1958)

Frank Lindsay MM is listed on the Avoca Soldiers’ Memorial.