Australian WW1 Memoirs

[Tremel]

Hi, Can anybody help me in the search for Australian memoirs. I recently read "Somme mud" by E.D.F Lynch and it has sparked an interest in this area. Are there any books equal or better than the above mentioned ?. I appreciate any help.

[Larso]

Hi Tremel,

I recently read 'Somme Mud' - there's a thread here, including my review of the book -

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 1&t=107703

It's odd how few memoirs were written by Australian soldiers - of either war. There's another, mostly relating to Gallipoli service, it was recently republished but I can't recall the author/book name. It was originally published shortly after or perhaps even during the war - as fiction. Well at least this is how it got approval from the Australia Army authorities but evidently it was pretty much the guys memoir. This is what the blurb on the current publication says anyway. I was actually at QBD today, where I'd found it and flicked through it but I don't think it's there anymore. It seemed to have come out again to appeal to the audience that responsed to 'Somme Mud'.

You've probably read it but Gammages 'The Broken Years' has stacks of first hand accounts. How I wish a few of those guys had written their stories out fully before they passed.

[Larso]

That book that I've mentioned above appears to be 'The Straits Impregnable' by Sydney Loch a gunner. An story on him and his book is here -

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/ ... 48459.html

Another that I forgot was A. Faceys 'A Fortunate Life'. He writes quite a bit about his time on Gallipoli as a machine gunner with the 11th Battalion.

Another that I found out about only today, is 'High Adventure' by the ace A. H. Cobby. So it's not an infantrymans account obviously. Originally published in 1942, it appears to have been reprinted in 1981. Copies can be found here -

http://www.booksandcollectibles.com.au/ ... +Adventure

There was another, written just before his death by Queenslands second last surviving digger. Ted Smout? or something. I think it was privately published and probably impossible to get. I may have a clipping on this one. I'll see what I can find tomorrow.

[Tremel]

Thanks Larso, i really appreciate the help. Thanks again mate.

[Larso]

The Australian War Memorial has a surprisingly long list of memoir type books here -

http://www.awm.gov.au/firstopac/

I'm in Canberra in early January, if I can get away from my wife I might try to get along to the Memorial library and have a look at them all and make a list of 'true' memoirs, with a bit of a summary of them.

[Larso]

This book 'Hells Bells and Mademoiselles' by the VC winner Joseph Maxwell looks interesting -

http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/ ... te=maxwell

I wonder if anyone here has read it?

[Larso]

Well, I'm on holidays, with not a great deal to do, so I had a look and found a number of Australian WW1 memoirs in the local library system. Memoirs are a hobby of mine so I'm going to read a few and put the reviews on this thread. Here is the first -

‘Anzac Digger: An Engineer with the First Division AIF 1914-18’ by Roy Denning

Edited by Lorna Denning Published by Australian Military History Publications, Loftus, 2004. 131 pages

Roy enlisted in 1914 and as he was a carpenter, was assigned to No 1 Field Co, Engineers. As part of the 3rd Bde, he was one of the first ashore at Gallipoli. It is a hellish introduction to war. Denning writes with quite a bit of detail about his experiences here, though his ‘sapper’ duties generally keep him out of the fighting – though not out of the firing, he is wounded and evacuated before returning to the peninsula again in August. Following his service here and some antics in Cairo, he goes to France with the AIF and participates in many of the famous battles there. Again, his duties are repairing trenches and such but he is also called on to fight off German attacks on several occasions. His description of Germans getting into the trench is quite jolting. I haven’t read much on this before. His war is by no means generally ‘safe’ though, his unit continually suffers casualties (including close friends) from the shelling and Denning has several very close escapes. He is quite graphic in parts too about the realities of battle. On one occasion he writes of an officer who was hit while he talked with him: “His brains had been blown out of his skull and the skin remained on his shoulder like old rags.” So this account is not a sanitized one. He suffers shell shock and is stunned when handed a mirror to see the ‘wizened old man’ who stared back at him. Indeed, his picture on the front cover is very much of a man aged beyond his years. The years after the war were not easy either. His daughter writes of the dislocation and her fathers nightmares and this addition is quite poignant.

Denning writes a fair bit too about life out of the lines. Again he is open about the nature of the activities, though he restricts his participation to drinks. He does manage to have a lovely little romance with an English girl while he is on training duties. So in total, this account covers the whole gambit of the Australian soldiers WW1 experience. Denning based this book on his diaries and letters and apparently continued editing it up to his death in 1976. The inside cover notes this is ‘an abbreviated version of the diary’ and while I was learning about the book I found a Yass website with several of Denning’s full letters, containing detail not included in the book. Some of this would’ve added nicely to the text as Denning writes well. There is period slang of course and nicknames but it is in many ways a modern book. He had tried to get it published several times but couldn’t find a taker. This was a shame, as this is quite a good war account. Its only shortcoming is its length. At 131 pages, including a glossary, index and a brief epilogue by his daughter, this is quite a short book. It is though an interesting and enjoyable one and it left me wishing it was twice as long.

Recommended

[Tremel]

Thanks again Larso, your reviews make interesting reading and have inspired me a few times to pursue a book I would not have otherwise. Keep up the great work.

[Larso]

Thanks Tremel, writing reviews gives my reading a bit of a focus and I do like the thought that it helps others make their decisions about which books to get. Not that they seem to be being read here by anyone other than me and you! I was looking at a thread a few days ago, where someone had posted something dear to his heart only to find almost complete indifference, prompting him to come back with "I weep for my unpopular thread". I'm still laughing at that line! Probably because I can relate to it sometimes.

Anyway here's another review for the two or three people who might drift in......

‘An Anzac’s Story’ by Roy Kyle.

Edited by Bryce Courtney. Penguin Books, Camberwell, 2003. Paperback, 306 pages.

While this seemed at first to be quite a substantial account, it transpired that Courtney writes about half of the text. This is in several very large slabs and is intended to provide context, especially for readers unfamiliar with World War 1. At times this was a little frustrating, breaking Kyle’s story up, but it was generally an interesting addition to the book. Indeed, there were some absolute pearls of information, the Gallipoli origin of the footwear term ‘sneakers’ for instance.

Kyle’s account starts with quite a few chapters on his youth. I really enjoyed these tales of a vanished era. The life of a bush ‘kid’, with horses, dogs, snakes and all sorts of fascinating characters was very engaging and reminded me of the stories my grandparents told. Following this he began work at a bank before joining up in 1915. He arrived on Gallipoli in August, becoming part of the 24th battalion and ‘celebrating’ his 18th birthday there.

Kyle writes well and following his lead in, it is easy to identify with him. Interestingly he was fairly shy and had few friends on Gallipoli, he was quite lonely in fact. He wasn’t involved in any of the big actions but endured the usual hazards of trench life, particularly shells and bombing. There are some intriguing details, he writes about the periscope rifle to a degree I haven’t come across before and that he was actually paid twice in the time he was there.

After a time in the trenches in France, Kyle volunteers for mortars, feeling that there had to be a better life than an infantryman’s. Somewhat happily, he had friends who tried to talk him out of it – mortars being seen as something of a suicide option. He persists but it is somewhat abortive as mud rendered their particular contraption fairly useless. It got him out of the line for courses and he had some nice times in England, including seeing his brother again, before the latter’s death at Passcendale. In battle he has some close escapes, as he did on Gallipoli and is finally wounded by a shell, badly enough to have him on the way back to Australia when the Armistice is signed. I have to say though, that Kyle does not write about his experiences in a gripping way. While he wasn’t involved in too much trench fighting, he does not describe his experiences in a graphic manner, somewhat dimming the horror of the war. (Yet, with the impact of war on his family and his few good friends, the reader is left in no doubt of wars terrible effect.) Kyle started writing his account in his 89th year, so it is perhaps not surprising that this is a gentler story than some others of this genre.

It is an interesting read. Bryce Courtney’s contribution is a useful component (though he’s a bit confused about death tolls in some actions) and helps to stretch the account out, as otherwise it would’ve been too short – especially in the pages concerning the war. Overall, I feel this book is better suited to readers wanting a general, but not too confronting recount of a soldier’s personal experiences. Others wanting more explicit accounts of battle though, are advised to look elsewhere.


.

[Peter H]

''Over There'' with the Australians by Hugh Knyvett can be found online here.Published in the USA in 1918:

http://manybooks.net/pages/knyvettr1720617206-8/0.html

One of his most memorable lines on Fromelles:

"If you had gathered the stock of a thousand butcher-shops, cut it into small pieces and strewn it about, it would give you a faint conception of the shambles those trenches were."


Knyvett was wounded at Fromelles,then ended up in the USA.Died of his wounds in New York shortly after his book was released in April 1918.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Knyvett+B ... 0144292966

Some members of the Military Historical Society of Australia would be familiar with a book written by his brother Capt R Hugh Knyvett titled Over there with the Australians. Hugh was born at South Brisbane on 15 September 1886. At the outbreak of First World War he was training for the Presbyterian ministry and joined the AIF in Sydney as a Private with the 14th reinforcements to the 7th Battalion in October 1915.

Hugh transferred to the 59th Battalion and served most of his time as a scout. In 1916 he received his appointment as a Lieutenant and later promoted to Captain. He was invalided back to Australia with more than twenty shrapnel wounds including a paralysed leg. In 1917 he decided to travel to England with the intention of joining the Royal Flying Corps.He travelled via America where he met and married on 19 November 1917, Lillian Maude the daughter of a noted English stage actor by the name of Cyril Maude.

It soon became apparent that the effects of his wounds would preclude him from any further military service. Consequently, he became involved with groups of Americans who supported America's participation in the hostilities. He began touring America on recruiting drives and lecture tours, making joint appearances with Theodore Roosevelt. Hugh became a good friend and house guest of the ex President who, on his death, described Hugh as "the greatest orator I have heard". Another contemporary report read "and I believe that the awakening of America to the realities and significance of the war is due to the combined efforts of Captain Knyvett and Colonel Roosevelt more than to any other cause".

On his death of his war wounds on 15 April 1918 the editorial in the New York Tribune,in paying tribute to Hugh's valuable recruiting work, read "we salute the memory of the gallant Anzac and through him, our brave ally in the Pacific". A group of his associates in Chicago commissioned a noted sculptor to execute a bust of him and this was presented to his mother who in turn, presented it to the Brisbane Museum.

Knyvett received a fine tribute from Roosevelt, who called him a "Modern Galahad". "No man", he wrote in the Independent, "could look at his face and not see that he combined, as few men do, the daring and the iron courage of the born fighter, with the singularly gentle and lofty idealism, the same intensity of spirit which made him so formidable a foe in personal combat, also made him one of the most convincing and effective speakers who ever stirred to action souls that had been but half awake."

Photo of Knyvett from Patrick Lindsay's Fromelles:

[Larso]

Thanks for that Peter - I came across Knyvett in my research and I wondered about his circumstances. The fact that even with getting married and giving speeches he still died very young says a lot about the extent of wounds received in the war. It was terribly sad.

My most recent read was 'To Hell and Back: The banned account of Gallipoli' by Sydney Loch. This was put out in 2007 and it is basically a reprint of the original 'The Straits Impregnable' under the pen name of Sydney de Loghe. The edition I have, put together by Susanna and Jake de Vries, includes a biography of Sydney and other general information.

Sydney was raised in England and came to Australia as a young man a few years before the war. He enlisted quickly, August 1914, and got himself into the artillery brigade then in training at Broadmeadows Camp on the northern outskirts of Melbourne. He writes a little of his training and deployment to Egypt. There is quite a bit of this phase. He works a lot with horses, though these do not follow the unit to Gallipoli. He landed on the first day and there is quite a lot of description about moving about on the boats and what happens on the beach. The beach was quite confused and there was lots of uncertainty. Sydney is a runner and as things settle down and the guns are put in place he has various missions to conduct. He does some observing in the front lines and tries to snipe a Turk or two. Mostly he is at the beck and call of his officers and tries to make his waiting as comfortable as the circumstances allow.There is lots on the food and the poor conditions - things that eventually catch up with him, causing him to be evacuated sick and be medically discharged from the army.

As far as combat goes - Sydney is exposed to small arms fire in the early days and shellfire throughout. It wasn't an easy time though as quite a few members of his unit become casualties. He writes about some of these with some detail. As with most soldiers the dead and the wounds that killed them are morbidly fascinating. He writes a bit about his fellow soldiers but he doesn't really convey a sense of mateship beyond the superficial. He has no great friend for instance who he writes of often. It was a different type of Gallipoli story really. Sydney had time to 'smell' the roses so to speak and indeed he writes avidly of the views. "One could push up the periscope and stare upon the strangest, stillest scene: a stretch of barren heathland, bearing such poor bushes and herbs as the pitoless sun allowed. One could catch sight of a field of rusty browns and faded greens, with here and there brighter spots where hardy heath flowers blossomed. It was like peering into some magic world, far remote from our everyday existence." - so he can certainly write.

The phrase 'banned account' implied more than I had anticipated. The censor of the time simply refused to allow serving soldiers to publish accounts. Sydney's story contained some criticism and cynicism but it was not exactly damning of the venture. He changes the names of most of his comrades but the de Fries list who was actually who. So really it has little that would shock an audience or demand answers. Apparently the publisher thought he wrote dialogue quite well but I thought it was a bit sparese personally.

To me, this was a sound book. It was well written and conveys some of the horror of war but Sydney's role meant he was usually only indirectly involved.

[Larso]

'Harolds Diary: An Australian Digger's records from World War 1' by Ian H Reece

My interest is memoirs rather than diaries but I came across this at the local library and thought I'd have a look. Harold served with the 17th Battalion in France from 1916-18, mostly as a runner but also as a stretcher-bearer. His diaries were published after his death in 1982 by his oldest son Ian. The whole book is almost 160 pages but the diary itself only covers about 50 pages and even these have quite a bumver of maps, postcards and pictures. It is more a family history, with quite a bit about the the families arrival in Australia in the late 1830s, farming on the land and post war events. There's some interesting things here about a different age.

The diary itself has some good description of the journey to France and the confusion of everything. There is little on fighting though. Harold is certainly in the front line, he is wounded and gassed but he only writes about it in general terms. He does list things like which battalions relieved his and so on. He also includes his poems and amusing things like 'The Ten Commandments of the Army'. It's not all light, he did lose close friends and saw the horrors. In terms of military interest though, there is not a great deal to be found here.

I was surprised to see that the family moved to my former home town and Harold probably lived only a few streets away. It gave me a start to think I may have seen him at some point.

[Larso]

To the Last Ridge : The WW1 Experiences of W. H. Downing

Downing served with the 57th Battalion, 5th Australian Division and participated in most of the Western Front battles fought by the A.I.F. He leaves a very clear impression of what the war was like and there is certainly no doubt as to his involvement in the front line and exposure to the horrors there. He describes artillery bombardments frequently and several times notes the awful effect on men’s eyeballs. The shelling was constant and deadly – one shell could snatch a dozen lives and in the big battles battalions alone could lose hundreds of men. Given the modern reaction to even single war deaths it is almost impossible to conceive the numbers he commonly mentions here. The actual fighting too is brutal: bombs, bayonets and no quarter are common themes. And all this is in a state of extreme fatigue, amidst the mud and the human detritus and filth from previous actions being continually regurgitated.

First published in 1920, this book seems to be held out as the outstanding example of the WW1 experience of an Australian soldier. ‘The Australian’ calls it ‘a masterpiece among the chronicles of war’ and it certainly has strengths in the area of realism but it has the notable downfall in that the author rarely uses the personal pronoun ‘I’ almost always referring to events from the point of view of his company or battalion. Indeed it’s often unclear as to whether he witnessed or participated in particular incidents. He never specifically writes about shooting his rifle and he fails to say anything about being awarded the Military Cross. There is nothing about training and others are only referred to by nickname. I found it hard to identify with the participants. He is slightly more forthcoming about highjinks out of the line but overall it was a bit too impersonal to really engage me.

At times Downing tends to be a little bit hyperbolic but generally his writing style is fine. His descriptions are quite vivid and he is particularly blunt about injuries. Downing certainly had the experiences but here he has written in a collective way rather than of his own deeds. So as a memoir I feel it falls short. Still, there is much of value regarding the Australian experience on the Western Front.

[Larso]

'Backs to the Wall' by George D Mitchell

This is the best account I have come across so far. Mitchell served with the 48th Bn, 4th Division in France and because he was never wounded, fought in most of the battles there. His memoir is based on a very extensive diary and accordingly there is quite a lot of detail. He is a very colourful writer as well and he manages, for instance to make each bombardment a different experience. At times he includes sections from the diary and altogether it makes for a compelling read.

He writes extensively of combat. He is a Lewis gunner for a while and later an officer of the Lewis section and the leader of the battalions specialised raiding party. There is quite a bit of ‘daring-do’. He is quite highly decorated and is mentioned in Beans work a few times. He writes only a little of shooting specific enemies down but still his account is rife with combat – and death. Again, it amazes how many soldiers get killed by a single shell, or a barrage or in an open attack. Mitchell was one of those fellows who didn’t think he’d be hit but there were plenty of trying times! His account is remarkably upbeat at times. He doesn’t write of war as if it’s a game but there is a daredevil streak in him and most of his comrades are quite robust and fearless. He conveys well the irreverent, anti-authority and supreme confidence of the ‘digger’. So maybe there’s a bit of overlooking the very harsh realities of the front but it is a point of view that worked for me. He was very determined to show the qualities of his fellow Australians and this underpins much of his efforts.

Strangely, even though he was on Gallipoli (with the 10th battalion) he writes very little about it. Given he was at the landing and fought in the fierce battles including the Turkish counterattack, this is a shame. But at 300 pages he’s done a pretty good job in passing on some extensive war experiences to us nonetheless. The editor reveals Mitchell was a bit of a devil, loosing stripes and being treated for VD a few times each but the subtitle is after all ‘A Larikin on the Western Front’. It probably falls just short of a true 5 stars due to the lack of a bitterer edge (and an absence of close quarters combat) but I really enjoyed this book. It was more recognisable to me in some ways than the stories of the others above. Highly recommended!

A really good review on this book is on the Australian Defence Assoc site here - http://www.ada.asn.au/defender/Winter20 ... r2007).pdf

[Larso]

Hell, Hope and Heroes by Roy Ramsay AIF

Subtitled: Life in the Field Ambulance in World War 1
Edited by his son Ron J. Ramsay
Rosenberg publishing, 2005.
Paperback 272 pages.

A Toowoomba lad, Roy enlisted in 1915, after previously trying in 1914 for the New Guinea expedition. He was interested in medicine and joined the 4th Light Horse Field Ambulance, becoming a stretcher-bearer. He went to Egypt and was involved at times in evacuating casualties from Gallipoli. Following the reorganisation of the army following that campaign he was assigned to 3rd Field Ambulance, which was attached to the 3rd Bde, 1st Australian Division and went to France.

Roy served in many of the big battles his division fought and was often assigned to help other units process their casualties too. For a lot of the time he worked specifically with the 9th Battalion, a Brisbane unit. He doesn’t go into graphic detail about war injuries but it’s clear he saw some awful things. He’s one of the few to address the issue of ‘shell-shock’ and how it reduced men to wrecks. His unit suffers casualties, mainly from shell fire. He writes that generally the Germans respected the Red Cross flag and on occasions showed unexpected compassion. He notes though that the war did a lot to turn men from all sides into brutes, and he found some of the blood-thirstiness of Australian soldiers disturbing. He feels quite lucky to get through as much as he does but a bomb injury finally sees him posted to lighter duties with a dental unit.

The strength of this memoir is the miniature of army life. Roy writes about the movement of units, the particular jobs he himself had to do and of course his experiences on leave. He also covers things like religious attitudes, the conscription debate, resentment at being overused, Anzac leave and even how much money he received as a veteran in the years after the war. It was a good perspective on ordinary matters and was quite informative and interesting. This is added to by his son Ron, who put everything together after Roy’s death in 1989. He includes context and additional information. Some of this, like that about the 57th Battalion’s advance at Amiens in 1918 (the ‘Black Day of the German army”) is great. It is never over done either, the primary voice is always Roy’s.

Another thing I liked was the revealing statistics. It seemed Roy had access to casualty figures and through his friends knew the bayonet strength of many units. He writes for instance that in an attack on the Hindenburg Line the two assaulting divisions contained only 6,800 men between them. They still managed to take 4,300 prisoners, while loosing 1,260 themselves. Not surprisingly, Roy has a focus on casualties and he mentions figures in the hundreds even for minor actions. He writes that even in the last 6 months, each of the five divisions, nominally 12,000 strong, suffered between 9,000 and 11,000 (Roy’s 1st Div) casualties which left most divisions with fewer than 3,000 men. It’s astonishing stuff.

One consistent theme is the pride the men had in being Australian soldiers. They thought very highly of themselves but not as dismissively of other troops as is sometimes suggested. He writes quite a bit about the German army at the end. Many of their troops were young and ‘small’. Along with this dilution in quality, Roy credits some of the later victories with the ‘peaceful penetration’ raids which wore German confidence and strength down. (It is interesting to reflect that the following war was the result, in some ways, of a belief that Germany had not lost the First but had instead been ‘stabbed in the back’ – it clearly looked pretty beaten to Roy.)

Roy finished as a member of 2nd Field Ambulance and returned to Australia in 1919. It is a well written and interesting story (and I enjoyed the extra pages about his life after the war) and Roy is a likeable and recognisable fellow. So while it is not a memoir of combat it is a very readable story of a young man in war. Recommended!