of which a total of four thousand were fatalities; a further four hundred were captured and marched by the Germans through Lille. Their lives as prisoners of war were about to begin.
George Harris was exhausted and fed up with what seemed to be futile battles and horrendous casualties. This was not what he had signed up for, having left his mother and father and his little sister behind to try to look after the farm in the Mallee, Victoria, to fight for King and country. It didn’t feel as if he was doing that, more like fighting for bloody incompetent British Generals like Gough.
Why do They Call it Gibraltar?
Chapter 2
23 July 1916 Pozières
George and the band of five, Sam Wilson, Percy Smith, Dick Ruby, and Albert Grimshaw, were all waiting for the order to advance. They had been waiting for a couple of days, as Gough did not get his own way. Major General Walker ended up winning the day and the lads had a few days to recuperate from the long march.
The sound of the British artillery barrage was deafening and relentless.
‘Fucking hell boys, how in the name of God could the Boche bastards survive this?’
‘Fucked if I know, George, but what I do know is they’ll give it back to us twice as hard when they get the opportunity.’
‘Yeah, you’re right there, Percy.’
‘Right, cobbers, we’ve got to try to stick together and look out for each other. Okay?’ George emphasised.
‘Don’t worry about us, George, we are The Invincibles of the First Brigade,’ Dick said with bravado.
The barrage began to slow down, and the ANZACs were ordered to go over the top and creep towards the German lines. The idea was they would be in a good position to make a charge once the artillery ceased.
‘Remember lads, on your bellies and keep your heads down,’ Captain William Bannister recommended.
The Australian Diggers crawled out of their trench and began the long slow journey across no man’s land on their bellies. The noise and the flares made for a firework display was nothing any of them had seen before. Dick was next to Sam, and he whispered, ‘Do you hear anything mate?’
‘No, it’s all gone quiet.’
‘You know what that means, don’t you?’
‘I’m afraid I do; we could be about to die.’
‘Come on Sam, we’re The Invincibles.’
They heard the order being passed along their line in whispered tones.
‘We go at three am exactly.’
Sam looked at his watch and saw it was two fifty-five, just enough time to jot a quick note to Jessie, his sweetheart back home.
My darling Jessie,
I’m about to confront the enemy but don’t worry I know I’ll be fine. I’m looking forward to kissing you again my darling. Must go.
Love
Sam
Sam folded the note and placed in his top pocket. The letter would be expanded and posted after the battle.
At three am the signal was given, and the Australians began running for the German trenches. The familiar sound of German Maxim machine guns ripping through Australian flesh was heard along with the sounds of screaming and the guttural sound of men choking on their own blood.
George and Percy were able to enter the German trenches where they discovered two of the enemy waiting to greet them. George thrust his bayonet into the soldier opposing him before the German could get off a shot. Turning around, George saw Percy just standing there with a dazed look on his face.
‘What’s wrong with you mate? Come on we’ve got a job to do, there’s plenty more where these bastards came from.’
Percy didn’t say a word, just stood there with a vacant look in his eyes before he fell to his knees and collapsed into the trench. A bayonet thrust had mortally wounded the young soldier; at least Percy was able to kill the Kraut before dying himself.
George was horrified but couldn’t stop to grieve; the warrior in him knew his duty was to keep moving through the trench shooting any Germans discovered.
Sam, Dick, Albert, and George all survived the battle to fight another day. The first battalion was successful in capturing the Pozières trench that ringed the village to the south. Mission accomplished… but at what cost?
Now there were four.
It was established by the officers that stage one of the battle had been completed successfully, and the Australians and the British had captured the German trench. Thousands had died achieving this objective.
The First and Third Anzac Battalion then moved on Pozières village itself or what was left of it. They reached the Albert-Bapaume Road. Once they had secured that location, they moved into the ruins of the village. Although pleased with their progress Command knew taking their next objective would be no picnic; the objective was named Gibraltar.
There were minimal survivors from the German garrison; those that were left retreated to the northern edge of the village. It was also intended that the old German lines would be captured as far as the road, but unfortunately the Australians failed, partly because of strong resistance from the German defenders occupying deep dugouts and machine gun nests, and partly owing to the confusion of a night attack on featureless terrain. The weeks of bombardment had reduced the ridge to a field of craters and it was virtually impossible to distinguish where a trench line had run. The failure to take the old German lines made the eastern end of Pozières vulnerable to attack, so the Australians formed a flank short of their objectives.
Two officers, Major John Jeffries and Captain Bruce Menzies, were sitting among the burned out ruins after the first day of fighting at Pozières, discussing the best way to attack Gibraltar, a large, forbidding German blockhouse on the western sector of the village. The scene surrounding them could have come from Dante’s inferno; blackened trees, dead bodies strewn around and the background noise of moaning from wounded comrades. Their men had done a magnificent job in capturing Pozières against the odds. What they achieved would be the envy of the British in their disastrous campaign at the Somme.
The
