The Project Gutenberg eBook, From the Australian Front, by Anonymous

FROM THE AUSTRALIAN FRONT

"Cook."
Drawn by Will Dyson.

from the
Australian Front

The Net Profits from Sales will be devoted
to Australian Soldiers' Patriotic Fund

CASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD
London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne
1917

The Photographs in this book are reproduced from Australian and British official negatives taken by the following official photographers—Capt. F. Hurley, Lieut. E. Brooks, Lieut. H. F. Baldwin, and Lieut. G. H. Wilkins, A.F.C.

INTRODUCTION

At Christmas, two years ago, as a result of the hard work of its Editors and other members of the A.I.F., we were presented with an excellent production in the form of the "Anzac Book." That was our second Christmas at war. We are now approaching our fourth, and let us hope it may be the last one during which we shall find ourselves fighting. Our kind friends have again come forward and presented us with a book, not quite so ambitious as the "Anzac Book" was, but one which we hope will convey to those whom we left behind in Australia, and who we know are thinking of us, some idea of our surroundings on the battle fronts of the Australians; and which carries with it our whole-hearted hopes and good wishes for those at home.

With it, I feel I have the privilege of sending my most grateful thanks to all for their past work, and my best of good wishes to every member of the A.I.F. for the future.

France,
28th September, 1917.

"What! Last another five years?"

The Leader: A Winter Snapshot of General Birdwood and his Chief of Staff.

The Abbey de Bertin, St. Omer.

Winter in France.
The Jock: "Weel, Anzac, and what are ye going to do when the war's ower?"
Frozen Bill: "Me? I'm goin' to the centre of Australia for two bloomin' years to thaw out."

The Arrival in Flanders.

One of the Earliest Battalions to enter the Trenches in France.

One of the Early Billets: A Bomb School in Flanders.

Snapped in a Farm in Flanders.

The Headquarters Cook-house in the Peaceful Line.

In the Early Days: An Estaminet reached by jumping out of the Communication Trench within 800 yards of the Front Line.

The Dug-outs which we used to build.

The Trenches amongst the Summer Flowers.

In the Peaceful Line.

No-Man's-Land in the Peaceful Line.
It was across exactly such a spot, but wider, that the Australians charged when first they entered heavy fighting in France before Fromelles, on July 19, 1916.

Pozières.
Just after midnight on July 23, 1916, those Australians who had been brought South and put into the Great Battle of the Somme, attacked and took this village. A few walls and rafters were then remaining.

The Chalk-pit past which they approached.

"Gibraltar."
A reinforced concrete entrance to a cellar and German dug-out. The surrounding house had long been blown away.

One of the old 5·9 Howitzers taken in the First Assault.

Sausage Valley: The Busiest Thoroughfare in the Australian World in those Days.

A Famous Staff at Breakfast in Sausage Valley.

Fatigue Parties in the Moonlight.

Ammunition Wagons galloping past the Long Guns in Sausage Valley.

A Gun of the R.A.G.A. near Fricourt.

The Bombardment of Pozières by the Germans in the First Days of August, 1916.

Pozières Windmill: The Summit of the Somme.
Captured on August 4 after two heavy fights.

Centre Way, near Pozières Church.

One of the "O.G." Lines near Pozières Windmill.
They were blotted out here by bombardment.

The Main Street of Pozières from Centreway Trench.

The Church at Pozières.

The Cemetery at Pozières.

Machine-gunners coming out past Casualty Corner: Contalmaison in the distance.

A Victorian Brigade straight out of Pozières passing another Victorian Brigade on its way in.

Mouquet Farm: The Next Stage in the Pozières Fight.
Looking towards Pozières, which is about a mile away beyond the crest.>

Australians in the Dressing-station at Becourt Château during the early days of Pozières.

The Shell-holes of Pozières Village during the following Winter.

Unveiling the Memorial put up to one of the Australian Divisions which fought at Pozières.

[Hymn Titles Adapted.]

In the Field Dressing-station.
The Padre: "Are you an R.C., my lad?"
The Hard Case: "No, I'm a machine-gunner.

Officer: "Why do you not salute?"
Anzac: "Well, to tell you the truth, digger, we've cut it right out."

Remembrances?
"What does that noise remind you of?"
"'Ome on a Saturday night."

Shell- and Mine-torn Ground at Hill 60, Ypres.

The same: Very Extensive Defensive Works were undertaken by the Australian Troops at Ypres in 1916 during the short time within which they stayed there.

Australians Re-entering the Somme in the Autumn, 1916. Mud-splashed Gun-teams along the road to Montauban.

A Cook-house in Montauban.

The Field Cooker in a Winter Billet behind the Somme.

Fritz's Folly: Scene of a Winter Fight on the Somme.

The Somme Mud: In the Trenches.

Where the Mud was a Tragedy: The Carriage of the Wounded.

The First Immense Alleviation: Tramways.

A Second Alleviation: The Duckboards.

The Somme Mud: At the Water Point, Montauban.

A First Improvement in Trenches: A Dry Trench in the Front Line.

Flers: Held by the Australians all the Winter.

Factory Corner near Flers: A Notable Point during the Winter.

A Precious Consolation: Hot Coffee in Jam Tins at the Comfort Fund's Stall, Longueval.
The two splendid men who are serving in this picture were both killed when the Town Hall at Bapaume was blown down by a delayed German mine.

The Winter Hospital: In the Chapel at Millencourt.

The Canteen: Behind the Somme.

All that is Left of Gueudecourt—the Pond and the Church.

Machine Gun Firing at an Aeroplane.

Martinpuich.

Optimism.
"Well, thank God, at least there are no flies!"

Stiffness.
1st Anzac: "Blime, digger, we're stiff. Beer's all froze."
2nd Ditto: "Wonder if they'll sell it by the block."

A "Rum" Fellow But "Somme" Boy.
John P. Davis
A.I.F
(53^rd Bn.)

ACROSS THE SNOW, NEAR FLERS, JAN. 1917.
The Duckboards.

THE BUTTE DE WARLENCOURT, MARCH 23^RD 1917.
The Butte; When we were able to look back on it.

The Snow: Near Bazentin.
The latter part of the winter was very bitter, with six weeks' continuous frost, but immensely preferable to the mud of the earlier months.

Australian Transport in the Snow.

A Game of Pitch-and-Toss amongst the Reserve Troops.

Spoiling the German Coal-dump in the Winter's No-Man's-Land.
On February 24, 1917, the Germans were found to be evacuating their lines on the Somme. This photograph shows men getting coal from the old German railway dump, which all the Winter had been in No-Man's-Land before Le Sars. The Butte of Warlencourt appears in the background.

Engineers beginning on the Track across "The Maze," part of the old German Front Line which had been held all the Winter.

German Heavy Shell searching for Australian Batteries which had been hurriedly pushed forward to Eaucourt l'Abbaye.

Supports waiting in the Public Grounds at Bapaume— its old Fortress Moat—on the day on which they followed the Germans through the Town.