Ballarat men at Gallipoli 1

William Kinsey Bolton -
National Library of Australia, nla.pic-an23251721

William Kinsey Bolton, CBE, VD (1860-1941) was born in Cheshire in England.  He migrated to Victoria in 1868. 10 years later he joined the Southern Rifles, a militia group.  He received a commission in 1891, and led the officers' rifle team to victory during the Federation celebrations in 1901.  By the outbreak of the First World War, Bolton was Commanding Officer of the Ballarat based 70th Infantry, and in August 1914, he was appointed commander of the 8th Battalion, which was largely recruited from Ballarat and country Victoria. He was already an older man and not in great health, but he was determined to go to the War.  Unfortunately after participating in the early ANZAC battles, including in particular, that at Krithia, by 22nd May 1915, Bolton's health had deteriorated to such an extent that he was replaced as Commanding Officer by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Brand. There is a rather tragic letter written by him, included in his service records: the strenuous work of the last 3 weeks has been too much for a man of my years...I am broken in body and mind: the horrors at Aitchi Baba [sic] were more than I could stand... As the first CO of the 8th Battalion, Bolton established the standards which were to carry the battalion through later campaigns, and also achieved the enduring reputation of being a CO forever solicitious of his troops' welfare. (1)

Bolton returned to Australia, and received a hero's welcome in Ballarat.  Later he was elected to the Australian Senate, serving from 1917-1923.  In 1918 he was awarded the CMG, and retired from the Army with the rank of Honorary Brigadier-General.

He was the first President of the Ballarat branch of the RSL (Returned Sailors and Soldiers League) and the founding Federal President of the RSL, a position he held from 1916 until 1919.

There is a more detailed biography at the Australian Dictionary of Biography of Bolton, indicating the positives and negatives of his career.  He was accused of cowardice at Gallipoli, but he was able to refute all those claims.

(1) Austin, Ron Cobbers in khaki: the history of the 8th battalion 1914-1918

Gallipoli Evacuation

Percy Lay, from Ballan, kept a diary during the whole of his WW1 service.  A copy was published in 1983, and we have a copy in the Australiana Research Room if you would like to read it.  We are going to let Percy tell of the evacuation:

December 11 and 12 1915.

Went up into the front line. 5th and 6th Btns. went off the Peninsula. Where and why they were going was a bit of a mystery. Heard that they had gone to Imbros because there were too many troops on ANZAC.

December 13, 1915.

Heard we were to evacuate ANZAC but would not believe it.

December 14, 1915.

Started to shift stores and ammunition as fast as possible.  We could get almost anything just for the asking. It seems as though we really are going to leave the peninsula.

December 15, 1915.

Spent the day destoying picks and shovels and emptying out rum casks and burying explosives. It seems a shame.

December 16, 1915.

Carted bombs down to the beach. Our planes up all day over their lines. It was reported we had captured a Turkish spy in our lines.

December 17, 1915.

Tipped out about 500 gallons of rum but while on this working party we got a lot of their very best stores. Tipping rum seems a terrible waste of good stuff.  There were strict orders that nobody was to touch a drop of it.

December 18, 1915.

Heard that we were to leave the same evening and left things so that they would be no use to the Turks.  We also blew up a few of our guns.  Left the trench at 5.15pm and had a quick trip to the beach. Troops started evacuating and everything going very smoothly.  Not much stuff left for the Turks.  "Beachy Bill" [Turkish gun at Gaba Tepe] only fired three shots. A bit hard on us old chaps, sneaking away like rats, having to leave so many of our old mates buried there, and then finding that our efforts were no good.  We had sandbags on our boots and our bayonets covered. In fact we were like criminals sneaking away.  We embarked on the "Abbessiah".

December 19, 1915.

Went off "Abbessiah" on the "WINIFREDAN" in Mudros Bay to await a boat to take us ashore on Lemnos.  Disembarked and went to our old camp at Sarpe and found most of 1st Divn. there.

December 20, 1915.The last of the die-hards arrived.  They got away without a shot being fired at them.

The Department of Veterans Affairs website Gallipoli and the Anzacs, has an overview of the Evacuation, if you wish to read further

Breaking up rum cases on North Beach on 17 December 1915 prior to the evacuation. [AWM G01276]

Gallipoli Diaries

The Gallipoli ordeal is almost over.

We've been looking at some diaries written by men who were there.  You can just google "Gallipoli Diaries" and a number of results will lead you to various State Libraries and other websites where you can read digitised copies or transcripts.  The Australian War Memorial is still the best source, however.  We've been reading the 1915-16 diary of John Kingsley Gammage, a soldier from Cootamundra, NSW, who sailed from Sydney in April 1915 aboard the Argyllshire.  He survived the First World War and returned to Australia.

Gammage landed at Gallipoli on 26 June 1915. He was wounded in the left leg during the battle of Lone Pine in August 1915 and was sent to Mudros for treatment and recuperation. He re-joined the 1st Battalion on 25 September 1915. After the evacuation from Gallipoli, Gammage returned to Egypt with the Battalion but was transferred to the Imperial Camel Corps on 29 January 1916. He served with the Corps in Libya and Palestine. 

There isn't much evidence of a legend in the making, reading his diary. He writes of reinforcements arriving, and how shocked they are by the appearance of the men they are relieving - worn, weary and emaciated. He writes of tiredness and weakness, hunger and overwork, and is scathing of officers and their petty requests. He also notes how hard it is to know what is happening overall, and says this diary can only be his own account of his own Company.

You can read the original diary at the AWM site, but there is also a typed transcript. Although the transcript is far easier to read, it is very emotive to read Gammage's own handwriting.

Harvey Broadbent, Turkish language expert and author of Gallipoli books

If you only read one book about Gallipoli this year, we suggest you make it one of Harvey Broadbent’s.  

Harvey Broadbent is a Turkish language expert, and he spent five years in Turkish military archives unearthing the Turkish side of the Gallipoli story. He was granted access to an extensive collection of previously unresearched documents, ranging from official government records to military and personal diaries and correspondence of soldiers. The result is the fullest possible, most comprehensive account of the Turkish defence yet produced, and this fills a huge gap in the history of the Gallipoli campaign.

He has produced two books about Gallipoli – 

Gallipoli, the Turkish Defence is the primary academic publication arising from his research. It is a very readable reference book for details of the Ottoman Turkish military operations and the personnel involved. It is illustrated with maps, some of them original, and archival photographs and quotations from historical documents.


Defending Gallipoli, the Turkish Story is a condensed version, designed to appeal to the general reader interested in learning about the other side of Gallipoli. It relates the Turkish story at Gallipoli in an engaging style.  Maps are included that help explain the troop movements, especially some reproduced field maps.

Assoc. Prof. Broadbent writes “As a historian, you strive to find out the truth about history. For something as important to Australia as the Gallipoli campaign has turned out to be, it is essential to find out the facts, and we’ve never had a comprehensive account.

“What we’ve known of the Turks so far has been general and superficial, from limited sources. Even the Turks haven’t transliterated most of their own documents (from the archaic language of Osmanlinca to contemporary Turkish), so we’re really breaking new ground by doing that – both for Australia and Turkey.”

Both Turkey and Australia appreciate the importance of the Gallipoli Campaign in their national identities and ideals. These books give a factual account of events not previously given in Gallipoli accounts.  They provide understanding of how the Ottoman forces at Gallipoli affected the outcomes that led to the Allies failure, and show how the Turkish commanders and their troops responded to the invasion of their homeland and were able, under great pressure, to resist, persevere and ultimately succeed. 



Reading the accounts of the Gallipoli landings from the Turkish point of view is simply astounding. The initial ANZACs were held off by so few. Mustafa Kemal, that brilliant tactician, features, as do other commanders, such as those facing the Australians at the Nek. The Turkish soldiers are humanised – no longer just ‘Johnny Turk’ – but named, and shown to be suffering as all did at Gallipoli, especially conscripts.  


Assoc. Prof. Broadbent’s work was made possible by a partnership between Australian and Turkish organisations to mark the centenary of the Gallipoli Campaign. We have all of Assoc. Prof. Broadbent’s books in the City of Ballarat collections, and they are available for you to borrow.

Meanwhile, back on the Peninsula

The 8th Battalion, with many Ballarat and district men in its ranks, has been resting on Lemnos Island, away from Anzac since early September.  Now it is time for the men to return to "have another shot at 'Joe Turk'". First the men were marched out and embarked on the Abbassia, but as the piers at Anzac Cove had been damaged in a storm, and there was nowhere to land them, they disembarked and returned to camp - which had been struck, on their departure. The entire battalion camped overnight in the YMCA hut.

On the evening of 21st November, the battalion boarded the Princess Ena, and departed for Anzac Cove, where they were sent up to Bolton's Ridge, and occupied support trenches just vacated by the 10th Battalion.

Now the 8th Battalion worked at sapping tasks, but the change of weather from July to November could not have been more extreme.  On 24th November a blizzard left half a metre of snow on the ground, followed by severe frost.  The weather conditions provided further justification for an evacuation of Gallipoli, but the men themselves were unaware of this possibility.

A snow covered gun position of the 9th Battery in November 1915. [AWM P00046.040]

Spirit of ANZAC: Centenary Experience

Ballarat is fortunate to be one of the first stops in the nationwide tour of the Spirit of ANZAC travelling exhibition.  The exhibition tells the story of Australia’s involvement in the First World War, and also dedicates one gallery to the history of Australia’s armed forces up to the present day - involved in conflict, peacekeeping, peacemaking, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief around the world.  A key feature of the Experience are the curated ‘local stories’ zones, created in collaboration with local communities; these zones contribute a legacy for each region the exhibition visits.

Spirit of ANZAC is the flagship community project of the Anzac Centenary national programme - it is free to attend, but it is essential to book, as each visit to the Experience is expected to last around 60 minutes after admission. People are advised to arrive promptly at the time specified on tickets to allow enough time for briefing.

 I've just been exploring the website, which is very good, and also very enticing. Spirit of ANZAC features genuine artefacts and historical stories in "a fully immersive space" - I'm looking forward to my visit to the exhibition on Monday.  All the booking information can be found on the website, and a plan of the Experience so you can see what to expect. For schools there is a series of useful teaching kits, and there is a space if you wish to write your own story to commemorate an Australian service man or woman from the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour.

Spirit of ANZAC will be in Bendigo next, in case you miss it here, or it will be in Geelong 2017, after having been all round Australia.

http://www.spiritofanzac.gov.au/

Australian War Census

As the casualties in Gallipoli continued to mount one of the confronting issues facing new Prime Minister Hughes was recruitment for the AIF.  A War Census was established that required males aged between 18 and 60 to complete a questionnaire  about their potential for military service. Questions they were asked included their age, marital status, occupation, state of their health and any military training they may have had. Prime Minister Hughes had also raised the stakes by promising Britain a further 50,000 more troops in addition to the monthly 9,500 troops which were being sent as reinforcements for the 60,000 troops that were already overseas. The War Census established that 600,000 fit men between 18-44 wre avaiable for military service.  Each of these men was sent a personal letter asking them if they were willing to enlist now or if not when they would be willing to enlist.  If they stated that they were not willing to enlist at all they had to state a reason why as explicitly as possible. The War Census did have its opponents as it was seen as a precursor to military conscription. An issue which later in the war would divide Australia.

The following is an article from the Ballarat Courier providing the results of the War Census.

Ballarat Courier 22 October 1915

This is one of the recruitment posters used during this time. Depicts the national symbol of the kangaroo against a backdrop of advancing soldiers. Full title reads: 'Australia has promised Britain 50,000 more men. Will you help us keep that promise?'

Courtesy of Australian War Memorial  ARTV00021

William Hughes, Prime Minister

On the 27th October, 1915, William Hughes became the seventh Prime Minister of Australia.  Andrew Fisher was forced to retire as Prime Minister due to ill health, the result of the strain of the war.

Before Federation, Hughes had been a Labor member of the New South Wales parliament from 1894 to 1901. In March 1901 he won a seat in the first House of Representatives. He served in the Labor Cabinets of J.C. Watson and Andrew Fisher. He then replaced Andrew Fisher as Prime Minister in 1915, and he led Australia during the rest of World War I.  He was Prime Minister until 1923, and remained in parliament until the 1950s.

Hughes had a controversial career as PM, splitting the Labor Party on the issue of Conscription in 1916. 

The Australian Dictionary of Biography has a lengthy entry for "Billy" Hughes if you wish to read more about his long life and career.  He was controversial: to some he was a great statesmen while to others he was a renegade.  However the biographer notes that his broad objectives were always consistent:  "these were 'to fight for the under-dog' and to defend the right of Australia to develop its own form of democratic society, combining the best of British traditions and institutions with the maximum of freedom and equality."*

 

*L. F. Fitzhardinge, 'Hughes, William Morris (Billy) (1862–1952)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hughes-william-morris-billy-6761/text11689, published first in hardcopy 1983, accessed online 24 October 2015.

William Dunstan VC

Ballarat man awarded the Victoria Cross!

Wonderful news in 1915!

We've written about Corporal Dunstan VC in previous posts.  His actions - his conspicuous bravery - on August 9th, 1915 during the battle of Lone Pine, earned him this award.

It was October 15, 1915, when the news was made official and listed in the London Gazette.  The news reached Ballarat by Saturday 16th October, and was reported - heartily - by the Ballarat newspapers on Monday 18th October.  You can view the newspapers' full reports on TROVE, but here is an article indicating the shyness of Corporal Dunstan and his humility.

Ballarat Courier 18 Octoner 1915

Sir Ian Hamilton's Recall to London

One of the key events in the later stages of the Dardanelles campaign was the relieving of Sir Ian Hamilton as the Commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force on 14 October 1915 to be replaced  by Sir Charles Monro. The fact that Hamilton was replaced was not surprising following Keith Murdoch's letter and British war correspondent Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett's critique of the Gallipoli  campaign in the Sunday Times.  More importantly Captain Guy Dawnay travelled from the Dardanelles to London to brief British High Command as well as the British Prime Minister and King George V on the true situation of the campaign. Dawnay believed that Hamilton was was not up to the task and that the camapign should be shut down. He arrived back at the Dardenelles just a few days before Hamilton received the news he was to be recalled.

Monro took up his post on 28 October 1915 and immediately two things became very obvious to him. Firstly an advance on Constantinople was out of the question and secondly it served no useful purpose to remain in the Dardanelles and as a result he recommended that the Gallipoli peninsula should be evacuated. Despite this recommendation it would take the British Cabinet back in London another two month's to finally give the order to evacuate.

Despite the issues with British High Command local newspapers still encouraged readers to believe that everything was going well with the campaign as this article from The Ballarat Courier shows while at the same time letting it readers know of Hamilton's recall.

Ballarat Courier 21 October 1915

The Gallipoli Letter

Keith Murdoch (1885–1952) wrote this now famous  letter shortly after arriving in London to take up a new job. He had just spent four days witnessing the bloodshed and chaos on the Gallipoli peninsula and he wrote his letter in order to shock and to provoke a response. It certainly did.

The letter was addressed to Murdoch’s friend Andrew Fisher, who happened to be the Australian Prime Minister at the time. Fisher had asked for an honest appraisal of the situation in the Dardanelles. What he received from Murdoch was a searing indictment of the cavalier British attitude towards the troops and their suffering.  In its opening pages, Murdoch’s letter describes the Gallipoli campaign as 'undoubtedly one of the most terrible chapters in our history'.

In London, Murdoch met with senior members of the British government who then persuaded the British Prime Minister, Henry Herbert Asquith, to read the letter. Asquith had it printed as an official War Cabinet paper and circulated to the committee in charge of the campaign.  The decision was made to withdraw General Sir Ian Hamilton who was in command at Gallipoli. The winding up of the deadly and unproductive Dardanelles campaign would soon commence.

The conversational yet brutally honest letter thus played a key role in ending the Gallipoli campaign and in the evacuation of British and ANZAC troops from the peninsula.  By January 1916, all Allied troops had been successfully withdrawn from Gallipoli without loss of life, despite the fears the British command held. 

Murdoch was later criticised for evading the terms of the official censorship declaration which he had signed at Gallipoli and also for overstating the case. But Murdoch felt that as he was writing to his Prime Minister, at the PM’s request, he was absolved from this stipulation. Murdoch probably also felt able to write so freely because of the terrible loss of life experienced in only five months, together with the coming winter and its potential death toll. To him it must have seemed terribly urgent to get a response and reaction to his letter.

The Gallipoli Letter was given to the National Library in 1970 by Rupert Murdoch with other material from his father’s personal papers. The letter has been digitised by the NLA and can be read in full at the link below.

The Gallipoli Letter 

 

World War 1: A History in 100 Stories

Monash University is offering a free online course, commencing October 12 1015, which will take you on a virtual tour of the World War 1 battlefields, recover lost voices of the Anzac experience, and give you a better understanding of how the Great War changed the world.

A team of world renowned historians from Monash and around the globe have created a course that will help you learn to use new digital archives to discover your own Anzac story.  The course is for anyone with an interest in history and no prior knowledge beyond a general knowledge of the events of World War 1 is required or expected.

There is more information here.