The Chieftain's Hatch: Aussies Meet the Tanks.
Дата: 24.04.2019 18:30:50
The_Chieftain: It's ANZAC Day again, so the traditional article about
Down Under (Tomorrow for us, but it's already tomorrow down
thataway). Australian troops’ first encounters with tanks occurred
after the ill-fated expedition to Turkey, when the ANZACs were
transferred to the European theater. The trench warfare of the
Western Front led to a new and different kind of hell.Assigned to
Fifth Army, under the interesting leadership of General Hubert
Gough, in April of 1917 4th Australian Division, part of 1
Anzac under Lt Gen Sir William Birdwood... Birdwood...found themselves in the
vicinity of the town of Bullecourt. Now a tiny little town about
midway between the more famous localities of Arras and Cambrai, in
the Spring of 1917 it had been fortified and incorporated into the
Hindenberg Line. Bullecourt after the
battle. A destroyed tank is located in the lower right
quarter of the picture. AWM ImageA large push had been ordered
by the French commander, Nivelle. Kick-off was the morning of
9th April, and the main effort for that day was to Fifth
Army’s left, at Arras. Results were better than expected, and the
Candians achieved their landmark victory at Vimy Ridge. Gough was,
perhaps, feeling a little left out, and despite the fact that he
had had to give away much of his artillery, and reports were coming
back that the remaining artillery had not destroyed the German
wire, he had concluded that the Hindenberg line was not being well
defended, and Bullecourt could be flanked. Birdwood was not best
pleased with the instruction to enter the 1,500m of open ground
between Bullecourt and the next town over, but there was a
mitigating factor. Field Marshal Haig had given Gough 11th company
of D Battalion of the Heavy Machine Gun Corps. Twelve Mk I and II
tanks.Mk I tankThis was, of course, many
months prior to the seminal Battle of Cambrai, which placed tanks
firmly on the map. As a result, few people knew quite what to
expect from them, but there was no doubting the ‘Can-do’ attitude
of the tankers. Gough was visited by the CO of the tank battalion,
LTC Hardress-Loyd, and the CO of 11 Coy, Major Watson. They
believed that their tanks could make up for the lack of artillery
support, they proposed that they precede the infantry, eschewing
any preparatory artillery barrage in favour of surprise, and deal
with the strongpoints allowing the Australian infantry to move
forward against much less opposition. And they could do it
tomorrow.Gough approved.Unfortunately, despite the best enthusiasm
of the tankers, they were simply not capable of delivering on their
promise. There were four main problems.The tanks were Mk I and IIs
. Hideously unreliable, and so lightly armored that even small arms
had a reasonable chance of going through their skin. The crews were
new to their jobs, the unit only having been stood up a couple of
months earlier. Major Watson was a transfer from a cyclist
battalion. The Australians had never seen tanks before, and had
absolutely no concepts of how to work with them. In fairness, as
tanks were generally new to everyone, this was hardly a problem
unique to the Australians, but with less than 24 hours to the off,
they weren’t exactly being given an opportunity to redress this
problem. The Germans, under General Otto von Moser, apparently had
not been informed by Gough that they were supposed to be
retreating. They had no interest in giving up their portion of the
Hindenberg Line.von MoserThe attack didn’t happen. The tanks were too
slow making it to their jump-off point, and thirty minutes after
the attack was to be launched, at 5am the word went out to that the
mission was scrubbed. This did not sit well with the men of the
West Yorkshire Regiment, who, believing that the Aussies had
attacked as planned, found themselves having made it to the German
lines, and then having to withdraw afterwards being unable to hold
position, with the resultant levels of casualties. It would have
been nice had the Australians let them know that their attack was
not a sure thing.Hindenberg Line in front of Bullecourt
(which is to the right of the picture)Undeterred, the attack was
rescheduled again for the next day. 0430, 11th April. Six
tanks would support each of the two Australian brigades. This time
the British 62nd to the left would wait until the Australians
had made it to the German lines and turned to Bullecourt before
moving. The Australians themselves would not wait for a signal from
the tanks, they would start 15 minutes after the tanks did, at
0445. In theory, this meant that the tanks would have reached and
suppressed the German defenses by the time the infantry got
there.Again, though, the tanks failed the Australians. Most did not
make it in time for their scheduled start. Only four, three in
front of 4th brigade, and one in front of 12th Brigade,
managed to be present at the beginning of the show. The others
trundled up eventually.The resulting battle has been termed by
several authors as a fiasco. Only three tanks reached the enemy
lines: Being painted brown and green, the tanks stood out very
nicely as targets in the open ground covered with a fair dusting of
snow. The rest were all burning between the Australian and German
lines. Of the other three, two were lost, presumed captured (The
German lines were something of a reverse slope position and
difficult to see), the third found its final spot in
Bullecourt. Tank lost at BullecourtDespite
the failures of the tanks, the Australians made a game show of it
anyway. But again, mass confusion reigned at higher levels, with
commanders thinking things were going much better than they were.
Requests for additional support from the infantry which had reached
the enemy lines went unfulfilled. They may have taken the
Hindenberg line between Bullecourt and Quéant, but those two
villages were held by a large number of angry Germans now shooting
into the Australians from both flanks. Still, the situation could
be held. Australian troops forced their way to the second trench
line, cutting off a group of German Infantry, a Wurtember regiment.
These men, with 12th Brigade on their right, 4th on their
left, held off against everything the Australians could throw at
them, the Australians would later rate them as some of the toughest
troops they ever faced.Still the fighting continued in its ebb and
flow. The Brigade commanders finally understood that not all was
well, but also that the position could be held with the requisite
support, asking particularly for artillery fire on the villages to
the flanks. The artillery commander, relying on observations from
his forward observers, believed that the Australians had, in fact,
entered Bullecourt. General Birdwood decided to believe the reports
from the FOs, and denied the support.Eventually the Australians
were forced to concede defeat, and the withdrawal order was given.
Fourth Brigade, with all four battalions thrown into action, lost
2,339 men, of which about a thousand were prisoners. They started
with 3,000. 12th Brigade went with just two, and so their
losses were lighter. 950 men. 4th Australian division was
effectively destroyed. The British tankies lost 52 killed and
wounded out of 103. It would be mid-May before Bullecourt fell,
requiring the efforts of 1st and 2nd Australian, and
7th and 62nd British Divisions.In the meantime, the
experience left a very great distaste in the mouths of the
Australians towards tanks. It would be over a year before they
would accept tank support again, except at Hamel, not only were the
tanks better, but significant effort was made to integrate the
Australians and tankers both for training and to establish trust
between the two groups. It worked, but that’s a story for a
different day. In the meantime, the lessons of Bullecourt
were learned and applied in later battles, to the betterment of the
tank corps, and leading to the later successes.The road East out of
town is now the Rue des Australiens, with the Bullecourt Digger
being a monument to the Australians who fought there. The residents
of Bullecourt have not forgotten.
The Chieftain's Hatch: Aussies Meet the Tanks.