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BILL-JIM'S CHRISTMAS
BILL-JIM'S CHRISTMAS
(Bill-Jim is Australia's name for her soldier) Here where I sit, mucked-up with Flanders mud, Wrapped-round with clothes to keep the Winter out, Ate-up wi' pests a bloke don't care to name To ears polite, I'm glad I'm here all right; A man must fight for freedom and his blood Against this German rout An' do his bit, An' not go growlin' while he's doin' it: The cove as can't stand cowardice or shame Must play the game. Here's Christmas, though, with cold sleet swirlin' down… God! gimme Christmas
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AN INTRODUCTION MAINLY ABOUT SCOUTS
AN INTRODUCTION MAINLY ABOUT SCOUTS
I am a scout; nature, inclination, and fate put me into that branch of army service. In trying to tell Australia's story I have of necessity enlarged on the work of the scouts, not because theirs is more important than other branches of the service, nor they braver than their comrades of other units. Nor do I want it to be thought that we undergo greater danger than machine-gunners, grenadiers, light trench-mortar men, or other specialists. But, frankly, I don't know much about any other man's j
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CHAPTER I THE CALL REACHES SOME FAR-OUT AUSTRALIANS
CHAPTER I THE CALL REACHES SOME FAR-OUT AUSTRALIANS
Just where the white man's continent pushes the tip of its horn among the eastern lands there is a black man's land half as large as Mexico that is administered by the government of Australia. New Guinea has all the romance and lure of unexplored regions. It is a country of nature's wonders, a treasure-chest with the lid yet to be raised by some intrepid discoverer. There are tree-climbing fish, and pygmy men, mountains higher and rivers greater than any yet discovered. To the north of Australia
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CHAPTER II AN ALL-BRITISH SHIP
CHAPTER II AN ALL-BRITISH SHIP
We flew the Dutch flag, we were registered in a Dutch port, but every timber in that British-built ship creaked out a protest, and there paced the quarter-deck five registered Dutchmen who could not croak "Gott-verdammter!" if their lives depended on it, and who guzzled "rice taffle" in a very un-Dutch manner. Generally they forgot that they had sold their birthright. Ever their eyes turned southward, which was homeward, and only the mention of the Labor party brought to their minds the reason f
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CHAPTER III HUMAN SNOWBALLS
CHAPTER III HUMAN SNOWBALLS
'Way out back in the Never Never Land of Australia there lives a patriotic breed of humans who know little of the comforts of civilized life, whose homes are bare, where coin is rarely seen, but who have as red blood and as clean minds as any race on earth. The little town of Muttaburra, for instance, has a population of two hundred, one-half of whom are eligible for military service. They live in galvanized-iron humpies with dirt floors, newspaper-covered walls, sacking stretched across poles f
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CHAPTER IV TRAINING-CAMP LIFE
CHAPTER IV TRAINING-CAMP LIFE
The town of Bendigo received a great increase of liveliness by having to accommodate four or five thousand soldiers. It had known some lively times in the old gold days, but when its "yellow love" became thin, thousands of people went to other fields and the former flourishing city became a husk and as dull as only a declining mining city can become; but, as usually happens in old mining districts, when the gold gives out, the solid wealth of the soil in crop-growing capacity is developed, and B
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CHAPTER V CONCENTRATED FOR EMBARKATION
CHAPTER V CONCENTRATED FOR EMBARKATION
One morning there was great excitement in the Bendigo camp. An announcement was made that members of rifle-clubs would be tried out on the range and all qualifying with ninety per cent of marks would be sent overseas in the earliest draft. All who had ever fired a gun, and some who hadn't, stepped forward for trial, but on the range the eligibles were found to be only fifty, of whom I was lucky enough to be one. The next day we lined up for a final medical inspection. As we passed the doctor the
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CHAPTER VI MANY WEEKS AT SEA
CHAPTER VI MANY WEEKS AT SEA
A troop-ship has no longer a name, but although the ship we boarded at Port Melbourne docks was designated by the number A 14, it was not hard to discover that we were on a well-known ocean-liner, for on life-buoys and wheelhouse the paint was not so thick that inquisitiveness could not see the name that in pre-war days the Aberdeen line proudly advertised as one of their most comfortable passenger-carrying ships. That meant little to us, for her trimmings of comfort had been stripped off but fo
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CHAPTER VII THE LAND OF SAND AND SWEAT
CHAPTER VII THE LAND OF SAND AND SWEAT
How we hated Egypt before we left it! It may be a land of fascination to the tourist who drives about in gharris to view its wonders and stays at a European hotel, but to be there as a soldier, to lie in its vile sand, to swallow its conglomerated stinks, to rub the filth off the seats in the third-class train-carriages, to have under your eyes continually the animated lump of muck that the "Gyppo" is, to have your ears filled continually with the vile expressions that the Egyptian conceives as
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CHAPTER VIII HELIOPOLIS
CHAPTER VIII HELIOPOLIS
Our camp was just outside the new city of Heliopolis, which was built at the cost of about $40,000,000 by a Belgian syndicate to rival Monte Carlo, but it was a fiasco as a money-making concern. Nevertheless, there were some gorgeous buildings, and it was a source of constant interest to us. The Palace Hotel was the most magnificent building I have ever seen; used by us as a hospital. There was no lack of marble, and the mosaics were marvellous. The lamp-stands were of a unique and exquisite des
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CHAPTER IX THE DESERT
CHAPTER IX THE DESERT
I know more about the desert in Egypt than any other part of it, for it was on the desert we trained. There were sham fights galore, but it was mostly squad and company drill, until if some devil had scooped out our brain-boxes and filled them with sawdust we could have carried out the orders just as well. In fact, one fellow must have gone mad with the monotony of it and perpetrated the rhyme, to the tune of "The Red, White, and Blue": "At the halt, on the left, form platoons, At the halt, on t
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CHAPTER X PICKETING IN CAIRO
CHAPTER X PICKETING IN CAIRO
No man in the British Empire knew Egypt better than Lord Kitchener, and he had very good reasons, apart from training, in sending us there. There can be no doubt whatever that the majority of the Egyptians were pro-Turkish if not pro-German. The educated Egyptian, like the Babu in Bengal, is specially fitted by nature for intrigue, and if he sees a chance to oppose whatever government is in power and keep his own skin, it is his idea of living well. Egypt was immediately put under martial law, b
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CHAPTER XI "NIPPER"
CHAPTER XI "NIPPER"
On the sheep and cattle station of Wyaga in southwestern Queensland there is a shepherd's hut about fifty miles from the homestead. One night my father was camping in this hut, and before lying down had piled a lot of dry dung on the fire outside so that the smoke would drive away the mosquitoes. Somewhere about midnight he woke with the sense of some human being near him. Then he was startled to see the fire scattered before his eyes, but never found sight nor sound of anything living. Many mon
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CHAPTER XII THE ADVENTURE OF YOUTH
CHAPTER XII THE ADVENTURE OF YOUTH
Fate has decided that Gallipoli shall always be associated with the story of the Anzacs. This name (which is formed from the initial letters of the A ustralian N ew Z ealand A rmy C orps) does not describe more than half the troops that were engaged in that fated campaign, but it has so caught the popular fancy, that in spite of all historians may do, injustice will be done in the thought of the public to the English, Scotch, and Irish regiments and the gallant French Colonial troops who played
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CHAPTER XIII THE LANDING THAT COULD NOT SUCCEED—BUT DID
CHAPTER XIII THE LANDING THAT COULD NOT SUCCEED—BUT DID
Picture yourself on a ship that was more crowded with men than ever ship had been before, in a harbor more crowded with ships than ever harbor had been crowded before, with more fears in your mind than had ever crowded into it before, knowing that in a few hours you would see battle for the first time. Having comrades crowding round, bidding you good-bye and informing you that as your regimental number added up to thirteen, you would be the first to die, remembering that you hadn't said your pra
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CHAPTER XIV HOLDING ON AND NIBBLING
CHAPTER XIV HOLDING ON AND NIBBLING
There are people who think that the Australian dash petered out with that one supreme effort of landing. We had achieved the impossible in landing—why did we not in the many months we were there, do the comparatively easy thing and advance? Surely, now that we had stores and equipment and artillery, we could more easily drive the Turks out of their trenches. So many seem to think that so much was done on that first day, and so little thereafter. But the Peninsula is not a story of mere impetuosi
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CHAPTER XV THE EVACUATION
CHAPTER XV THE EVACUATION
Without warning, winter came down upon us. No one guessed he was so near. We were still in our summer lack of clothing, and were not prepared for cold weather, when like a wolf on the fold the blizzard came down upon us. This was the worst enemy those battered troops had yet encountered. Hardly any of those boys had ever seen snow and now they were naked in the bitterest cold. There were more cases of frost-bite than there were of wounds in the whole campaign. More had their toes and fingers eat
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CHAPTER XVI "SHIPS THAT PASS…"
CHAPTER XVI "SHIPS THAT PASS…"
Although we did not capture the Narrows (that narrow stream of water through which a current runs so swiftly that floating mines are carried down into it faster than the mine-sweepers could gather them up), this did not prevent at least one representative of the navy from passing that barrier. This was the Australian submarine, A2. It may not be generally known that Australia had two submarines at the outbreak of war. These would appear antediluvian alongside the latest underwater monster, but,
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CHAPTER XVII FERRY POST AND THE SUEZ CANAL DEFENSES
CHAPTER XVII FERRY POST AND THE SUEZ CANAL DEFENSES
The first attack on the Suez Canal caused the authorities to realize the need of protecting the canal by having a line of defense in Arabia far enough east to prevent the enemy reaching the waterway itself. For if the Turks should again appear on the banks of the canal, they might easily put enough explosives in it to blow it up. So vital is this artery of the British Empire that a German general stated that if they struck a blow there they would sever the empire's neck. The Turkish attempt to c
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CHAPTER XVIII FIRST DAYS IN FRANCE…
CHAPTER XVIII FIRST DAYS IN FRANCE…
We had some excitement crossing from Alexandria to Marseilles, and the troop-ship ahead of us was torpedoed, though no lives were lost. But it was great to see our watch-dog of a destroyer chase after the submarine. The transport I was on was going over twenty-two knots, but the destroyer passed us as though we were standing still. The captain of our ship said she was doing forty-seven knots. At any rate, she rammed the submarine and must have appeared, through their periscope, just as a huge wa
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CHAPTER XIX THE BATTLE OF FLEURBAIX…
CHAPTER XIX THE BATTLE OF FLEURBAIX…
Next morning it was "going in" with a vengeance. We did not enter the same trenches where I had been a few days previously, but about a mile farther south. These trenches were our "home" for over three months, so let me try and describe how they were built and looked to us on that day of entry. In this part of the line, near the borders of Belgium, you cannot dig down, the soil is so marshy, so the trenches are what is known as breastwork . They are built up about six feet from the level of the
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CHAPTER XX DAYS AND NIGHTS OF STRAFE
CHAPTER XX DAYS AND NIGHTS OF STRAFE
We had only been a few days in the trenches in France when I was sent for by the General. I went in fear and trembling, wondering what offense I had committed; but I soon did not know whether I was standing on my heels or my head, for he said to me: "I have recommended you for a commission, and you are immediately to take over the duties of intelligence or scouting officer." This was a big step up, as I was only a corporal, though I had been acting in charge of a position over the heads of many
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CHAPTER XXI THE VILLAGE OF SLEEP
CHAPTER XXI THE VILLAGE OF SLEEP
There was little element of surprise about the "Somme" offensive. Although there must have been some uncertainty in the mind of the German Staff as to just where the blow would be struck, for our papers were filled with rumors of a drive in the north, and troops and big guns were moved north every day and withdrawn at night, yet the intensity of the artillery bombardment around Albert, which day by day waxed ever greater, proclaimed in a shout that here was the point on which our punch would str
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CHAPTER XXII THE SOMME
CHAPTER XXII THE SOMME
The battle of the Somme lasted eight months, and never since the days of chaos and darkness has a portion of the earth been under the sway of such forces of destruction. Not even the Flood itself so completely destroyed the habitations of man. Flourishing towns were powdered into brick-dust, thousands of acres of forest were reduced to a few blackened stumps, and every foot of ground was blasted and churned and battered again, while every yard was sown thick with bullets more malignant than the
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CHAPTER XXIII THE ARMY'S PAIR OF EYES
CHAPTER XXIII THE ARMY'S PAIR OF EYES
The aeroplane has become so much a necessity to the army that it is difficult to imagine how wars were ever fought without them. I remember reading a statement by a military observer with the Japanese army that, if the Russians had had a single aeroplane, they could have annihilated the Japs more than once. Of the army's pair of eyes the airman is the sharper, but the old-time scout is not by any means superseded, though his methods have changed. Just as there is much behind the enemy lines that
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CHAPTER XXIV NIGHTS IN NO MAN'S LAND
CHAPTER XXIV NIGHTS IN NO MAN'S LAND
"How little I thought that my time was coming Sudden and splendid, supreme and soon; And here I am with the bullets humming As I crawl and I curse the light of the moon. Out alone, for adventure thirsting, Out in mysterious No Man's Land; Prone with the dead when a star-shell, bursting, Flares on the horrors on every hand. Yet oh, it's great to be here with danger, Here in the weird, death-pregnant dark, In the devil's pasture a stealthy ranger, When the moon is decently hiding. Hark! What was t
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CHAPTER XXV SPY-HUNTING
CHAPTER XXV SPY-HUNTING
Man is by instinct and tradition a hunter, and there is no sport so thrilling as man-hunting, especially if the hunted be a menace to society, and more especially if he be a spy that threatens the safety of yourself and comrades. There is also in this branch of intelligence service an appeal to the clash of wits that holds fascination for the keen mind. The German spy system is not more clever than our own, but has been more carefully organized and much longer in operation. He spies also on frie
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CHAPTER XXVI BAPAUME AND "A BLIGHTY"
CHAPTER XXVI BAPAUME AND "A BLIGHTY"
How many weeks I lay under the shadow of the church-tower of Bapaume I know not. But every morning as the mist lifted the church-tower would reappear through the trees, and now and again the flash of a glass would show that it was an observation-post of the enemy, and frequently well-placed shells on our trenches and dumps would show to what devilish uses our enemies were putting the house of God as they directed their shell-fire from a seat just under the cross on the tower. This is a very old,
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CHAPTER XXVII IN FRANCE
CHAPTER XXVII IN FRANCE
My hospital experiences in France were a procession of five nights with intermissions of days spent in travel. From the advance dressing-station I was slid over the mud for three miles in a sledge drawn by the Methuselah of horses borrowed from some French farmhouse. His antiquarian gait suited me, and this was the smoothest of the many torturous forms of travel I endured before I was able once again to move up-rightly on my feet as a man should. At Trones Wood I was swung into a horse ambulance
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CHAPTER XXVIII IN LONDON
CHAPTER XXVIII IN LONDON
By hospital-train, the most comfortable ever devised, did we run into Waterloo Station—doors were opened, and men in gorgeous uniforms—much gold braid and silver buttons—came aboard. We thought that they were admirals and field-marshals at the very least, but it turned out they were only members of the Volunteer Ambulance Corps, men unfit for military service, who had provided their own cars and received not a penny of pay. With the tenderness of women they put us on stretchers and carried us ou
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CHAPTER XXIX THE HOSPITAL-SHIP
CHAPTER XXIX THE HOSPITAL-SHIP
Some people think that they have made a sea journey when they cross the English Channel, and Dover to Calais holds for many the memory of an age of misery. I don't suppose the provisions on these Channel steamers have very great inroads made upon them by the passengers. The soldiers have a song that well expresses experiences on this narrow stretch of water. "Sea, sea, why are you angry with me? Ever since I left Dover, I thought the ship would go over ——" (etc.) But on the longer journey across
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CHAPTER XXX IN AUSTRALIA
CHAPTER XXX IN AUSTRALIA
When the ship drew in at the Melbourne wharf I made up my mind to escape the fuss and hero-worship, as I was a Queenslander and knew that none of my folks were among the crowd waiting at the gates. I went to the military landing-officer and asked him if I could not go out another way and dodge the procession. He said the orders were that every officer and man was to be driven in special cars to the hospital. I then went down onto the wharf and approached one of the ladies who looked as if she wo
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CHAPTER XXXI USING AN IRISHMAN'S NERVE
CHAPTER XXXI USING AN IRISHMAN'S NERVE
I have been saving this for a separate chapter; for besides a natural hesitation in admitting that I am not "all there," I want to have sufficient space in which to express my gratitude to the doctor who performed the operation and to the "unknown" who had his leg amputated, so providing me with a portion of his anatomy that I was in sore need of. Of course, in these days when surgical miracles are happening continually there is nothing outstanding about this operation, and surgeons have wonderf
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CHAPTER XXXII THE RIGHT INFANTRY WEAPONS
CHAPTER XXXII THE RIGHT INFANTRY WEAPONS
I know scores of men who have been months in the trenches and over the top in several attacks who have never fired a shot out of their rifles. In fact, it is very, very rarely that the man in the trenches gets a chance to aim at an enemy at a greater range than a hundred yards. There are thousands of men whom I know who believe that the long-range rifles used in our army to-day are useless weapons. A much more serviceable gun to repel a counter-attack would be one firing buckshot like a pump-gun
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CHAPTER XXXIII THE FORCING-HOUSE OF BESTIALITY
CHAPTER XXXIII THE FORCING-HOUSE OF BESTIALITY
The Germans have given to us an illustration, though such was not needed by thinking men to convince them of its truth, of the fact that the beast in humanity only requires encouragement to make us more bestial than any wild thing of the jungle or even the filthy cur of the streets. If any man takes as his guiding principle the devilish doctrine that the "end justified the means" he will soon become a menace to his fellows and any good impulses that he may originally have will pass away. The Ger
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CHAPTER XXXIV THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FEAR
CHAPTER XXXIV THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FEAR
The observation of men in many circumstances of peril has quite convinced me that it is those who are most afraid that do the bravest deeds. I do not mean that the fact that they are afraid increases the difficulty of the doing, because it lessens it. It is fear that drives men to heroism! And many a man attempts the superhuman feat of courage not to show to others that he is no coward, but as evidence in the court of his own judgment, to disprove the accusations of conscience, which asserts he
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CHAPTER XXXV THE SPLENDOR OF THE PRESENT OPPORTUNITY
CHAPTER XXXV THE SPLENDOR OF THE PRESENT OPPORTUNITY
To those who are thrilled by the old-time tales of adventurous chivalry or moved by the narrative of high endeavor and heroic achievement for some noble ideal, I bring a conception of the marvellous glory of these present days. We have been wont to sing of the times when thousands left home and comfort on a Holy Crusade, but the Crusaders of these days are numbered in millions. Never were there such stirring times as these, never since the first tick of time have the hours been so crowded! Never
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CHAPTER XXXVI NOT A FIGHT FOR "RACE" BUT FOR "RIGHT"
CHAPTER XXXVI NOT A FIGHT FOR "RACE" BUT FOR "RIGHT"
I have no patience with the waterish sentiment that suggests that the lines of the Germans in America and Australia have fallen in hard places because they are called upon to take up arms against their own blood. For this is not a war of race, but of right! It is not a war of Britons, Americans, and French against Germans and Austrians! It is a war of men in all nations against beasts! There is something in all of us that is stronger than kinship, higher than citizenship—manhood—and every one wh
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CHAPTER XXXVII "KEEPING FAITH WITH THE DEAD"
CHAPTER XXXVII "KEEPING FAITH WITH THE DEAD"
While here and there politicians grow faint-hearted, the army fights on with cheerfulness. It would be a cure for pessimism of the deepest black to go to the trenches for a while. There all is cheery optimism, no doubt at all about the final outcome, and no talk of peace. I have never heard one man in the army talk or hint of peace or dream of it, for they know that it cannot be yet. The only people who shall declare peace will be the army—no politicians, no parliament, or government—for the arm
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BUT A SHORT TIME TO LIVE By Leslie Coulson, killed in action
BUT A SHORT TIME TO LIVE By Leslie Coulson, killed in action
Our little hour—how swift it flies When poppies flare and lilies smile; How soon the fleeting minute dies, Leaving us but a little while To dream our dream, to sing our song To pick the fruit, to pluck the flower, The Gods—they do not give us long— One little hour. Our little hour—how short it is When Love with dew-eyed loveliness Raises her lips for ours to kiss And dies within our first caress. Youth flickers out like windblown flame, Swe
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