One hundred years ago this year remains one of the bloodiest and most tragic of Australian history.
Millions of families all over the world were torn apart by a catastrophic and fruitless war. This Douglas family from Sydney, Australia was no exception.
By April 1916 Kenneth, the youngest of the three brothers to enlist in the Great War, must have been eager to join the ranks – and his brothers in the Army. But being 18 years of age at the time he would need his parents permission to enlist because he was under the age of 21. This was something he must have felt certain that his parents would not approve – especially with Allen and Gordon already off fighting the war.
In fact they already refused him permission to enlist on one occasion.
Undeterred, Kenneth travelled by train from Sydney to Goulburn, NSW – undoubtedly without the knowledge of his parents and he did what thousands of young men did at the time to enlist – he lied.
On his enlistment papers Kenneth used his middle name to identify himself – George Douglass – and he stated his age as 21 years of age.
Verifying a persons identity and age was not as thorough in those days and it was not uncommon for young teenagers or men below the age of parental consent to ‘slip the net’ and enlist into the Armed Forces. This was a common practice in many countries involved in the World Wars.
Kenneth (George Douglass) breezed through his medical examination and was accepted into the Australian Imperial Forces on the 14th of April 1916; he was assigned to C Company, 55th Battalion.
During his training Kenneth transferred to the 56th Battalion at Rutherford Military Camp and later to the 35th Battalion where he remained for the duration of his initial training.
Finally Kenneth and his mates departed Sydney aboard the HMAT Port Sydney on the 4th of September 1916. By this time Kenneth would have been aware that his brother Allen was killed in France, no doubt the angst felt by his family must have been acute as the Port Sydney sailed out of Sydney Harbour bound for Europe.
On 29 October 1916 Kenneth disembarked at Plymouth, England.
Between August 1916 and November 1917, Training Groups were established across Salisbury Plain in order to train the reinforcements that had arrived with just the basic training having been provided from their time in Australia. Each Division had its own Training Group. For the 3rd Division, which George and his mates were a part, their training was at Durrington with the 9th Training Battalion.
It appears that military life didn’t bode well for young Kenneth; the harsh discipline, intensive and arduous infantry training must have pushed this young man to the edge when on the 13th of December 1916 he was charged for ‘Using obscene language to an NCO’. In today’s military terms this would be considered ‘Insubordination’ or ‘prejudicial conduct’ – or both.
This charge resulted in Kenneth celebrating Christmas 1916 and New Years 1917 in detention at the AIF Detention Centre, on the English south coast at Lewes, East Sussex.
By the end of his 21 day detention all was forgiven and Kenneth completed his training without further incident. On the 5th of March 1917 he deployed to France where he joined his unit – the 35th Battalion.
I can only assume at this point that Kenneth was keen to be with his eldest brother Gordon at the 17th Battalion and he wasted no time in requesting a transfer. For this vulnerable young man the urge to be with his sibling would have been an immense relief.
Tragically though Gordon died three weeks before Kenneth joined the 17th.
On the 5th of May 1917 Kenneth, with a heavy heart, joined the 17th that was reeling from the battles at the Hindenburg Line in the previous month where Gordon was killed and immediately after the second battle of Bullecourt between the 3rd and 4th of May.
Fortunately Kenneth joined the 17th just as they were relieved from the battle and sent to the rear. One could not imagine the shock he must have felt at joining his unit at a time of intense stress and horrendous scenes.
During the northern summer months of 1917 the 17th were spared from any further heavy fighting and spent the remainder of May to September on recuperation, training and preparing for what’s to come. Meanwhile the Commanders were planning their next bloody, costly offensive.
20 September 1917.
The Battle of Menin Road was an offensive operation, part of the Third Battle of Ypres on the Western Front, undertaken by the British Second Army in an attempt to take sections of the curving ridge, east of Ypres, which the Menin Road crossed. This action saw the first involvement of Australian units side-by-side (1st and 2nd Divisions AIF) in the Third Battle of Ypres.
The attacks were carried out along the entire Ypres front, though the advancing troops had to overcome formidable entrenched German defensive positions which included mutually supporting concrete pill-box strong-points and also resist fierce German counter-attacks.
One such concrete pill-box became known as ‘ANZAC House’ and became one of the most dramatic scenes of the entire conflict.
Nearby the men of the 17th commenced their attack at 5.40 am after 5 days of bombardment; 11 divisions of the British Expeditionary Force armies struck the Germans on a 13 kilometre front. The Australian 1st and 2nd Divisions, along with a Scottish Division, were the centre of the assault along Westhoek Ridge facing Glencorse Wood, with a combined front of 1,800 metres.
It was the first occasion in the war in which two Australian Divisions attacked side by side. The Australians overcame enemy infantry opposition and advanced steadily for almost one kilometre to the first objective known as the “Red Line”. It ran along a sunken road, the north edge of Glencorse Wood to Honnebeck swamp and bogs in the None Borsden Copse.
After an hour to resupply and reorganise the Australians continued to the second objective, the “Blue Line”, which was about 500 metres from the previous objective. The “Blue Line” was fixed from Iron Cross Redoubt in the north to Albert Redoubt, Verbeck Farm and part of Polygon Wood in the south. After capturing this second objective the Australians waited another two hours before attacking their third objective what the Germans aptly named the ‘Wilhelm Line’, roughly parallel and 200 metres beyond the “Blue Line”.
By noon, the Australians had taken all the objectives and were at the western end of Polygon Wood.
Official war photographer Frank Hurley wrote; ‘The Menin Rd is one of the, if not the, most ghastly approach on the whole front. Accretions of broken limbers, materials & munitions lay in piles on either side, giving the road the appearance of running through a cutting. Any time of the day it may be shelled & it is absolutely impossible owing to the congested traffic for the Boche to avoid getting a coup with each shell. The Menin road is like passing through the Valley of death, for one never knows when a shell will lob in front of him. It is the most gruesome shambles I have ever seen…’
Frank took this picture of the scene:
Minutes after this picture was taken on the 20th of September 1917, an artillery shell landed amongst the men laying on the stretchers, killing them all.
Although the Third Battle of Ypres was a success for the Allies, it was a scene of abstract horror. For young George no one could possibly imagine the fear and terror he was experiencing.
But his fears were over in just a few short terrible hours. Just as he and his mates reached their final objective, George was tragically killed.
Over a year later this Red Cross report revealed what happened.
In a strange twist of terrible fate, George died in exactly the same way his eldest brother Gordon died, the brother George tried to reunite with and survive this awful war together.
Sadly, no personal effects belonging to Kenneth were found. It wasn’t until 1926 when Kenneth’s body was recovered and buried at Birr Cross Roads Military Cemetery was an identity disc belonging to him recovered from his remains and sent to his parents.
Needless to say Kenneth’s actions of using a false name when enlisting caused some confusion with authorities trying to memorialise his name by various means. Eventually they got it right but not before his father wrote to Base Records;
I will accept it as it is. It does not matter correct spelling or initials. My wife & self know only too well to whom it refers to.
Gordon, Allen and Kenneth were three victims of one of the deadliest conflicts in the history of the human race, in which over 16 million people died. It was a brutal introduction to modern warfare, the world would never be the same again.
The conflict achieved very little other than ousted monarchs and a change in the political landscape. It planted the seeds to an even greater and far more brutal world war just 20 years later.
This year marks 100 years since the Douglas brothers went off to war and never came home. Their loss, the loss of so many more was so futile and tragic.
As this final chapter is about to be published, the day before ANZAC Day 2017, I hope this serves as a memorial to the memory of Gordon, Allen and Kenneth. And to their parents George and Mary Douglas.
I know tomorrow, I will be thinking of them.
“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Lest we forget”
The end.
Authors note:
Writing these stories has been one of the most difficult projects I have undertaken over recent years when I first learned of the Douglas brothers. Difficult in terms of emotional toll. Difficult in terms of research and time.
I had hoped to put their story into print and publish a book. Maybe that’s a bridge too far to accomplish.
But I have been drawn into the lives of this family as I research every angle to tell their story. I would be delighted to learn if there are any surviving relatives.
If you can help or think you may know someone who can provide information about this Douglas family, I would love to hear from you.
– Andrew.