DVA 139 Monday 10 September 2001

This Week In History - Our Wartime Heritage

Issued by the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Bruce Scott, to foster awareness of Australia’s wartime history and heritage during the Centenary of Federation.

14-20 September

14 September 1914: HMA Submarine AE1, one of the first two submarines to serve with the Royal Australian Navy, disappeared without trace during operations to capture German New Guinea, early in World War I.

16 September 1942: The Japanese advance along the Kokoda Track stopped at Ioribaiwa. The Japanese had driven Australian forces back towards Port Moresby, but were too ill-equipped and their supply lines too extended over the Owen Stanley Ranges to enable them to reach their objective.

16 September 1943: The Australian 7th and 9th Divisions captured Lae, New Guinea. The 7th had advanced overland, being airlifted part of the way by American transport aircraft, while the 9th had landed on the coast north of Lae. After heavy fighting on both fronts, the Japanese abandoned the base and fled into the mountains. The ‘race’ to Lae was won by the 7th Division, followed closely by the 9th Division.

17 September 1918: The Australian 1st and 4th Divisions breached the forward edge of the famous Hindenburg Line, the main German defensive line across the Picardy region of France. Following an intense artillery barrage, the 1st Division used dense fog and smoke-shells as cover to bypass the leading German defences. The ground gained enabled the 4th to gain entry to the German trenches and bomb their way down the line to their objective. Total Australian casualties were 1260 out of a force of 6800 and the Australians captured 4300 prisoners and 76 guns.

During the battle, Sergeant Maurice Buckley, 13th Battalion, 4th Brigade, 4th Division, from Hawthorn, Victoria, and Private James Woods, 48th Battalion, 12th Brigade, 4th Division, from Gawler, SA, won the Victoria Cross. When a field gun held up one company, Sergeant Buckley rushed the position and shot the gun crew, then raced under machine-gun fire across open ground to put a trench mortar out of action. He then fired into an enemy position and captured 30 Germans. By the end of the day, Sergeant Buckley had rushed at least six machine-gun positions, captured the field gun and taken nearly 100 prisoners.

With a small patrol, Private Woods captured an enemy post and with two comrades held it against heavy counter-attacks. Defying heavy fire, Private Woods jumped onto the parapet and returned fire, holding the post until reinforcements arrived.

19-21 September 1918: British cavalry and Australian Light Horse troops mounted a major drive

through the Palestinian plain of Sharon, splitting the Turkish defences. With British and Australian aircraft destroying key communication positions, the Allied troops used artillery and infantry to create a gap in the enemy lines, then came around behind enemy positions. The assault effectively destroyed the Turkish Eighth Army and its Seventh Army was forced to flee the field.

19 September 1943: The Australian 2/6th Independent Company captured the Japanese outpost at Kaiapit, New Guinea. Kaiapit was needed for an airfield and force of 190 Australians attacked in a series of charges, often with bayonet and grenades, to drive out the enemy garrison. The Australians then held off a Japanese counter-attack before attacking again, firmly establishing their control of the area.

19 September 1999: The first Australian troops were deployed to lead the UN-backed INTERFET force to bring peace to East Timor. The initial deployment of 2000 ADF members was the beginning of a total commitment of some 4500 Australians to INTERFET, led by the then Major General Peter Cosgrove. In September 2001, Australian peacekeepers are still serving in East Timor.

20 September 1912: Official approval was given for the establishment of a military Central Flying School, leading to the formation of the Australian Flying Corps. The first Australian pilots went to war against the Turks as the Mesopotamian Half Flight, serving with the Royal Flying Corps. The Australian Flying Corps served in the Middle East and on the Western Front and was the forerunner of the Royal Australian Air Force.

20 September 1944: Oscar-winning Australian cameraman Damien Parer was killed while filming at Peleliu in the Pacific. Parer served as an official cameramen with the 2nd AIF in Greece and Tobruk before being sent to Papua. His newsreel film Kokoda Front Line won an Oscar for best documentary in 1943. Having filmed Australians in action during the early years of the war, Parer was working for Paramount filming American operations when he was killed. He is commemorated in the United States by a plaque on the wall of the Pentagon.

20 September 1917: The beginning of the Third Ypres campaign - a series of battles between September and November 1917 aimed at capturing the Gheluvelt Plateau in southern Belgium. The strategy was to use a series of heavy bombardments to pave the way for limited advances, with further barrages to protect the troops while they consolidated their positions. The campaign began with a major operation at Menin Road involving the Australian 1st and 2nd Divisions. Despite the softening up by the artillery, the infantry faced heavy fighting against pill boxes and enemy strongpoints.

During the fighting, 2nd Lieutenant Frederick Birks, 6th Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, originally from Flintshire, UK, and Private Reginald Inwood, 10th Battalion, 3rd Brigade 1st Division, from North Adelaide, won the Victoria Cross. Lt Birks and another man rushed an enemy strongpoint and when the second man was wounded, Lt Birks single-handedly captured the enemy machine-gun. A short time later, he organised a party to attack and take another enemy post, then worked to reorganise units that had been disorganised during the attack. Lt Birks was killed by a shell blast while working to rescue some of his men who had been buried by another explosion.

Private Inwood moved out under his own side’s artillery fire to silence an enemy post, then volunteered for an all-night patrol that worked ahead of the Australian positions to gather intelligence. Early the next morning, Private Inwood located and destroyed a machine-gun post which was causing heavy casualties, killing all but one of the enemy gun crew and taking the survivor prisoner.

Media Contact: Karen Jones (Dept of Veterans’ Affairs) (02) 6289 6578 or 0411 107 261



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