From The Australian Front

From The Australian Front - Shrapnel and Smiles, 1917
Cover Page: Published in October 1917 by Cassell and Company, this was a gift book for Australian Soldiers on the Western Front and is a collection of official photographs, cartoons and sketches by members of the A.I.F.
Inside Cover Page : From The Australian Front
Page 4: Cook . Drawn by Will Dyson.
Page 5: From The Australian Front. The net profits from sales will be devoted to Australian Soldiers' Patriotic Fund. Publisher: Cassell and Company Ltd. London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne 1917. The photographs in this book are reproduced from Australian and British official negatives taken by the following official photographers -Capt F Hurley, Lieut E Brooks, Lieut H F Baldwin and Lieut G H Wilkins, AFC.
Page 7: Introduction: At Christmas, two years ago, as a result of the hard work of its Editors and other members of the A.I.F., we were presented with an excellent production in the form of the "Anzac Book". That was our second Christmas at war. We are now approaching our fourth, and let us hope it may be the last one during which we shall find ourselves fighting. Our kind friends have again come forward and presented us with a book, not quite so ambitious as the "Anzac Book" was, but one which we hope will convey to those whom we left behind in Australia, and who we know are thinking of us, some idea of our surroundings on the battle fronts of the Australians, and which carries with it our whole-hearted hopes and good wishes for those at home. With it, I feel I have the privilege of sending my most grateful thanks to all for their past work, and my best of good wishes to every member of the A.I.F. for the future. General Birdwood, France, 28th September 1917
Page 9: The Leader: A winter snapshot of General Birdwood and his Chief of Staff.
Page 10: The Abbey de Bertin, St Omer.
Page 11: Winter in France. The Jock: "Weel, Anzac and what are ye going to do when the war's ower?" Frozen Bill: "Me? I'm goin to the centre of Australia for two bloomin' years to thaw out."
Page 12: The arrival in Flanders.
Page 13: One of the earliest battalions to enter the trenches in France.
Page 14: 1. One of the earliest billets: a bomb school in Flanders. 2. Snapped in a farm in Flanders.
Page 15: 1. The Headquarters cook-house in the Peaceful Line. 2. In the early days: an estaminet reached by jumping out of the communication trench within 800 yards of the front line.
Page 16: 1. The dug-outs which we used to build. 2. The trenches amongst the summer flowers.
Page 17: 1. In the peaceful line. 2. No-man's land in the Peaceful Line. It was across exactly such a spot, but wider, that the Australians charged when first they entered heavy fighting in France before Fromelles, on July 19, 1916.
Page 18: 1. Pozieres. Just after midnight on July 23, 1916, those Australians who had been brought South and put into the Great Battle of the Somme, attacked and took this village. A few walls ad rafters were then remaining. 2. The Chalk-pit past which they approached.
Page 19: 1. Gibraltar. A reinforced concrete entrance to a cellar and German dug-out. The surrounding house had long been blown away. 2. One of the old 5.9 Howitzers taken in the first assault.
Page 20: 1. Sausage Valley: the busiest thoroughfare in the Australian World in those days. 2. A famous staff at breakfast in Sausage Valley.
Page 21: Fatigue parties in the moonlight.
Page 22: Ammunition wagons galloping past the long guns in Sausage Valley.
Page 23: A gun of the R.A.G.A. near Fricourt.
Page 24: The bombardment of Pozieres by the Germans in the first days of August, 1916.
Page 25: 1. Pozieres windmill: the summit of the Somme. Captured on August 4 after two heavy fights. 2. Centre Way, near Pozieres Church
Page 26: One of the O.G. lines near Pozieres Windmill. They were blotted out here by bombardment.
Page 27: The main street of Pozieres from Centreway trench.
Page 28: The church at Pozieres.
Page 29: The cemetery at Pozieres.
Page 30: Machine-gunners coming out past Casualty Corner: Contalmaison in the distance.
Page 31: A Victorian brigade straight out of Pozieres passing another Victorian brigade on its way in.
Page 32: Mouquet Farm: the next stage in the Pozieres fight. Looking towards Pozieres, which is about a mile away beyond the crest.
Page 33: Australians in the dressing station at Becourt Chateau during the early days of Pozieres.
Page 34: The shell-holes of Pozieres Village during the following winter.
Page 35: Unveiling the memorial put up to one of the Australian Divisions which fought at Pozieres.
Page 36: Hymn titles adapted.
Page 37: In the field dressing-station. The Padre: "Are you an R.C. my lad?" The hard case: "No. I'm a machine gunner."
Page 38: Officer: "Why do you not salute?" Anzac: "Well, to tell you the truth, digger, we've cut it right out."
Page 39: Rememberances? "What does that noise remind you of?" "Ome on a Saturday night."
Page 40: 1. Shell and mine torn ground at Hill 60, Ypres. 2. The same: Very extensive defensive works were undertaken by the Australian troops at Ypres in 1916 during the short time within which they stayed there.
Page 41: Australians re-entering the Somme in the Autumn, 1916. Mud splashed gun teams along the road to Montauban.
Page 42: A cook house in Montauban.
Page 43: The field cooker in a winter billet behind the Somme.
Page 44: 1. Fritz's Folly: scene of a winter fight on the Somme. 2. The Somme mud: in the trenches.
Page 45: 1. Where the mud was a tragedy: the carriage of the wounded. 2. The first immense alleviation: tramways.
Page 46: A second alleviation: the duckboards.
Page 47: The Somme mud: at the water point, Montauban.
Page 48: A first improvement in trenches: A dry trench in the front line.
Page 49: Flers: held by the Australians all the winter.
Page 50: 1. Factory Corner near Flers: a notable point during the winter. 2. A precious consolation: hot coffee in jam tins at the Comfort Fund's stall, Longueval. The two splendid men who are serving in this picture were both killed when the town hall at Bapaune was blown down by a delayed German mine.
Page 51: 1. The winter hospital: in the Chapel at Millencourt. 2. The canteen: behind the Somme.
Page 52: 1. All that is left of Gueudecourt - the pond and the church. 2. Machine gun firing at an aeroplane.
Page 53: Martinpuich.
Page 54: Optimism. "Well, thank God, at least there are no flies!"
Page 55: Stiffness. 1st Anzac:"Blime, digger, we're stiff. Beer's all froze." 2nd Anzac: "Wonder if they'll sell it by the block."
Page 56: A 'rum' fellow but 'Somme' boy.
Page 57: 1. Across the snow, near Flers, Jan 1917. The duckboards. 2. The Butte de Warlencourt, March 23rd, 1917. The Butte: when we were able to look back on it.
Page 58: The snow near Bazentin. The latter part of the winter was very bitter, with six weeks' continous frost, but immensely preferable to the mud of the earlier months.
Page 59: Australian transport in the snow.
Page 60: 1. A game of pitch and toss amongst the Reserve Troops. 2. Spoiling the German coal dump in the winter's No-Man's Land. On February 24, 1917, the Germans were found to be evacuating their lines on the Somme. This photograph shows men getting coal from the German railway dump, which all the winter had been in No-Man's Land before Le Sars. The Battle of Warlencourt appears in the background.
Page 61: Engineers beginning on the track across "The Maze", part of the old German front line which had been held all winter.
Page 62: German heavy shell searching for Australian Batteries which had been hurriedly pushed forward to Eaucourt l'Abbaye.
Page 63: Supports waiting in the public grounds at Bapaume -its old fortress moat-on the day on which they followed the Germans through the town.
Page 64: The streets of Bapaume on the day of its occupation.
Page 65: A band playing in Bapaume the day after its capture. The town was still burning.
Page 66: Bapaume Town Hall. A mine with delayed fuse was under the building at the time this photograph was taken. It blew up a few days later.
Page 67: Australian transport halted in Bapaume when the streets had just been cleared.
Page 68: 1. One of the villages which were taken after sharp fighting as the Advance began to approach Cambrai. 2. An Australian Battery coming into position beyond Bapaume.
Page 69: 1. An impression. 2. Bringing up rations.
Page 70: One of the villages in the open beyond Bapaume.
Page 71: The Hindenburg Line taken on April 11, 1917, and again on May 3.
Page 72: 1. Shrapnel burst over our stretcher bearers. 2. A trench mortar in the Hindenburg Line.
Page 73: 1. The advanced ambulance wagon during the Bullecourt days. 2. The winter in northern billets. Even in the best trenches the mud was a problem.
Page 74: The Division which broke through the Hindenburg wire reviewed by General Birdwood after the fight.
Page 75: 1. An Australian Artillery Officer's home on the Somme. 2. General Birdwood presenting Captain H. Murray, VC, with the ribbon of the DSO to which he won a bar at Bullecourt. General Holmes in the background.
Page 76: How rations to troops should be served. How they serve themselves if allowed to.
Page 77: Overheard in a French Village. The boy: "Hello, Bully Beef!"
Page 78:
Page 79: My home in Dixie. My home with a dixie.
Page 80: Australians studying the large contour map which was made for the Troops to give them a good knowledge if the country around Messines over which they had to attack.
Page 81: A wagon rushing a road during the German shelling of our Batteries before Messines.
Page 82: A German shell bursting during the Messines Battle.
Page 83: All that is left of the German Front Line at Messines.
Page 84: 1. A German shell burst during the Battle of Messines. 2. Battle of Messines: A lorry load of Australians watching a burning dump which had been hit by the German shelling.
Page 85: 1. The ridge at Messines: Scene of the attack on June 7, 1917. 2. All that is left of Messines.
Page 86: 1. A German concrete and steel blockhouse of the type which Australians first met at Messines. 2. A German concrete blockhouse at Messines. Showing bits of old camouflage for screening it on top and the sockets for machine gun ammunition let into the rear face of it.
Page 87: A German Pillbox shelter at Messines.
Page 88: 1. Messines: Wounded coming back during the fight. 2. Maj-Gen. W Holmes, CMG, DSO, killed near Messines shortly after the battle.
Page 89: An Australian heavy howitzer in action.
Page 90: Coming out of the Line for a rest.
Page 91: Behind the lines: H.M. The King, with General Birdwood leaving an Australian sports ground.
Page 92: 1. Fatigue work somewhere on the Somme Front. 2. Extract from Intelligence Report: "Yesterday two of our pigeons failed to return."
Page 93: Divisional Baths. Billjim: "Ow do yer git into the bloomin bath, digger?" Orderly (thoughfully): "Do yer see that tap? Well, crawl up through it."
Page 94: Some duds
Page 95: 1. Somebody's darling. 2. My God!
Page 96: A Brigade A.F.A. out for a brief rest after many months in the firing line.
Page 97: 1. Part of an old big crater at Hill 60, near Ypres. 2. Beginning of the battle beyond Ypres: A Howitzer in action.
Page 98: A seige battery in action: firing a howitzer.
Page 99: How the guns are worked in gas.
Page 100: A scene on a road near Ypres.
Page 101: Ruins of the Cloth Hall, Ypres.
Page 102: Shell bursting amid the ruins of Ypres.
Page 103: Ruins at Ypres.
Page 104: Ruins at Ypres.
Page 105: A big crater. This was 75 yards in circumference.
Page 106: After the Battle of Menin Road.
Page 107: Clearing the roadway.
Page 108: The Girl He Left Behind. (with apologies to Capt. Bruce Bairnsfather.) France 11.30pm. "I wonder if the same dear old moon is shining through her bedroom window?" Blighty 11.30pm. The Girl: "How annoying this beastly old moon is!"
Page 109: One of the old platoon. drawn by Will Dyson.
Page 110: Food for the guns.
Page 111: Scene in an advanced dressing station.
Page 112: A shell burst in Glencore Wood.
Page 113: Australian Pioneers construct a roadway while the battle is proceeding.
Page 114: Boche prisoners assisting to bring in our wounded.
Page 115: Conducting battle operations.
Page 116: Communications must be kept up at all costs, and these men are seen going to run out new lines during the Battle of Zonnebeke.
Page 117: The effect of a 9.2 British shell on a reinforced concrete German dug out. The dug out was some feet below the surface of the ground and the concrete roof and wall were over 2 feet thick.
Page 118: A Boche residence that is practically shell proof.
Page 119: An Australian pigeons dispatch rider leaving Signals H.Q.
Page 120: The fight for the ridges: A procession of Boche prisoners to our rear.
Page 121: Boche prisoners wearing their characteristic helmets.
Page 122: The fight for the ridges: the type of ground over which the advance was made during September.
Page 123: A few 'empties' used during the Battle of Zonnebeke.
Page 124: A captured strong point. Note the great thickness of concrete above the entrance.
Page 125: A captured flammenwerfer.
Page 126: The fight for the ridges: The advanced line in shell holes.
Page 127: After a battle: Wounded awaiting ambulance transport.
Page 128: 1. What it feels like without a Pass when on leave. 2. The clean page - when?