WW1 Digger History Podcast

This one covers fan-boy Oliver's description of the work done by General Allenby, the widely attributed last cavalry charge of history by the Australian Light Horse on Beersheba and later battles around Gaza and Khulweilfe. We also cover the death of a great Aussie cricketer, Albert 'Tibby' Cotter and the unsubstantiated claim that his mates killed the Turks that killed him... It does happen but there is no proof it happened this time.

This one is about the hardships of living in the desert, the Bedouin, camels, Mount Sinai and blowing up railway lines. All fun stuff, to be sure.

Be advised: Politically incorrect language and poor pronunciation warnings!

We won that battle, didn't we? .... We did, we did! Trust us, we'd never lie. Honest!

Spin doctors were alive and well in WW1 and they worked overtime on the Australian and British public after the disastrous battles around Gaza in the Holyland in early 1917. 

Oliver gives a reasonable account of the battles, anecdotes about the troopers and lastly advice to a certain young actress.

The little known Battle of Rafah was the last in the Sinai Desert Campaign. The Aussies, Kiwis, British and Indians including the Cameleers with their 'Bing Boys' gunners had to attack a fortified position deep in the desert with absolutely no cover. Guess what? ... They won and here is their story.

Finally for the 100th real episode the long promised interview with Len Jones' grandson Murray. We talk about Len, the family and the service of Len's son and grandson, Norman and Murray. 3 wars for the price of one, folks!

Episode artwork is Len in later years courtesy of Murray Jones.

I actually enjoyed editing this one which covers not only the Battle of Maghdaba, but also the Battle of Bir-el-Abd. Oliver has a gripe about a job he wants and the way the Middle East is covered in Australian press. It is a good one, please enjoy the 99th full episode of the podcast. Episode level artwork is the Standard of  the Turkish 80th Infantry Regiment (AWM Item: RELAWM15159) captured by the 2nd Light Horse Regiment at Maghdaba. Link posted in Facebook.

Just a brief update on what is in store for the podcast.

"Righto Don Company, over you go".

In this episode, Len takes your on a train trip through 1916 France, then into the trenches of the Western Front for the first time. We here about life in the trenches near Fromelles before the famous battle and anecdotes about the Aussie digger mates he has made. Len takes us through the rear areas of The Somme and into the jump off trench near Pozieres. He then leaves us with a cliff hanger as he rushes from the trenches.

In this episode, Len Jones describes life in the trenches at Gallipoli before the withdrawal and the Battalion's time in Egypt and on the Suez Canal. Len is sniped at and nearly blown up. He also just about bayonets a Brigadier General. He finishes with the trip to France and the "mob" landing at Marseilles. He introduces many of his cobbers and gives us some fine anecdotes particularly about the adjutant "Joe" Burrett.

This is the first episode in a series presenting the memoirs written by Warwickshire born 21 year old Leonard Jones. Len describes his early life as a merchant seaman, his voyage to Australia and his brief life in Sydney, Wondai ans Temora before enlistment. He describes basic training and signalling training at Liverpool and Broadmeadows Camps, his embarkation, stay in Egypt and his own personal landing at Gallipoli.

This is the introduction to my new podcast which aims to bring primary source material originally written by soldiers and other combatants in The Great War or World War One (WW1), if you prefer. These will be mostly the memoirs or diaries of Australians, at least at first, that is why it is called The WWI Digger Stories Podcast.

The Australians fought in famous campaigns and battles like Gallipoli, The Somme, Ypres, Pozieres, Fromelles, Passchendaele and in the middle east at Gaza and Beersheba. They also served in less well known places like German New Guinea and at sea.

Background material son the events described by the soldiers and biographical information on the individuals mentioned will be included.

This is the intro redux recorded in January 2017, much improved over the early 2016.

Phil Mannell

Here's Part 10 of the saga of Trooper Bluegum. One of the major battles in the Middle East during WW1 secured much of the Sinai in Allied Hands. This is Oliver's and a Boer War Veteran description of the battle. Episode artwork is Brig. Royston, courtesy AWM 

Part 2 covering the life of one of Australia's greatest soldiers. Harry Murray recalls the Battle of Bullecourt in great detail "Now, there were many furious arguments in billets and dugouts as to who — Jacka or Murray — was the Aussie with the greater number of decorations. “Murray killed yet?” Was always the first query shot at a 13th man whenever he went visiting. The answer was, “No, still going strong,” and the visitor would have some new tale to tell of Murray's latest piece of daring. Everybody wondered how long it could last!" (Trove)

He was the most highly decorated Australian soldier of WW1. Brave dashing and highly resourceful, Harry Murray rose from the ranks to command a machine gun battalion. This is the first of a 2 part series on the man who shunned the limelight after the war, always maintaining that he did not deserve the attention he received. Listen and decide for yourself. Warning, this one contains a lot of action! Harry describes Gallipoli, Moquet Farm and the battle where he wins the Victoria Cross.

In 1916 the Imperial Camel fought the Ottoman backed revolt by the Senussi in the Western Desert of Egypt. Oliver talks about training, patrols, deaths and near deaths from lack of water, including the ultimately pointless act of self-sacrifice by a British Pilot in the desert. We meet their 'hooshta' and hear how the Aussies hated these animals at first.

The Turks bombarded our lines and hurled half-a-dozen shells into our trench, smashing down parapets, wrecking rifles and gear, splattering bullets and splinters everywhere, and yet miraculously missing everybody. Later on, a single stray bullet found its way through a loophole, ran along the barrel of a rifle, ricocheted off at an impossible angle, and killed young Trooper Bellinger.

In this one we meet a 'gentleman' nicknamed 'Tommy' a sergeant who after the war went back to being, ahem, a gentleman... stick around for the rather long bios to hear about that. We also have Brigadier Ryrie doing chicken impressions, Oliver in his dugout, mail call, and we reacquaint ourselves with old friends, Billy Sing and the 'Old Bird' Major Midgely. So maleesch, settle down and don't imshee until it's finished. No baksheesh! (You'll work it out).

Guest presenters, 12 year old Abbey, 11 year old Xavier and their teacher, Mr Rob Coughlan, from St Michael's School in Western Australia bring you the story of Jim Martin, believed to have been the youngest Aussie Digger to die at Gallipoli. He was just under 14 years and 10 months old when he died of disease on a hospital ship. It is very fitting that a couple young Australians, just a few years off Jim's age present this true story. Lest we forget!

In this episode Oliver describes actions in the Battles of Lone Pine and The Nek, as well as profiles of a cook named George and three brave sergeants.

There is an 'N' word warning for this one.

In this one the 2nd Light Horse Brigade take their place in the front line trenches at Gallipoli and have their first cracks at 'Johnny Turk.' Here is a bit of it:

"The day after the big attack General Birdwood asked one of the 1st Light Horse Regiment if he had killed many Turks, and he answered, "Yes, miles of the cows." As a matter of fact the Australians were almost quarrelling for positions in the firing-line that night. When the fight was at its hottest, men in the supports were offering bribes of tobacco and cigarettes to the men in the firing-line to swap places with them just for ten minutes."

In this one, Oliver and the men of the Light Horse are in Egypt when the Infantry go to Gallipoli. The men get restless and some rip the bad part of Cairo up in a brawl known as The Battle of The Wazzir. Finally the men get the word, they are going to Gallipoli.... without their beloved horses!

Do you fancy a cruise? Do you like travelling with pets? What was life like on a cruise liner with nearly 500 horses on board. Oliver and the Light Horse travel to Egypt on the SS Suevic. Don't worry, it's not as boring as it may sound. So wrap yourself up in some tarpaulin ... never mind, just come aboard!

In September 1914, English author and poet, Laurence Binyon was so appalled by the casualty lists coming out of France that he penned the 7 stanza poem, "For the fallen". Little did he know that the middle, 4th stanza, would become the most remembered and solemnly cited verses in at least 4 countries. From 1921 this stanza became known as "The ode" and an integral part of remembrance services on Anzac Day and Remembrance Day.

Ion Idriess was arguably the greatest adventure novelist Australia has produced, writing 53 books in a 40 year career. As a young man in the iconic Australian Light Horse he kept a diary which he later turned into his most enduring book, "The Desert Column". This is his story.

Well, who is the future famous star of stage and film that stole a soldier's heart before he went to war? Find out in this second episode on the life of Trooper Bluegum, Oliver Hogue!

Trooper Bluegum became a household name in Australia during The Great War, a journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald he wrote numerous articles widely published in the press, turning these into 2 books after his semi-fictional "Love Letters of an Anzac". These letters were fake but his real love interest would become a Broadway Star and Oscar nominee. Follow him through Gallipoli and the Battles in the Holyland. But this man's fate has a modern irony and I give you a spoiler alert part way through. Oliver Hogue was an interesting man, take the time to hear the first part a look at his life and works.

Billy Sing was arguably the greatest sniper ever produced by Australia but as a Chinese Australian he was nearly denied enlistment and after the war almost forgotten. Billy died almost a pauper and alone at the age of 57. Here is his story.

The Ballad of Billy Sing is presented with the permission of Mr Jeff Brown.

The 7th and final part to the WW1 memoirs of Verdi Schwinghammer, who fought in the battles of Broodseinde and St Quentin Canal. There is no fighting in this one with Verdi sight seeing in Paris, Brussels, England and Ireland with some great observations of the immediate post era. Verdi returns home to his folks and we follow a little of his post war life. 

In this one, Verdi and 3rd Division take us through the Battle of St Quentin Canal with the Americans of the 27th & 30th Divisions, through Armistice and on to the early post war period. Of particular interest is the episode where Verdi treks through the old battlefields to find his cousin's grave and on his Aunt's request....

When some of our men went to bury the dead after the Battle of Mont St Quentin, when they were lifting up some of the dead bodies, bombs would explode and many of our men were killed this way. He laid these traps for us – placing a bomb under a dead soldier and when the body was lifted the catch from bomb would be released and the bomb exploded.

That night enemy planes came over all night long dropping bombs, and several of the men at the rear of us were killed and wounded, by long-range shells..... Sometimes one was safer in the front-line trench than in the back areas!

The Australian 3rd Division Memorial sits above the town of Sailly-le-Sec for a good reason.... "We eventually arrived at Heilly. Passed a few stragglers – Tommies – the remnants of Gough’s British Fifth Army, which had been overtaken by disaster. The citizens had evacuated Heilly before we arrived. Here we dumped our packs and belongings and got into battle order."

We were each given a tin of fruit and a tin of preserved sausages for our Christmas dinner. My pal and I were hungry, so we both opened our tins and ate half the contents for breakfast, putting the remainder in the tin on a shelf in our dugout – covering them with a board with a stone on it. The rats were very bad in the trenches and dugouts. As we were off duty, we went to sleep for a couple of hours and on waking and going to get our dinner found that the rats had knocked off the coverings while we were asleep and had eaten everything. So we had dry biscuits for our Christmas dinner of 1917.

"Men do not go into battle sad and gloomy (as many civilian people wrongly imagine). They are quite the opposite, even though they know the dreadful things they have to face and that some of them are going to their death,"

Verdi Schwinghammer describes the Battle of Broodseinde, part of 3rd Ypres in this, the second part of his memoirs.

An ANZAC Day Special .... well kind of! The first part of a 7 part series from the memoirs of Verdi Schwinghammer. Here is a taste of it, "That night a big air raid took place and we enjoyed watching our guns shooting at the German planes – which were caught and held in the searchlights – several close hits being secured. No bombs fell on us but one fell on the horse lines close by, killing and wounding several horses and mules." The episode covers his enlistment, training, voyage to Europe, more training and his initial days in the 42nd Battalion AIF.

Simpson was the most famous 'Anzac' of all. On the second day of the Gallipoli Campaign, Jack found a small donkey, wrapped a red cross band around its forehead and started ferrying wounded men down to the beach. For three weeks he did this, slogging through the bullet and shrapnel wrapped gullies until finally... But who was John Simpson Kirkpatrick? Listen to his letters home and descriptions of his exploits from other men at Anzac Cove.

This is a very short episode on the Glosters and their part at Fromelles. Short because? Well, unfortunately I can't find any written accounts of the battle by these boys. Famous war poet Ivor Gurney was in their sister battalion over to the right and one of his poems sounds just like Fromelles.

100 years after winning the Victoria Cross in North Russia, the remains of Welsh born Aussie soldier, Samuel George Pearse are thought to have been rediscovered in a scrap yard at Archangel. At the time of his death, recently married Pearse, was already a war hero with a Military Medal won at Glencorse Wood 2 years earlier.

Leon Gellert, a 23 year old Physical Education Teacher from Leabrook, South Australia is considered to be the best Great War poet from Australia. This episode focuses on his war experience and his poems.

I watched the place where they had scaled the height,

The height whereon they bled so bitterly

Throughout each day and through each blistered night

I sat there long, and listened - all things listened too

I heard the epics of a thousand trees,

A thousand waves I heard; and then I knew

The waves were very old, the trees were wise:

The dead would be remembered evermore-

The valiant dead that gazed upon the skies,

And slept in great battalions by the shore.

To the right of the Australian 5th Division at Fromelles was the 61st Division of the BEF. These were second line territorial troops that had never seen action before. They had slightly different problems to the Australians but both Divisions suffered from bad generalship and primary among these bad generals was Lieutenant General Sir Richard Haking.

We look at the men of the 184th British Brigade, men that were part of the nick-named "Sixty-worst Division". I think this was unfair, see what you think!

Pompey Elliott's Australian 15th Brigade attacked the unbreakable 'Sugarloaf' on 19 July 1916. This is the story of this disastrous attack.

Teddy Roosevelt befriended one of the survivors. Hear T.R.'s words and hear his friends description of Fromelles. This is some of what he wrote:

"I lay for half an hour with my arms around the neck of a boy within a few yards of a German "listening post," while the man who was with me went back to try and find a stretcher. He told me he had neither mother nor friend, was brought up in an orphanage, and that no one cared whether he lived or died. But our hearts rubbed as we lay there, and we vowed lifelong friendship. It does not take long to make a friend under those circumstances, but he died in my arms and I do not know his name."

13 year, 11 month old Leonard Jackson was able to fool the enlistment officers and go overseas to Egypt but his father Joe wasn't fooled. It was impossible to find the lad among all the thousands of recruits in khaki so Joe enlisted and followed the boy. Instead of bringing Len home, Joe joined him in the 55th Battalion and both fought at Fromelles.

Corporal Harold Roy Williams of the 56th Battalion wrote a successful book, "The Gallant Company". You'll love the story of "Skinny" Elliott and other real men of the 14th Brigade!

'The sergeant comes up shouting, "Hey! Haven't y' gone yet? Got cold feet?"

"Cold feet yourself," Ted retorts.

And then seeing Bert, who has been missing for some time, Ted produces a note-book and calls, "Here you are, Bert, write your next-of-kin's name and address."

There is no farewell. They grasp their rifles, and Ted slings the phone over his shoulder. "You all set? Come on!" he calls, and away they go.

He shouts "Good luck lads!" as they climb over the parapet. God! what sights they see out there. Huddled and stretched out bodies, khaki heaps that were once men. '

"A young sergeant led a section that passed in artillery formation, and I shall never forget that godlike youth while life shall last. To think of him now is an inspiration, for he was Australia, young, handsome, earnest, and grim. His eyes were lit with the flame of duty, and he never flinched beneath the swish of shrapnel that Fritz had now directed on our advancing troops. He led his brigade and could not falter." ... Lieutenant George H Wilson. Enough said!

Jim finishes his wartime recollections with descriptions of his time as a "guest" of the Ottoman Empire after his capture at Es Salt in May 1918. Jim describes the conditions in the prison camp, working on the Berlin Baghdad Railway, lice, poor food, bad clothing, other prisoners and the Turkish guards. He also recounts his repatriation, first to Alexandria, then England and then home to Adelaide.

In 1973 Keith Tidswell placed a microphone in front of his grandfather, cameleer, light horseman and field ambulanceman. Over an hour later Jim had recounted his training, the trip over, a little about Beersheba, Es Salt and... Well, that is as far as we get in this episode. It's a "ripper of a yarn" as Jim might have said but you'll have to wait for Part 2 to hear how Jim's war ends!

Apologies for the lateness of this one folks, I have been busy with work and home matters!

In late October 1914, English born missionary, Reverend Cox was assaulted and flogged with a cane by several Germans and a Belgian on the island of New Ireland. What followed was one of the few blemishes on  the career of Major General William Holmes. The Germans went so far as to ask the US Ambassador to London enquire about the punishment without a trial.

The SS Matinga visits Rabaul on one of her supply missions, but it is her last supply run in 1917 that is interesting when she meets the German raider SMS Wolf!

This one is action packed, Bill hides stores, watches the surrender of New Guinea, is present when the submarine AE1 went missing and heard first hand about the sinking of the SMS Emden by HMAS Sydney. We also look at the capture of the German vessels, Nusa and Komet and Tok Pisin!

Although a minuscule battle by WW1 standards, about 37 men were killed in the Battle of Pita Paka, the fight to take the German colony of New Guinea in September 1914. Bill Lane was amongst the fighting: "Owing to the thickness of the bush, a few of us got separated from the mob. With shooting go on all around, we not knowing whether it was the enemy or our own men. Us, not knowing the German uniform and not knowing they had natives fighting for them, we were in danger of shooting our own men or being mistaken for the enemy."

Who were the first Australians to die in World War 1? They were British soldiers, "Old Contemptibles" actually, but what next? Gallipoli? No! Australia fought its first land battle at New Guinea....“If your Ministers desire and feel themselves able to seize German wireless stations at Yap in Marshall Islands, Nauru on Pleasant Island, and New Guinea, we should feel that this was a great and urgent Imperial service”. So there you go, this short series examines this campaign.

In the final 5oth episode of Percy Smythe's diary we interview his niece, WW2 WAAF veteran, Margaret Clarke and great niece and creator of the Smythe Family History website, Jacqui Kennedy. We also hear Percy's daughter Betty's account of his and Dorrie's later years, read by another great niece, Vivienne Smythe. The last minute will leave you numb as Vivienne reads Percy's poem about the Battle of Pozieres.

At a concert on board the ship home a scene had a "map of Australia depicted by boxes placed together with lights in them. Behind was a tableau, a "digger" just arriving home, met by his mother and his grey-headed old father, the latter holding a little child in his arms. It was very touching, and brought a choking pain into one's throat and a dimness to one's eyes." Then, at Adelaide when the ship docks, Percy hears some terrible news.

This one covers the trip home on the SS Anchises, sight seeing in South Africa, Adelaide and Melbourne. It's a real buzz-buzz, whatever that is!

Percy contemplates the great peace celebrations at London in 1919, "It marked the end of the years of cruel warfare and dreary hardships. It meant a lot to me. Those gaudy cloths and things expressed the joyous relief and thankfulness of thousands and millions of my fellow beings that the war is over and Peace is signed. All the people were rejoicing with me, and it touched the deepest chords of emotion in my heart. None but soldiers know, or even guess, what war is."

An English wedding... On again , off again. Finally after some deceitful behaviour from Dorrie's parents, the young couple have to go to Scotland to be married. A returned Chaplain from a Scottish Infantry Battalion handles the service and greatly helps the young lovers. This one covers the lead up to the wedding, the happy day and the honeymoon at Loch Lomond.

The aftermath of war..... "I saw something in the window of a house which caught my attention. It appeared to be a cut-out poster or picture of a hideous face like the cartoons one sees of mad Bolsheviks, thick grizzled beard and a mop of grizzled hair, and a horrible expression on the face. As I walked past looking at it in wonder at the very hideousness of it, the supposed picture suddenly started back violently as it caught sight of me, the eyes bulged out of their sockets and stared as though I were some frightful apparition. This made the face look more horrible and unearthly than ever. I was greatly astonished, and it made one feel uncomfortable to be the object of that ghastly maniacal stare. Obviously the fellow was a maniac, possibly a German soldier gone mad at the war and filled with sudden terror at sight of anyone in khaki. I looked back as I went on, and the awful face kept moving around the window to keep me in view, until the foliage of a tree came between".

This one is wide and varied.

Percy writes something that I have read over an over again in these diaries. To him, Armistice Day was a relief rather than a cause for merriment, and that is not just because Percy isn't a party animal, it was common among the majority of the soldiers.

I love Percy's description of Christmas and the farewell dinners .... 

At 6.30p.m. 54 officers sat down, and one glance at the artistic and lengthy menu dispelled all doubt -- if any doubt there had been -- as to the probable quality of the dinner. At each diner's elbow lay a bon-bon cracker, and those of us who were childishly eager to pull our crackers were soon satisfied. The colonel set the ball rolling by inviting the "Beer Emma" (Brigade-Major) to pull his cracker with him. Immediately there followed a crackle around the table, and each of us donned the paper hats contained in the bon-bons. Then we settled down. Maybe I should say that most of us settled down, for the barman had been working like a Trojan in the ante-room all the afternoon!

Pulling crackers, really!

In the last of the battle episodes, Percy is somewhat on the sidelines but we get his interesting insights into what is going on around him and around the world. Meuse-Argonne, Bellicourt, Montbrehain are all discussed in some detail and the 24th Battalion wins their one and only VC.

I have no doubt that this is the best from Percy Smythe, absolutely full on account of one of the main defeats of the Germans in 1918. Don't believe me? Here is an extract; "A heavy, probably a 9.2 inch, had evidently landed fair in the trench. The carnage was awful. Dead, wounded, and dying, all lay huddled and twisted together in grotesque little heaps, a mass of mangled flesh. At first all was silent. But when those who still lived saw that we were there, they began to moan piteously for help. Without any hesitation we set to work to do what we could for them. Kneeling down by the first living man, I saw that he was in a pretty bad state. Besides other wounds, his right arm was hanging to his shoulder by a small strip of skin and flesh. He begged me to cut the useless limb right off, and I tried to do so with a blunt jack-knife, but could not manage it. I cut his tunic away from the damaged arm, and cut the equipment off his body to give him a little ease". Well that's about as bad as it could get!

Percy: "I ordered the men to get the Hun gun, but again nobody seemed willing to go forward. I decided to go over first to encourage them, and sprang up on to the earth block. As I did so, a man called out, "Don't go over! There's a bomb not gone off!" The words were immediately followed by an explosion three yards in front of me! It was one of our Mills grenades with those treacherous 7-second fuses...."

August 8th, 1918. Here is a some of what Percy saw, "Moving on from Villers Bretonneux, we passed the wrecked aerodrome that we could see from the Villers line at the time of the Hamel stunt, the former front line and the late No-man's-land, then the old German front line. A few dead Germans lay singly here and there along the way. A couple of supply tanks lumbered noisily across country returning from the fray. Overhead, the 'planes were very busy, many returning from the front and many others going forward. We passed a German brigadier and staff officer, escorted by a solitary digger unarmed save for a great waddy which he carried over his shoulder."

Wait for Zero Hour in the Battle of Hamel. Percy experienced this one from the sidelines. Learn about camouflage counter battery work, tanks, new kinds of shells, sneezing gas, German prisoners and much more. Here is a bit of it:

"Suddenly the captain sat up and exclaimed, "It's quarter of a minute past zero and the bombardment hasn't started!" We tumbled out of the dug-out in order to witness the strafe, and, even as we did so, a machine gun started chopping the air on our left, and the next instant the valleys and ridges behind us broke forth into a vast rumbling roar, the sky dancing with the multitude of lightning-like flashes from our guns. I jumped on to the nearest fire-step in time to see the first red light go up from the German lines. It was followed by many more all along our front, and by green ones, and also the pretty orange clusters and the ordinary white illuminating flares. Less than a mile in front of us the barrage from our guns descended in a mighty uproar on the German lines. Great columns of smoke, lit up by the many varied lights, arose from the bursting shells and drifted lazily across to the right"

Percy gets his commission on 1 June 1918, although he doesn't say a lot about it. This covers the final weeks up to departure and the trip through to Base Camp. Dorrie's Dad, Mr Jewel remains a gem, ha ha, and the two lovers bid a fond adieu.

I found the best old WW1 song for our Perce, as you will hear.

Percy gets a letter from his old friend, Jack Elliott, and you can guess the response from the Episode title! Here is a bit of what Percy wrote back:

"Jack, if you've got any manhood left in you, cut adrift from that miserable soulless lot of cowards and come over here and do your duty as a man and a true Australian, and as a Christian."

Take that Jack!

Percy finishes his officer training and prepares to go back to France.

Frustration and more frustration, bloaters again and more bloaters.

Percy does something to Dorrie and is full of remorse, what it was, who knows? The engagement is on and off.

Nonchalant brother Viv turns up .... Well, it's Viv's way, or.... Luckily, he didn't keep King George waiting!

Finally, Percy passes and gets ready to go back to France.

In this episode, Percy continues officer training. He practices code, unfortunately no one seems to be able to break it. I guess that means he knew what he was doing. He spends his third Christmas away from home, this one much more pleasant than the first two... He is with his ummm, fiancee, Dorothy.

Three of the Aussies are suspended from the Officer's Training School at Cambridge. Two for sleeping in and one for swapping a blown light bulb for a good one from the mess.

In this episode Percy is at Cambridge training to be an officer. He and Dorrie are busted by her Dad and have a lot of explaining to do. He visits his new sister-in-law, Mary near Londonderry in Ireland and is pleasantly surprised to spend a few days there also with brother, Vern.

Okay, no fighting, except maybe with his would be father-in-law, but still an interesting look at life during the war, and especially at Cambridge.

Once the sighing whine of a shell in flight ended with a savage hiss and an explosion just behind our dug-out, and I felt the sandbag wall heave in several inches. "That one nearly smashed our dug-out," I remarked, thinking it was a H.E., but the next moment a strong smell of gas rushed in. "Get your respirator on!" I yelled at Gus, making a grab for my own. I held my breath, but the powerful fumes got into my eyes, and the tears poured from them in streams. The tapes of my respirator were twisted up with the mouthpiece somehow, and there was I struggling to get them free. Had to open my eyes several times and endure a fresh flow of tears, and it soon became impossible to hold my breath any longer. However, just as I got a good deep breath of poisonous gas, the mouthpiece came free of the tapes and I got it into my mouth. That just about says it all, take a ride through the final days of Passchendaele with Percy

Percy has finally left Blighty, crosses the channel and ... "After crossing the ridge we left the duckboards and struck off to the right through the sloppy slippery mud, picking our way in and out between the shell-holes." Percy makes his way back to the trenches right into the tail end of the Battle of Passchendaele.

Wouldn't you know it, Percy found his soul mate and then gets whisked back to war. Nevermind, he wants that promotion so he can afford a house for his "little girl" when the war is over. The parting is sad, well isn't it always, and then he has to sit out for a few lonely days in Southampton. Brother Vern causes him a real scare but Percy finds out more about his brother's time at Passchendaele; Vernon Smythe MC + Bar!

This one starts with Percy coming back from leave and within two days he looks up Dorothy, the jewel of a girl he met on the train. Not a slow worker, our Perce, they are engaged in less than a month!

Okay, so there are no battles in this one, except of the father - suitor kind, but this is probably the most significant thing to happen to Percy in the war. Enjoy!

There were almost 13,000 war brides to diggers in WW1 according to the Australian War Memorial. Brother Vern found Mary in Ireland, but what about Percy? Well, our Casanova finally meets his "one and only," but does he know it yet?

There is one problem, Percy is still in Blighty, but not for much longer!

"He felt no pain and knew nothing of the terror of approaching the brink!" So wrote one of the Smythe brothers to Percy. Which brother dies? Well, you'll have to listen.

That letter is read in this episode by a real digger not me and that is another reason to listen.

Percy is still in England and the anxiety over his brothers heighten. He loses one then doesn't hear so much from another. Then the letters of condolence sent home are lost when the SS Mongolia his a mine.

Things can only get better and they do in the next episode!

Bickering soldiers, solving disputes, isolation for mumps, drunk soldiers, "F* the Ordinance Officer. Take me to the Ordinance Officer."

This one covers a three month period in camp and looking around old Blighty. Meeting up with brothers Viv and Vern, but not Bert. Pictures from home and from Vern's new wife.

Meanwhile the 24th Battalion does the Battle of Bullecourt and Viv and Bert almost cross paths at the front.

Vern is injured in the foot and he and Viv both win Military Crosses.

Jump on board for this bumper trip.

Well, Percy is in Blighty at the 1st Southern General Hospital at Edgebaston when he hears disturbing news about an old mate from the 3rd Battalion who was killed in his sleep.

He recovers fairly quickly at the 3rd Australian Auxillary Hospital and gets furlough, when he finally catches up with brother Bert and meets the alter-matriarch of the family, Mrs Morgan.

Then there is Miss Tess, or is it Tilly, Pugsley, Mrs Caborn, Mrs Cooper, etc etc. Flirting, ...... well Percy is a master at this sport, I think more-so than the skating he also tackles!

He goes to shows, like "The Arcadians", a clip from the Edison Opera Company from around 1910 is added, "A little bit of fluff," yeah right, Percy, and detective plays etc. Also to museums and a foundry that macks mills bombs and aerial bombs.

Lastly, he is at Perham Downs awaiting classification and he learns more about brother, Verne's wedding.

It's a long episode but well worth it. Please enjoy!

Do you have queer ideas of warfare?

Met young Burrows, and asked him had he seen any Germans while on post. "Yes," he, "had seen a few." One he observed was putting up barbed wire entanglements.

"And did you shoot at him?" I asked.

"No."

"Why didn't you?"

"Well, he was about three hundred yards away."

I was staggered. Burrows, of course, was a new reinforcement, but it seemed incredible that anyone should think three hundred yards too great a distance to hit a man. He had not even thought the matter of sufficient importance to report it. Some people have queer ideas of warfare.

Oh Percy, what can I say? Come experience the worst winter in years.

We get descriptions of the Battle of Fromelles, although painfully brief, from brother Vern, a good look at Delville Wood and the aftermath of the Flers engagement. Here is a bit of what Percy has to say;

"Turned off to the left, to some old disused trenches, near where was a wrecked "tank", one of those Hun-dreaded monsters which are the latest development of modern warfare. This one did not look such a very terrible thing, and was much smaller than I had expected them to be. It was heavily armoured, and had machine-gun emplacements protruding from each side and in front, and had a steering wheel in rear. Side-on, it had the shape of an irregular ellipse, and it moved on two caterpillars, one on each side, running right over and under the machine from end to end. One of these caterpillars was broken, and was doubled up in a loop on top. This was my first view of one of His Majesty's Land Ships, of which we have read so much in the papers, and which did such good work at the capture of Flers, Martinpuich, Courcelette, and Ginchy". 

Now, if that doesn't excite you, how about a bit of stretcher-bearing through deep feezing cold mud?

A nice quiet little stint in the Ypres Salient for our armed plebeians is a prelude to a return to the Somme. Anyway, Perce has a fight with rats, dangling wires and a Tommy sentry before he realises that he and three mates were left behind.

The boys give their opinion on the Conscription Referendum in no uncertain terms to a couple politicians.

Not so quiet on the Somme, you bet! Perce and Viv take a horse trip to Memetz Wood.  "Once, being held up by a block, we left the road to get around the chaos of horses, carts, limbers, motors, bikes and motor transports, and got into some old barbed wire entanglements, in which Viv's horse got caught". 

Hey, I should have called this episode "The Plebeian." I almost called it "The Beetle." Now, why did I decide on "Piano Man?"

What can I say. Nothing, Percy says it all. This time he goes from the Somme to the dreaded Hill 60 and back to the Somme. He sees his first tanks, there are more mates killed, etc! Enough said!

Well finally! My apologies at the lateness of this episode. family visiting, work, yada, yada yada (as Seinfeld might say). Anyhow, this one is another cracker with the boys fighting at Moquet Farm and then coming back out again.

This episode is based on the letters home by Percy Smythe which were published in the Jerilderie Herald and Urana Observer in March and April 1917. They cover the same events as in the previous episode at Pozieres with a slightly different bent.

What does a soldier tell his family about one of the most intense battles of the western front?

Drum-roll time ..... Here it is, The Battle of Pozieres. Percy drinks rum and smokes cigarettes and, those following the series know, things must be really bad for that to happen! He gets buried by a shell, dug out, digs others out ... some of them ..., shot at, blown up again, machine gunned, shelled and so and so on.

He loses a lot of good mates, Bert Newland and Smith among them.

Come into this most infamous of #Somme battles of #WW1 , #Pozieres

Jack Prior almost gets himself killed, but many others succeed without trying. The boys are moved to the Somme and the Battle of Pozieres looms large before them.

What a charming place, Percy describes the dugout he and his Russian born mate, Alex Popoff, find, "There are some bodies buried just in front of our door, and having swollen, they have forced the earth up over them, and it is spongy and springy to walk on."

Percy has hardened to a veteran and is disgusted with the waste of life on the 1st day of the offensive.

Stannard, Green, Hall, Wise etc etc all dead but why worry about that? Bad news from home worries Percy much more when he learns a couple girlfriends are drowned. Such is life!.... Hey, what a great title if only it hadn't been used before!

Anyway, the boys get a hammering from a heavy barrage and worse than that, some are out in no-man's-land when friendly fire - if artillery can be friendly - kills a bunch of blokes.

Ohh, and Nugget Byrne belts up a poor sniper he captures "Camerade, camerade!" Stiff luck old mate, he had a leave pass to go to Berlin the next day.

In this episode, one man gets his head blown off while gas alarms brings out, "goggle faced ogres," who, "moved about in the moonlight and the shadows." Percy mellows on the puritanical side, feeling sorrow for a bloke with VD, avoids getting into a philosophical argument with chaplain and prefers to talk to a pretty blonde girl named Georgette, ooh-la-la. He visits Armentieres too! Oh and the Prime Minister visits and gives a speech .... yes, politicians were just as bad then as they are now!

Well, finally Percy has us in the front line. Sniping and being sniped at, machine gun bullets over our heads in no-man's-land and heavy shelling behind the lines. Percy has no qualms about taking a dead man's water bottle or another's jack-knife. Percy is really becoming the old soldier now and .... his bad luck also holds out at the end!

Come with Percy into the reserve trenches at Sailly-sur-la Lys, which is near the soon to be infamous Fromelles.

Listen to why Private Ogilvie nearly kills Private Williams and how does the 9th Battalion loses a lot of men without ever firing a shot!

And finally Percy catches up with ..... no spoilers, but if you have followed every episode you will know who.

This is the last episode recorded with my old microphone, good things to come.

Who does Percy think looks like a girl? Find out when he sees out his time at Suez and then travels to France, dodging submarines and circling around Malta.

Yes, we finally make it to France!

Thirsty, huh, Perc? Chase after that "furphy" water wagon and watch out for the dead man's bones out in the desert.

Percy does some time near the Suez Canal but when will they go to France?

Oh, and yes he does get that elusive stripe.

Well do something Percy!

He does, he goes to Egypt, meets up with his brother Vern, marches around the desert, looks at old battlefields and studies to become a non commissioned officer.

This episode was re-recorded in May 2019.

Percy has almost recovered and is full of introspection, apprehension and a touch of mischief. This episode covers Christmas Dinner at St John's Hospital, New Years Eve, the death of an orange tree, or was it a peach tree? ... and the night the old cow died! My apologies to Paper Lace!

Now I used some backing music,  here is a link to St Monicas Choir Facebook pageThey are a Maltese Choir and worth a listen.

Okay, so hang a sock on Christmas Eve and see if Percy's Mum leaves half a crown in it!

Percy does the tourist "thing" in Malta, moving from hospital to a convalescent camp. Come explore Valetta and other places around Malta. This episode was re-mastered in February 2019.

In this episode Percy wants to die, no, really, he wants to die! He is sick, probably delirious with pneumonia, on a troop ship from Gallipoli and gets put off at Malta into a hospital for infectious cases. Find out what he gets up to, who he meets and how he gets on. You'll love Sister Suzie!

Percy describes his time at Anzac Cove dodging shells from "Beachy Bill", chats, Turkish bullets, diarrhoea and the 'flu. Did any of these horrors get him? Listen and find out! Here's a "snippet":

After tea, I went for a walk up to Lone Pine. I met a couple of casualties on the way. They were 24th battalion men. A "75" had got four of them. The first one I met was wounded in several places, and the next was dead. He lay still and silent on the stretcher, and it made me feel quite "skeery" for a while.

Percy is at ANZAC and settles in to the shells, flies, maggots, dead bodies, bullets, and other problems. He visits Lone Pine, Shrapnel Gully and Dead Man's Gully.

He meets up with his brothers Bert and Vern. Bert is not so well and Percy starts to get sick himself. Vern has a stellar career and Percy learns of his brave actions at Lone Pine.

He is almost there! In this episode Percy spends time at Cairo, travels by train to Alexandria and finally by ship to Lemnos Island and Gallipoli.

Percy explores the Cheops Pyramid, the Sphynx and the infamous "Wozzer" where ANZAC troops rioted twice in 1915. Percy is a good religious boy, though, and shuns the activites at the Wozzer (The Can Can is evil, my wife will like that comment) and is disgusted when he accidentally drinks a bottle of beer!

Just a little warning. This episode includes content that could offend modern sensibilities. Some racist terms and descriptions are used. If you can handle that, Percy describes his trip to Egypt and stopovers in Melbourne, Freemantle, Aden and Suez. We finish with him spending his first night in Egypt. It is worth a listen if you don't mind the "N" word.

When I was a young man I carried a pack and waltzed me Matilda all over..... This is a tear jerker as Percy says goodbye to his family and sets sail on the SS Orsova for fate and destiny.

Before he goes, his unit is set to Obelisk Bay in Sydney Harbour to fight fake Turks for the movie cameras, a clip of that movie is available at the Smythe family website if you care take a look... well worth it!

This is an extra special episode. 15 Year old Tom Wark is guest presenter and does a fantastic job at presenting a letter written by Bert Smythe to his family where Bert recounts the landing and first few days at Gallipoli before he gets shot by a sniper. If you have any interest at all in the Gallipoli legend this is the episode to listen to. Bert gives a great account of the Turks, deaths in the First Brigade of the AIF, the work of the Third Brigade and Turkish attacks. This one is seriously not to be missed!

In this episode Viv Smythe gets married before going to war, Percy renews old acquaintances at Taree and he gets charged with something he did not cause. We meet more diggers and learn more about camp life at Liverpool, including the infamous Colonel Kirkland.

It is April 1915, you are 21 years old, you have two brothers in khaki and on their way to god knows where (Gallipoli), you have had a big problem at work and you are broke. What do you do?

You join the AIF of course!

This is part one of the diary of Percy Ellesmere Smythe, the third oldest of four brothers who go to war. This is the story of your experiences and those of your brothers through your eyes. Come on a journey through the Dardenelles and the western front with Percy and come home in an officer's uniform with a Military Cross.

You can find out more about the Smythe brothers at the Smythe family website, www.smythe.id.au