September 1st, 1918 Photos: IWM & AWM

Entry posted by ejwalshe 1 September , 2018

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All Imperial War Museum and Australian War Memorial photos captured Sunday, 1st September 1918.

AWM E03104
The 21st Battalion having left the trench to start to go through the village at Mont St Quentin. At 1 a.m. on 1 September 1918, orders
were received that the 21st Battalion would not take part in the attack on Mont St Quentin, but would move up to support the 23rd and
24th Battalions. At 9.45 a.m. the battalion moved forward to support the 23rd and 24th Battalions, who reported the attack had made
good progress but that they had suffered heavy casualties. At 11 a.m. it was decided that the attack would continue at 1.30 p.m. and
that the 21st Battalion would aid the two other Battalions. the attack was launched at 1.30 p.m. and the opposition was very strong.
At 8 p.m. a line was consolidated and orders were read that the 6th Australian Infantry Brigade would pass through and continue the
attack at 5.30 the following morning. The position captured during the day was one of the most strongly defended position held by the
enemy. Prisoners captured during the attack stated that they had volunteered to stop the Australians. Machine guns were more numerous
than usual and the old wire of 1916 was still a serious obstacle to the attacking troops.

AWM E03105
Stretcher bearers of the 6th Australian Infantry Brigade bringing in an injured soldier. This was at a time when the German forces
still held the hill and the soldier on the right is holding up the Red Cross flag to minimise the risk of being fired on. While the
Germans frequently used the Red Cross flag when collecting wounded, it was rather unusual for our bearers to use it as German snipers
generally disregarded it. Note also the use of four stretcher bearers. Earlier in the campaign two stretcher bearers only were allowed
for each stretcher and they used to wear slings round their necks to take some of the weight. In the last stages of the war the
'carries' were usually longer and consequently four men were allowed to carry each stretcher.

AWM E03106
The summit of Mont St Quentin, five minutes after it was captured by the 21st, 23rd, and 24th Battalions, following the renewed attack
at 1.30 p.m., after a morning of bitter fighting by the 5th Infantry Brigade. The 21st stormed the northern part of the village, the
23rd the southerns, the 24th pushing out simultaneously on the north. The Germans were picked troops and fought to the last. No
quarter was given or taken.

AWM E03183
1 September 1918. A machine gun position established by the 54th Battalion during its attack on German forces at Peronne, France. The
photograph was taken the following day, after the capture of the town. A British General, Henry Rawlinson, described the Australian
advances of 31 August – 4 September through Peronne and Mont St Quentin as the greatest military achievement of the war.

© IWM (Q 7021)
Advance in Flanders.
German shell-burst at Ravelsburg Ridge, 1 September 1918.

© IWM (Q 7022)
The Advance in Flanders.
Troops of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 36th Division, advancing from Ravelsburg Ridge to the outskirts of Neuve Eglise, 1
September 1918.

© IWM (Q 7023)
The Advance in Flanders.
Troops of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 36th Division, advancing from Ravelsburg Ridge, 1 September 1918.

© IWM (Q 7026)
The Advance in Flanders.
The Asylum in Bailleul, 1 September 1918.
Patrol of the 36th Division were in this building by 2 pm on 30 August.

© IWM (Q 7028)
Battle of the Scarpe. Ruins of Monchy-le-Preux, 1 September 1918.
(Regained by 2nd and 3rd Canadian divisions, 28 August 1918).

© IWM (Q 7029)
Battle of the Scarpe.
A crashed German aeroplane and a bomb carried on it at Ravelsburg Ridge, 1 September 1918.

© IWM (Q 9291)
Female drivers and nurses of the Red Cross convoy, attached to 814 Mechanical Transport Company, at Boulogne, 1 September 1918.

© IWM (Q 9292)
Female drivers and nurses of the Red Cross convoy, attached to 814 Mechanical Transport Company, at Boulogne, 1 September 1918.

© IWM (Q 9293)
Female drivers and nurses of the Red Cross convoy, attached to 814 Mechanical Transport Company, at Boulogne, 1 September 1918.

© IWM (Q 9294)
Female drivers and nurses of the Red Cross convoy, attached to 814 Mechanical Transport Company, at Boulogne, 1 September 1918.

© IWM (Q 9295)
Female drivers and nurses of the Red Cross convoy, attached to 814 Mechanical Transport Company, at Boulogne, 1 September 1918.

© IWM (Q 11914)
A large and a smaller bomb from the wreckage of a twin-engined German Gotha bomber aircraft at Ravelsberg Camp, 1 September 1918.

© IWM (Q 12108)
A chaplain conducting church service from the nacelle of a Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2b night bomber at No. 2 Aeroplane Supply Depot,
1 September 1918.

© IWM (Q 12109)
A chaplain conducting church service from the nacelle of a Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2b night bomber at No. 2 Aeroplane Supply Depot,
1 September 1918.
Note a military band on left in RFC uniforms playing.

© IWM (Q 12110)
A chaplain conducting church service from the nacelle of a Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2b night bomber at No. 2 Aeroplane Supply Depot,
1 September 1918.
Note that the men are still wearing RFC uniforms.

© IWM (Q 12111)
A chaplain conducting church service from the nacelle of a Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2b night bomber at No. 2 Aeroplane Supply Depot,
1 September 1918.

© IWM (Q 12112)
A chaplain conducting church service from the nacelle of a Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2b night bomber at No. 2 Aeroplane Supply Depot,
1 September 1918.