8th Battalion AIF Diary Found !

[frev]

Jules,

I've just started reading a book called "Saving the Channel Ports 1918" - written by Lieut-Colonel W. D. Joynt (VC), 8th Battalion, AIF - and he mentions your grandad a fair bit - so I'm keeping a note of the page no.'s (no index) - and when I'm finished - I'll copy out the bits on him and send it to you if you'd like.

Bring on next week - before Marina starts climbing the walls!!!

Frev.

[pompeyrodney]

HI Marina

Sorry to hear you are suffering from withdrawal symptoms, personally I am glad not to be doing any typing for a while!! but I am missing hearing his adventures. I am fascinated that he could have had such foresight to realise that he was involved in such an historic adventure, and more so that he found the time to actually write it all down.

Frev

Thanks for letting me know of the mentions of my grandfather in that book, I think I shall have to get myself a copy as my father will love to see the mentions. I will take a look around the bazaars to see if I can find a copy. Lieut-Colonel W. D. Joynt (VC), is in the photo I posted, he's in the front row of the officers on the right. I have a photo of John on a camel in Egypt, I shall have to scan it and post that too!! Take care all. TTFN.

Regards

Julian

[marina]

I'll copy out the bits on him and send it to you if you'd like.

Bring on next week - before Marina starts climbing the walls!!!

Frev.

Dear Frev,

Maybe you could post the bits here too, Frev? When Julian has finished the diary? I just want to know more and more about John!

BTW, the problem is no longer one of stopping me climbing the walls - it's how I get down again that's the trouble!

Dear Julian,

The camel photo might keep me going till next week...

Marina

[pompeyrodney]

HI Frev and Marina

he mentions your grandad a fair bit - so I'm keeping a note of the page no.'s (no index) - and when I'm finished - I'll copy out the bits on him and send it to you if you'd like.

Frev

I can't wait till you finish the book man!! can't you post them now, whilst I have my father staying with me, I am sure he would love to see the mentions, especially if he knew you had posted them from Australia, cheers mate that would be fair dinkum. Perhaps you could help me mate.In the front of the book I have been transcribing it is signed E.W. Pitt, EmilyStreet, Murumbeena. I need to find out who this was as my grandfather had a sister called Elsie but my family don't think she ever went to Australia. I have contacted no end of different places trying to track down who it was, but so far with no luck at all. Anybody who could help would be a friend for life !!! Who could resist that now !

Regards

Julian

[robbie]

Hi Julian,

There are quite a few copies available at this link, starting from about £5.

http://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&st...1605897_2:13:21

RObbie

[GY402]

I have recently discovered this forum, and trawling through all the threads. Your account so far is engrossing. Have you ceased from transcripting or is it elsewhere?

Keep it coming, the build up is tense reading!

[GY402]

Sorry, I literally lost the thread and have now found my way round the page.

Chris

[pompeyrodney]

HI Robbie

Many thanks for posting the link to the books will have to take a look. I did a search at Bookfinder from work and did not find anything? It would be great to be able to get hod of a copy though.

Hi GY402

In answer to your question I have stopped transcribing the diary until I get hold of the book that follws on chronologically after canvassing opinion. There are a few more books so there is going to be plenty of reading for you to enjoy in the coming few months.

Regards

Julian

[frev]

Lieut-Colonel W. D. Joynt (VC), is in the photo I posted, he's in the front row of the officers on the right.

Jules,

I think Ron Austin may have got that one confused. The AWM have that particular Officer listed as Lt T.W. Johnstone (MC) - and Joynt has the same photo in his book that I mentioned & he doesn't list that he's in the photo. From the other photos he has of himself in his book - you can see that the two men are very similiar, but the noses appear to be quite different!

Cheers, Frev.

[frev]

HI Frev and Marina

he mentions your grandad a fair bit - so I'm keeping a note of the page no.'s (no index) - and when I'm finished - I'll copy out the bits on him and send it to you if you'd like.

Frev

I can't wait till you finish the book man!! can't you post them now, whilst I have my father staying with me, I am sure he would love to see the mentions, especially if he knew you had posted them from Australia, cheers mate that would be fair dinkum. Perhaps you could help me mate.In the front of the book I have been transcribing it is signed E.W. Pitt, EmilyStreet, Murumbeena. I need to find out who this was as my grandfather had a sister called Elsie but my family don't think she ever went to Australia. I have contacted no end of different places trying to track down who it was, but so far with no luck at all. Anybody who could help would be a friend for life !!! Who could resist that now !

Regards

Julian

Jules,

I've never minded being thought of as 'one of the guys', a term which seems to encompass everyone these days - at least here in Melbourne - but enough of the 'man' & the 'mate' already - these are terms that definitely describe the male of the species. And obviously my nickname has you confused! Everyone knows me as Frev (my brother even wrote it on a cheque once - and I had to tear it up!) - but my parents actually christened me Heather.

Back to serious matters - It's Friday evening, and I really shouldn't be here right now - but I'll try to write up your grandad's mentions before the weekends over - specially for your dad - I hope he won't be too disappointed - they're not that indepth. I hope he's reading the diary now you've typed it up.

As to E.W. Pitt - next time I'm at the library - I'll have a look back through the Directories microfiche (they tell you who lived where - if you owned the place you lived in) - and see what I can find. All I ask in return is that you don't succumb to RSI before you finish transcribing the diaries!!!!!

Cheers for now, Female Frev.

[pompeyrodney]

Dear Frev

I owe you a large and very sincere apology, all this time I have been assuming you were a guy, you kept your feminine side very well hidden if you don't mind me saying so. Sorry if I came across as I bit of a sexist pig because I realy am not at all. Anyway if you could publish the sections from the book over the course of this weekend I would be eternally grateful. If you would also look up the details about my "relative" when you are in Melbourne that would be great. Well Heather consider yourself defiantely one of the "guys", incidentally I think Heather is a nice name, I get the impression you don't ? Catch you later.

Regards

Julian

[Guest Brissie]

Hey Jules

Aussie dames have funny names Eh?

Your Grandfather gets a mention by Donovan Joynt VC. He's is on 2nd page but 1st sets the scene

[Guest Brissie]

Here Tis

[Guest Brissie]

Another fortnight of those conditions and Flanagan could break the news that "The Canadians have taken Passhendaele"

[Guest Brissie]

Sunday July 4th

Great relief to be able to sleep with clothes off, first time since we moved into firing line. No stand to. Things quiet except for a warship dropping an occasional 12” shell not far from here. 9.30am. A party of us pulled a water cart nearly to the top of a hill then NCO in charge discovered it was too far, and so took it half way back again to a well. Humbugged right and left. 10.15 am. Church Parade (voluntary, very poor attendance, a farce). 12.15. To beach for mail. The 3rd.4th and 5th reinforcements are considered inefficient and each battalions reinforcements makes a company of a battalion and they are drilling 6hrs a day as such on opposite slope of gully. 7pm. Beach for dip.

How an Old Hand saw things

[frev]

I owe you a large and very sincere apology,

incidentally I think Heather is a nice name, I get the impression you don't ?

Hey Jules,

You didn't need to apologise - I was just "puttin' you wise" on the facts - I wasn't the least bit offended (but thanks all the same - for being such a gentleman!)

And I do actually like my other name (my favourite Scottish flower) - it's just that Frev holds a lot more sentimental value!

Anyway, Brissie (speaking of funny names ) has saved me one lot of typing by scanning in the mention of your grandad in Joynt's other book, "Breaking the Road for the Rest" (another brilliant read). I think you should try & get your hands on both these books actually - 'cos they'll give you another great overview of what the 8th Bn went through.

I'm not going to be able to set the scene as well as Brissie, without typing up half the book - but hopefully you'll get some idea.

So - these are the excerpts from "Saving the Channel Ports - 1918":

p.57 - 26th March 1918:

"At 9 o'clock our company moved up and relieved 'C' Coy. who in turn relieved 'A' Coy. in the outpost line, who came back to our vacated position of No. 2 Reserve Coy. in Oosterverne Wood.

Lieut. Pitt took charge of the wiring party - during the evening there suddenly opened a most intense bombardment of light shells on our Front. We all thought the wiring parties would be cut to pieces but when they returned they reported no casualties. Fritz had evidently seen the parties and got scared that we were going to attack as he sent up numbers of different flares and opened up a rapid machine gun fire, followed by his artillery and trench mortars."

p.69 - Mid April 1918:

".........................................., I got hold of my four Platoon commanders and my 2 I/C and explained first the tactical situation, allotted to them their inter-platoon boundaries and then where my Company Headquarters would be established IF we were successful in reaching our allotted line. My Platoon Commanders were all top-class officers, very experienced, sound and the sort that needed no spurring on. They each had their particular characteristics and I posted them to their areas accordingly. My left open flank I gave to Pitt, a young Englishman who had emigrated to Australia just before the war broke out and like thousands of others, had joined the A.I.F. immediately on the outbreak of war. He was very steady, not the kind to be stampeded just because the enemy had got round his flank. 2/Lieut. Bourke, quietly spoken although of Irish temperament had been recently promoted from the ranks - I posted him next from the left and gave him about 400 yards of ground to cover which was, going by the map, all open fallowed country giving an excellent field of fire and covering the approaches to both Pitt's post and my center post under McGinn, .........................."

p.72

"From the map I chose for my Company Headquarters a farm on the roadway leading from the village of Vieux Berquin through the Forest of Nieppe that we were to defend. Leaving Lieutenants Fenton and McGinn to pick their own positions I went forward with Lieutenant Bourke to see his platoon placed and then on to Lieutenant Pitt whom I had placed on my extreme left. After seeing these two platoons commence digging I returned and inspected the posts of my right platoons."

p.77

"At about four o'clock in the afternoon I received word from Lieut. Pitt on No. 4 post that the 29th Division were falling back over his sector thoroughly demoralized and that he found it impossible to rally them, so I hurried along to see what was doing."

p.89

"....................... I received a note from the C.O. advising he had sent Lieut. Johnson with one platoon to reinforce my left post (Lieut. Pitt) and Lieut. D'Arcy Power with one platoon was to reinforce McGinn's post and I was to hang on at all costs. While I was reading the note, in dashed Lieut. Power - he had left his platoon back in the hedges and had come on to Company Headquarters to report to me and get his instructions. He had been told that the Huns had broken our line and we were nearly all wiped out. At the same time it appears that Lieut. Johnson dashed up to my left Post (Pitt) gasping and offered him help only to find there was nothing doing there, Pitt did not even know we had had a scrap at all as a big hedge and copse hid us from his view and over a thousand yards separated him from the right of our line."

p.101

"About midday the bombardment eased off and gradually died out. ....................

When it was dark enough I was soon hastening up to the front line to enquire how my posts had survived the ordeal and was gratified to find they had only suffered two men killed, both on Lieut. Pitt's post."

Well, that's it for now - I'm only half way through the book, but there may not be any more mentions actually - because Joynt's just been told he is to be sent to a 'Back Area' - as he's earned a rest - and is to be a Lewis gun instructor. His words: "I knew nothing about Lewis guns but I was told that 'I must be a Lewis gun instructor.'" [makes you wonder how we won the war!]

Well - Jules & Mr Pitt (Snr to Julian & Jnr to John) - happy reading - from the land of Aus.

Cheers, Frev.

[Guest Brissie]

That sentry must have been blind or very very nervous indeed - how could anyone look at John and think he was a foreign spy?

Marina

That particular sentry was more composed than the sentry who shot Lt-Col Braund after whom one of the hills where John was stationed had been named.

[marina]

He was very steady, not the kind to be stampeded just because the enemy had got round his flank.

I just KNEW he was like that!

Brissie - what happened to the sentry after that, do you know?

Frev - you're a wee treasure to type up all that!

Marina

[Guest Brissie]

Brissie - what happened to the sentry after that, do you know?

Frev - you're a wee treasure to type up all that!

Marina

Not personally, Marina.

Please don't interpret my wording to suggest that the sentry was in any way deficient in his qualities or duties. Apparently his challenge was not responded to by Braund, with the tragic, but pre-destined result.

[pompeyrodney]

Morning All

Well here I am back in circulation after waving goodbye to my folks an hour ago. I have so much to tell you all and to comment upon I just don't know where to begin.

Brissie

That particular sentry was more composed than the sentry who shot Lt-Col Braund after whom one of the hills where John was stationed had been named

Thanks for your input and welcome to the forum. Any idea why Lt Col Braund did not reply to the sentry? Did they have a time limit set upon a challenge from a sentry?

Frev

Many thanks for the quotes from the book, my father was almost in tears reading them with me over the weekend, they were a real insight into the character of John. My Dad kept saying he could only surmise that his memories must have been too painful to share with his only son.

Brissie

Where did the colour photo come from not seen any WW1 clour photos before.

I had better get started transcribing the next part of the diary or Marina will be climbing the walls again.

Regards

Julian

[petrick]

the color photo is from the ww1 serie ANZACS. You see bleuy the silent lewis gunner in front. One of my favorite caracters. As i remeber well this is thepart were they are at paschendeale.

coo-ee

patrick

p.s.

the photo was at the remembrance service for the first attack on wipers (zandvoorde)

[pompeyrodney]

23rd Instalment

Saturday August 7th

4am. Stand to. Supporting fire and artillery fire till 7.30. Flanking movement by the New Zealanders, who are acting in conjunction with 2 new divisions which landed during the night. Heavy casualties, especially at the Chess Board. 80 casualties in the 8th battalion up to now, Corporal Craven, S.M Shellberg, Lieutenant Glasson. Our packs are all marked and packed away and there are rumours of a general advance tonight. There has been some tough fighting by the NZ’ ers on the left, and they have had reverses which is not to be wondered at. 8-9pm On post. 9.30-10pm Improved parapet. About 9.30 the music began to play and lasted about half an hour. The Turks have got reinforcements from the south and an attack is expected. Orders that no man is to go to sleep during the night. I average about 3 hours sleep per day these times and it has a tiring effect. A few more bursts of fire, but nothing doing.

Sunday August 8th

3am. Our guns opened fire in earnest on the left flank and continued till about 8pm. The New Zealanders, are said to be making good progress towards taking Hill 971, also the Chess Board which will make a big difference. 2pm. On post. 3.30 Relieved by Welsh Fusiliers for the night and retired to support trenches where we may be able to get a nights rest. There has been a steady fire on the left all day. The new landing party is said to be making good progress inland and pressing the Turks back towards 971, their ultimate objective being Maidos. One of our submarines sunk a Turkish cruiser today which has been lobbing some big shells here. Thing seem to be going well, generally. 4.45pm. Ordered back to firing line till midnight, they must have sprinkling of old hands amongst the Tommies. On post from 10-12 then relieved.

Monday August 9th

Managed to miss stand to. 9am Back to firing line, told to rest till dinner time. 10am Opened rapid fire to support New Zealanders attacking on left. New landing party 3 miles inland, expect to take Hill 971 shortly. This commands the country for miles around. The Light Horse have done splendid work out on the left. 2pm Brigadier and Colonel Brand inspected line. Told us cavalry being landed this afternoon, a good sign. Usual observation, 3 heavy bursts of rifle fire from Turks. No sleep. Issue of rum.

Tuesday August 10th

Heavy fighting started on the left just before daybreak. Our artillery has been going strong all the afternoon and morning, also a couple of cruisers. CO told us that new Zealanders and Indian brigade were compelled to give a little ground on left this morning, they have now been reinforced by another brigade, and doubtless will soon recover the lost ground. Another division was landed at Suvla Bay last night to support the other 2 in attack on Hill 971. Issue of rum. 5.30pm. Our aeroplane encountered a Turkish one, pursued it gained on it and shots were exchanged, but no damage done. Just as ours was getting close up to the Turks however, another enemy aeroplane appeared on the scene and our fellow had to clear. 9.30pm. Fired 5 rounds rapid on the Turks on signal of 3 rockets. Things comparatively quiet for the rest of the night.

Hope you enjoyed that more to follow soon

Regards

Jules

[marina]

I had better get started transcribing the next part of the diary or Marina will be climbing the walls again.

Regards

Julian

Hi, Julian - don;t worry about me climbing the walls - I never came down. Will manage now because there is a new installment!

Marina

[marina]

Excellent - he only complains of tiredness - what a man!

marina

[pompeyrodney]

the color photo is from the ww1 serie ANZACS.

Hi Patrick

Can you tell me some more about this series as I have never seen it here in the UK. Was this an Aussie film or series? I would love to be able to see it if that were possible.

Cheers

Julian