The Naked Army

[christine liava'a]

I have just been lent a small book- Soldier Songs from Anzac- by signaller Tom Skeyhill, 8th Batt AIF, which is a collection of his poems written at Gallipoli and in Egypt. Most are too long to copy, but I was taken by this one.

" Not since the prehistoric Stone Age has such a naked army been seen in civilised warfare as the Australian Army Corps fighting on the Gallipoli Peninsula. These sun-tanned, stalwart, athletic colonials display an utter abhorrence for superflous clothing. They are famous throughout Europe for their hard fighting, hard swearing, and nakedness even to a point of indecency. In marked contrast is theBritish regular, who never discards his clothing, no matter under what circumstances he may be fighting." Egyptian Dailies

We ain't no picture postcards,

Nor studies in black and white:

We don't doll up in evening clothes

When we go out to fight.

We've forgotten all our manners,

And our talk is full of slang,

For you ain't got time for grammar

When you hear the rifles bang.

The 'eat 'ere an' the vermin

'ad drove us nearly balmy,

so we peeled off all our clobber,

and we're called "The Naked Army."

We never wear our tunics,

unless it's cold at night:

an' socks and shirts and putties,

we've chucked 'em out of sight.

We only wear a pair of shorts

That don't near reach our knees,

And we're burnt as brown as berries;

still, we'd sooner sun than fleas.

The Tommies fighting round us

Think we've got a bally rat;

They're all togged up to a button,

an' us in shorts an' hat.

...... Still, clothes don't make the fighter,

Nor speech don't show the man,

But conduct in the trenches

Proves out the fightin' man.

This ain't no blooming picnic,

the earth 'ides 'eaps of slain;

and we'll fight on to avenge 'em,

Or we won't come home again.

We were the first at landin',

And we're 'anging on until

The Turks get all that's coming,

Then we'll be in at the kill.

When we march through old "Connie",

Some one will yell " Lor' blahmy!

There lies the Young Turk's Harem.

Double up! The Naked Army!"

written in Al-Hayat, Helouin, Egypt

15 August 1915

[Paul Reed]

I remember one of the characters in the TV series ANZACs (which was based on 8th AIF) reading these lines out during one of the Gallipoli episodes. I did not realise it was an actual poem - thanks for sharing that with us.

[roger]

I once read of an incident in Gallipoli when a local truce was being discussed between allied and Turkish officers in a cave. A naked Australian soldier is said to have walked straight in and exclaimed "Any of you jokers seen the ****ing kettle."

Roger.

[christine liava'a]

Some interesting details about the author and the book;

"The ballads in this little book are written by my comrade in arms, Private Tom Skeyhill, a regimental signaller in the 8th battalion, and (Victorian) Infantry Brigade, serving in the Gallipoli Peninsula.

Private Skeyhill trained in Egypt from January 1915 to April 1915. He landed with his battalion on Anzac beach on 25th April, taking part in the fighting of that first fierce week. The next week he was with his Battalion at Cape Hellas, and shared in the well-known charge by the 2nd Brigade on 8th May, when a high explosive shell burst beside him, and sent him to hospital, a blind and helpless man. There are hopes that eventually he may recover his sight, but at best the time must be long.

Of the ballads, some were written in the trenches in the presence of the enemy; the others he composed as he lay sight less in hospital. Such facts entitle them to a generous reception by Australasia. But that is not all. They breathe love of country and of courage, the spirit of battle, soldiers' comradeship, sympathy for the fallen, and, withal, the unconquerable cheerfulness of the true fighting man. More still, they are inspired with that indefinable something which turns mere verse to poetry, and this little book will give its author a high place among the ballad -writers of the Empire"

Introduction by J Whiteside Mc Cay Major- General, AIF

December, 1915

I wonder what happened to Tom Skeyhill later. Did he recover from blindness?

[Hedley Malloch]

The image of Aussies cavorting naked under the baking Gallipoli sun can give a slightly misleading view of things. In late November, at Suvla, there were three days of blizzards followed by flash floods which left more than 200 men drowned or frozen to death; and more than 5000 cases of frost-bite.

[Paul Reed]

I wonder what happened to Tom Skeyhill later. Did he recover from blindness?

Looks as if he might have been permanantly blinded, according to the AIF Nominal Roll:

1182 Pte Skeyhill, Thomas John

8th Bn AIF

Enlisted 14.9.14

Returned to Australia 16.9.15

And was presumably discharged soon after.

Source:

http://www.awm.gov.au/database/133/page.as...urname=skeyhill

[Geoff S]

Christine,

"Soldier Songs from Anzac" by Signaller Tom Skeyhill must have been quite popular as my copy is an Eighth Edition.

40,000 copies were printed by the end of 1915.

Cheers

Geoff S

[Geoff S]

Roger,

I think the exact lines were "Hey! have any of you muckers pinched my kettle?"

(Casey Diary)

Hedley,

Conditions were not as severe at Anzac Cove compared with those at Suvla in late Novemeber 1915. I think the men a Suvla Bay had the worst of the winter conditions at Gallipoli.

Geoff S

[christine liava'a]

my copy is an Eighth Edition.

40,000 copies were printed by the end of 1915.

Mine says "first published in 1916". no edition mentioned

It cost one shilling. I hope he got plenty of money from it, he deserved some recompense.

[frev]

I wonder what happened to Tom Skeyhill later. Did he recover from blindness?

Looks as if he might have been permanantly blinded, according to the AIF Nominal Roll:

1182 Pte Skeyhill, Thomas John

8th Bn AIF

Enlisted 14.9.14

Returned to Australia 16.9.15

And was presumably discharged soon after.

Source:

http://www.awm.gov.au/database/133/page.as...urname=skeyhill

Christine,

I've just come across this thread - and thought you might still be interested in knowing what happened to Tom.

After finishing his lecture tour of Australia in January 1918, he left for America to embark on a similar tour there. By early May, he had regained his sight as the result of an operation.

He married a New Yorker & settled in America, where he continued to lecture & write poetry & plays. On the 22/5/1932 he was killed in a plane crash, age 37 - and buried in a full Military Ceremony.

The following are extracts from one of his lectures given at Inglewood, Victoria, Australia - "Inglewood Advertiser", 13/6/1916:

Who can say Gallipoli was a failure? We landed when we wanted to, we stayed as long as we wanted to, and we came away voluntarily and strictly to our own time table, and in such a manner as to outwit the Huns and Turks and astonish even our own friends, and it will always be a source of unending satisfaction to us to know that although our casualties were very heavy the terrible Turk got back just as much as he gave, and a little bit more.

Gallipoli was not a failure, but a brilliant achievement on the part of the Allies. Italy joined the Allies, Russia was able to reorganize, two hundred thousand Serbian soldiers were saved, Egypt and the Suez Canal were saved, and the invasion of the East by the Turks was no longer possible, ..........................

After a decade is past our children's children will make the sacred pilgrimage, and from the summit of Achi Baba will gaze down on the battlefield of Anzac; while on the opposite side of the Dardanelles, from Kum Kale heights on the Asian shore, near some adjacent Trojan field, the ghost of the great Achilles, with giant mouth agape, will look down in staggered amazement on the fields of Gallipoli, where even the prodigious valor of Troy was outdone. Then will the world realize that Gallipoli was the greatest and grandest military achievement ever known, and will be regarded as a military miracle.

No wonder we Aussies are so awed by Gallipoli!

Cheers, Frev

[christine liava'a]

Thanks, Frev

[Landsturm]

Sure some funny tales here. Well done, Aussies!

And I think this "indicency" doesn`t decrease fighting strenght even in winter time.

This next story goes little off-topic I`m sorry, but like we all know us Finns have our sauna-tradition... There`s also a tradition of getting out of the hot sauna and bathing (and making snow-angels in my case) in the snow (in the winter time obviously, in summer we just swim) or swimming in the hole made into a lake. I have seen a photograph (from Russo-Finnish Winter War 1939-1940) where Finnish soldiers had build their sauna only 150 metres away from their frontline (because of lack for relief and in order to get back quickly if needed!) and are in fact jumping and bathing naked in the snow. The temperatures during the Winter War were around -40°C at the worst!

[bobpike]

The first part of 'A Bibliography of Gallipoli Poetry,' (poetry which has a Gallipoli 'connection'), published in 'The Gallipolian,' which I compiled, lists these items for Tom Skeyhill :-

Skeyhill, Tom 1919 - A Singing Soldier. The Knickerbocker Press.

- Gallipoli & Troy (pages 12-13)

- Lizzie (To H.M.S Queen Elizabeth the most powerful Super-Dreadnought. Page 37)

- Abdul (Written after the evacuation of the Gallipoli Peninsula. Pages 52 to 54)

- Lodge of Pozieres (Pages 55 to 59. Mentions Lone Pine and concerns Captain Augustus Lodge, Australian Imperial Forces)

Skeyhill, Tom 1915 - Poems from the Peninsular. Booklet. With an annotation by ‘HGW’ (‘Gil’) describing how the poems were recorded while Skeyhill was a patient in 1st. Australian General Hospital, Zeitoun, Egypt, in 1915. (AWM PRO1024)

Incidentally, a further part will be published this year.

[bobpike]

My previous posting was incomplete for Tom Skeyhill. It should have included :-

Skeyhill, Tom 1917 - Soldier-Songs from Anzac. Geo.Robertson & Co.

- To My Readers

- Shrapnel

- The Sniper

- Me Brother What Stayed At ‘ome

- The Holding of the Line

- The Naked Army

- My Little Wet Home in the Trench

- Fallen Comrades

[curranl]

Hello All,

The following is from Bryan Cooper's " The 10th (Irish) division at Gallipoli". The 29th brigade of the Division landed at Anzac Cove on the 6th of August and this is how Cooper desribes the Australians:

"They were the first Australians that we had seen, and one could not help admiring their splendid physique and the practical way in which they had adapted their costume to the conditions prevailing on the Peninsula. Some were stripped to the waist, and few wore more clothing than boots,a slouch hat, a sleeveless shirt,open at the breast, and a pair of the shortest shorts that ever occured to the imagination of a tailor. As a result of this primitive costume, they were burnt to a rich brown by the Gallipoli sun. They were splendid men, but quite different in physique from the European, for their sloping shoulders, looseknit limbs, and long thin legs suggested an apparent reversion to the kangaroo type as a result of climatic conditions. Above all, they seemed absolutely devoid of nerves; three months of constant shelling, which had left its mark even on the veterans of the 29th Division, appeared to have no effect of any kind on the Australians: Clearly, they were good men to fight side by side with."

I love the bit about the Aussies reverting to kangaroos!

Regards,

Liam.

[Guest CGI]

Naked army, yes, but what about naked Aussie commanders?

See a nude General Birdwood + comments at :

http://user.online.be/%7Esnelders/gossip/gosbird.htm

Have fun,

CGI

[michaeldr]

There is a nice little story from the Gallipoli Memories of Major-General Butler which appears in the recent issue of ‘The Gallipolian.’ The young Butler was serving on Birdwood’s staff at Anzac and he describes him as ‘a rather short little man, with quite a tummy.’ On one of his naked swims Birdwood was hailed by a fellow Anzac swimmer with “My Bloody oath mate, you ‘ave been among the biscuits!”

Alas, Birdwood’s reply was not recorded.

Regards

Michael D.R.

[Robert Dunlop]

Perhaps he had been taught not to speak while eating??

Robert

[frev]

In the book "A Treasury of Anzac Humour" - underneath "the photograph" of General Birdwood taking a dip - is the following story:

Every afternoon General Birdwood swam off the beach at Anzac. The Turks always put down a good bit of shrapnel in the hope of getting Birdwood. On this particular afternoon while he was swimming a Digger on the beach shouted "Duck, Birdie! Duck, you silly old dill."

Long after World War No. 1 General Birdwood was speaking at a V.I.P. dinner in London. Birdwood told the story of the Digger on the beach. A very dignified Englishman asked the question: "What was your reply to that man?" "No reply," said Birdwood, "I ducked!"

Cheers, Frev

[lostinspace]

Tom Skeyhill also wrote the first biography of Alvin York which is pertinent to another thread I started a few days ago. I thought that since there was already a discussion of his poetry etc. I could ask a question about Skeyhill's service at Gallipoli. Namely, is it possible that as a signaler (probably assigned to 2nd Australian Infantry Brigade during the second attack on Krithia) he could have faked being blinded by a shell and evacuated with no outward sign of injury? This seems to be the contention made by Jeff Brownrigg in his book (2010) titled "From Anzac Cove to Hollywood: the Story of Tom Skeyhill, Master of deception". I have looked through the war diaries of 2nd Brigade, 8th Battalion & Divisional Signals Coy. without finding anything specific, but did find that there were heavy casualties plus massive confusion due to the loss of all but one officer (Captain Goulding, oddly enough, of the signals section) in the 2 Brigade staff during 8/9 May. I suppose he (Skeyhill) might have been able to access a hospital ship by claiming to be a stretcher bearer but then what? Somewhere down the line someone would have had to examine him, or maybe I'm just underestimating the chaos that actually existed. 
Also, if anyone actually has Brownrigg's book, the above might be explained in more depth.

Thanks,
Dave

Edited 2 March , 2023 by lostinspace