Zero Hour (22 page)

Referendum
: a democratic process in which the public votes directly to decide a political issue.

Salient
: a place in the front-line where the trenches jut out to form a bulge into enemy territory, meaning that it is surrounded by the enemy on three sides.

Sap
: a deep, narrow trench that allows safe movement of troops.

Shell-shock
: a nervous or mental disorder brought on by the strain of war.

Shirker
: a person who tries to evade military service or work.

Skipper
: an affectionate nickname for an officer.

Stokes Mortar
: a rapid-firing, short-barrelled gun that fires shells at high elevations across a short range.

Storm/shock troops
: soldiers that are either specially trained or intended to lead an attack.

Two-up
: a gambling game in which two coins are thrown in the air and bets are laid on whether they will land head or tails.

Victoria Cross (VC )
: the highest British and Commonwealth medal, awarded for valour.

Very lights
: a flare fired from a Very pistol, used for illumination or signalling.

WESTERN FRONT COMMANDERS

ALLIED

GENERAL SIR WILLIAM BIRDWOOD: British commander of I Anzac Corps from February 1916 to May 1918, when he was promoted to command the British 5th Army.

SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL: British officer and First Lord of the Admiralty at the start of the Great War. Demoted after the failed Gallipoli campaign, he briefly commanded a battalion on the Western Front in 1915. He returned to England in 1916, becoming minister of Munitions the following year.

BRIGADIER GENERAL HAROLD ‘POMPEY' ELLIOTT: Australian commander of the 15th Brigade from March 1916 to 1919.

FIELD MARSHAL FERDINAND FOCH: French general appointed as the supreme commander of the Allied armies on the Western Front in March 1918.

FIELD MARSHAL SIR JOHN FRENCH: commander of the British Expeditionary Force from the start of the war until December 1915.

Lieutenant General Sir Alexander Godley: British officer who commanded II Anzac Corps from March 1916 until the end of the war.

GENERAL SIR HUBERT GOUGH: officer in charge of the British Reserve Army (renamed the 5th Army) from July 1916 to May 1918.

FIELD MARSHAL SIR DOUGLAS HAIG: war general and commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force, including the AIF and NZEF, from December 1915 until the end of the war.

GENERAL SIR RICHARD HAKING: British officer who commanded a brigade, then a division and subsequently XI Corps from September 1915 to the end of the war.

GENERAL JOSEPH JOFFRE: commander-in-chief of the French Army from 1914 to 1916.

LIEUTENANT GENERAL SIR JAMES MCCAY: commander of the 5th Australian Division from July 1916 to January 1917.

LIEUTENANT GENERAL JOHN MONASH: commander of the 3rd Australian Division from December 1916 to May 1918, when he was given command of the Australian Corps.

GENERAL ROBERT NIVELLE: commander-in-chief of the French Army from December 1916 to May 1917.

GENERAL JOHN PERSHING: commander of the American Expeditionary Forces from May 1917 to the end of the war.

GENERAL HENRI-PHILIPPE PÉTAIN: general who first commanded a division, then a corps and then an army before becoming commander-in-chief of the French Army in May 1917.

GENERAL SIR HERBERT PLUMER: affectionately known as ‘old Plum' or ‘Daddy Plumer' to his men, commander of the British 2nd Army in Flanders from May 1915 to the end of the war.

MAJOR GENERAL SIR ANDREW RUSSELL: commander of the New Zealand Division from March 1916 to the end of the war.

LIEUTENANT GENERAL SIR HAROLD WALKER: British general who commanded the 1st Australian Division from April 1916 to July 1918.

GERMAN

GENERAL ERICH VON FALKENHAYN: commander of the German Army from 1914 to 1916.

FIELD MARSHAL PAUL VON HINDENBURG: commander-in-chief of the German Army from 1916 to 1919.

FIRST QUARTERMASTER GENERAL ERICH VON LUDENDORFF: joint war-leader of the German Army from 1916 to 1918.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ZERO HOUR
was only possible because of the dedication of earlier and contemporary historians, particularly the official Australian historian Charles Bean. Thanks to Les Cleveland, Harry Ricketts and Ian McGibbon for their assistance with the poems. Ali Arnold, my editor, has once again worked tirelessly to give this story life, and Clare Moleta, my partner, has given invaluable feedback and support. Thanks to everyone at Text Publishing for making
Zero Hour
the best it could be.

Text Publishing would like to thank the Australian War Memorial for their advice and comments on the manuscript, particularly Robert Nichols. Many thanks to historian Brad Manera for his fact-checking and careful reading of the manuscript.

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——
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——
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WEBSITES

www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz

www.naa.gov.au

www.nzfpm.co.nz

www.nzhistory.net.nz

www.awm.gov.au

www.nzetc.org

www.dva.gov.au

www.cwgc.org

www.aucklandmuseum.com

REFERENCES

Footage

To see footage taken at the Somme River, visit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bggGLzk6cQ

Also see:
http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/heath-cemetery/video.html
http://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/australia-world-war-1/clip1
/

Introduction

‘I personally feel…' quoted in Boyack & Tolerton, pages 47–8

Chapter 1

‘I wouldn't have missed…' quoted in E. P. Williams, page 267

‘the last man and last shilling', quoted in Bean,
Anzac to Amiens
, page 23

‘The lamps are going…' quoted in Wilson, page 2

‘good fellows', quoted in Sievers

‘to death', quoted in Bean,
Anzac to Amiens
, page 213

Chapter 2

‘BLAKE—Killed in action…' posted in
The Age
, 19 July 1917

‘It is an immense relief…' quoted in Boyack, page 66

‘quite happy now that…' quoted in Phillips, Boyack & Malone, page 268

‘has to run like blazes…' quoted in Phillips, Boyack & Malone, page 268

‘The front line is rather like heaven…' quoted in Malthus, page 38

‘the big-looked-forward-to day…' quoted in Gammage, page 149

‘Australians go home…' quoted in Bean, Vol. III, page 194

‘about six seconds after the explosion…' quoted in Pugsley, page 68

‘and is hopful', quoted in Bean, Vol. III, page 265

‘worked up…' quoted in Bean, Vol. III, page 347

‘Advance Australia…' quoted in Pederson, page 128

‘cried like a child', quoted in Gammage, page 158

‘You won't find a German…' quoted in Bean, Vol. III, page 362

‘looked over the top, they saw…' quoted in Bean, Vol. III, page 358

‘but more terrible, more…' quoted in Downing, page 11

‘wounded and dying men…' quoted in Bean, Vol. III, page 383