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  • Second Australian Division Memorial—Mont St Quentin, and Péronne, France

Nearby—Heath Cemetery, Harbonnières

Location
Heath Cemetery is on the south side of the straight main road from Amiens to St Quentin—the N29, approximately 13 kilometres from Villers-Bretonneux. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission signposts on the main road direct visitors to the cemetery.
Latitude
49.872734 (49° 52' 21.84" N)
Longitude
2.672081 (2° 40' 19.49" E)

Death already imprinted upon his face

A colour photo looking down a wet and shiny paved path from the entrance to the Cemetery. Left is a red-brick wall with a sign engraved: "HEATH CEMETERY". The path is lined with pruned trees. Left are rows of white headstones and manicured grass.

Heath Cemetery, Harbonnières, on the N29 (D1029). [DVA]

Just across the road from where Lieutenant Arthur Kemp, 46th Battalion, seized the German position on 8 August 1918 is Heath Cemetery, Harbonnières. Harbonnières village is a couple of kilometres to the south. On this busy road Heath Cemetery is passed by by thousands of vehicles a year; but few stop. By comparison with the cemeteries of the old Somme 1916 battlefield, or Ieper in 1917, the experiences of the soldiers and airmen of the 1918 battlefield are little known in either Australia or Britain. Heath Cemetery contains 1,491 burials, 910 of them Australian from the battles and actions of August 1918 when the AIF pushed across this plain from Villers–Bretonneux in the west to the Somme River in front of Péronne to the east, a distance of about 50 kilometres. Dates on the Australian headstones serve to remind us of some little-remembered battles: Lihons on 9–11 August, Proyart on 12 August; and Albert on 23 August.

A colour photo which looks at the entrance to the Cemetery. Two low red-brick pillars with white stone tops flank the entrance. Between is one concrete bollard with a chain joining either pillar. Looking down the paved entrance, b/w heavily pruned trees.
A colour photo which looks at the wide paved path which has heavily pruned trees running either side down to a portico building with arched openings. Rows and rows of white headstones behind the trees.
A colour photo which looks across the backs of at least 15 rows of white headstones. The Cross of Sacrifice is beyond. The cloudy sky provides a dramatic feel.
A colour photo which looks down the centre manicured lawn/isle to the portico building at the rear of the cemetery. 10 Rows of white headstones either side. There is some clover flowering in the grass.

A colour photo of a white headstone with the Tank Corps badge engraved and reads: "301902 CORPORAL H. AINSWORTH MM TANK CORPS 8TH AUGUST 1918 AGE 26"

Headstone of Corporal Herbert Ainsworth, Tank Corps, Heath Cemetery, Harbonnières. [DVA]

Among those who lie here are 110 Australians who were killed in action or died of wounds on that great day of the Battle of Amiens, 8 August 1918. But perhaps the men of the AIF battalions who struggled along the old Roman road from Villers-Bretonneux to the Morcourt Valley that day would want to remind visiting Australians that they owed much to the British soldiers who fought with them and protected them with their tanks. In Plot V, Row D, Grave 10 is Corporal Herbert Ainsworth, age 26, of the Tanks Corps who was killed on 8 August 1918 most likely in one of those many tanks destroyed by German artillery fire.

A colour photo of a white headstone with the rising sun AIF badge and a VC engraved, reads: "LIEUTENANT AE GABY VC 28TH BN. AUSTRALIAN INF. 11TH AUGUST 1918 AGE 26 | HE DIED THAT OTHERS MAY LIVE"

Headstone of Lieutenant Alfred Gaby VC, 28th Battalion (Western Australia), Heath Cemetery, Harbonnières. [DVA]

Here, too, is an Australian who typifies the experience of the infantry that day: Lieutenant Alfred Gaby, 28th Battalion (Western Australia), born in Scotsdale, Tasmania. Shortly after the 28th moved off into the mist on the morning of 8 August 1918, they encountered German wire and thick machine gun fire. The Australians quickly went to ground and the attack faltered. Their accompanying tank had not yet arrived but suddenly 'a figure was seen walking along the German parapet firing a revolver'. It was Gaby. He had found a gap in the wire and charged through himself to capture 50 Germans and four machine guns. Consolidating his company, he now led them on to the initial objective. Three days later Gaby again led his men forward with what was described as 'great dash' again capturing the enemy position. At this point he was killed by an enemy sniper. Gaby was recommended for, and posthumously received, the Victoria Cross, the shape of the medal clearly visible on his headstone in Plot V, Row E, Grave 14.

A colour photo of a white headstone with the rising sun AIF badge engraved and reads: "LIEUTENANT EJ BICE MC AUSTRALIAN FLYING CORPS 8TH AUGUST 1918 AGE 32 ┼". A yellow rise is flowering at its base.

Headstone of Lieutenant Edward Bice, Australian Flying Corps, Heath Cemetery, Harbonnières. [DVA]

All around at Heath Cemetery are reminders that 8 August 1918 was a so-called 'all arms' battle. In a common grave in Plot 1, Row 1, Grave 12, lie two airmen of No 3 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps: Lieutenants Edward Bice, pilot, age 32, and John Chapman, observer, age 23. During the battle the squadron with its RE 8 aircraft was assigned three tasks. 'A' Flight would spot for the artillery; 'B' Flight would fly counter-attack patrols to spot concentrations of enemy infantry building up for a counter-attack; and 'C' Flight, to which Bice and Chapman belonged, would fly 'contact patrols' to spot Australian unit positions and relay this information back to headquarters. In the event, early fog and the near annihilation of the German positions left 'A' and 'B' Flights with little to do. In 'C' Flight, however, two of the 'contact patrols' were attacked by German Fokker fighters and Bice and Chapman were shot down in flames by nine enemy planes. Their bodies and their aircraft were later were found on the battlefield by Australian infantry and their identity discs returned to their unit.

A colour photo of a white headstone with the rising sun AIF badge engraved and reads: "6022 PRIVATE L HITCHCOCK AUSTRALIAN PROVOST CORPS 8TH AUGUST 1918 ┼". A plant with long stems and red flowers is flowering at its base.

Headstone of Private Leslie Hitchcock, Australian Provost Corps, Heath Cemetery, Harbonnières. [DVA]

A more unusual grave is that of Private Leslie Hitchcock in Plot I, Row H, Grave 18. Hitchcock was a military policeman, a member of the Australian Provost Corps. On the afternoon of 8 August, according to his officer, Lieutenant Gerald Freer in charge of a convoy of 1,000 German prisoners near Harbonnières, Hitchock was hit by a bomb from a German plane. Freer ran to him doing everything he could for the wounded man but he died ten minutes later. They buried Hitchcock nearby, possibly in either Lone Farm Cemetery or Harbonnières Communal Cemetery from both of which bodies were removed or 'consolidated' into Heath Cemetery after the war. According to Freer, the grave was:

… fixed up later with a small wooden cross with his name etc., on a bit of tin affixed thereto … Hitchcock was a well liked chap. He was booked to go to England in a few days, for the purpose of being married.

[Private Leslie Hitchcock, Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry file, p. 2]

Slogging up behind the infantry on 8 August 1918 were the unglamorous Australian pioneer battalions. While, in an emergency, they could be and were used as infantry, their primary purpose was to maintain the roads and tracks so essential to battlefield communication and the carriage of supplies. During 8 August, the 4th Pioneer Battalion advanced about three kilometres north of Heath Cemetery along the Somme River. That evening Captain Godfrey Manning and Sergeant Ernest Sumner went out to look for a position for Manning’s company to dig in for the night. So rapid had been the advance that there were still many guns, which the Germans had been unable to remove from the battlefield, very close to the Australian positions. One of these, concealed in a wood, fired at Manning and Sumner. As the shells began exploding ever closer to them, they decided discretion was the better part of valour and turned away. As Sumner later wrote:

A colour photo of a white headstone with the rising sun AIF badge engraved and reads: "CAPTAIN GG MANNING 4TH AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS 8TH AUGUST 1918 AGE 28 ┼ 'DICK' | HE DIED FOR US"

Headstone of Captain Godfrey Manning, 4th Pioneer Battalion, Heath Cemetery, Harbonnières. [DVA]

… we had just turned our backs and were walking away when a shell burst a few yards in the rear of us … a piece of shell penetrated the centre of the Captain’s back, killing him instantly. I turned him over but I found death already imprinted upon his face and anything in the nature of first aid was absolutely useless … [I] had his body carried back to a small village named Morcourt … a cross was later erected on his grave.

[Captain Godfrey Manning, Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry file, p. 8]

Captain Godfrey Manning, 4th Pioneer Battalion, age 28, lies in Plot VII, Row C, Grave 2. On that fateful day, 8 August 1918, death imprinted itself on the faces of 110 Australians who lie in this cemetery, casualties of battle on 'a day of victory'.

A black and white photo looking across a roughly grassed, very flat, landscape. A 4-foot deep trench is centre/left. Six soldiers sit in the trench. Sheets of metal are placed to stop the flow of water (presumably).

Australian soldiers in a trench east of the Morcourt Valley, 8 August 1918. This was the objective of the eight-kilometre advance on that day which had begun at dawn east of Villers-Bretonneux. [AWM E02789]

Before leaving Heath Cemetery we should remember the men of the 46th Battalion from Victoria who wrested this position from the enemy on 8 August 1918. There are 11 soldiers of the battalion buried here, eight of whom were killed on that day and two of whom lie side by side. In Plot I, Row G, graves 15 and 16 are Private Thomas Nuth, age 17, and Private George Stanbridge, age 25, both from Melbourne. Information in the Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau file at the Australian War Memorial from those who saw them die, suggests that a shell from our own guns exploded behind them, killing them both instantly. Stanbridge was a married man with one child. Nuth was a youngster whose mother had given her consent for him to enlist for overseas service. It was his first action with the battalion. Thomas Nuth's brief service to his country entitled him to the British War Medal and Victory Medal, both of which, as his dossier in the National Archives of Australia indicates, were duly sent to his mother, Mrs Elizabeth Nuth of 264 Albert Road, South Melbourne, in 1922.

A colour photo of a white headstone with the rising sun AIF badge and a VC engraved, reads: "LIEUTENANT AE GABY VC 28TH BN. AUSTRALIAN INF. 11TH AUGUST 1918 AGE 26 | HE DIED THAT OTHERS MAY LIVE"
A colour photo of 3 white headstone, engraved with the AIF rising sun badge and ┼ with the names Drummond, Nuth and Madden.
A colour photo of a white headstone, engraved with the AIF rising sun badge, which reads: 3382/B PRIVATE G. E. STANBRIDGE 46TH BN. AUSTRALIAN INF. 8TH AUGUST 1918 AGE 25 ┼"
A black and white photo of two soldiers. Left is an Australian wearing his helmet, smoking a cigarette. Right is a German officer, also smoking a cigarette. The land is flat with tall sparse grass. Tall trees in the background.

The Australians' final campaign in 1918 [AWM F00018]

Cinematographers: Herbert F Baldwin, George Hubert Wilkins. This silent film covers the experiences of the AIF from the period immediately after the Third Battle of Ypres in Belgium in November 1917 until near the end of the war in France in September 1918.

After the third battle of Ypres in September 1917 the Australians were put in to hold the Messines-Wytschaete sector and to prepare defences against the expected German spring offensive [March 1918].

The German offensive was launched opposite Amiens and the Australians were sent to meet it. The heaviest fighting was around Villers-Bretonneux which was retaken by the Australians. In May General Monash took command of the Australian Corps from General Birdwood. On 4th July the Battle of Hamel was fought by Australians and Americans under Australian command.

On 8 August the Allied offensive took place with tanks and cavalry used on a large scale. [After the Battle of Amiens] General Monash [was] knighted by King George V at Corps Headquarters at Bertangles [Chateau]. [Also shown is the] capture of Mont St Quentin by the 2nd Division and Peronne … At Chuignes the 3rd Battalion captured their largest trophy ever, a 15-inch naval gun weighing over 500 tons.

Prime Minister [William Morris] Hughes visited the front and met the AIF at Peronne. [In September] The AIF broke through the Hindenburg Line after the Americans were checked at Gillemont Farm. On 21 September 1918 the 53rd Battalion held a memorial parade at Quinconce.

Text description

[Text card: After Hamel came the great offensive of 8th August, called by Ludendorff "German's Day of Doom". During these operations the Australian Corps formed part of the Fourth Army under General Rawlinson.

Smiling, General Rawlinson talks to the camera. He wears four long ribbon bars above his left breast pocket. He has a neat pale moustache.

Text card: Australian infantry moving forward through the early morning fog after the opening of the battle.

Soldiers in full kit move over muddy uneven ground. They wear helmets and uniforms, and carry rifles, packs and shovels. A truck and horsemen follow tracks across the thick dark mud. Soldiers dig near and over the tracks. Two stretcher-bearers carry a patient past the diggers. They hold the stretcher waist-high.

Text card: The Artillery move out to take up new positions.

On a grassy field loaded wagons stand ready. Six-horse teams are prepared. A soldier climbs onto a wagon, near its large wooden wheels. Each pair of horses in the team has one rider. Men on horseback escort the teams. A team pulls a wagon connected to a cannon. Soldiers ride on the wagon. Another runs behind the cannon. In the distance two soldiers carry a crate between them. A soldier runs after a wagon and throws equipment onto it.

Text card: The Cavalry moving up past some captured German field pieces.

Dozens of riders file across a grassy field, passing abandoned vehicles. Soldiers carrying gear walk alongside the horses.

Text card: One of the famous whippets with a speed of 10 to 15 miles per hour, leaving its camp.

A small tank has a blocky cabin sticking above its oblong tracks. The tracks are lined with horizontal ridges. It trundles up a small slope and along a wide track. Soldiers stand behind the cabin. One jumps off the back.

Text card: Prisoners, shepherded by tanks coming through a captured village.

Soldiers in helmets usher soldiers in caps and different uniforms along a village road. A tank trundles after them. 'Britannia' is painted across the front of the tank. A horseshoe hangs from a loop underneath. A soldier peers from a small hatch. 'B46' is painted on the side of the tank, near a large gun barrel.

Text card: Searching the prisoners for information.

Surrounded by soldiers, the prisoners stand with their backs to a building. A prisoner holds his arms high as a soldier rummages in his pockets. A soldier looks through books and documents. Bayonets are fixed to the soldiers rifles.

Text card: The reserve Cavalry Squadrons move up to join in the attack.

In a grassy field, dozens of mounted cavalry wait in large groups. One group trots away in their helmets and uniforms. Groups of cavalry ride off to the left. Others wait in long rows. Horsemen stream past the camera. Riders cross a railway track and head into long grass. Shrubs blow in the breeze. Some ride down a steep slope, then over the tracks. On the other side, horses leap and climb up another short slope. The camera pans across dozens of horsemen gathered in large groups in a grassy field.

Text card: The supply transport hurrying through the villages that were a few hours before in enemy hands.

Horsemen and vehicles move down a street, past battered buildings. Holes gape in the roofs and walls of buildings. Horses and riders wait by the road. Canvas-covered vehicles move the opposite direction through the village. Some are marked with crosses. Horses and vehicles wait for the convoy to pass, then head the opposite direction. Following the convoy, two horses pull a cart. A soldier rides one of the horses. Four-horse teams pull loaded carts.

Text card: A few days after the opening of the August attack the King visited Corps Head-quarters at Bertangles and knighted General Monash, the Corps Commander.

A road runs through tall thick trees and short grass. Soldiers stand waiting both sides of the road. A convoy of cars pulls up. Before the first car stops moving, two soldiers jump out. They open a door. A uniformed man with a neat beard and a walking stick steps out and shakes a waiting soldier's hand. The King is lead to waiting officers. One salutes, then shakes hands. The King moves across the road. A soldier in an Australian slouch hat strides over and salutes. The camera pans across to ranks of Australians standing at attention, their rifles on their shoulders.

A range of artillery sits outside a building. The large guns are mounted on wheels. The King's group walks past and heads inside. On outdoor stairs, a upholstered footstool stands on the a patterned rug. A sword lies on a nearby small table. An officer draws it. The King places his sword on the table, the officer passes him the first sword. General Monash kneels on the footstool and bows his head. The King taps the sword on both his shoulders. The general stands. The King passes pack the sword and is handed the insignia which he presents to Monash, hanging a medal around his neck. Monash replaces his hat, then shakes the King's hand. The King speaks to him. Monash moves away.]

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