Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From Francois Berthout

Pte 6132 Donald Arthur Smallmon,
21st Australian Infantry Battalion,
6th Brigade, 2nd Australian Division
 
Through the peaceful fields of the Somme, stand under red waves of poppies, the white graves of thousands of young men who, on the other side of the world, answered the call of duty and fought together on these sacred grounds of northern France on which so many of them, in the name of peace and freedom, paid the supreme sacrifice in the prime of their young lives which were taken too early in the barbed wire and the mud. Among them, among this youth , this generation of heroes, 11,000 young Australians, in Amiens, Pozieres, Villers-Bretonneux, Flers, Gueudecourt, Bullecourt, Lagnicourt, after battles which were among the deadliest and most furious of the Great War, were never found and silently wait to join their brothers, their comrades in the countless rows of graves in peaceful cemeteries. Young forever, they wait but on the walls of the Australian National Memorial, their names and their lives, engraved for eternity are remembered with the highest respect and tell us the stories of young men who, alongside their comrades, in the blood and the trenches, under machine gun fire, with the greatest bravery, gave their today, their lives and will never be forgotten because as long as I live, I will watch over them to keep their memory alive, so that their sacrifices and courage inspire us to make this world a better place as they did, so that their names live forever in the light of remembrance.

Today, it is with the utmost respect and with the deepest gratitude that I would like to honor the memory of one of these young men, of one of my boys of the Somme who fell on the soils of France and whose name is remembered and honored in the Somme and who, for our tomorrow, gave his life.I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Private number 6132 Donald Arthur Smallmon who fought in the 21st Australian Infantry Battalion, 6th Brigade, 2nd Australian Division, and who was killed in action 106 years ago, on May 3, 1917 at the age of 21 and who has no known grave.

Donald Arthur Smallmon was born on May 27, 1896 in Croydon, near Sydney, New South Wales, and was the son of Arthur and Kathleen Smallmon, of 94 Church Street, Parramatta, New South Wales and before the outbreak of the war, worked as a tram employee.
Donald enlisted on August 3, 1916 in Sydney, New South Wales, in the 21st Australian Infantry Battalion, 17th Reinforcement, which was raised in February 1915 in Broadmeadows, Victoria, and after a training period of three months at Broadmeadows Camp then at Seymour Camp, Victoria, he embarked with his unit from Sydney, on board HMAT A19 Afric on November 3, 1916 and sailed for England.

On January 9, 1917, Donald arrived in England and was disembarked at Plymouth then marched to Larkhill Camp, on Salisbury Plain, where he joined the 6th Training Battalion for a period of modern warfare tactical exercises including attack practice, hand-to-hand and bayonet combat and on March 28, proceeded overseas from Folkestone to the battlefields of northern France.

On March 29, 1917, after a very short and calm journey on the English Channel, Donald finally arrived in France and was disembarked at Etaples where he joined the 2nd Australian Divisional Base Depot and on April 1, joined the 21st Australian Infantry Battalion at Becourt, in the Somme, where they followed a period of training then on April 13, moved for Vaulx-Vraucourt, in Pas-De-Calais and on April 15, took position near the village of Noreuil which was captured on April 2 by the 50th , 51st, 49th and 52nd Australian Infantry Battalion during the retreat of the German troops behind the Hindenburg line. Here, the men of the 21st Battalion were mainly employed in working parties to improve their positions but also in carrying parties to transport ammunition and the April 29 moved to Favreuil and the next day marched to the front line with a strength of 851 men near Riencourt where they relieved the 26th Australian Infantry Battalion then on May 2 stood ready to take part in the planned second battle of Bullecourt for the next day.

The second battle of Bullecourt began on May 3, 1917, in parallel with the third battle of the Scarpe. Three weeks after the first offensive, the 2nd Australian Division, now accompanied on its left by the 62nd British Division, launched the charge on the ground that had seen the defeat of the Australians on April 11. This time, the Australian infantry attacked with good artillery support.

On Thursday 3 May, at 1.45 a.m., eight tanks of the 12th "D" Company of the Special Heavy Machine Gun Corps arrived from Mory to the railway embankment of Écoust-Saint-Mein. Well informed, the Germans bombarded the Australian departure points for three quarters of an hour from 2.25 a.m. with tear gas shells. At 2:45 a.m., a deafening barrage of British artillery fell on the front between Vimy and Lagnicourt: in that single day, Bullecourt was the target of more than 70,000 shells fired by the field artillery, and nearly 20,000 pieces sent in by the heavy artillery.

An hour later (3:45 am), the 2nd Australian Division (5th and 6th Brigades) and the 62nd British Division entered the battlefield. The former moved back towards Bullecourt, while the latter moved towards the village and west. Unlike on 11 April, four additional divisions (two Australian and two British) were mobilized to ensure the relief.

Six of the eight tanks tried to advance through the village, to support the 185th and 186th Brigades of the 62nd Division. But at this very early hour, the darkness is still total. Moreover, the terrain, completely destroyed by the bombardment, had many shell craters which hindered the progression. Only three tanks managed to enter Bullecourt, causing panic among the German defenders, but their role remained limited. The resistance of the 27th Württemberg Division caused heavy losses. The assault of the 185th and 186th brigades quickly turned into a failure, facing German machine guns.

On their side, the Australians crossed the partially destroyed barbed wire. The bodies of some of their comrades killed a month earlier are still entangled in the wire or lie at the bottom of the shell holes. The 5th Brigade, cut to pieces by the machine-gun fire, withdrew without having been able to cross the barbed wire, which caused the following waves to stop. The results of this first day were derisory: only the 6th brigade managed to seize 400 meters of the German front and to push to the 2nd line, at the cost of severe losses.

The Australians managed to hold on to the parts of the trenches they had conquered, but were exhausted by the three German counter-attacks launched during the day; however, they received reinforcements during the night.

May 3 was even more deadly than April 11. Near Vaulx-Vraucourt, six kilometers to the south, the main field hospital was overwhelmed. More than a hundred medical personnel were killed and as many were wounded during the confrontation.

In the days that followed, the Australians reinforced the position and dug a communication trench to establish a secure link with their lines and to allow the supply of ammunition and the evacuation of the wounded.

The bloody confrontation continued on May 4. On the German side, the situation is deteriorating. To feed themselves, the soldiers were forced to steal food from the Australian and British dead. After the destruction of the entrances due to the bombardments, some of them found themselves trapped and confined in their underground shelters. They had to dig galleries to be able to come out in the open. Between 3 and 6 May, the 27th German division lost 2,176 men.

The 1st Australian Division relieved the 2nd on 4 May and held the position for seven days under continuous fire and despite incessant counter-attacks; it was then replaced by the 5th Australian Division.

On 5 May at 9 a.m., the Germans began their fifth counter-attack on both flanks of the Australian position. They advanced despite the Australian barrage. By evening, the Australians held 1,000 meters of the Hindenburg Line, but the Australian left flank and the village of Bullecourt were under German control.

At dawn on the 6th, after 18 hours of bombardment, the Germans launched a sixth and most vigorous counter-attack, but the Hindenburg Line remained in the hands of the Australian brigade.

However, General Gough insisted on taking the village of Bullecourt. Between 7 and 17 May, the British troops, in particular those of the 2nd Gordon Highlanders, made the junction with the Australians who were holding the German lines east of the village, and then seized the ruins of Bullecourt after very violent fighting. In the days that followed, the British and Australians were subjected to constant artillery shelling. The Germans attacked in some places with flame throwers. Until 9 May, attempts to take the whole village were in vain. On the 10th, the intensity of the fighting slowed down and resumed the next day, supported by a strong German bombardment.
From May 12, the Allied forces set a final objective. This was an enclave in Bullecourt, called Red Patch, which the Germans had held since the beginning of the battle. The 5th Australian Division strongly supported the 7th British Division, notably by capturing and destroying several machine guns and by joining them in the village. On the night of the 14th, the German artillery sent 60,000 explosive and gas shells.

From 13 to 17 May, the 58th British Division took over on the left, and on the right, the 5th Australian Division moved into the former German posts. Only a small area southwest of the village was still in German hands. Efforts by the Germans to expel the British on 15 May failed.

On the 16th, the British replaced the Australians, who left only the 14th Brigade on the field. The next day, around 2 a.m., a new assault captured about forty German soldiers, who were in charge of blowing up the last shelters. The Germans admitted defeat and abandoned the field: they withdrew to the last trenches of the Hindenburg Line, at Riencourt and Hendecourt.The 7th and 58th British Divisions seized a pile of ruins.

The fighting stopped on May 21. The Allies kept a small fraction of the Hindenburg Line, without any tactical importance. The Australian troops came out of this second battle very hard hit. They suffered more than 7,000 killed and wounded; the British also suffered severe losses; the Germans recorded 6,000 killed and wounded. Bullecourt, held by the British after the transfer of the Australians (engaged in the third battle of Ypres between July and November 1917), was lost again in March 1918, then finally liberated in September.

Unfortunately, it was during the day of May 3, 1917, the first day of the second battle of Bullecourt, that Donald met his fate and while charging through no man's land alongside his comrades, he was killed in action by a shell and his body was never found but today his name is remembered and honored with respect and gratitude on the walls of the Australian National Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux, Somme, alongside the names of 11,000 Australian soldiers who have no known graves.

After his death, an inquest was conducted to try to find out how Donald died and this is described in an Australian Red Cross file as follows:
"Informant described Smallmon as slight build,fairly dark,aged about 22,came from Parramatta.Informant states that on 3/5/17,his battalion took part in the attack on Bullecourt,which commenced at about 4:00am.Smallmon was next to informant on the left when they went over the parapet to the attack.About two hours later they were still together,to the right of Bullecourt,when a shell burst and blew up the two of them, killing Smallmon. Immediately afterwards another shell burst and wounded informant, burying him, and rendering him unconscious. Informant stated that he and Smallmon were great chums and that he was also respected by his mates." (the informant was Private number 6027 William Irwin Beers, 21st Australian Infantry Battalion.)

Donald, More than a hundred years ago, you who were in the prime of your life, it was with courage, with your head held high, that you answered the call of duty to do your part, to serve your country. Your life, your war was short but alongside your comrades, you made your nation proud and in the trenches, in camaraderie, you fought with the greatest bravery that a man can show on the soils of a country you knew little but for which you did and gave so much in the mud of the battlefields on which you shed your blood, and animated by the ardor of your youth, by the deep desire to do what was right, you marched with faith and determination to face your destiny under deluges of bullets and shells which, in fury and howls, swept away in waves, whole battalions which, bayonets forward, towards the rising sun, charged bravely on these sacred grounds of France for which all gave their today and for which so many of them paid the supreme sacrifice through the barbed wire, through the flames, the clouds of poison gas but despite their fears, despite the death that awaited them lurking in the shadows, they moved forward with resolution for their friends and brothers who, in this hell stood with honor and side by side, watching over each other, after a last and solemn whistle whose sound still resounds through the poppies,they shook hands, wished each other good luck and after a last smile, a last look, climbed the wooden ladders, came out of the trenches and rushed onto the battlefield behind the first tanks, heavy and terrifying, which, in the rattle of their tracks, moved slowly towards the enemy barbed wire, staggering like steel monsters in the craters and the shell holes, and as moving targets, exploded in terrible deflagrations with their crews who were burned alive. In the face of these visions of horror, the young Diggers, brave and strong, continued to advance under the dark skies in which the enemy and allied planes clashed, which, like twirling eagles, gave chase without pity and which , in balls of fire, crashed into the mud, a mud red with blood in which so many young men killed each other with rifle butts, shovels, helmets in a desperate attempt to survive and which, side by side, on top of each other, weapons in hand, fell silently under the weight of shells and bullets which decimated a whole generation of young boys who, for us, to save our country, came from the other side of the world and who, for our tomorrow, gave their today.They were one of them, sons, husbands, brothers and in Bullecourt, Amiens, Villers-Bretonneux, deeply admired, deeply loved by the people of France, they became one of ours, our children, our sons , our heroes to whom we will be eternally grateful and for whom I would give my life, until my last breath, so that they will never be forgotten, to express my gratitude and my love to them, to express my tenderness, my affection that I have for Australia and which is today, with pride in my heart, my adopted country, a country linked forever with France in the most beautiful and unfailing friendship, united forever in respect,united forever in the remembrance of heroes over whom I will watch forever with the utmost respect in the cemeteries and on the battlefields of the Somme so that their souls and their names live forever. Thank you so much Donald, for all that you and your comrades, your brothers in arms did for us who live thanks to you and who never forget what was the price of the peace for which you and so many young men gave their lives. Long live Australia, from the depths of a young French man's heart. At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him, we will remember them.