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From Francois Berthout

Pte 411 Robert Banks,
39th Australian Infantry Battalion, B Company,
10th Brigade, 3rd Australian Division

The Somme, here, in this beautiful region of northern France which lives with the passing seasons, was not always so beautiful and silent because more than a hundred years ago, the peaceful fields of poppies disappeared into the mud and the blood of the battlefields and the songs of the birds gave way to the thunder of the artillery, to the funeral roars of the shells which fell implacably through barbed wire and lines of trenches which forever scarified the bruised and bled white soils on which fought and fell thousands of young men who came from the other side of the world to protect and defend the values ​​which brought them together and which guided them to the terrible slaughterhouses of an abominable war which swept away fathers and sons under murderous fire and merciless machine guns whose shots never stopped and whose infernal buzzing haunted the days and nights of men who had to go over the top to confront them and went bayonets forward towards their destinies, towards death and despair, towards a hell never seen before which made an entire youth disappear,waves of men who, brave and determined, did their duty with honor and loyalty united in a sacred bond of courage, a spirit which, in the ranks of Australian soldiers, became a legend, a spirit of determination, fraternity, solidarity and common efforts, a spirit which was born on the beaches of Gallipoli where the first pages of the eternal and strong ANZAC spirit were written by the bravery of the entire Australian nation whose sons and daughters shed their blood and gave their lives at Lone Pine then at Fromelles and here at Pozieres, Villers-Bretonneux and Amiens on the sacred grounds of the Somme where so many of them still stand today young forever behind the rows of their graves which tell us the stories of sons and friends who in the war became brothers, who, in the hell of battles became heroes and who, in the eyes of the French people, became our sons over whom I will always watch over with love and respect to perpetuate their memory, so that the history of the Australians and the legend of the ANZAC spirit, in the Somme, can live forever.

Today, it is with the deepest respect and with infinite gratitude in my heart that I would like to honor the memory of one of these young men, one of my boys of the Somme who gave his life for us and for our two brother nations, beautiful Australia and France.I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Private number 411 Robert Banks who fought in the 39th Australian Infantry Battalion, B Company, 10th Brigade, 3rd Australian Division of the Australian Imperial Force, and who died of his wounds 106 years ago, on June 23, 1918 at the age of 23 on the Somme front.

Robert Banks was born in 1895 in Bungal, Mount Egerton, Victoria, Australia, and was the son of Robert and Sarah Banks, of Mount Egerton where Robert was lovingly educated and worked as a labourer until the outbreak of the war.

Deeply patriotic and driven by a strong spirit of camaraderie. Wanting to do his duty, Robert responded to the call and enlisted on April 13, 1916 in Ballarat, Victoria, in the 39th Australian Infantry Battalion, B Company, a battalion which was originally raised on February 21, 1916 in Ballarat under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Robert Rankine as part of an expansion of the First Australian Imperial Force (1st AIF) that took place at the conclusion of the Gallipoli Campaign.After a very short period of training of less than a month in Ballarat, Robert embarked with his unit from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A11 Ascanius on May 27, 1916 and sailed for England, arriving at Devonport on July 18.

A little over a month later, on August 28, he fell ill and was admitted to the Fargo Military Hospital suffering from gastritis then transferred to the 10th Brigade Field Hospital and the Brimstone Bottom Field Hospital in Larkhill on September 9 suffering, in addition to gastritis, from measles. On September 27, after having recovered, he was classified "B1A" (fit for light duty only) then "A" (fit for active service) on October 10 and transferred to the 10th Training Battalion in Perham Down, Wiltshire and followed an intensive period of training in realistic and difficult war conditions on the Salisbury Plain but nothing that could prepare for the horrors and brutality of the battlefields that Australian soldiers experienced a few months earlier, in July at Fromelles and Pozieres, two of the deadliest battles for the Australian Imperial Force. Finally, ready to fight, Robert proceeded overseas for France on January 24, 1917 on board SS Clementine from Folkestone.

On January 25, 1917, anxious but determined to do his duty, Robert arrived in France and arrived at Etaples and marched for the 3rd Australian Divisional Base Depot, marched out to unit on January 27 and taken on strength the following day in the 39th Battalion at Rue-Du-Bois, on the front line of the Armentieres sector where Robert entered the trenches for the first time under the heavy shelling of German artillery with the massive use of shrapnel shells which exploded in the air projecting lead balls over a wide perimeter and were capable of mowing down an entire company with a single shot then on February 2, were relieved and moved into billets to Rue Marle where they remained until February 5, when they relieved the 40th Australian Infantry Battalion on the sector of Rue-Du-Bois which they previously occupied and had to once again hold the line under heavy bombardment against which the Australian artillery violently responded then on February 16, the 39th Battalion was relieved and Company B of Robert moved back to rest at Rue Marle but on February 21, returned to the front line and in the night, led a raid with a force of 54 men on the enemy trenches but, due to a reconnaissance error, they attacked an unused trench which was in very poor condition and had to return to their lines without suffering losses. Two days later, on February 23, after a violent barrage, the Germans launched a raid on the lines of the 39th which only one German reached but was killed just afterwards and two were captured and sent for interrogation to try to gather information. In the days that followed, the German and Australian artillery engaged in a merciless duel, the infernal noises of the shells testing the nerves but Robert and his comrades held on but had to repair the damage caused by the explosions day after day. On March 1st, they were relieved by the 37th Australian Infantry Battalion and marched to Erquinghem, which they reached on March 3rd for training for a few days.

On March 9, 1917, Robert and the 39th Battalion left Erquinghem and marched to La Creche where they followed a new period of training including exercises in musketry, bombing, and grenade handling. A little over a week later, on the 21st March, they moved to Sec Bois then to Ebblinghem, in the Hauts-De-France region, a march which was carried out in difficult conditions due to heavy rain and snow which made the roads muddy and particularly slippery, conditions in which added to this was the cold and the wet uniforms which slowed down the Diggers but who, however, kept their spirits very high. On March 23, tired, they finally reached their billets at Ebblinghem but their rest was short-lived and the next day they moved to Difques to follow new training including bombing, Lewis Guns, musketry and new attack formations made up of four waves.

On April 6, 1917, the men of the 39th Battalion left Difques behind them and moved back to Armentieres and were billeted in a hospice called "Hospice Mahieu" then two days later, on April 8, moved to the front line of the Epinette sector from where they relieved the 33rd Australian Infantry Battalion and once again experienced the hell of shells which fell on and around their positions and repelled a strong German raid on April 12. A few days later, on April 18, they moved back in billets and were engaged in training including bayonet fighting as well as working parties.

On April 28, they left the north of France and were sent to the trenches of Ploegsteert, on the Ypres salient, in Belgium, from where they relieved the 43rd Australian Infantry Battalion and found themselves once again under rain of shells and suffered a gas attack on the day of their arrival in this sector but fortunately, thanks to effective anti-gas training and the use of the first gas masks, suffered no losses. On April 30, Robert and the units of the 39th repulsed a new enemy raid estimated at a force of 80 Germans who attempted to advance towards St Yves (a raid also repulsed thanks to the high level of training and efficiency of the 39th whose men had a very high fighting spirit). However, enemy shells continually caused heavy damage on the battalion line and from May 1, significant repair work took place in the trenches which were still under fire.

On May 6, 1917, the men of the 39th Battalion relieved the 40th Australian Infantry Battalion and entered the trenches of Ploegsteert Wood which the Germans shelled heavily but the Australian artillery, with very severe retaliatory fire, silenced several enemy batteries. These shots were made even more effective with the support of allied reconnaissance aircraft which could quickly transmit information and precise coordinates on the locations of the artillery. A week later, on May 13, the 39th was relieved by the 37th Australian Infantry Battalion and moved into an area called "catacombs", near Ypres then on May 30 marched to Cone Camp. On June 2, after difficult fighting around Ypres, they marched to Oosthoves, near Armentieres, for a period of rest but on June 7, moved back for Ploegsteert and were involved in their first major engagement during the Battle of Messines.

At 3.10 am on 7 June 1917, nineteen giant mines were detonated under German trenches along the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge to the south of Ypres in Western Belgium. In the largest secret operation of the Great War, British and Commonwealth mining companies (including the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company) had placed more than one million pounds of ammonal beneath and behind enemy lines. In little more than twenty seconds, thousands of German soldiers disappeared.

Watching from his vantage point high on Mount Kemmel some seven kilometres away, the British war correspondent Phillip Gibbs described the scene as "the most diabolical splendour I have ever seen". And, as the mushroom shaped clouds flung huge clods of earth and debris back to the ground, and dust and smoke shrouded the landscape, the British Second Army, including Australian and New Zealand troops were readied to advance across no man’s land to storm the ridge.

The Battle of Messines was the first large-scale action involving the AIF in Belgium. During the battle the Australians encountered for the first time the German innovation of concrete blockhouses, which they dubbed "pillboxes."Messines also marked the entry of the newly formed 3rd Australian Division commanded by Major-General John Monash. The other Australians in the 4th Division under Major-General William Holmes contained a high proportion of Gallipoli veterans and had been fighting on the Western Front for over a year; they had been badly mauled at Bullecourt just six weeks earlier. This time however, the tactics for Messines had been meticulously planned and the troops on the ground were heavily supported by great volumes of artillery fire, armoured vehicles and an air force in the skies above.

The huge explosion, followed by a well-planned and well-coordinated attack (known as the "all arms" offensive model) left the German strategy of static defence vulnerable and the remaining Germans were dazed and outnumbered; many subsequently surrendered. By the end of the day, one of the strongest positions on the Western Front had fallen with relative ease. Although another "72 hours of hell" endured on the reverse side of the ridge, the Battle of Messines was the greatest British tactical victory in almost three years of war, a war which up to date had been one characterised by deadlock and stalemate. It came with a heavy price however; the 3rd Division alone lost 6,800 men killed or badly wounded, which was almost two thirds of its strength.

The battle of Messines began badly for the 39th Battalion and Robert. Near Ploegsteert Corner, during the march to the line of departure, the battalion suffered a high number of casualties following a German gas attack which subsequently resulted the 39th only being able to muster about a third of its manpower for the attack, amounting to an assault force of only 120 men. Despite this, the 39th was quickly reorganised into a single wave, and attacking on the 10th Brigade's right, it subsequently overcame the initial German opposition facing them and then, during the second phase of the battle advanced south of Douve, on the southern edge of the Messines Ridge.

It was involved in further fighting north of Grey Farm, where they were initially held up by German machine-gun fire, but after this was overcome they continued to advance to their final objective, eventually digging-in 100 yards beyond the farm, having managed to capture all of its objectives.

On June 19, 1917, having particularly suffered during the Battle of Messines, the men of the 39th marched to De Seule for reorganization then marched to Hillside Camp near Neuve-Eglise on June 23 where, after receiving reinforcements, followed a period of training and also had moments of recreation including sports competitions which aimed to unite the men, to consolidate their spirit of camaraderie and cohesion.

On July 10, after a little rest at the rear, Robert and his unit marched to the front line in the Wulverghem sector, in Flanders where enemy artillery again caused heavy damage as well as losses among Robert's friends, who, despite the brutality and death all around, remained strong then on July 18 were the target of a new enemy weapon, mustard gas, an incident which was described as follows in the battalion's war diary: "enemy shelled our positions heavily during the night with high explosive shell and gas shells using new kind of gas with mustard smell".

Mustard gas was first used in warfare by the German army against British and Canadian soldiers at Ypres in 1917. It was like nothing they had ever encountered. As the thick, reddish-brown vapour floated across no man’s land, the air was filled with the musty, earthy smell of onions, garlic and horseradish. The Allied gasmasks, effective protection against tear gas and chlorine, proved useless against mustard gas, which seeped into the soldiers’ skin, causing intense blistering and burning. If the mustard gas did manage to enter the lungs, it stripped the mucous membranes and attacked the bronchial tubes, as its victims suffered from vomiting, internal bleeding and choking.

Death from mustard gas poisoning is uncommon but possible if exposed to a large enough dose. Victims suffer terribly, often enduring for 4 or 5 weeks before finally succumbing to the effects. Mustard gas is particularly dangerous because of its ability to remain potent on the battlefield for weeks after its release. Being heavier than air, excess gas settles on the ground and continues to incapacitate nearby soldiers.

The freezing Belgian conditions at Ypres also meant that mustard gas vapours could solidify and contaminate soldiers’ clothing, only to become airborne once again when temperatures rose to above the melting point of 14 degrees Celsius. This commonly occurred in confined spaces shared by many bodies, like trenches or hospitals.

On August 1, 1917, the men of the 39th Battalion moved back to the trenches of Messines where on August 4 Robert was severely injured by a shell to his right thigh and was evacuated to the 4th Australian Field Ambulance then to the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station on next day. On the evening of August 5, he was transferred to the 7th Canadian General Hospital in Etaples by Ambulance Train and on August 8, invalided and evacuated to England by the hospital ship "Pieter De Coninck" then admitted to Graylingwell War Hospital where he recovered quite quickly. From August 29 to September 12, he was granted a furlough then followed a short period of training and proceeded once again for France on October 14.

On October 15, 1917, Robert, without knowing it, arrived for the last time in France and was disembarked at Rouelles, near Le Havre and joined the 3rd Australian Divisional Base Depot, marched out to unit on October 18 and finally joined the 39th Battalion on October 20 in Zoteux, in Pas-De-Calais and followed with his unit another period of training including a period of courses to treat minor wounds in the field but also musketry and bombing exercises. On November 2, the officers of the Battalion ordered each man to wear their steel helmets, indeed, in the trenches or on rest, many Diggers did not like to wear the "Brodie" steel helmet which they considered to be too heavy and uncomfortable and much preferred their slouch hats of which they were proud. On November 10, the 39th Battalion left Zoteux and marched through Calais, Hazebrouck, Berquin, La Menegate, and arrived in the Red Lodge sector on November 14.

On November 30, 1917, Robert fell ill and was admitted to the 9th Australian Field Ambulance then to the 10th Australian Field Ambulance on December 2 suffering from trench feet. He was discharged to duty on December 14 and rejoined his battalion on December 18 at Neuve-Eglise.On December 23, the troops of the 39th moved to Steenwerck in freezing weather and celebrated Christmas around a good dinner including celery soup, roast beef and pork with cooked potatoes and plum pudding, a moment which was appreciated by all after so many horrors experienced in the previous months in the trenches then moved back to Neuve-Eglise on December 31 where they remained until January 27, 1918.

On January 28, 1918, Robert and the 39th left Neuve-Eglise and moved to "Catacombs", near Hyde Park Corner (Ploegsteert Wood) then on February 6, marched for the front line at St Yves which was the target of severe shelling enemy artillery and the units of the 39th worked to dig numerous dugouts then to improve their trenches held in this sector to try to find some protection in particular against the shrapnel which caused severe losses.In this sector, the attitude of the enemy is described as "very nervous" and worked to build several lines of barbed wire during the nights to prevent any raid coming from the Australians who, in fact, launched, with the support of the 38th Australian Infantry Battalion, a successful raid against the German trenches in front of them and captured 20 German prisoners then were sent to rest after being relieved on February 13 for "Red Lodge Camp" where they were reviewed by General William Birdwood on February 15 before returning to the trenches of St Yves on February 20 then alternated between periods at the front and at the rear until mid-March then on March 21, 1918, the Kaiser, in a desperate situation, launched his army in the last German offensive of the war called "Kaiserschlacht", better known as "Operation Michael" which aimed to break the British and French lines, to divide the allied armies in the Somme, to capture the absolutely crucial railway junction of the city of Amiens then to rush in a final push towards Paris before the massive arrival of American troops which would shatter all hopes of the German army for a final victory on the Western Front.
After months of preparation, at 4.35 am on 21st March 1918 a five hour German bombardment began along 40 miles of the allied line from just north of Arras to east of Noyon, as a prelude to a long expected attack. Over the course of the barrage, German artillery units fired over 1,160,000 shells,as much as the British had managed to unleash during a week during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. British intelligence reports from aerial reconnaissance and captured prisoners had revealed a massing of troops, guns and supplies in the weeks leading up to the German attack.

Altogether 74 German divisions, 6,600 guns, 3,500 trench mortars and 326 fighter aircraft were deployed against 26 British divisions, subsequently reinforced by 23 French divisions as the events of the next few days unfurled, during the first of several German attempts to break the stalemate of the previous three years, during the spring and early summer of 1918.

The intention of the German offensive, codenamed Operation Michael, was to overrun the British defences and advance rapidly to the Channel ports, capturing the strategically crucial rail junctions of Arras and Amiens on the way.

The German attack was eventually halted on 25th April at Villers-Bretonneux, just east of Amiens, at a cost of 177,739 Australian,French and British soldiers killed, wounded or missing. German losses approached 250,000, including many elite troops, formed into storm troopers, who had acted as the vanguard of the German attack.

On March 28, 1918, the 39th Battalion was among the many Australian battalions that were hurriedly moved south to France in order to stem the tide of the German onslaught towards Amiens and arrived at Heilly, in the Somme then marched for Mericourt l'Abbé on the 29th March where they stopped a first strong German attack in the direction of Amiens. After this, Robert and his unit moved into a support line near the village railway line and supported a brilliant and courageous attack led by the 49th and 52nd Australian Infantry Battalion against the German lines on April 5 then the 39th was relieved the next day and moved to Ribemont before returning to the front line at the edge of the woods of Mericourt-l'Abbé then on May 10, took up position at Cardonette, near Allonville, a rather quiet sector of the front line where the units of the 39th had a little rest, cleaned their equipment and were even able to have a bath which was a moment appreciated by the Diggers who were covered in mud and blood coming from the battlefield.

On May 22, 1918, Robert and the 39th marched to Blangy-Tronville, near Villers-Bretonneux where they took place on June 11 and were heavily shelled by the Germans. A few days later, they joined the line of Mont-Du-Bois -De-l'Abbé where unfortunately Robert met his fate on June 23. During this fateful day, during heavy German shelling, a high German Explosive shell fell on a group of 8 Diggers, 6 of whom were seriously wounded, including Robert wounded in the chest and left leg who was immediately evacuated to the 10th Australian Field Ambulance where, despite the care he received, he died a few hours later. He was 23 years old.

Today, Robert Banks rests in peace alongside his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at Beacon Cemetery, Sailly-Laurette, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription: "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away ."

Robert, more than a hundred years ago, to the sound of bells and bugles, you followed your heart and took a step forward to join your comrades, to fulfill your destiny and do your duty, to follow your heart which guided you to to fight the good fight, to do what was right then, in the prime of your life, with a valiant heart and an innocent spirit, you carried high the colors of Australia on the golden rising sun of your khaki uniform and advanced towards the other side of the world with your head held high under your slouch hat carrying in your heart and your thoughts all the courage and determination of all the Australian people who stood up alongside you to defend freedom on the battlefields of the north of France whose ruins showed all the brutality and madness of a conflict which marked the beginning of the deadliest century in history and which, in the wake of murderous battles, carried away thousands of young boys who, barely leaving school, alongside their friends, with a smile of hope on their faces, were quickly crushed in a hell never seen before which haunted their days and nights even well after the war for those who had survived and who had to live until the end of their lives with the memory of this war which scarified them forever and who silently carried the memory of their friends who, alongside them, fought so hard and did not have the chance to see again the happiness of a life at home with those they loved. The war was an apocalypse which even far from the front, in all its brutality, in all its sadness, broke up so many families whose grief was insurmountable and whose homes once filled with such tender love and happiness gave way to the suffering and tears of mothers and sisters who awaited the return of their sons and their husbands, praying that God would spare them and give them the courage to do what they had gone so far from home for.So young and yet so strong, so brave, these young men, in the trenches did not fight to bring death or for medals, they fought with loyalty, with true hearts for the men who stood by their side and who watched over each other with a deep bond of camaraderie forged through friendship.They did what for them was worth all the efforts, all the sacrifices and through the villages of the Somme, in Amiens, Villers-Bretonneux, Flers, Pozieres, gave their today to bring new hope, new light through the darkness who would guide the children of France to rise from the ashes of war but what the young Diggers did not know was that since their first steps in our cities, they would be forever loved by the people of France who, when they saw the Australian soldiers, knew that peace would return thanks to them. In the Somme, they were not just ordinary men, they became our children, our sons, our heroes who forever marked the history of our beautiful region of France and to whom we owe so much.Through the poppies, they did so much and gave even more without asking themselves why and knew in each of them that from their actions, that from their sweat and their tears would be born a better world whose children would never have to give again their lives and in the mud, under the shells, through rains of bullets, so many of them paid the supreme sacrifice but even disappeared, the war never shattered their hopes and their dreams of peace and they still stand today as silent sentinels of the history that they cross century after century where they fell, standing proudly united in the eternal fraternity which binds them and in which they will live forever under the respectful and loving gaze of the children of the Somme who will always watch on these heroes to preserve their memory, to bring them back to life by perpetuating their stories that I could also one day pass on to my son so that he can say long after me "never forget the Australians, never forget Australia, our sons because their history is ours, because today we live with them thanks to them".Thank you so much Robert, for everything that makes us who we are, men and women who, in Australia and France, live in peace thanks to you who gave your today for our tomorrow.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.