Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

# 3286 EDWARDS James Leonard                  15th / 47th / 45th Battalions
 
Jim Edwards was born in Brisbane where he attended school. His father, when completing the Roll of Honour Circular stated that Jim was an all-round sportsman, excelling at cricket, football and boxing. The records contain no mention of Jim’s mother and it is possible that she died when he was young.
 
Both Jim and his father, Leonard, gained employment in the timber industry, possibly with the highly successful firm of timber merchants, Hancock and Gore. When Jim presented himself for enlistment in Brisbane on 31st July 1915, he stated his occupation as saw mill hand and gave an address of c/- Mrs Sorenson of Newmarket; who was probably Jim’s landlady. Jim named his father, Leonard Edwards of Bundaberg, as his next of kin and stated his age as 23 years.
 
Jim spent some time in a depot battalion at Enoggera before being drafted as a reinforcement for the 15thBattalion. He embarked on the “Seang Bee” in Brisbane on 21st October and disembarked in Egypt in early December. The Australian camps dotted along the Suez Canal had gradually been filling up with reinforcements with men such as Jim who had enlisted in response to the news from Gallipoli. Once the Gallipoli force was evacuated and returned to Egypt, the AIF began to reorganise into a force that expanded from two divisions to four. To achieve this expansion, original Gallipoli battalions, like the 15th,  were split to form an experienced core for two battalions, with numbers being made up from the reinforcements. Jim had spent his time in Egypt in an infantry depot where he went AWL for three days before being taken on by the 15th Battalion. The next day he was transferred to the 15th’s sister battalion, the 47th Battalion.
 
As battalions were brought up to full strength, they were shipped from Alexandria to the French port of Marseilles and from there up to Northern France and the Western Front. The 47th Battalion was one of the last units to reach full complement and it has been suggested by the battalion historians that many of the men posted to the 47th were those who had been in the punishment cells or had been rejected from other battalions. While stationed along the Suez Canal, the 47th managed to heckle the Prince of Wales during an inspection and there were many instances of ill-discipline. The 47th departed from Alexandria on 2nd June 1916. During the voyage, several officers drank themselves into states of advanced inebriation and a Company Sergeant Major Koch had to be carried ashore in Marseilles. He was cashiered. Poor behaviour again surfaced when the ordinary ranks received their first pay in France.
 
General Haig, Supreme British commander on the Western Front was planning a big push in the south of the British sector through the Somme River valley for the summer of 1916. It was to be the largest battle of the war so far, and was timed to commence on the 1st of July 1916. The attack was a disaster for the British, suffering 60,000 casualties on the first day; many of them conscripts from Kitchener’s new army. In spite of appalling losses, Haig was determined to push on and the 1st, 2nd and 4th Australian Divisions were moved south from the Armentieres sector to Albert to take part in the Somme offensive. 
 
The 47th, part of the 12th Brigade of the 4th Division AIF, went in to the line at Pozieres after both the 1st and 2nd Division battalions had secured the ridge line above the village. The 4th Division troops had to dig in on the old German line and endure a withering artillery barrage which lasted for ten days in early August. This was a kind of warfare that no one could be prepared for and the casualties, both physical and emotional, took a heavy toll. Jim Edwards was fortunate to have survived the ordeal of Pozieres.
 
With very little time to recuperate, the men of the 47th Battalion were sent back into the line at Mouquet Farm. Mouquet Farm was far from the idyllic location its name suggests. The farm, located less than two kilometres from the hard-won positions at Pozieres, had been heavily fortified by the German defenders by extending the cellars, creating tunnels and creating overlapping fields of fire for machine guns. Attackers were forced into a shallow gulley which narrowed as troops advanced.
The 47th Battalion was sent in to Mouquet Farm at the end of August to dig a number of jumping off trenches from which two other battalions in the 12th Brigade could mount an attack. The ground was so soft from constant artillery that any excavation was prone to collapse but in spite of the obstacles the Battalion Commander was ordered by Brigade Staff to complete the task. Whether by outright refusal by Lt Col Snowden or by inability to have his subordinates carry out his instructions, the work remained unfinished when the bulk of the battalion departed from the battlefield. As a consequence, Snowden was relieved of his command and eventually resigned to work in a munitions factory. Mouquet Farm had exposed yet again the weakness of the command structure of the 47th Battalion and this state of affairs would not be solved quickly.
 
In the lull in fighting during the winter of 1916/17, the Germans constructed a 150 kilometre long defensive barrier, the Hindenburg Line, some distance to the east of their current positions astride the Somme. As the German forces began a strategic withdrawal to this new position, the British forces cautiously followed. By the first week in April, elements of the 5th British Army under General Gough, which included two Australian divisions, came up against the Hindenburg defences at Bullecourt.
 
Gough was under orders to attack the Hindenburg Line at Bullecourt with his infantry, following which the cavalry would be put into the breach. Gough planned to use the battalions of the 4th and 12th Infantry Brigades of the AIF as his spearhead. Gough’s plan followed the standard series of actions beginning with days of artillery bombardment to cut the several bands of barbed wire, followed by an infantry assault supported by a creeping artillery barrage. As the time for the attack drew closer, Gough had a conversation with a junior officer from the British Tank Corps. The officer convinced the general that tanks would be able to smash through the wire more effectively than cannon fire. What the officer did not reveal was that the tanks, seriously under powered Mark II,  were only training tanks with well-worn machinery prone to breakdown.
 
At the last minute, Gough changed his plans, dispensing with the artillery altogether. He ordered the infantry to move up to the jumping off tapes in preparation for the attack on the 10th April. The men lay on the snow-covered ground awaiting the arrival of the tanks, all of which failed to make the start line on time either because of breakdowns or getting lost. Having revealed his plan to German defenders, Gough postponed the attack for 24 hours. On the 11th April 1917, the 47th Battalion accompanied by 7 other Australian battalions rose up and trudged towards the formidable defences before them; following the same plan of the previous day. There was no artillery support and the tanks failed for the second time. The few tanks that did proceed past the start line either became stuck in shell craters and tank traps or were put out of action with accurate artillery fire. This debacle formed a negative impression in the minds of commanders in the 12thBrigade and at least one, Lt Col Raymond Leane of the 48th was not shy in expressing his views to journalists.
 
Many of the attacking infantry were hung up on the bands of wire which remained intact where they were cut down with enfilading machine gun fire. Remarkably, a small number of men got through to take two lines of the German trenches which they managed to hold for seven and a half hours until ammunition, which was resupplied by the 47th, was exhausted. Their retreat across the snowy ground made them easy targets for the defenders on the flanks.
 
The battle, which became known as 1st Bullecourt was a complete disaster. Writing soon after the battle, the Australian War Historian Charles Bean said the plan to take Bullecourt had as much chance of success as a plan to capture the moon. James had survived his second major engagement of the war. The question of the 47th Battalion’s command was solved when Snowden’s replacement, Lt Col Flintoff, was himself replaced as he had never fully recovered from wounds received at Gallipoli. The new commander, appointed soon after Bullecourt was Lt Col Imlay. He arrived with a brief signed by the AIF Command to “show a firm hand.”
 
Bullecourt signalled the end of the Somme campaign and the bulk of the AIF were relocated to the Ypres salient in Belgian Flanders for the summer offensive beginning with the Messines offensive, in which the 4thDivision would play a vital role.
 
 The preparations for the Battle of Messines were carefully planned. Large scale models of the terrain to be covered were constructed and all troops who were to take part, which the 47nd Battalion, were walked through the models to familiarize themselves with their objectives. The general in charge at Messines had three and a half million artillery shells at his disposal which would be fired in the days leading up to the attack. In addition, British and then Australian tunnellers had been undermining the Messines Ridge for almost 18 months and had placed underground charges in tunnels directly underneath the German defences.
 
On the night of 6th June 1917, the men of the 47nd Battalion moved up to the start tapes which had been laid by the intelligence officers in preparation for the signal to commence the advance. At 3:10 am on the 7thJune 1917, 19 of the underground mines beneath the Messines Ridge were fired simultaneously. It was the largest manmade explosion in history up until that time and the noise could be heard in London.
 
Two Australian Divisions were included in the order of battle for the attack at Messines. The 3rd Division AIF had responsibility for the northern sector of the front while the 4th Division was tasked with attacking the second line of German trenches, the Oosstaverne Line, behind the village of Messines itself. The 4thDivision, and particularly the 12th Brigade, encountered difficulties due to the broken ground caused from the mine explosions. The 47th was relieved after 10 days of consolidation on the new front line. Jim Edwards had now survived his fourth major battle but it is likely that he was beginning to suffer from battle fatigue. On 29th July, he was absent without leave for 18 days. Jim did have a pass but it turned out to have been forged.
 
The 47th was in action once again in September 1917 at Polygon Wood and then was sent into the Flanders mud in the futile attempt to take Passchendaele. By this time, Jim Edwards had been in every one of the six major battles of 1916 and 1917. Remarkably, he had come through each one unscathed. After Passchendaele in November 1917, the exhausted Australian battalions went into billets around Poperinghe in Belgium for an extended period of rest, recuperation and equipment repair. There was time for visits to the divisional baths to have uniforms cleaned and new underwear issued. Sporting competitions were organised and battalions spent some time in rest camps on the French Coast on a rotational basis. In February 1918, James spent two weeks leave in England, from which he returned three days late and was duly fined 12 day’s pay.
 
With the coming of spring in 1918, the German commander Ludendorff took advantage of a temporary numerical superiority of troops to launch a surprise offensive against the British on the Somme. So successful was this offensive that in a few days the Germans had retaken all of the ground the Germans had surrendered during the withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line in 1917; and were even threatening the vital communication hub of Amiens.
 
In response, The British Field Commander Douglas Haig ordered the 3rd and 4th Australian Divisions to be rushed south. The first units to be mobilized were battalions of the 12th and 13th Brigades; which included the 47th Battalion. The 47th boarded buses and trucks for the journey south on 25th March 1918 but only got about half way to their destination before orders were changed and they spent 24 hours awaiting new orders.
 
The two brigades were ordered to make their way to Dernacourt, a small village on the railway line between Amiens and Albert. This deployment required a forced march of almost 30 kilometres through the night with the entire German army somewhere out on the left. There were reports that German armoured cars were on the roads but the cars proved to be French farm machinery.
 
 Upon arrival at the assigned position, the two brigades were ordered to take up positions on a ridge facing the gathering Germans on the other side of the railway line. There were no trenches and the men had to dig shallow pits while under enemy artillery fire. Over the next four days, the men of the 12th and 13th Brigades established a forward defensive line on the railway embankment. The enemy were only a few hundred metres away, massing in large numbers for an attack. Almost opposite the village of Dernacourt was a railway underpass which had been chosen as the boundary between the two brigades with the 47th Battalion of the 12th Bgde on the left of the underpass and the 52nd Battalion of the 13th Bgde on the right.
 
A massive attack by up to three German divisions began at dawn on 5th April. The situation appeared desperate as German storm troopers poured through the railway underpass. Accounts vary as to what happened next and it was not until an inquiry was conducted that established that a company of storm troopers poured through the underpass and used the shelter of a sunken road to encircle the 12th Machine Gun Company’s Vickers guns capturing the position with one shot fired from the machine gunners. The infantry on the railway embankment, now without suppressing fire from the gunners, came under heavy attack. The Australians began to yield ground and the gap in the defensive line became increasingly wider. The 47th suffered serious casualties, particularly those dug in on the railway embankment. Out of two platoons of “A” Company closest to the underpass, only two men survived. Up to thirty other “A” Company men were captured and spent the rest of the war in POW camps.
 
The situation at Dernacourt was reversed late in the day when a counterattack, led by the 49th Battalion and remnants of the 47th and 52nd pushed the attackers back across the railway embankment. Dernacourt was a close-run thing. In the final assessment, two brigades of Australians had faced two and a half divisions of stormtrooper assault units. It was an amazing feat of arms but recriminations were coming in the form of an official enquiry. One of the key questions to be answered was; was it the 47th or the 52nd which broke first? Both battalion commanders submitted that it was the other battalion. The witnesses that could actually shed light on this question were in captivity in Germany. Politics and professional jealousy began to take the place of facts. Raymond Leane of the 48th had been in a position to observe some of the battle and he was able to persuade the brigade and divisional officers, supported by the interviews of the official historian Charles Beane, to lay most of the blame at Imlay’s feet. The Australian line had been breached; for the first and only time in the entire war. Someone had to take the blame.
 
The 47th had suffered so many casualties as a result of Dernacourt that it was no longer of fighting strength. This provided the brigade staff with an easy way out of the problem. The entire battalion was disbanded and survivors were farmed out to other depleted battalions within the brigade. It is true that such rationalisation of manpower was being employed across the entire AIF as recruiting and those returning from hospitals were no longer able to keep up with the attrition rate; but nevertheless, the coincidental nature of the decision tainted a battalion which had fought and died there on the railway embankment.
 
During all of the fighting at Dernacourt, Jim Edwards had yet again come through the desperate fighting unscathed. On 15th April, he was hospitalised in Rouen with a double hernia. By the time he was discharged on 25th July, his battalion was no more. Jim reported to the 4th Division Infantry Depot at Havre and was posted to the 45th Battalion on 6th September. The 45th was also part of the 12th Brigade and had taken part in the major battles of August which had broken and then turned the Garman advance on the Somme.
 
On 18th September, the 45th went in to battle for the last time in an assault on the Hindenburg Outpost Line. By that stage of the war, the German army had little stomach for a stoush with the Australians and the advance was relatively easy. The point reached by the 4th Division on the Outpost Line became the site of the 4th Division memorial. Jim Edwards had survived unscathed yet again and the Australian forces were withdrawn from offensive operations. The understrength battalions enjoyed a period of rest as they awaited the end of the war. Gallipoli veterans were given priority for a return to Australia and men such as Jim Edwards would have been next in line (enlisted in 1915).
 
During October 1918, the men of the 45th enjoyed inter brigade sports and cinema entertainment provided by the YMCA. There were inspections by various senior commanders including Birdwood and Monash. Medals and ribbons for gallantry awards earned during the battle of Amiens in August were bestowed. The war was still raging and training in musketry, Lewis gun and bomb (grenade) throwing and gas drills continued apace. November brought a return of winter weather, with snow and frost and the battalion was preparing to go back into the line. On 26th November, Jim was admitted to hospital with influenza. One week later, he had developed bronchial pneumonia and a telegram was sent to Jim’s father informing him that his son was dangerously ill. Jim died of disease on 14th December 1918. He was 26 years old and had fought in every major action of the war on the Western front. James Edwards was buried in the Le Cateau Military Cemetery. His headstone bears the simple inscription: THY WILL BE DONE.