Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

#4780  DAVEY Charles Albert             15th Battalion / 4th Light Trench Mortar Battery
 
Charles Davey was born to John and Clara Davey in the village of Barnham Broom outside Norwich in the county of Norfolk, England. He emigrated to Australia at age 18 and worked as a station hand on a property near Taabinga.
 
On 21st September 1915, Charles presented himself for enlistment at the Brisbane recruiting depot. He stated his age as 20 years and 6 months, occupation as station hand, and named his father, John Davey, of Manor Farm Barnham Broom as his next of kin. Charles was allocated to the 15th draft of reinforcements for the 15th Battalion at Enoggera. On 28th March 1916, Charles and the rest of the reinforcements boarded the “Commonwealth” in Brisbane for overseas service.
 
By the time Charles and his mates arrived in Egypt in early May 1916, all of the Australian battalions that made up the newly expanded AIF had already left, or were about to leave for the Western Front, and were at full strength. The 15th reinforcements re-embarked at Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast and sailed for the 4th Training Battalion in England. The 4th Training Battalion supplied reinforcements for the 4th Brigade of the AIF; of which the 15th Battalion was part.
 
During the months of August and September, the 15th Battalion was heavily involved in the battles at Pozieres and Mouquet Farm. The reinforcements in England were shipped to France via the British Depot at Etaples to bring the battalion back to full strength. Charles was taken on by the 15th Battalion on 4th October 1916. While occupying the front line trenches during the fierce winter of 1916/17, Charles was transferred to the 4th Light Trench Mortar Battalion.
 
The Stokes Trench Mortar had been introduced into the battles of 1916 on a trial basis but by 1917, it was clear that a weapon that could counter the enemy’s mortars was needed. Consequently, manufacture of the Stokes increased and the weapons were assigned to specialist mortar units. As the name implies, the mortars were deployed in the trenches to target enemy strongpoints. The presence of a mortar crew would attract counter fire from the opposing trenches and the infantrymen who shared the trench would be left to suffer the enemy’s wrath long after the Stokes crew had moved on. Needless to say, light mortar crews were not welcomed by the infantry.
 
During the lull in fighting of the 1916/17 winter, the Germans constructed a 150 kilometre long defensive barrier, the Hindenburg Line, some distance to the east of their previous positions astride the Somme. German forces began a strategic withdrawal to this new position once the roads were passable again, and the British forces followed. By the first week in April 1917, elements of the 5th British Army under General Gough, which included two Australian divisions, came up against the Hindenburg defences at Bullecourt.
 
Gough planned to use the battalions of the 4th and 12th Infantry Brigades of the AIF as his spearhead in an attack at Bullecourt. The 4th Light Trench Mortar Battery was included in the order of battle as a support for the 15th Battalion which moved up to the assembly areas on the 8th April. Gough had originally planned for days of artillery bombardment to cut the 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 who 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 were only training tanks with well worn machinery prone to breakdown; and that the crews were inexperienced.
 
At the last minute, Gough changed his plans, dispensing with the artillery altogether. He ordered the infantry and trench mortars 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. Gough postponed the attack for 24 hours until the next day when the two brigades of Australian infantry rose up from the snow covered ground and trudged towards the formidable defences before them following the same plan as the previous day. There was no artillery support and the tanks mainly 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.
 
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. It was probably at this time that Charles received a wound to his thigh from a machine gun round. The wound was not serious and within a month of treatment and convalescence, Charles was back with the trench mortar teams. On 19th May, he was promoted to Lance Corporal.
 
After Bullecourt, which the Australian War Historian Charles Bean described as having as much chance of success as a plan to capture the moon, the entire AIF moved from France to the rear areas in Belgium to prepare for the Ypres Campaign, which became more generally known as Passchendaele. The 4th LTMB supported the 4th brigade battalions at the battle of Messines in June and July and then also at the battles of Polygon Wood and Broodseinde Ridge.
 
After an exhausting campaign in Belgium on the Ypres salient, and the coming of winter, the AIF went into comfortable billets to rest and reorganise. On 11th December, Charles was granted a two week leave in England that he no doubt used to visit his parents on the farm at Barham Broom. Upon his return to the battery on Christmas Day, Charles was made temporary corporal; seven days later he was made a full corporal.
 
The later part of 1917 produced a change in the strategic situation as far as the German command was concerned. The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia brought about the end to fighting on the Eastern Front. A peace treaty between Germany and Russia released up to sixty German divisions which, once re-equipped and re-trained, could be used to press home a distinct advantage on the Western Front. The window for exploiting this advantage was however rather small as the entry of the United States into the war and an expected surge in troop numbers from July 1918 onwards would swing the advantage back to the Entente. The German commander, Ludendorff had only a short time to press home his advantage.
 
The British Commander, General Haig, was fully expecting a German assault in the spring of 1918 but he guessed incorrectly that the main thrust would be aimed at the Ypres salient in Belgium. When Operation Michael began on 21st March, the main assault was aimed along the line of the Somme River, the scene of so much fighting and hard won victories in 1916.
The British 5th Army, which was holding the line astride the Somme was unable to hold the German onslaught which in some places amounted to a five time numerical advantage. As the British retreated, often in disarray, the German Stormtroopers retook all of the gains made by the British in the Somme campaign and were within a few days of capturing the vital communication city of Amiens. If Amiens fell, Haig might well have lost the war; the situation was deadly serious.
 
Haig ordered his most successful and battle hardened troops, four of the five divisions of the AIF in Belgium to race south to establish a defensive line in front of Amiens. On 26th March, the 4th Division, which included the 4th LTMB, began a journey south. At first, they travelled by train and then motor buses but for the final part of the trek, the men marched through the night with the encroaching enemy somewhere out on their left. The 4th Brigade was tasked with holding a defensive line at Hebuterne, between Albert and Arras; and the trench mortar crews were supporting the 15th and 16th Battalions.
 
On 6th April 1918, the sketchy battalion war diary recorded that “Cpl Davey was mortally wounded as he moved up to the line at Hebuterne to relieve Cpl Cove.” There is no mention of Charles being taken to a field ambulance or casualty station and it must be assumed that he died soon after being wounded.
 
Corporal Charles Davey was buried in the Gommecourt British Cemetery #2 at Hebuterne. No enquiry was made by Charles’ parents into the circumstances of his death and the grave registration does not reference his parents or home town. There is no personal inscription on his headstone.