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Son of William and Ellen ANDERSON, Gregory Street, Clayfield, Brisbane, Queensland.

HE DIED THE HELPLESS TO DEFEND AN AUSTRALIAN SOLDIER'S NOBLE END

ANDERSON.— In loving memory of Private William Glen Anderson (Walley), who was killed in action in France, 2nd May, 1918.

We cannot call the old days back
The past can never live again ;
But memory moves about the track
Where friendship's many joys have lain.

Inserted by his sincere friends, Mr. and Mrs. E. Harrison, and G. and D. Harrison.

From Francois Berthout

Pte 2381A William Glen Anderson 
47th Australian Infantry Battalion,
12th Brigade, 4th Australian Division
 
On the fields of the Somme, silent and so peaceful, rises day after day the sun of France which, through its light, illuminates the names of thousands of white graves, the names of a whole generation of men who, for peace and freedom, in the name of democracy and justice, alongside their friends, their brothers, answered the call of duty on the other side of the world and who, from Australia, guided by the southern cross, marched with courage towards the fields of northern France, towards a country they did not know but for which they fought with devotion, for which they gave and did so much through the tears and the blood they shed together through the barbed wire, through the mud of Pozieres, Amiens and Villers-Bretonneux where so many of them paid the supreme sacrifice but side by side, animated by a bravery that nothing broke, pushed forward by the ANZAC spirit, stood tall and proud under rains of bullets and shells in which their lives were taken too early in the prime of their lives and now rest in peace where they fell and in the light, young forever, will always be remembered and honored with love and respect as our sons over whom I will always watch with gratitude to bring them back to life, so that their names will live on forever.

Today, it is with the utmost respect and with the deepest gratitude that I would like to honor the memory of one of these men, one of my boys of the Somme who, for us, on the soils of France, gave his life.I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Private number 2381A William Glen Anderson who fought in the 47th Australian Infantry Battalion, 12th Brigade, 4th Australian Division, and who was killed in action 105 years ago, on May 2, 1918 at the age of 39 on the Somme front.

William Glen Anderson, who was affectionately known as "Walley",was born on May 25, 1879 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and was the son of William Glen and Ellen Hannah Anderson, of "Hythe", Gregory Street, Clayfield, Brisbane. Before the outbreak of the war, he lived alongside Mrs Monteith (probably his wife) at 78 Arthur Street, New Farm, Brisbane, Queensland, and worked as an undertaker's assistant.

William enlisted on February 23, 1916 in Brisbane, Queensland, in the 49th Australian Infantry Battalion, 5th Reinforcement, and after a training period of just under seven months, he embarked with his unit from Brisbane, on board HMAT A49 Seang Choon on September 19, 1916 and sailed for England.
On December 9, 1916, William arrived in England and was disembarked at Plymouth and the next day marched to Codford where he joined the 12th then the 13th Training Battalion for a period of tactical and physical exercises under realistic war conditions on the Salisbury Plain, including trench attacks, musketry exercises and bayonet fighting, previewing the future horrors of the battlefields then, ready to join the front line and the hell of war, William proceeded overseas for France from Folkestone on the 15th March 1917.

On March 16, 1917, after a very short journey on the English Channel, William arrived in France and was disembarked at Etaples where he joined the 4th Australian Divisional Base Depot then on March 19, was alloted and transferred to the 47th Australian Infantry Battalion.

The 47th Battalion was raised in Egypt on February 24, 1916 as part of the "doubling" of the AIF. Approximately half of its new recruits were Gallipoli veterans from the 15th Battalion, and the other half, fresh reinforcements from Australia. Reflecting the composition of the 15th, the new battalion was composed mostly of men recruited in Queensland and Tasmania. The new battalion was incorporated into the 12th Brigade of the Australian Division.

On March 23, 1917, William was taken on strength in the 47th Battalion in the Somme, in Baizieux, between Albert and Amiens then, on April 1, the battalion moved to Agenvillers where special training in individual assault practices was given, then on April 4, they embarked by train at Abbeville for Albert where they arrived the next day and marched through Ovillers-La-Boisselle and reached Biefvillers (Pas-De-Calais) on April 7 in the footsteps of the Germans who were retreating behind the Hindenburg line and on April 11, took part in the attack mounted against the very fortified and very defended village of Bullecourt.
The attack at Bullecourt was the first attempt to substitute an artillery bombardment with tanks.

In the winter months of 1917, the Germans had withdrawn their men to what was known as the Hindenburg Line. The Germans fully expected an Allied spring offensive and wanted to defend against it on land they knew and on which they had built formidable defences. As they withdrew their forces, British troops advanced into the old German lines. The British planned to attack German defences at Arras on April 9th but wanted a subsidiary attack to take place at the northwest end of the Hindenburg Line at Bullecourt. It was believed by British senior army commanders that once they had broken through at Arras, retreating German forces would move towards Bullecourt and be effectively trapped. The attack on Bullecourt was planned for April 10th.

Bullecourt itself was an unremarkable French village but parts of the Hindenburg Line had been actually built into the village’s western, southern and eastern parts. The 62nd (West Riding) Division was ordered to attack the western side of the village. The 4th Australian Division, part of the 1 Anzac Corps, was tasked with attacking the village’s eastern side. Tanks would support both attacks.

However, just days before the attack, senior officers in the 4th Australian Division started to express doubts that they would succeed. The next town to the east of Bullecourt was Quéant and it was feared that German fire from this town would inflict large casualties on the Australians as they advanced. Men such as Major-General White of the 1 Anzac Corps wanted Quéant attacked at the same time. However, the promise of accurate artillery fire on the town reassured many, though the day for the attack on Bullecourt was delayed to April 12th when reconnaissance photos showed that artillery fire had not destroyed as much wire protecting the Hindenburg Line as had been hoped.

On April 9th, the 1st and 3rd Armies attacked the Germans at Arras and Vimy. The initial attacks were successful and spread of feeling of euphoria throughout senior British ranks. It was as a result of this success, that General Sir Hubert Gough, commander of the 5th Army, brought forward the date for the attack on Bullecourt to April 10th, as it had been in the initial planning.

Gough was taken by a plan constructed by Major Watson of the Royal Tank Corps. Watson believed that a large concentration of tanks could move up to the German positions at Bullecourt with infantry following in the rear of the tanks. He believed that the general confusion of battle would mean that the tanks could advance without an artillery barrage. Once at the German trenches, the tanks could cross and destroy the barbed wire, while the infantry followed on. Gough was taken by the idea but senior Australian commanders were not. Their two biggest concerns were the sheer lack of time they had to plan the attack and the fact that they did not believe that tanks could move en masse to the Hindenburg Line without being noticed by the Germans.

The plan was for twelve tanks of the Royal Tank Corps to advance to the east of Bullecourt with men from the 4th Australian Division following on behind. Once the tanks had breached the Hindenburg Line, the Australians would move into the village and take it while the 62nd (West Riding) Division attacked the village from the west. After Bullecourt, the Australians would move northeast to their next target, Riencourt.
The attack commenced at 04.30 on April 10th, despite a last minute attempt by the Australians to postpone it, as they feared that the plan was put together too quickly and made too many assumptions about the German positions in the Hindenburg Line.

The Australians fears proved correct even at the start of the attack. The attack was delayed for 30 minutes as the tanks got lost advancing to the front. Such a start to the attack did little to inspire confidence, especially as men from the 4th Australian Division were in very exposed positions. In fact when 05.00 arrived, the tanks were still not in place and the attack was postponed for 24 hours. The Australians had to get back into defensive positions before daybreak.
Gough ordered that the attack would be exactly as planned but on April 11th. Once again the tanks were late and not all of the twelve arrived because some had developed mechanical faults. Their approach had also been detected by the Germans. The attack started at 04.45, fifteen minutes late. The Australians attacked with just three tanks supporting them. However, the first two German trenches (code-named OG1 and OG2) were taken by 05.16, though none of the three tanks reached these objectives.

4th Brigade, 4th Australian Division, attacked German positions without any tank support. Their casualties were high mainly because they attacked across exposed land without any artillery support. This occurred because 4th Brigade had not started their attack until 05.15 as they were waiting for tanks that did not arrive. The artillery had been ordered to cease firing at 05.00. Confronted by German machine guns, 4th Brigade could not avoid heavy casualties. However, they too reached OG1 and OG2 and by 07.00 the Australians had captured nearly all of the Hindenburg Line that they had been assigned to.

Divisional Headquarters was jubilant at this success but officers on the ground were far more concerned. They realised that they were very short of ammunition and that without any form of artillery support, the Germans could easily counter attack from Bullecourt, Riencourt and Quéant. The Australians asked for artillery support seventeen times to counter any German attack but a disastrous breakdown in communications at headquarters meant that they never received this when it was asked for.

At 10.00, the Germans counter-attacked. Short of ammunition, the situation for the Australians was desperate and at 10.20 they stated to pull back to their original start line. The Germans quickly put in place machine guns and the withdrawing Australians moving across open land suffered many casualties. Only when it became known that the Australians had withdrawn did the artillery bombardment start,at 11.00.

The attack cost the Australians 3000 men, including 1,142 captured. Of the tanks that took part, only one reached Bullecourt and out of a total of 103 men in the tank crews, 52 were killed or wounded. Later German reports commented that German troops at Bullecourt were scared when they first saw the Mark 1 and 2 tanks but that by the end of the "First Bullecourt" they had realised that the new weapon was very vulnerable to attacks and were mechanically far from reliable.

Initially the 62nd (West Riding) Division was blamed for not helping out the Australians but their orders had been to advance on Bullecourt once the Australians had taken the village, as opposed to the Australians capturing OG1 and OG2. Many felt that the blame lay with Gough who latched onto a plan developed by a junior officer at the last minute which gave the Australians less than 24 hours to prepare for their attack. After the battle, it was accepted that Gough’s plan,to advance infantry behind tanks through a narrow sector, get to OG1 and then fan out east and west along the Hindenburg Line,was sound on paper but that the sheer lack of time to prepare was a fatal weakness. One of the consequences of "First Bullecourt" was that some Australian senior commanders lost faith in the leadership of Gough.

After the first battle of Bullecourt which William survived, the 47th Battalion (which suffered 129 casualties for the single day of April 11), after a quick halt at Vaulx-Vraucourt, moved back to the Somme and marched for the Crucifix Camp, to Fricourt, for a period of rest and reorganization. On April 17, after having received reinforcements, they marched to Henencourt Wood Camp where they were billeted until April 25 and the next day were sent to Lavieville where they followed a period exercises and stayed here until May 8th.

On May 9, 1917, the 47th Battalion marched to Bresle for a Divisional Rifle meeting for a shooting competition during which William and his unit showed high performance then moved back to Lavieville which they left on May 14 for "Midland Huts", in Aveluy where they were billeted until May 16. The following day the 47th moved to Steenwerck (Hauts-De-France) and here endured another two-week training period and on May 31 marched to Bulford Camp, near Morbecque and on June 7, took part in the battle of Messines, in Flanders.

At 3.10 am on June 7,1917, 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.

Unfortunately, on June 7, 1917, the first day of the Battle of Messines, while going over the top, William was injured by a gunshot wound to his right shoulder and right knee. He was immediately evacuated and admitted to the 9th Australian Field Ambulance, transferred the next day to the 7th Canadian General Hospital in Etaples then on June 12, embarked on board the hospital ship "Stad Antwerpen" for England. On June 13, he was admitted to the 3rd Southern General Hospital in Oxford then to the 3rd Auxiliary Hospital in Dartford on June 22.

On June 25, 1917, after recovering from his wounds, William was discharged and marched for the 2nd Command Depot in Weymouth. Two months later, on August 28, he joined the 4th Command Depot in Codford and then the Overseas Training Brigade on October 18 at Longbridge Deverill and on November 2, proceeded overseas for France from Southampton.

On November 3, 1917, William arrived in France and was disembarked at Le Havre where he joined the 4th Australian Divisional Base Depot, marched out to unit on November 6 and joined the 47th Battalion on November 14 at Delettes, in Pas-De-Calais and the following day, moved for Coupelle-Vieille then through Lebiez, Saulchoy, and arrived at Estrees-Les-Crecy, in the Somme, on November 18, then two days later, marched through Canchy, Miannay, and reached Bethencourt on November 23 where they alternated periods of rest and training until December 5th.
On December 6, 1917, William and the men of the 47th Battalion marched to Allaines, near Peronne, where they followed tactical exercises including platoon in attack open warfare and musketry exercises on rifle range until January 8, 1918.

On January 9, 1918, the 47th was sent to Bailleul and the same day, joined the Ridgewood Camp, near Godewaersvelde then the Parret Camp on January 19 and remained there until February 5 then the following day, marched for the trenches of Hollebeke , in the Ypres salient and it is curious and interesting to know that during this period on the front line, following the German bombardments which cut the lines of communication, the men of the 47th had great help from dogs which, during the day, ran carrying on them messages between the trenches and the headquarters of the battalion placed behind the lines. On 13 February the 47th Battalion was relieved by the 48th Australian Infantry Battalion and marched to "Crater Dugouts", on the banks of the Ypres Canal, and were employed here mainly in working parties then on 22 February marched to Dejon Camp ,in La Clytte for a week of rest and on February 28, moved to Meteren where they followed a period of training until March 25.

On March 21, 1918, in a desperate attempt, the last of the war, the Kaiser's army launched Operation Michael, also called the "German Spring Offensive" with the aim of breaking through the Allied lines between Arras and the Somme and aimed to take the railway junction of Amiens, vital for the allied troops which, if taken, would have allowed the Germans to move quickly on Paris before the massive arrival of American troops and on April 1, the 47th Battalion was rushed for the Somme to stop them.

On April 1, 1918, William and the men of the 47th Battalion arrived in the Somme and on April 5, at Dernancourt, fought with exceptional bravery in the face of one of the strongest German attacks of the entire war against the Australians.

Dernancourt, was the scene of much desperate fighting during the German offensive of March and April 1918. The 12th and 13th Brigades first occupied positions around Dernancourt on 27 March. Elements of the 50th (Prussian) Reserve Division launched an attack on the morning of the 28th that was repulsed by the 12th Brigade, using the embankment of the Albert-Amiens railway line as a defensive barrier. This action, however, was only a precursor to a larger, more determined effort by the Division later in the day, mounted right along the Australians' thinly held front. Fighting continued until the early evening, but the Germans were eventually defeated, with approximately 550 casualties, and at a cost of 137 to the Australians.

The Germans launched a new attack in the vicinity of Dernancourt on the morning of 5 April 1918. On this occasion, they were able to breach the railway embankment by forcing their way under a bridge, outflank the Australian posts along it, and penetrate between the 12th and 13th Brigades. The forward battalions of both brigades were forced to retire upon their support positions and for a time even their supporting artillery was threatened. A counter-attack, however, was launched from the support positions with the brigades' reserve battalions just after 5 pm, which halted the German advance and pushed it back toward the railway embankment. The embankment was regained on the Australians' right, but in the centre and on the left they were forced to ground about 1,300 metres short of it. Exhausted, the 12th and 13th Brigades could do little more.

This second engagement at Dernancourt was a carnage. The two Australian brigades had faced two and a half German divisions. They inflicted up to 1,600 casualties, but suffered almost as grievously with 1,230 casualties. The brigades could no longer sustain such losses, and in May one battalion from each was disbanded in order to reinforce the other three.
Unfortunately, a month later, on May 2, 1918, William met his fate and was killed in action during an attack at Villers-Bretonneux and, while charging through an orchard alongside his comrades, he was hit by a machine gun bullet in the head and died instantly. He was 39 years old.

The circumstances which led to William's death were described by some of his unit members as follows:
"I saw Anderson killed instantly alongside of me by a machine gun bullet through the head à Villers-Bretonneux about 3:00am. We were out that morning for a quiet (without artillery) stunt to take an orchard. I don't know where he was buried but the body was taken back that day. William Anderson came from one of the suburbs of Brisbane. I think he was a labourer.He was about 5' 6". Dark,brown skinned,thick built. I think he said he was 38 years old." ( Private number 2899 George Randall Fleming,47th Australian Infantry Battalion).

"I knew Anderson. He was in my platoon. Villers-Bretonneux was the fighting. We were trying to make a surprise attack on the enemy at Monument Wood, and Anderson was shot through the forehead while we were advancing (I was a Company runner) and was killed instantaneously. The stretcher bearers went out with the white flag and buried him just about 250 yards in front of Villers-Bretonneux. Then I was out with the rations,I saw the carpenter making the crosses and Anderson's was one of them. He was a very good friend of ours and we missed him. The ground was blown to pieces by our artillery next day. He was rather stout, and dark, clean shaven,rather slow in his speech,very pleasant to talk to,we called him "Bill". He was between 30 and 40. The ground was taken." (Private number 3645 Rodger Warwick Mclean,47th Australian Infantry Battalion).

Today, William Glen Anderson rests in peace alongside his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at Adelaide Cemetery, Villers-Bretonneux, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription: "He died the helpless to defend,an Australian soldier's noble end."

William, brave and determined to do what was right, over a hundred years ago, you volunteered to do your part on the battlefields and answered the call of duty alongside young men, exceptional men who, driven forward by their courage and by the ANZAC spirit, by a camaraderie which brought them together, marched side by side from the sunny shores of Australia for the poppies of the Somme, for the greatest adventure of which they were spoke so much, to discover the world in the hope of quickly returning home, to their loved ones who, thousands of miles away, prayed with faith that their men, their sons, their children, their husbands return unscathed and who , in the trenches, in the heart of the darkness of a senseless war, discovered the fury, the human madness and the death which rained down all around them in the chaos of storms of shells which transformed landscapes once so peaceful into fields of execution on which nothing could live, on which nothing could survive and in those dark hours, in the mud, these young boys stood proud and tall and fought often without regard for their own lives but to save those of their friends, of their brothers who shared the sufferings and pains of war and which they carried silently on their right shoulders, united in a camaraderie which was stronger than death and which, in this hell, was their strength and despite what they endured, despite the wounds, despite the scars as deep as the front line, the young Diggers always kept their good humor and stood up without ever backing down even if fear gripped them and paralyzed them with imminent death, to the sound of the whistle, confident in the men who stood by their side, they charged gallantly through the putrid bogs of flesh and blood and bayonets forward, went to face their fate in the name of freedom to make prevail the peace for which each of them fought with so much courage and for which thousands of them fell on those sacred fields on which their immortal tombs stand that their comrades visited with heavy hearts mourning the loss of men who were their brothers but even those who were lucky enough to survive had to fight until the last days of their lives whose nights were haunted by terrible nightmares made of screams, fire and blood, mud and barbed wire and lived silent without being able to put words to what they lived and saw far from home and which, for many, in their flesh and on their bodies, bore the wounds of a war that they could never forget, of comrades that they could never forget and who today, in the silence of the poppies, rest in peace on the soil of France, always standing proud and young alongside their French brothers in arms.They were brave, they were young and loved and here in the Somme will always be remembered and honored with love and care, with gratitude and respect by the people of France. They are not just names, faces, but they are our sons, our heroes whose stories must be told so that they are never forgotten and for their families, for what these heroes did for us, for my country, I will always watch over them with devotion to keep their memory alive, so that the flame of remembrance shines forever, so that their names live on forever.

Thank you so much William, for all you have done for us, for Australia and France which will forever be linked in an unfailing friendship, united in the remembrance of men and women to whom we owe so much. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember him, we will remember them.