WAR HISTORY

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 May 1929, Page 5

WAR HISTORY

CAPTAIN BEAN’S DISCLOSURE. SYDNEY, April 27. Vivid chapters from the unwritten history of Australia’s part in the war were disclosed for the first time by Captain C. E. Bean, Commonwealth war historian, in his address to members of the Sydney Legacy Club at luncheon yesterday. No more classic example of the in-

justice of popular verdicts in Australia existed than tbq attribution of blame to General McCay, declared Captain —- -T-1 oT+wH fll (A

Bean. For some reason, after the battle at Cape Helles, in which the Second Brigade made such a magnificent stand, responsibility for the reverse was attributed to General McCay, who commanded that brigade. Then, when the Fifth Division came to fight the battle of Fromelles, blame for that episode was also thrown upon tho shoulders of McCay. Later still,

ho was held responsible for that unforgettable desert march of the Fourth and Fifth Divisions from Tel-el-Kabir to the Suez Canal. Actually, McCay was no more responsible for any one of those three tragic events than the humblest private under his command. In fact, he had strenuously protested against the desert march, but was compelled to obey orders. Certainly, he was not in the least blameworthy.

Captain Bean revealed what he described as “the horrible sequel to' the notorious Stokes gun incident.” Ever since the capture of two Stokes guns by tho Germans, after “this wonderful secret” Had been entrusted to thecare of the Australians, they had been getting it poked at them /on all sides. Even in Ireland, Australians had been given unwelcome reminders of the episode. It was generally thought that the German attack had been deliberately planned with the object of capturing a- Stokes gun, the enemy having somehow become aware that tho new weapon was in the possession of the Australians. A study of Ger-

man war records in recent years, however, disclosed that their attack was just an ordinary raid intended to keep things warm in that particular sector. In their report of the affair on the following morning, the Germans announced the capture of several prisoners and

two trench mortars, clearly showing that they were ignorant of the fact that they had gained possession of two Stokes guns. In all probability, they were left lying in the mud of the battlefield or thrown on some scrapheap of discarded war material behind the lines. How soon after the arrival of Aus-

tralian troops in France were the Germans aware of their presence? It was an eye-opener, said Captain Bean, to find from official records how slow the Germans were in making the discovery. They identified the First Division about the middle of April, 1916, and the Second Division a month later. The Fifth Division they failed to identify at all until the battle of Fromelles. The following week, when the Germans captured something like 500 prisoners of tho Fifth Division, they

missed, even then the fact that the Fourth' Division was in France. As for the Third Division, they first found out about its movements from the report of a football match in an English newspaper, even before it got to France. (Laughter.) Reviewing the battle of Pozieres,

Captain Bean said that credit for one of Australia’s greatest successes on the Somme front belonged to a young officer of the" 22nd, Major Mackay, whose courage and resource in getting his men up on the left of the Seventh Brigade saved the situation. Had it not been for his action at a critical moment the Australians would have experienced the greatest difficulty in holding their position, and, in all probability, would, have been driven back. »■’