Replies

Success Signals

While the 43rd Battalion cleared Hamel, the 13th, 15th, 42nd and 44th battalions and their accompanying tanks pushed on to their objectives farther east. The remaining battalions had already reached theirs.

Success signals flowed to the rear by pigeon, lights, rockets, telephone and radio. Signalers maintained communications throughout the battle, while special squads confused the enemy by contradicting any German flare with the opposite color.

Monash, who had calmed his nerves by sketching the prime minister's chauffeur, learned that he had won his victory 93 minutes after the push began -- three minutes past the planned timetable. Their objectives won, the Allies promptly began consolidating their gains, improving German trenches and digging new ones. At the now exposed Vaire Wood, Diggers found and occupied some of the craters that had been specially made for Allied defensive positions by 9.2-inch howitzer shells during June. Their positions were plotted and issued on maps to the troops. Three RE-8s of No. 3 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps (AFC), flew over the new front lines, taking 108 photographs.

Supplies, previously brought forward by men or mules over dangerous, exposed ground, now reached Hamel via carrier tanks or were dropped from aircraft. Every soldier had carried water bottles, two days' food and a ground sheet, with riflemen also carrying three empty sandbags and a pick or shovel. Now, under Monash's orders, four carrier tanks -- each with an infantry NCO and four unloaders -- did resupply work that would otherwise have required 1,200 men. The results were astonishing for the time. When the 13th Battalion's colonel reached his dump site, he found 34 coils of barbed wire and pickets, 50 tins of water, 150 mortar rounds, 10,000 small-arms rounds, 20 boxes of grenades and 45 sheets of corrugated iron -- a 41Ž2-ton load -- neatly stacked, with the carrier tank already back in the rear.

New Plans For The AAFC

In hindsight, some thought the carrier tanks were the greatest innovation at Hamel. Each of the fighting tanks also carried a load of supplies -- a 1,200-round box of ammunition, 24 Lewis gun magazines and water for the infantry.

Monash's plan also added some new roles to the AFC's repertory. At 4:40 a.m. on July 5, RE-8s of No. 3 Squadron flew low, tooting horns that signaled the Diggers to light flares in their trenches so the planes' observers could mark the new front line on maps -- maps that were dropped at 4th Division headquarters 10 minutes later.

Ammo drop by Parachute

The two-seaters of No. 9 Squadron, Royal Air Force (RAF), delivered nearly 120,000 rounds of small-arms ammunition, dropping them by parachute from boxes fitted under the wings to marked sites along the line. That innovation -- inspired by a captured German document -- had been developed by Captain Lawrence J. Wackett and Sergeant W. Nicholson and his mechanics at No. 3 Squadron, AFC. Townsville-born Wackett, who would later found the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation, received a British grant of 300 pounds sterling for inventing the release gear and cases for the ammunition and parachutes.

Captured German Dog Messenger

Allied Air Superiority

Other aircraft strafed and bombed German positions, and except for a half hour in the late morning, the Allies maintained air superiority with the loss of only two planes. Lieutenants A.E. Grigson and H.B. James of No. 3 Squadron AFC shot down one enemy fighter that tried to interfere with their work, and drove another down out of control. Lieutenants D.F. Dimsey and F.J. Mart shot down a Pfalz D.IIIa that was attacking another RE-8.

All but three British tanks reached their objectives, and their crews suffered only 13 casualties. Most of the tanks joined Australian and American infantrymen in scouting and neutralizing remaining pockets of resistance before departing for the rear at 5:30 p.m., some carrying cheering infantrymen who had been wounded.

The Germans sniped at the new Allied positions, and groups of Diggers and doughboys moved up 400 yards in an effort to deal with them. By 7 a.m. next morning, 700 more prisoners had been flushed out of the village and the woods. Lance Corporal Schulz of the 43rd Battalion's Intelligence Section and two German-speaking Americans followed a cable trace that Schulz had noticed in an aerial photograph. Their search was rewarded when they unearthed a dugout and captured a German battalion commander and his staff of 26.

Hamel's Price

Except for a brief air attack and some shelling, the German response on July 5 was slight. Then, at about 10 p.m., the Germans bombarded with high-explosive and gas shells, after which storm troopers and 200 infantrymen drove a 200-yard wedge between the 44th Battalion's A and B companies east of the village. Four hours later the 44th, augmented by Australians and Americans of the 43rd Battalion, counterattacked. Not only did they regain the lost ground, they recovered 11 out of 15 Australians captured in the German assault. National Guardsman Corporal A. Thomas Pope of E Company, 131st Infantry, rushed an enemy machine-gun position alone, bayoneted its crew and held off the enemy until help arrived.

The night's action cost the Germans 30 troops killed and 50 men and 10 machine guns captured. The 43rd Battalion later presented the gun Pope had captured to his regiment.

Taking and securing Hamel cost the Allies a total of 1,400 casualties, including 39 Americans killed and 196 wounded. The Germans lost more than 2,000 men, including 43 officers and 1,562 enlisted men captured, together with two anti-tank machine guns, a new .53-caliber anti-tank rifle, 32 trench mortars and 177 machine guns. In addition, the Allies recovered 73,000 rounds of British ammunition and boxes of grenades lost when the Germans had first taken Hamel in April. On top of that, the Aussies of the 21st Battalion enjoyed coffee that was mistakenly dropped into their lines by a German airplane.

Old Comrades

On July 5, a highly gratified Monash publicly thanked General Bell and praised the "dash, gallantry and efficiency" of the four American companies, concluding that "soldiers of the United States and Australia should have been associated for the first time in such close cooperation on the battlefield is an historic [event] of such significance that it will live forever in the annals of our respective nations."

When Company A was withdrawn to rejoin the AEF on the night of July 5, the 13th Battalion's historian noted that the Aussies "really felt like [they were] losing old comrades." At 5 a.m. the next morning, following a breakfast of Aussie stew and a series of speeches and cheers, the doughboys of Company E, some wearing the 43rd Battalion's colors, also departed, leaving the South Australians feeling, as one of them put it, "very proud of our victory and our Yankee pals."

Pershing Pleasantly Surprised

The Americans were grateful for the experience. Captain Gale spoke for many of them when he said that "more real good was done...by this small operation with the Australians than could have been accomplished in months of training behind the lines." As for Pershing, in his memoir My Experiences in the World War, he described the American participation at Hamel as "somewhat of a surprise," and though the "behavior of our troops was splendid....Its [the battle's] immediate effect was to cause me to make the instructions so positive that nothing of the kind could occur again."

Later, at Moulliens-au-Bois on August 12, Pershing watched King George V award the DCM to Corporal Tom Pope and two other doughboys for their valor at Hamel while four others got the Military Cross and 11 received the Military Medal. Later still, in Luxembourg on April 22, 1919, Pershing himself would present Pope with the Medal of Honor.

Today's Educational Sources and suggestions for further reading:
http://anzacs.net/AnzacStory.htm
www.military.com/History/History_Period?mlegend=0&period=WWI&service
www.awm.gov.au/
The Diggers Fourth of July, by Peter Nunan

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on April 25:
1214 Louis IX king of France (1226-70)
1228 Koenraad IV Roman Catholic German king (1237-54)
1284 Edward II king of England (1307-27)
1599 Oliver Cromwell Puritan lord protector of England (1653-58)
1710 James Ferguson astronomer
1792 John Keble Anglican priest/founder (Oxford Movement)
1825 Charles Ferdinand Dowd US, standardized time zones
1840 James Dearing Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1865
1874 Guglielmo Marconi Bologna Italy, inventor (radio/Nobel 1909)
1900 Wolfgang Ernst Pauli Austria, physicist (Pauli inhibition/Nobel 1945)
1906 William J Brennan Jr Newark NJ, 92nd Supreme Court judge (1956-90)
1908 Edward R Murrow Pole Creek NC, newscaster (Person to Person)
1912 Gladys L Presley mother of Elvis
1918 Ella Fitzgerald Newport News VA, jazz singer (The First Lady of Song, Is it live or Memorex, A-Tisket A-Tasket)
1923 Albert King Indianola MS, blues singer/guitarist (Bad Look Blues)
1925 Flannery O'Connor short story writer (or 03/25)
1930 Paul Mazursky Brooklyn NY, writer/director (Moscow on the Hudson)
1932 Meadowlark [George] Lemon basketball star (Harlem Globetrotter)
1940 Al Pacino New York NY, actor (And Justice For All, Godfather, Scorpio)
1942 Jon Kyl (Senator-Republican-AZ)
1945 Stu Cook Oakland CA, rock bassist (Creedence Clearwater Revival-Proud Mary)
1952 Vladislav Tretiak USSR hockey player (Olympics-gold-1972, 76)
1971 Michelle Harris Newark DE, Miss Delaware-America (1996)

Deaths which occurred on April 25:
1295 Sancho IV the Brave, scholar/king of Castile/León, dies
1342 Benedict XII [Jacques Fournier] Pope (1334-42), dies
1482 Margaret of Anjou Queen (Henry VI), dies
1607 Don Juan Alvarez Spanish Admiral (Gibraltar), dies in battle
1744 Anders Celsius Swedish astronomer (Centegrade Thermometer), dies at 42
1840 Siméon-Denis Poisson French mathematician (Poisson verdeling), dies
1862 Charles Ferguson Smith US Union General-Major, dies of infection at 55
1882 Johann CF Zöllner German astronomer (astro photography), dies
1905 Jacob Olie Dutch photographer, dies at about 70
1937 Clem Sohn air show performer dies at 26 when his chute fails to open
1955 Paulus B Barth Swiss painter/lithographer, dies at 73
1960 Amanullah emir/king of Afhanistan (1919-28), dies at 67
1981 Dixie a mouse who lived 6½ years, dies
1982 Don Wilson TV announcer (Jack Benny Show), dies at 81
1982 John Cody US cardinal/archbishop of Chicago (1965-82), dies at 74
1982 William R Burnett US, writer (Asphalt Jungle), dies at 82
1988 Clifford D[onald] Simak sci-fi author (Hugo, Way Station), dies at 83
1995 Art Fleming game show host (Jeopardy), dies at 74
1995 Ginger Rogers actress/dancer (Top Hat, Stage Door), dies at 83

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1967 STACKHOUSE CHARLES D.---SHEBOYGAN WI.
[03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1967 WESKAMP ROBERT LARRY---ARVADA CO.
[03/06/74 REMAINS RETURNED]
1968 CROSSMAN GREGORY J.---STURGIS MI.
1971 LEMON JEFFREY C.---FLOSSMOOR IL.
1971 ODOM CHESTER R. II
[AWOL?]
1971 SIGAFOOS WALTER H. III---RICHBORO PA
1972 BROWNLEE ROBERT W.---CHICAGO IL.
1975 WALSH BRIAN
[LED AWAY AT GUNPOINT]
1975 YIM JOHN SUNG

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
1185 Sea battle at Dan-no-ura Minamoto Yoritomo beats Taira-family
1449 Anti-pope Felix V resigns
1507 Geographer Martin Waldseemuller 1st used name America
1607 Battle at Gibraltar Dutch fleet beats Spanish/Portuguese fleet
1614 Amsterdam Bank of Loan forms
1660 London Convention Parliament meets & votes to restore Charles II
1684 Patent granted for the thimble
1707 Battle of Almansa-Franco-Spanish forces defeat Anglo-Portuguese
1719 Daniel Defoes publishes "Robinson Crusoe"
1792 Guillotine 1st used, executes highwayman Nicolas J Pelletier
1850 Paul Julius Reuter, use 40 pigeons to carry stock market prices
1859 Ground broken for Suez Canal
1861 7th New York arrives to reinforce Washington DC
1861 Battle of Lavaca TX
1862 Battle of New Orleans LA - US Admiral Farragut occupies New Orleans
1864 Battle of Marks' Mill AR (Camden Expedition)
1867 Tokyo is opened for foreign trade
1875 Latest date for measurable snow in NYC (3")
1876 Chicago Cubs 1st National League game, beats Louisville 4-0 (1st National League shutout)
1881 250,000 Germans petition to bar foreign Jews from entering Germany
1881 French troops occupy Algeria & Tunisia
1886 Sigmund Freud opens practice at Rathausstrasse 7, Vienna
1896 Fight in Central Dance Hall starts fire (Cripple Creek CO)
1898 US declares war on Spain over Cuba
1901 New York becomes 1st state requiring auto license plates ($1 fee)
1915 78,000 ANZAC troops land at Gallipoli
1925 Paul von Hindenburg elected 2nd President of Germany (Adolf Hitler is 3rd)
1926 Giacomo Puccini's opera "Turandot", premieres in Milan
1926 Persian cossack officer Reza Chan crowns himself Shah Palawi
1927 Spain routes 20,000 soldiers to Morocco (uprising Rifkabylen)
1928 Buddy, a German Shepherd, becomes 1st guide dog for the blind
1933 US & Canada drop Gold Standard
1944 United Negro College Fund incorporates
1945 46 countries convene United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco CA
1945 Clandestine Radio 1212, used to hoax Nazi Germany's final transmission
1945 Last Boeing B-17 attack against Nazi Germany
1945 US & Soviet forces meet at Torgau Germany on Elbe River
1945 Red army completely surrounds Berlin
1947 Trial against WWII mayor of Amsterdam Edward Voûte begins
1950 Chuck Cooper becomes the 1st black to play in the NBA
1952 American Bowling Congress approves use of an automatic pinsetter
1952 6th NBA Championship Minneapolis Lakers beat New York Knicks, 4 games to 3
1953 Scientists identify DNA
1954 Bell labs announces 1st solar battery (New York NY)
1954 British raid Nairobi Kenya (25,000 Mau Mau suspects are arrested)
1954 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Bikini Island
1956 Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" goes #1
1957 1st experimental sodium nuclear reactor operated
1957 Ibrahim Hashim forms Jordanian government
1959 St Lawrence Seaway linking Atlantic, Great Lakes opens to shipping
1960 1st submerged circumnavigation of Earth completed (Triton)
1961 Mercury/Atlas rocket lifted off with an electronic mannequin
1961 Robert Noyce patents integrated circuit
1961 Premier Moïse Tsjombe of Katanga arrested in Congo
1967 Abortion legalized in Colorado
1967 Jules Feiffer's "Little Murders", premieres in NYC
1971 About 200,000 anti-Vietnam War protesters march on Washington DC
1972 Hans-Werner Grosse glides 907.7 miles (1,461 km) in an AS-W-12
1974 Chancellor Willy Brandt Secretary Günther Guillaume found to be a spy
1974 Marcello Caetano overthrown in Portugal; he is exiled to Madeira and later to Brazil (Carnation revolution)
1975 Mario Soares' Socialist Party wins 1st free election in Portugal
1975 West German embassy blown-up in Stockholm Sweden
1976 Cub centerfielder Rick Monday rescues US flag from 2 fans trying to set it on fire
1976 Elections in Vietnam for a National Assembly to reunite the country
1978 Phillie Phanatic makes 1st appearance
1978 Supreme Court rules pension plans can't require women to pay more
1979 "Rock 'n Roll High Schools" premieres
1979 Peace treaty between Israel & Egypt goes into effect
1980 Announcement of Jimmy Carter hostage rescue bungle in Iran
1982 In accordance with Camp David, Israel completes Sinai withdrawal
1983 Yuri Andropov invites US schoolgirl Samantha Smith to USSR
1984 Rock group Wings disbands
1985 For 2nd time, Wayne Gretzky, scores 7 goals in a Cup game
1985 West German Parliament ruled it illegal to deny the holocaust
1986 ETA bomb attacks Madrid killing 5
1988 John Demjanjuk (Ivan the Terrible), sentenced to death in Jerusalem
1990 Hubble space telescope is placed into orbit by shuttle Discovery
1991 Lisa Olson brings suit against NFL New England Patriots for sexual harassment
1993 Russia elects Boris Yeltsin leader
1994 14" of snow in Southern California
1994 King Azlan Shah of Malaysia resigns
1994 Mexican businessman & billionaire Angel Losada kidnapped
1996 "Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk", opens at Ambassador Theater NYC
1998 First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton testified via videotape for the Little Rock, Ark., grand jury in the Whitewater case.
1999 Vice President Al Gore was among the 70,000 who attended a memorial service for the victims of the Columbine High School shootings five days earlier.
2001 In unusually blunt terms, President Bush warned China that an attack on Taiwan could provoke a U.S. military response.
2001 A rescue plane flew out of the South Pole with ailing American doctor Ronald S. Shemenski in the most daring airlift ever from the pole.

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Australia, Nauru, New Zealand, Solomon Is, Tonga, W Samoa : ANZAC Day (1915)
Azores : Portugal's Day (1974)
Italy : Liberation Day
Portugal : Revolution Day (1974)
England : Cuckoo Day
Babylon : New Years Day (except leap years)
Swaziland : Flag Day
Alabama, Florida, Mississippi : Confederate Memorial Day (1868) (Monday)
US : National Dream Weekend
US : National Earthquake Awareness Week Begins
Actors Appreciation Month

Religious Observances
Ancient Rome : Robigalia; god of mildew asked not to harm
Anglican, Roman Catholic, Lutheran : Feast of St Mark the Evangelist
Christian : Latest possible date for Easter (eg 1943, 2038)
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of the Greater Litanies
Christian : National Christian College Day
Buddhist-Laos : Buddhist Holiday

Religious History
1530 The Augsburg Confession was read publicly at the Diet of Worms. Written principally by Philip Melanchthon, the document comprised the first official summary of the Lutheran faith.
1792 Birth of John Keble, English clergyman and poet. Credited with having founded the Oxford Movement in 1833, Keble also authored the hymn, "Sun of My Soul, Thou Savior Dear" (1820).
1800 Death of William Cowper, 69, English poet. A lifelong victim of depression, Cowper nevertheless left a great spiritual literary legacy, including three enduring hymns: "God Moves in a Mysterious Way," "Oh, For a Closer Walk with God" and "There is a Fountain."
1929 The Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America was organized in Detroit, partly in response to the insurgence of Communism in Eastern Europe. Previously, its parishes were under jurisdiction of the Patriarchate in Bucharest, Hungary.
1982 Captured in 1967, the Sinai Peninsula was returned by Israel to Egypt, as part of the 1979 Camp David Accord.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"Spring shows what God can do with a drab and dirty world."

Martha Stewart's Way vs. The Real Woman's Way...
Martha's Way #6: Brush some beaten egg white over pie crust just before baking to yield a beautiful glossy finish.
Real Woman's Way #6: The Mrs. Smith frozen pie directions do not include brushing egg whites over the crust, so I don't do it.

New State Slogans...
Mississippi: We're not Arkansas

Male Language Patterns...
"I broke up with her." REALLY MEANS,
"She dumped me."

Female Language Patterns...
"You wouldn't understand." REALLY MEANS,
"I don't understand, but I'm not going to tell you that. Are you sure we're legally married?"