October 12, 1917, The Gordon cricketers at the First battle of Passchendaele
Gordon District Cricket Club | October 23, 2024
[Author: Paul Stephenson]
The First Battle of Passchendaele on 12 October 1917 was one of the most tragic events in Australian military history and the most likely of all Australian engagements that could have been avoided.
With the relative successes of Menin Road, Polygon Wood and Broodseinde, it seemed only a matter of course that the tactics being used and the skill of the Australian divisions would conquer the final hurdle of the Third Battle of Ypres at Passchendaele. However, with the arrival of torrential rain for the three days prior to October 12, the Australian contingent under the leadership of General John Monash were strongly against any further action due to the conditions. Tragically, they were overridden by the British commanders led by General Haig and on that fateful day, the Australian 3rd Division, the 12th Brigade of the 4th Division and the New Zealand Division were given the job of taking the village of Passchendaele.
Incredibly, the 3rd and 4th Divisions at Passchendaele contained four Gordon cricketers: Johnnie Moyes, who was following on after Polygon Wood as the Major in charge of the 48th Battalion within the 4th Division, Harry Watts, who was backing up for a second innings after Broodseinde with the artillery, Dr Gother Clarke, who had opened his innings at the Battle of Messines and a newcomer, Harold Lilja, making his debut.
The conditions at Passchendaele were some of the worst experienced during World War I. The heavy rain, thick mud, and water-filled shell craters turned the battlefield into a morass. Soldiers were often stuck in the mud for hours, and many drowned in waterlogged shell holes. The mud made it almost impossible for men, horses, and equipment to move in any direction making them shooting targets for the German artillery.
As reported within the diary notes of the 3rd Division, Harry Watts and his team was having difficulty getting the machine guns of the 9th Machine Gun Company into position to provide the initial barrage for the 3rd Division’s 9th Brigade. Without an effective machine gun support, the commanders were then faced with the added dilemma of the resultant explosions not having the same impact as they did in the dry weather of the earlier battles. On these occasions, the creeping barrage created a dust storm in front of the advancing troops and provided them with important cover. At Passchendaele, the bombs were landing in the mud and creating only a splash rather than a deadly explosion. General Haig had indeed underestimated the disastrous consequences of the weather.
Johnnie Moyes’ 48th Battalion (4th Division) was well and truly in the front line of the battle. Johnnies’ personal diary notes contained nine words that summed up the battle, almost every man who showed himself became a casualty. Johnnie Moyes was in the middle of this battle and, as a company commander, was in a no-win situation. Johnnie was awarded the Military Cross for his leadership at Passchendale.
Both Harry Watts and Harold Lilja were seriously concussed during the battle and only the quick work of the ambulance brigade was able to bring them out of the battle and to safety.
Tragically, Dr. Gother Clarke who had played in the first game for Gordon in 1905 at Chatswood Oval and had played for NSW did not survive. The notes from his commander read as follows:
Casualties came in rapidly and we divided the work which was necessary in the open area around this concrete point. Major Clarke was on one side in a narrow trench and I was on the other. About 8am, a shell burst very close, about 3-4 yards from me. I sent around to enquire as to Major Clarke’s safety and then went myself. He was lying in a trench instantaneously in the act of dressing a wounded man, and still had the dressing in his hand. He was not shattered or disfigured.
His body was laid aside and covered and his regiment immediately notified. His death is greatly mourned by all of us who knew him. The medical service of the division feels greatly his loss, but we feel there could not have been a more soldierly end for a brave comrade, one who had always manifested his willingness to lay down his life in helping others.
By the time the Australians were withdrawn from the battle in late October, they had suffered around 38,000 casualties. The horrific conditions and the enormous loss of life left a deep impact on the Australian soldiers and the broader national consciousness.
Harold Lilja returned home in one of the early departures in February 1919. On his return, he lived in Neutral Bay but, after joining Legacy in 1925, he moved his young family between Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne working in the Legacy Administration. Harold died in 1983 at the age of eighty-nine.
Harry Watts had played for many years before the war and finished with 6,629 runs at an average of 25 over his long career and is in 14th position for runs scored. He played a few seasons with the “Vets” after the war. Harry died in October 1967 at the age of seventy-one.
Major Johnnie Moyes fought with great distinction during the war, commanding the 48th Battalion through many battles. He returned home in November 1918 and married Freda Christensen in 1919. Johnnie played for Gordon from 1921 to 1927 and scored 1,886 runs at 28. He scored one of the fastest double centuries in grade cricket when he made 218 runs in 83 minutes for Gordon in 1922.
He became a distinguished journalist Moyes was awarded an MBE in 1959 and died of coronary vascular disease on 18 January 1963 at his Chatswood home.
Dr. Gother Clarke played for Gordon first grade from the first match in 1905 up to his departure for the war in 1915. He was stationed with the 34th Battalion in France and Belgium, providing lifesaving medical services before his death. Gother is buried at the Buttes New British Cemetery, located eight kilometres east of Leper town centre on the Lange Dreve.
The Battle of Passchendaele is remembered as one of the most brutal and futile battles of World War I. For the Gordon District Cricket Club, it exemplified the courage and endurance of their players, but highlighted the tragic cost of war with the loss of their great friend Gother Clarke.
Perhaps as an Englishman, General Haig had become inured to rain and did not believe it would impede his objective. Whatever the reasoning, against the wishes of both his own senior officers and the Australian commanders, he made one of the worst decisions of the war - forge ahead full steam.
A line from a famous poem by an English soldier, Siegfried Sassoon, who was there on that day, describes it best:
I died in Hell, (They called it Passchendaele).
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