Volunteers of Essendon and Flemington, 1914-1918

 

Lane A J    Pte    2443    Arthur Jabons              54 Inf Bn    21    Cook    Single    C of E       

Address:    Flemington, Mt Alexander Rd, Wonalta Tce, 6   (now 130 Mt Alexander Rd)

Next of Kin:    Lane, Frances Maria, Mrs, mother, 6 Wonalta Tce, Mt Alexander Rd, Moonee Ponds   

Enlisted:    17 Apr 1916       

Embarked:     A60 Aeneas 30 Nov 1916 (Sydney)   

 

Relatives on Active Service:

Harty L J Pte 449 MM, brother  in law, KIA

Lane-J-H-Pte-4453  brother, KIA

 

Date of Death: 15/05/1917

CWGC: "Son of Frances Maria and the late William Lane. Born at Melbourne".

VILLERS-BRETONNEUX MEMORIAL

 

Private Arthur Jabons Lane

 

Rod Martin

 

There is a slight mystery attached to the name of twenty-one-year-old Arthur Lane.  He joined up in Sydney on 14 April 1916 and was given a medical examination there.  Three days later, still in Sydney, he completed his attestation form and was assigned to 5 Reinforcements of 54 Infantry Battalion.  By the nineteenth, he was at the army depot in Dubbo.  A close examination of his two attestation forms (that was standard practice) indicates that they were filled out by two different people and his signatures are in different handwriting.  All of this can probably be easily explained by the need for the military to be expeditious in getting troops to the Western Front at this time.  It would seem that, if the recruit was not there to sign at the time the documents were completed, then someone else could do it for him.  As long as the man had consented to be in uniform, niceties such as signatures seem to have been glossed over.  During the previous November, Prime Minister ‘’Billy’’ Hughes had promised Britain that Australia would provide an extra 50 000 men on top of those already enlisted. Numbers of volunteers had begun to drop off after a peak in July 1915 so, to meet Hughes’s promised figure, the propaganda race was on in early 1916 and Hughes even made an impassioned appeal to the men of Australia to rally to his call.

 

Proclamation issued by the prime minister, 15 December 1915. The call to arms, State Library of South Australia

 

Another mystery is the fact that Arthur gave two apparently different addresses for his widowed mother.  On the duplicate copy of his attestation form, it is stated that she lived at 6 Wonalta Terrace, Mount Alexander Road, Flemington.  On what looks like the original copy, signed and dated on the same day, but entered in different handwriting, her address is listed as 480 Mount Alexander Road, Moonee Ponds.  Strange.

 

  

Wonalta Terrace, Mt Alexander Rd, Travancore.  Courtesy of Google Earth, 2009

 

Arthur Lane was probably average in height and build for the time, standing 174 centimetres tall and weighing fifty-four kilos. He had hazel eyes and brown hair. On his enlistment forms, he cited his occupation as being a cook.  Just why he had moved to Sydney from Melbourne is unknown.  Because he was living in Sydney and then Dubbo, he sailed from Sydney on A60 HMAT Aeneas on 30 September 1916.  After leaving that port, the ship headed for Melbourne, there to take on board more troops.

 

The Aeneas at Port Melbourne, 3 October 1916.  Arthur had sailed from Sydney on it. (AWM PB0002).   

 

Sailing via the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the danger of German submarines in the Mediterranean Sea, the Aeneas arrived at the southern English port of Plymouth on 19 November.  From there, Arthur and his compatriots travelled to Lark Hill on Salisbury Plain for further training.  On 21 December, they sailed for France from Folkestone in Kent, arriving at the large military base at Etaples soon after.

 

 

ceremony on board the Aeneas, October 1916.   (AWM H13933)

 

 On 1 January 1917, Arthur and his comrades were taken on strength and transported to 54 Battalion, located at that time at Buire in Picardie, just south of the Belgian border.  On 4 January, while in training, the battalion began moving towards Flesselles, north of the city of Amiens, arriving the next day.  Given that 5 Reinforcements had to travel north from Etaples (near Boulogne) to just south of the Belgian border, they may not have reached the battalion until it was located at Flesselles.

 

On 20 January, after moving via Buire to Montauban, the men of 54 Battalion relieved 31 Battalion in the trenches. They stayed there, not undertaking much action, until relieved on the twenty-third and moving to Trones Wood Camp near Bernafay, to undertake ‘’fatigues’’ (menial, non-military tasks - such as peeling potatoes for the cookhouse!) and to rest.  At this time, a lot of attention was paid to the men’s feet, as there was always a danger of cuts, abrasions and infections brought about by marching in hobnail boots.  An added danger in winter, especially after standing for hours in waterlogged trenches, was ‘’Trench Foot’’, an affliction that could cause the flesh to die and gangrene to set in.

 

Dyson, Will: From dugout. Cosy Corner. Somme. January 1917.

Trones Wood 1917.  The camp can be seen in the background.  (AWM 4Art 0239)

 

On 4 February, 54 Battalion moved into the so-called intermediate line and then relieved 56 Battalion in the front line on the sixth.   For the three days they were there, the men experienced some machine gun action and carried out a few patrols.  However, the German artillery was very quiet - probably something for which the men were very thankful!  The battalion was relieved by the fifty-third on 9 February and returned to Trones Wood before moving back to Montauban the next day.

 

The men moved back to Trones Wood on the fourteenth , carrying out fatigues and resting until the nineteenth, when they entered the front line again.  It was reported as being quiet but, nevertheless, a second lieutenant was killed by a German sniper later in the day.  At night, the Germans sent over some gas shells.  The situation was similar the next day, but another officer was wounded before the unit was relieved by 53 Battalion and then went back to Trones Wood before returning to Montauban in reserve until the end of the month.

 

Gassed men at a regimental aid post in a trench.  (AWM E04850)

 

Returning to Trones Wood on 2 March, 54 Battalion stayed in reserve until it entered the front line, relieving 29 Battalion, on the seventh.  On 10 March, the Germans shelled the area very heavily during the day, leaving the Australian trenches in a very bad condition.  Arthur and the others moved into an intermediate trench (‘’Needle Trench’’) the next day.  They were not out of danger, however. The Germans bombarded their communication lines heavily and then used minenwerfers (mortars) at night.  On the fourteenth, the battalion re-entered the front line, and some of the men captured a couple of German trenches on the seventeenth, facing little or no opposition, and then moved on to take the ruins of the village of Beaulencourt.

 

The ruins of Beaulencourt, taken from the church, 1917. (AWM P01835.025)  

 

This shattered village was no great prize, and the strategic situation remained unchanged.  Early in the year, the Germans, running low on manpower, decided to straighten their front line, thus removing a number of salients (bulges) that were costly in terms of reinforcing and defending.  The trenches before Beaulencourt may well have been ones that were abandoned, along with the ruined village.  The Germans then retreated behind their heavily fortified Siegfried Line (called Hindenburg by the Allies, after the German commander-in-chief).  The place may still have been dangerous, however, because, as part of their retreat, the Germans left plenty of booby traps.  There could have been some nasty surprises hidden among the rubble we see in the picture (although the unit commander did not report any in the war diary, thankfully).

 

54 Battalion then left one company in the front line while the rest moved into some nearby trenches and stayed there, cleaning up and consolidating under the leadership of a Pioneer unit, until 25 March, when it moved and occupied another deserted village.  From then until the thirtieth, when it relieved 30 Battalion at an outpost (forward) position, it remained there, the men mostly involved in road-making. 

 

The beginning of April 1917 found Arthur and his comrades in reserve at nearby Morchies.  The commander noted in the war diary that the accommodation was poor, but the men were greatly in need of rest.  Despite that fact, two days later they were back in the front line, relieving 56 Battalion at Louverval.  The commander established the battalion headquarters in a cutting on a sunken road, but the Germans saw runners and other personnel moving to and fro in that area and obviously deduced what was there.  Accordingly, they shelled the area heavily, causing the site to be abandoned.  This was probably not a big deal, as the battalion was relieved the next day and the men began marching back towards the recently recovered town of Bapaume, arriving there on the seventh.  The next day, the men marched to Ligny-Thilloy and were then engaged in general reorganisation and then railway construction work for several days. On the twentieth and twenty-first they moved to a brigade camp at Becord and no doubt appreciated the conditions, which the unit commander described as having  ‘’plenty of room [being] dry and [having] every facility for the comfort of men.’’  The next day, the men had what were very welcome baths, and they were issued with totally new clothing, which they very much appreciated.

 

The training continued until 7 May, the soldiers being given leave passes during that time to travel to nearby Albert and enjoy some rest and recreation there.  No doubt, many of them saw the famous ‘’Leaning Virgin of Albert’’ a statue that had once topped the spire of the basilica, and which had been knocked sideways by a shell in 1915.

 

(collection.nam.ac.uk)

 

The legend grew that whichever side made the statue fall would lose the war.

 

On 7 May, twenty officers and 728 other ranks marched from Albert to Bapaume and caught trains, arriving at their destination of Favreuil and entering the brigade reserve there.  Some men were sent out to repair broken barbed wire in front of the trenches, and lay some new material where needed.  The Germans noted this, and sent over a few shells as a result,  Two men were killed.  On the eleventh, the battalion prepared to enter the front line, relieving 53 Battalion in front of Riencourt on the thirteenth. They were positioned in a portion of the advanced Siegfried Line, and were just in time for an epic fire fight, that became known later as the Second Battle of Bullecourt.

 

Troops sitting next to a German dugout in their portion of the Siegfried Line

at Riencourt, May 1917.     (AWM E00518)

 

(The first battle, during the previous month, was an utter disaster, costing around 3,000 casualties).  The men were fully in place by 14 May.  The battle had begun on 3 May, and Arthur and his companions were scheduled to participate in what was to be the last offensive and which led to the capture and retention of a section of the Siegfried Line - the first time this happened in the war.  54 Battalion was suffering an intense barrage from the start.  The situation was not helped by the fact that the German shells had cut telephone lines, meaning that the officers were not able to call in prompt counter-bombardments.  This continued the next day.  The unit commander wrote in the war diary:

 

During the early morning our front line and support trenches    were subjected to a heavy bombardment from enemy artillery,   also their minenwerfer and pineapple bombs.  ‘’C’’         Company . . . came in for a severe grueling [sic] being in a part of the HINDENBURG LINE where the trenches were very badly knocked about.  ‘’B’’ Company . . . fared even worse, and our    casualties were unfortunately heavy.  The following message  . . . was received at Battalion Headquarters at 6.45 am: -

‘’Enemy is attacking all along the line.  Situation at present is doubtful as our right company was wiped out previous to the   attack.’’

 

This message was followed by two others from different sectors of the line, pleading for reinforcements because casualties were very heavy.  A company from 55 Battalion was sent to reinforce the line, and this helped the 54 Battalion men in finally driving the Germans back.  The enemy losses were described as ‘’severe’’ and many dead were left in the Australian trenches and in No Man’s Land (the area between the opposing trenches).

 

Australian troops in their trench at Riencourt, May 1917.  (AWM E00454)

 

 

But the Australians suffered badly as well.  At 3.30 pm, a request was sent for ‘’as many stretcher bearers as can be spared.  They are urgently needed.  Casualties are very heavy.’’  The final tally for 54 Battalion that day was sixty-one men killed, 201 wounded, nine dead of wounds and eleven missing.  On 15 May, the Second Battle of Bullecourt was won, but the cost of the twelve-day conflict was horrendous: almost seven thousand allied soldiers killed or wounded.

 

Whether Arthur was initially counted among the dead or the missing is not known.  All we know now is that he died that day.  The consensus of opinion from those who witnessed his death was that he was on ‘’gas guard’’ in a sunken road at Noreuil when a shell came over, killing him instantly.  He was evidently buried at that spot and a wooden cross containing his details was placed above the grave.  It is likely that further shelling obliterated the cross and concealed the grave or blew it apart, as Arthur was finally recorded as having no known grave.  

 

Private John Charles Mayo, 54 Battalion, killed by a shell at

 Riencourt on the same day as Arthur. His grave was also never

 found.  He left a wife and two dependent children.                 

 (AWM H05999)

 

As Arthur and John have no known graves, their details are recorded on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.  

 

(Commonwealth War Graves Commission) 

 

In August 1917, Arthur’s widowed mother was granted a pension of two pounds (four dollars) per fortnight.

 

His brother also applied for a pension, but was rejected as being a non-dependent.

 

 

Sources

 

Australian War Memorial

Carlyon, Les: The Great War, Sydney, Macmillan, 2006

collection.nam.ac.uk

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Gammage, Bill: The broken years: Australian soldiers in the Great War, Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 2010

National Archives of Australia

Travers, Richard: Diggers in France: Australian soldiers on the Western Front, Sydney,ABC Books, 2008  

 

 

Mrs. Lane, of 6 Wanalta terrace, Flemington - her son, Private Arthur Lane, was killed in action on 13th May. Before joining the forces he was steward on a transport steamer. His younger brother, Private James Lane, is now on active service in France.   ROLL OF HONOR. (1917, June 21). The Essendon Gazette and Keilor, Bulla and Broadmeadows Reporter (Moonee Ponds, Vic. : 1914 - 1918), p. 3 Edition: Morning. Retrieved May 17, 2012, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74602926

 

 

War Service Commemorated

Essendon Town Hall F-L

Ascot Vale State School

Essendon Gazette Roll of Honour killed 

 

In Memoriam

 

LANE. - In sad but loving memory of our dear
brother, Private Arthur, who was killed in action,
15th May, 1916; also Lance-Corporal Jim Lane,
reported killed, 9th October, 1917; also dear
Dad, who died 7th July, 1915.
Hearts that love truly can never forget our loved ones,
-(Inserted by his loving sister and brother-in law,
Doris and Will Sinclair.)

LANE-HARTY.-In loving memory of my dear
brothers, Private A. J. Lane, killed in action,
15th May, 1917; also Private J. H. Lane, killed
in action, 9th October, 1917: also brother-in-law 
Sergeant L. J. Harty, M.M., killed in action, 29th June, 1916.
Thy will be done. -(Inserted by Sister Nell.)

Family Notices. (1919, May 15). The Argus

 (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1956), p. 1.

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1467729