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NINETY years ago, = about 7pm=20 French time, Arthur Thomas Farr was killed by Germans at the Western = Front,=20 probably as he lay wounded in a shell crater.
What then happened to his body is, from the perspective of those = decades,=20 quite remarkable and casts a shaming light on the way war is fought in = our=20 times.
As brutal, wasteful and mindless as The Great War was, it had moments = of=20 dignity and nobility which will never be found in the murder-and-run = cowardice=20 of terrorism.
Arthur Thomas, my great-uncle, was just one of the 61,000 Australians = who=20 died in World War I; he was one of several hundred Queenslanders from = the 15th=20 Battalion who went through the Gallipoli campaign from start to finish = and,=20 after a brief rest in Egypt, were sent to France.
Like many of them he must have been a pest to the enemy. The year = before his=20 death he won the Military Medal for leading a bomb, or hand-grenade, = raid and=20 rescuing a wounded colleague.
"This NCO (he was a corporal about to be made sergeant) was in = command of a=20 grenade section and throughout operations northwest of Pozieres from 5th = to 11th=20 August did exceptionally good work and showed courage of a high order,'' = reads=20 the recommendation for the honour.
Arthur Thomas had assisted Sgt Moore to bring back Sgt Morgan, a=20 machinegunner, who had been lying wounded in an exposed position.
"On the morning of August 7 Cpl AT Farr did a piece of exceptionally = good=20 work bombing a German trench and was the cause of the capture of eight=20 Germans,'' continued the recommendation.
That'll teach them to take on a 30-year-old, 173cm-tall former = commercial=20 traveller from Ingham, north Queensland, when he throws all his 70kg = into the=20 fray.
As a little bloke, he had the occasional illness and in January 1916 = was sent=20 to the Cairo auxiliary hospital with mild influenza.
But in early 1917, ill or not, hero or no, he was soon sent back into = the=20 slashing, savage brawl which was the trench warfare of France's Western = Front.=20
On the night of February 1, 1917, Arthur Thomas had again been = lobbing=20 grenades, this time at Gueudecourt on the Somme, about 5km from Bapaume = in=20 northern France.
What happened to him is still not clear and for months he was simply = reported=20 as "missing''.
Perhaps the most substantialreport came from a Pte Boyd, who knew = Arthur=20 Thomas as "a very fine man indeed''.
"We had done a stunt at Gueudecourt and had taken a German trench, = but a=20 German machinegunner had got into a shell hole on our flank and was = being very=20 troublesome,'' Boyd later reported.
"So Sgt Farr and Rifleman Castle crawled out to destroy him and his=20 machinegun. They had got to within a short distance of him and Castle = said he=20 would have a shot at him, but Sgt Farr said, 'Never mind, I've got two = bombs=20 here'.
"He got to within a few yards of the shell hole and took the pin from = one of=20 the bombs and let the spring go and held the bomb for three seconds and = then=20 threw, so that it burst the moment it pitched into the shell hole and = blew up=20 the German and his gun.
"Sgt Farr then sent Castle back and went on further by himself and = never=20 returned.''
There were suggestions he was wounded and trapped by fire with = another=20 injured soldier in a crater, but no eyewitnesses.
By May 1917, military officials in London were noting a report by a = Lt=20 Murdoch who said Arthur Thomas had been "very badly wounded and I think = it was=20 impossible for him to pull through''.
Some 80 or so years later a new generation of Farrs was keenly = looking into=20 the fate of Arthur Thomas,in particular the problem of where he was.
A photograph had survived of a grave site with a cross over a small = mound of=20 raw dirt on which had been scattered what appears to have been braid and = perhaps=20 lace.
At the base of the cross a metal helmet was rammed into the ground, = rim=20 first.
The lateral bar of the cross carried three metal strips and carved = into the=20 wood the words "Australie'', "A. Farr'', and "2/2/17''.
The bare, scarified area behind the grave looks like a battle zone, = yet=20 someone had taken substantial time and care to honour the fallen.
The problem was that the grave was at a place called Hermies, and = Australian=20 records show there is no war cemetery at any such place, and no Anzac = buried=20 there.
It seemed the body of Arthur Thomas had survived the bombardments. =
But where=20
was his grave?
My wife's searching found the extraordinary truth: =
Arthur=20
Thomas Farr, destroyer of German machinegunners, originally had been =
buried by=20
the Germans.
The battle over the Somme was not an event likely to encourage = affection for=20 the enemy. Perhaps a forced respect for a foe's capacity to kill, but = not a=20 sense of obligation.
Somehow the Germans in this sector considered they had a duty to not = just get=20 rid of bodies which could become health hazards, but intern them with as = much=20 honour as the howitzers and trench warfare would allow.
The old photograph was of Hermies Communal Cemetery and German = Extension, and=20 ploughing through documents (The Australian War memorial always helps) = we found=20 that it had been seen by Australian troops soon after Arthur Thomas = died.
In July 1923, the remains of Arthur Thomas were moved to the official = cemetery of Achiet-Le-Grand, just northwest of Bapaume, where he is in = plot 2,=20 row M, grave 3.
The Germans who prepared his first burial site were motivated by a=20 requirement to dignify those they fought, and thus add to their own = dignity.
It is a view now totally absent from the operations of terrorists of = any=20 creed who believe they must always have contempt for anyone they kill, = and that=20 they can kill anyone.
That contempt eventually consumes them and their cause until they = forfeit all=20 entitlements to respect and honour, two elements they see as weaknesses = in=20 others.
"The nature of war changed in these soft fields,'' wrote Les Carlyon = of the=20 French and Belgium battle sites in his book The Great War.
"War lost its romantic glow here, and let's not worry that this = imagery was=20 false because war was always about the grubby business of kill-ing = people.''=20
As that glow dimmed in 1917, a group of German soldiers helped a =
stubborn ray=20
of decency survive for 90 years.
Share this article =
What=20
is this?
Also in Editorials
Have Your Say
We welcome your comments on this story. Comments are submitted for =
possible=20
publication on the condition that they may be edited. Please provide =
your full=20
name. We also require a working email address - not for publication, but =
for=20
verification. The location field is optional.
Submit your feedback here:
Search for more stories on this topic on
Online today
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-
- NEWS.com.au |
- FOX SPORTS |
- MOBILE
=
NINETY years ago, = about 7pm=20 French time, Arthur Thomas Farr was killed by Germans at the Western = Front,=20 probably as he lay wounded in a shell crater.
What then happened to his body is, from the perspective of those = decades,=20 quite remarkable and casts a shaming light on the way war is fought in = our=20 times.
As brutal, wasteful and mindless as The Great War was, it had moments = of=20 dignity and nobility which will never be found in the murder-and-run = cowardice=20 of terrorism.
Arthur Thomas, my great-uncle, was just one of the 61,000 Australians = who=20 died in World War I; he was one of several hundred Queenslanders from = the 15th=20 Battalion who went through the Gallipoli campaign from start to finish = and,=20 after a brief rest in Egypt, were sent to France.
Like many of them he must have been a pest to the enemy. The year = before his=20 death he won the Military Medal for leading a bomb, or hand-grenade, = raid and=20 rescuing a wounded colleague.
"This NCO (he was a corporal about to be made sergeant) was in = command of a=20 grenade section and throughout operations northwest of Pozieres from 5th = to 11th=20 August did exceptionally good work and showed courage of a high order,'' = reads=20 the recommendation for the honour.
Arthur Thomas had assisted Sgt Moore to bring back Sgt Morgan, a=20 machinegunner, who had been lying wounded in an exposed position.
"On the morning of August 7 Cpl AT Farr did a piece of exceptionally = good=20 work bombing a German trench and was the cause of the capture of eight=20 Germans,'' continued the recommendation.
That'll teach them to take on a 30-year-old, 173cm-tall former = commercial=20 traveller from Ingham, north Queensland, when he throws all his 70kg = into the=20 fray.
As a little bloke, he had the occasional illness and in January 1916 = was sent=20 to the Cairo auxiliary hospital with mild influenza.
But in early 1917, ill or not, hero or no, he was soon sent back into = the=20 slashing, savage brawl which was the trench warfare of France's Western = Front.=20
On the night of February 1, 1917, Arthur Thomas had again been = lobbing=20 grenades, this time at Gueudecourt on the Somme, about 5km from Bapaume = in=20 northern France.
What happened to him is still not clear and for months he was simply = reported=20 as "missing''.
Perhaps the most substantialreport came from a Pte Boyd, who knew = Arthur=20 Thomas as "a very fine man indeed''.
"We had done a stunt at Gueudecourt and had taken a German trench, = but a=20 German machinegunner had got into a shell hole on our flank and was = being very=20 troublesome,'' Boyd later reported.
"So Sgt Farr and Rifleman Castle crawled out to destroy him and his=20 machinegun. They had got to within a short distance of him and Castle = said he=20 would have a shot at him, but Sgt Farr said, 'Never mind, I've got two = bombs=20 here'.
"He got to within a few yards of the shell hole and took the pin from = one of=20 the bombs and let the spring go and held the bomb for three seconds and = then=20 threw, so that it burst the moment it pitched into the shell hole and = blew up=20 the German and his gun.
"Sgt Farr then sent Castle back and went on further by himself and = never=20 returned.''
There were suggestions he was wounded and trapped by fire with = another=20 injured soldier in a crater, but no eyewitnesses.
By May 1917, military officials in London were noting a report by a = Lt=20 Murdoch who said Arthur Thomas had been "very badly wounded and I think = it was=20 impossible for him to pull through''.
Some 80 or so years later a new generation of Farrs was keenly = looking into=20 the fate of Arthur Thomas,in particular the problem of where he was.
A photograph had survived of a grave site with a cross over a small = mound of=20 raw dirt on which had been scattered what appears to have been braid and = perhaps=20 lace.
At the base of the cross a metal helmet was rammed into the ground, = rim=20 first.
The lateral bar of the cross carried three metal strips and carved = into the=20 wood the words "Australie'', "A. Farr'', and "2/2/17''.
The bare, scarified area behind the grave looks like a battle zone, = yet=20 someone had taken substantial time and care to honour the fallen.
The problem was that the grave was at a place called Hermies, and = Australian=20 records show there is no war cemetery at any such place, and no Anzac = buried=20 there.
It seemed the body of Arthur Thomas had survived the bombardments. =
But where=20
was his grave?
My wife's searching found the extraordinary truth: =
Arthur=20
Thomas Farr, destroyer of German machinegunners, originally had been =
buried by=20
the Germans.
The battle over the Somme was not an event likely to encourage = affection for=20 the enemy. Perhaps a forced respect for a foe's capacity to kill, but = not a=20 sense of obligation.
Somehow the Germans in this sector considered they had a duty to not = just get=20 rid of bodies which could become health hazards, but intern them with as = much=20 honour as the howitzers and trench warfare would allow.
The old photograph was of Hermies Communal Cemetery and German = Extension, and=20 ploughing through documents (The Australian War memorial always helps) = we found=20 that it had been seen by Australian troops soon after Arthur Thomas = died.
In July 1923, the remains of Arthur Thomas were moved to the official = cemetery of Achiet-Le-Grand, just northwest of Bapaume, where he is in = plot 2,=20 row M, grave 3.
The Germans who prepared his first burial site were motivated by a=20 requirement to dignify those they fought, and thus add to their own = dignity.
It is a view now totally absent from the operations of terrorists of = any=20 creed who believe they must always have contempt for anyone they kill, = and that=20 they can kill anyone.
That contempt eventually consumes them and their cause until they = forfeit all=20 entitlements to respect and honour, two elements they see as weaknesses = in=20 others.
"The nature of war changed in these soft fields,'' wrote Les Carlyon = of the=20 French and Belgium battle sites in his book The Great War.
"War lost its romantic glow here, and let's not worry that this = imagery was=20 false because war was always about the grubby business of kill-ing = people.''=20
As that glow dimmed in 1917, a group of German soldiers helped a =
stubborn ray=20
of decency survive for 90 years.
Share this article =
What=20
is this?
Also in Editorials
Have Your Say
We welcome your comments on this story. Comments are submitted for =
possible=20
publication on the condition that they may be edited. Please provide =
your full=20
name. We also require a working email address - not for publication, but =
for=20
verification. The location field is optional.
Submit your feedback here:
Search for more stories on this topic on
Online today
The Pumper returns after horror fall=20 |
Blogs
- Connect:=20 Your PC partner=C2=BB=20
- All = blogs:=20 Join a debate=C2=BB
Specials
- Connect: = Latest=20 gadgets=C2=BB=20
- Business:=20 Qantas doubles fleet=C2=BB=20
- Property:=20 Rates revelation=C2=BB=20
Galleries
Advertisement
Advertisement
Tools
- Receive=20
our News Feeds