War Diary of Australian 48th Battalion - June 1917

The diary entries for the 8th to the 12th June are missing.

It is possible that they were never made. However, the file contains the following handwritten document.

Report on Operations at Messines.
7th June to 12th June 1917

The 48th Battn moved from Antrim Lines to Midland Support South HILL S3. At 8.40am on the morning of 7th June and remained as Brigade Reserve during the first part of attack on OWL TRENCH and OWL SUPPORT. which took place at 3.10 pm At 9.5 pm I received an order to send two Companies to support the 4th & 47th Battalions in the Line and I sent "C" under Captain Mayersbeth to support the 47th Battn and A Company under Lieut Stabback to support the 45th Battn. At 11.30 pm I received a second order from Brigade Headquarters to move the remainder of the Battalion to support the two Battalions in the Line in a Counter-attack against the Green Line. It appears that the 45th & 47th Battalions had been driven back on to the BLACKLINE earlier in the day. The remainder of the Battn moved forward at 11.45 pm on the evening of the 7th & reported to the C.O. 47th Battn Lieut-Col. Imlay retained B Coy under Captain Cummings & sent D Coy to support the 45th Battn. Capt Cumming received orders from the C.O. 47th Battn to move forward and attack the GREEN LINE with the two Coys of the 48th Battn He immediately moved forward & secured the objective at about 5.30 am on the morning of the 8th. Lieut Stabback who was detailed to support the 45th Battn having received no orders & seeing his comrades going forward on the right immediately sent to the C.O. 45th Battn for instructions, but before the reply reached him he decided to move forward & support the 48th on the left which was the 45th objective. He occupied OWL TRENCH at about 6 am. The enemy snipers & machine Guns were very busy during the advance particularly from the left of OWL TRENCH where there were several strong ponts. I visited the fron line at about 12 NOON on the 8th & found the men digging hard & holding both OWL TRENCH and OWL SUPPORT. from HUNS WALK. In OWL TRENCH the line occupied was just to the left of the 47th objective, very little of the 45th front being occupied. In OWL SUPPORT only a portion of the 47th frontage was held by us. The enemy placed a good number of HEs and 77mm shells on the front line, but they appeared to be just messing them. The line held was up in the air on both flanks as the 3rd Division had not connected with HUNS WALK & the 13th Brigade were not on the objective, nor were we holding all our own Brigade frontage, for very little of the 45th Battn objective had been gained About 5 30 pm Captn Allan of the 45th Bn moved forward and occupied a portion of this front just past the middle strong point. Here he established a block At about 8 30 pm the enemy heavily Counter-attacked on our left fron towards the gap in our line, but was driven back by own barrage & Lewis Gun fire. All ranks worked hard during the night to consolidate the line secured, & by the morning of the 9th this was in a good state of defence. The Battalion held this line until the morning of the 10th when the were relieved by the 45th & 47th Battalions. The 48th Battn was then withdrawn & moved back to MIDLAND SUPPORT SOUTH trench where they were reorganised and given hot food. They reached this position 6 30 am on the morning of the 10th & rested during the rest of the day. The 48th Bn was ordered to relieve the 45th Bn in OWL TRENCH relief to be completed before day light on the morning of the 11th. Issued orders to the Batt to move back to the line at 9 pm but learning later that an attack would take place at 10.30 pm I decided not to move until 11 pm. At this hour Battn moved back & the relief was completed by 4 am on the morning of the 11th without a casualty. The postion was still obscure as a greater part of OWL TRENCH and all OWL SUPPORT on my front with several strong points were still in the hands of the enemy, After reconnaissance I decided to attack OWL TRENCH and strong points held on our left at 6.5 am on the morning of the 11th instruction Captn Mayersbeth in command of "C" Company to send a bombing patrol along it immediately & captured several strong points, two 77mm field guns, bomb thrower as well as large quantities of shells, bombs and ammunition, also a wounded German prisoner. Lewis Guns were at once mounted and used with good effect on the left flank. A Reconnoitering patrol pushed forwarded and occupied OWL SUPPORT, near the road O.34.b.2.5. but we were unable to get into the right on account of a strong point at the rear of Owl Support which still held as up, however this was occupied later in the afternoon & a strong patrol pushed on to a position near GAPHARD FARM, here we captured a German of the Guera Regiment. During the day all ranks worked hard to consolidate the position, & by the evening of the 11th instant the line was consolidated & connected with the Left Brigade. The Battn was relieved by the 4th Brigade on the morning of the 12th & moved back to the BLACK LINE where we remained till 8pm on the 12th when we moved back into the Reserve Area. No words of mine can express the admiration I feel for all ranks. The stretcher bearers & runners are worthy for special commendation for the way they carried out their duty, many falling while doing their duty barely.

Attached are 5 typed pages

48th Battalion Operation Order No.73
48th Battalion Operation Order No.74
Operation of tanks at MESSINES. 7/6/1917