Corporal Russell Pierce Fraser MM and Bar

Rod Martin

The frantic rush by young men to recruitment centres across Australia in August 1914

allowed the military to select those it regarded as the crème de la crème of the nation's

youth: men aged between eighteen and thirty-five, minimum height 165 centimetres,

minimum chest measurement eighty-five centimetres, good eyesight and teeth. The

Australian War Memorial informs us that approximately one-third of all applicants

were rejected on one of more of these grounds during the first year of the war. One of

these was eighteen year-old Russell Fraser, a chauffeur from Cressy. His father was

willing to give his consent to his son enlisting, but the problem was that young

Russell had bad teeth. Fast forward a year, however, and we find that the regulations

had been liberalised. Bad news from Gallipoli and the growing lists of casualties in

the newspapers, when combined with a promise by Prime Minister 'Billy' Hughes to

provide extra forces, caused the government to admit more men, many of whom had

initially been rejected. Russell's teeth were no longer a problem. The order of the day

now was: sign him up and then give him the necessary dental treatment.

And so Russell, now nineteen and a half years old, joined 8 Reinforcements of 23

Battalion on the last day of August, 1915. He did his basic training at Seymour before

boarding a troop transport (probably A19 HMAT Afric) at Port Melbourne on 5

January 1916 and sailing for the Middle East.

Troops boarding HMAT Afric at Port Melbourne, 5 June 1916 (AWM PB0065)

By the time Russell and his compatriots arrived in Egypt, Gallipoli hade been

evacuated and the Australian authorities were reorganising their forces to create two

infantry divisions to fight on the Western Front in France. Along with those divisions

would go a number of ancillary units such as the artillery, signals, engineers and

pioneers. Perhaps he volunteered or perhaps he was arbitrarily selected, but Russell

was transferred to the newly formed 2 Pioneer Battalion on 13 March and travelled to

France with the Second Australian Division, sailing from Alexandria on 19 March

1916.

Pioneer units undertook light engineering tasks, such as constructing temporary

shelters and bridges, building machine gun emplacements and observation posts,

erecting barbed wire barricades or digging and constructing trench networks and

access roads to them. The men in the Pioneers were, as much as possible, selected

from those with skills in the various trades. Why Russell, who enlisted as a chauffeur,

ended up in the Pioneers is intriguing. It may be that he was skilled in handling

horses, and the Pioneers did use horses to haul supply wagons. On its trip to France,

2 Pioneer Battalion took a sizeable number of horses with it.

Arriving in Marseilles on 25 March, the men boarded trains and travelled north to

Sercus, near Armentières. This was the so-called 'nursery' sector, a relatively quiet

part of the front where newly arrived troops could gain some experience of trench

warfare without having to operate in excessive danger. That danger still lurked,

however, in the form of snipers, mortar bombs, poison gas shells, grenades and aerial

attack. The unit lost its first man on 13 April at Fleurbaix, near Fromelles, and another

man was wounded at a different location the next day.

After working in nearby Bois Grenier, the unit spent a brief time over the border in

Belgium, before moving south again towards the Somme Valley. The Battle of the

Somme, destined to be the largest single battle of the war, had begun on 1 July, the

British Army losing 60 000 men on the first day. It then bogged down to a war of

attrition between the two front lines. By the time 2 Pioneer Battalion arrived at a spot

in the line called Pozières on 27 July, the first Australian assault at Fromelles, north of

the Somme, had taken place. It was a very bloody baptism, 5533 casualties from

5 Division being incurred during just one night attack. 2 Division, including 2

Pioneer Battalion, was scheduled to participate in an attack on the German line, with

the aim of taking the ruins of the village of Pozières and the strategic ridge behind it.

1 Division had begun the attack on 23 July, taking a hold of the ruins of the village,

but losing 5 285 casualties in the process. 2 Division had relieved 1 Division on the

twenty-fifth. While the majority of the Pioneers began working on the construction or

repair of trenches, two Lewis light machine guns and their crews were loaned to 20

Infantry Battalion, which was involved in the fighting. The Pioneers were obviously

a very versatile lot, and this would not be the last time men were used as front line

soldiers.

Pozières, August 1916 (AWM EZ 0099)

The end of the month found Russell and his compatriots digging advanced trenches

and constructing bomb stores and dugouts for field kitchens in the newly gained

territory. They continued this work into August, occasionally taking part in attacks

such as the one on the night of 5 August. A number of the men dug communication

trenches between the old and the new front lines as the attack progressed and new

land was taken. This work would have been very dangerous, as the Germans

bombarded the lines with high explosive and gas.

The result of this attack was that 2 Division took Pozières Ridge. It was relieved two

days later and replaced by 4 Division. 2 Division lost 6 846 casualties in twelve days.

As the division withdrew to lick its wounds, the bulk of 2 Pioneer Battalion withdrew

as well, apart from one company that was left behind to maintain the tramways the

men had built, and was temporarily attached to 4 Division. The men rested and

recouped until the twentieth, when they and 2 Division were ordered back to Pozières,

this time in an attempt to take the German stronghold at Mouquet Farm. Since

6 August, 1 and 4 Divisions had lost 7 300 men in unsuccessful attempts to take the

farm. Now it was 2 Division's turn. Its troops actually reached the farm, but could

not hold it. It lost 1 268 men in the process. While this action was taking place, the

Pioneers were digging new trenches and constructing tramways (light rail lines, used

to convey supplies and equipment to the front line, usually at night).

Men from 11 Battalion walking along a trench tramway near Bois Grenier,

June 1916. Note the dugout on the right-hand side. It would also have been

constructed by Pioneers. (AWM EZ 0047)

On 27 August, the men went into reserve again and moved to Senlis. The unit's war

diary entries for the months of September and October are missing, so the next report

we can see is that for November. By that time, Russell and his compatriots were still

on the Somme, near the settlements of Longueval and Flers. The Battle of the Somme

was petering out, both sides defeated by rain, consequent mud and the onset of winter

- one to be the coldest in forty years. The Allies had gained some territory since July,

but the supreme target - the town of Bapaume - had not been reached. Even if it had

been captured, there would have been little or no strategic significance in the event.

Bapaume was simply chosen to provide an understandable target for the battle. The

Somme was more about the British and empire forces giving support to the French,

who were beleaguered by the Germans in their historic fort of Verdun, further south.

In mid-November 1916, 2 Pioneer Battalion was busy quarrying for ballast, laying

track, carting and distributing material, bridging trenches and culverts, timbering box

drains, commencing construction of a railway siding, repairing roads and filling in

shell holes. One company was constructing a regimental bath house while another

was erecting a drying room and some stables. These were the kinds of activities that

the Pioneers were involved in for the remainder of that year. The reader should keep

in mind the fact that such activities, vital to the infrastructure for the war, were often

carried out under bombardment from the ground and the air. There were very few

spots along the whole Western Front that were quiet for very long.

In January 1917, suffering manpower shortages just as much as were the Allies, the

Germans began a strategic withdrawal to a better fortified and straighter defensive

line named after the military commander-in-chief, Paul von Hindenburg. The Allies

moved into the resultant military vacuum, harassed as they went by the retreating

Germans and the various booby traps they left in their wake. Ancillary units such as

the Pioneers followed on, ready to repair damaged features and create new ones where

needed.

In the first week of May 1917, 2 Division was involved in the Second Battle of

Bullecourt. The first battle, poorly conceived and executed, had been conducted the

previous month, achieved nothing and cost 3 000 casualties. The British 5 Army

commander, Lieutenant-General Sir Hubert Gough, decided to try again. That time, a

small area of enemy territory was gained. However, it was of no real consequence in

the overall scheme of things. 2 Pioneer Battalion and 2 Division were under the

overall command of 5 Army, and the Pioneers assisted their infantry counterparts by

constructing communication trenches and blocks in captured enemy trenches - all

completed while under constant German barrages. It was at this time that Russell

won his first Military Medal. The citation read as follows:

When party was returning along safe from work on night of 7th May a wounded

man was seen lying [sic] in the open south of railway embankment at Bullecourt.

Private Fraser was with his Officer at rear of party and volunteered to get

assistance and bring the man in. Shelling was heavy at the time, but Fraser

persisted in his attempts, obtained help and a stretcher and got the man to dressing

station, though he himself got wounded, in the back.

View of the Bullecourt area 1918 (AWM A 00664)

Fortunately, Russell's wounds were minor and, after a few days in a field hospital, he

returned to his unit on 12 May.

'Second Bullecourt' was the last major battle on the Somme for 1917. By the time it

occurred, the British High Command had decided to open a new theatre of operations

in Belgian Flanders - the scene of two costly and indecisive battles in 1914 and 1915.

This time, British commander Sir Douglas Haig wanted to capture the occupied part

of the Belgian coast and the German submarine pens there, and generally demoralise

the German Army by defeating it in battle. After a month of training in northern

France, 2 Pioneer Battalion crossed the border into Belgium, arriving at Ypres on 7

September. The new battle ('Third Ypres') had commenced at the end of July, and

almost immediately became bogged down in the thick, gluey clay created by

accompanying torrential rains. Russell and his compatriots were put to work building

shelters and laying plank roads in dirty and dangerous conditions. Between the

seventh and 10 September, the unit lost one killed and one wounded, along with two

horses killed by shell fire. On the twelfth, seventeen men were incapacitated by the

new mustard gas, introduced by the Germans (its official name was Yperite, after the

town). It burned exposed parts of the body and inner organs if breathed in.

On 20 September, I and 2 Divisions were involved in the Battle of Menin Road.

Their advance succeeded in driving the Germans back to the nearby Polygon Wood.

2 Pioneer battalion had assisted the infantry by preparing new roads and tramways,

and assisting in repairing existing ones. On the day of the attack, the Pioneers moved

in behind the advancing troops, constructing new roads until they were 'shelled off the

job'. They then returned at night to complete a six-foot mule track to the village of

Westhoek. Seven men were killed in this action, and twelve injured.

3 Battalion Pioneers laying a mule track near Zonnebeek, October 1917

(AWM E 00982)

While under heavy shell fire, the men continued building roads and tram tracks for the

rest of the week. There were several deaths and injuries, and a few gassings during

this process. On 24 September, while under frequent heavy shelling, Russell won his

second Military Medal. the citation read as follows:

At 2.30pm on 24/9/17 [Russell] was stretcher bearer attached to a party

constructing road between BELLWAARDE RIDGE and WESTHOEK. Enemy

shelled the sections intensely for a time and there was only shell hole cover. Pte

Cox being wounded Pte Fraser deliberately applied field dressings and then took

the wounded man to the Dressing Station. Pte Fraser's cool conduct had an

excellent effect on the remainder of the men. The working parties have been

shelled more or less every day and on each occasion this man's excellent

behaviour set a good example to the section.

The George V Military Medal (www.google.com)

The Menin Road area was targeted by the Germans for the remainder of the month.

On the twenty-ninth, members of one 2 Pioneer company were having a drink at a

'comforts' shelter on Menin Road when it was hit by an aerial bomb. A lieutenant

and seven other ranks were killed, nineteen wounded, one was gassed and one was

missing.

The Battles of Menin Road and Polygon Wood six days later were small-scale

successes but costly ventures. The Australians suffered 5 000 casualties at Menin

Road, the Pioneers being in the count. The value of the battles was that they were

successful examples of the 'bite and hold' strategy introduced by Major-General John

Monash: small-scale attacks aimed at specific and limited targets. It was a strategy

that was used to great effect in the last months of the war.

One question that arises concerning Russell is why he was not promoted after

receiving a bar to his Military Medal. After all, Albert Jacka of 14 Battalion went

from the rank of corporal to captain in fairly short order as a result of his Victoria

Cross and two Military Crosses (the officer ranks' equivalent of the Military Medal).

One could proffer a number of possible reasons why Russell did not receive

comparable treatment. Maybe he fell foul of the officers in charge for one reason or

another. Maybe he was offered promotion and refused it. Whatever, there is no

evidence in the war diary either way, so we can only describe him as an unsung hero.

2 Pioneer Battalion ended September 1917 with a bang: its camp was bombed by

aircraft. Nine members were wounded, and seven of them had to be evacuated.

On 4 October, 1, 2 and 3 Infantry Divisions carried out a successful attack on

Broodseinde Ridge. 2 Pioneer Battalion had been preparing for the attack by

extending existing roads and creating new ones. Once the attack began, the men

followed up, taking a position to the east of the ridge, doing much the same work. At

the same time, some of the men manned machine guns on the front line.

On 11 November, the battalion was finally relieved and went into reserve at

Wippenhoek. Winter was coming on and Third Ypres was winding down. The

primary target - the ruins of Passchendaele village - was finally captured by the

Canadians during the month, but the victory was a pyrrhic one. They were of no

strategic importance by then. Rain had set in after the Battle of Broodseinde Ridge,

creating incredibly boggy conditions, in which many men and lots of materiel sank

without trace. Many historians regard this time as the lowest point of the war.

2 Pioneer Battalion spent the months of December, January and February in the area

south of Ypres, caring for roads for the most part. Between 16 and 23 February 1918,

Russell went on leave to Paris and no doubt enjoyed the many pleasures that city had

to offer. On 4 April, soon after he returned to the battalion, it was order to move

south again, back to the Somme. Starting on 21 March, the Germans launched their

final offensive, desperately hoping to end the war before American troops could

arrive in large numbers and tip the balance in favour of the Allies. By early April, the

offensive was going well for the Germans, and they had recovered all the territory

they had ceded a year earlier when they withdrew to the well-fortified Hindenburg

Line. The Allies were pouring as many forces as they could spare into the Somme

area in an effort to block the Germans' advance towards the channel coast. On 14

April, 2 Pioneer Battalion, based at Lavieville, near Albert, was in the process of

building machine gun tunnels and defensive trenches. During these operations, as one

of fourteen casualties that day (four of them deaths), Russell received a shell wound

in the head and was evacuated to 5 Australian General Hospital at Abbeville. The

wound was obviously quite serious because he was then transported to Kitchener's

Military Hospital in Brighton. He stayed in England, recovering, until 15 August,

when he was sent back to France, arriving back with his unit on the twentieth.

By this time, the military situation had changed. Through battles such as the one at

Villers-Bretonneux on 25 April, the German push had been halted, the Allies had

regrouped and then begun their own offensives by early July. On 8 August, starting

with the Battle of Amiens, the major push was underway, much of it planned by the

now Australian commander-in-chief, Sir John Monash. By 15 August, 2 Pioneer

Battalion was following in the wake of 2 Division in the Somme area, retaking the

territory recently reclaimed by the Germans. It went into reserve on the seventeenth

and the men enjoyed such luxuries as hot baths, changes of clothes and leave in

Abbeville. By the end of the month they were back at work, some of them looking

after roads, others building trussed beam bridges over 'the river'- presumably the

Somme or one of its tributaries.

A 2 Pioneer bridge under construction, 1918 (AWM P00998.017)

A 2 Pioneer sawmill, 1918 (AWM P00998.018)

2 Pioneer Battalion was in action right up to the final battle for the Australian forces,

at Montbrehain on 5 October. In fact, it became a temporary infantry battalion on the

fourth, taking over the line from 38 British Infantry Battalion. In the course of the

successful battle, the Pioneers lost seventeen men killed in action, and two who later

died of wounds. Eighty-seven others were wounded. In return, 335 Germans were

captured, along with one howitzer and 'numbers' of machine guns. It was a costly but

effective performance by the men, and the king personally congratulated them on

their effort during a visit at the beginning of December.

Starting on the sixth, the battalion moved into reserve and began a program of

training. It was still doing this when the war ended on 11 November, and continued

in this fashion into December. Some time during that month, Russell finally received

a promotion - to corporal - and a transfer to the Provost Corps. Members of this unit

were military policemen, both mounted and on foot. The significance of Russell's

transfer is reflected in this extract from a letter to the commanding officers of the

Anzac Mounted Division, the Australian Mounted division and the Imperial Camel

Brigade in January 1918:

The G[eneral] O[fficer] C[ommanding] requests that you impress upon CO's the

necessity, in the interests of the AIF, of keeping this unit (ANZAC Provost Corps)

a corps d'elite. It should be regarded as an honour and a reward for good service

to be selected for it.

It would appear that Russell finally received the recognition he deserved, if somewhat

belatedly. He may have initially responded to the following advertisement.

(www.diggerhistory.info/pages/discipline/mil-police-ww1.htm)

There were thousands of Australian troops left in Europe and the Middle East after the

war ended. It would have been impossible to return all of them to Australia at once.

Therefore, there would have been a significant role for military policemen in

maintaining order amongst these men, some of whom became quite hostile when it

seemed as if the authorities were not doing enough to expedite their repatriation.

Russell returned to Australia on 25 September 1919 and was formally discharged on

17 January 1920. He was a genuine hero.

Sources

Australian War Memorial

en.wikipedia.org

http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages/discipline/mil-police-ww1.htm

http://www.google.com

National Archives of Australia

Travers, Richard: Diggers in France: Australian soldiers on the Western Front,

Sydney, ABC Books, 2008