From Grammar Boy to Gallant Gunner

# 1627 WICKS Robert (Bert) Charles 5^th Light Horse / 14^th Field Artillery Brigade

Bert Wicks (as he was commonly known by his family) was born at Oakey (Q) on 22^nd June 1897. His father, George, was the headteacher at Oakey State School and his mother, Elizabeth, was also a teacher. Young Bert was educated at Oakey and in his later years at primary school was probably taught by his father who prepared Bert for the Queensland Scholarship Examination.

Only a small number of scholarships were awarded in those days, allowing students who gained a scholarship to attend either a Grammar School or a Christian Brother’s School with the fees being paid by the state. It is uncertain if Bert gained a scholarship but in any event, he was enrolled at Toowoomba Grammar School as a boarder at the age of 13 in the Sub Junior class. His parents at Oakey were close enough (17 miles away by train) that Bert may have been able to travel home at weekends or holidays. He would ordinarily have remained at Toowoomba Grammar until the end of 1914 but left at the end of 1911 when his father received a transfer to be headteacher at Blackall in the Central West of Queensland. It is open to speculation as to the reason for Bert’s departure from Toowoomba Grammar but it is possible that his mother wanted him home; he was her only son and she considered him to be her “little pal.”

Bert began employment with the English, Scottish and Australian Bank as a junior clerk. It is possible that Bert was a clerk at the Woodford branch but this has proved difficult to prove. While working in the bank, Bert, in his mother’s words “became acquainted with a girl and like many others, slipped.” The girl in question was Ellen Elizabeth Jenkinson of Caboolture (or Beerburrum) and Elizabeth’s phrase of “slipped” referred to the fact that Ellen became pregnant. It is possible that Bert did not inform his parents of the situation for some time but he begged his parents to give their permission for him to enlist. By the time that Bert enlisted, he was boarding with a Mrs Beeston at West End , and presumably continued to work in the E S and A bank while his parents continued to live in the school residence at Blackall.

On 27^th July 1915, George and Ellen Wicks wired their consent for Bert to enlist in the AIF to Victoria Barracks in Brisbane with a letter to follow. Two days later on 29^th July, Bert attended the Brisbane Recruiting Depot in Adelaide Street. He stated his age as 18 years and 1 month, occupation bank clerk, and named his mother, Ellen of State School Blackall, as his next of kin. Although not stated on his attestation papers, it is possible that Bert had served in the Senior Cadets and had also acquired skills in horsemanship. Bert reported to Enoggera where he was assigned to the 12^th reinforcements of the 5^th Light Horse Regiment. Soon after arriving at Enoggera, Bert married Ellen Jenkinson. There is no record of the marriage in Bert’s file and he did not consider changing his next of kin notification; perhaps an indication that he was keeping his marriage and looming parenthood from his parents.

On 30^th November, Bert travelled with the rest of the reinforcements to Sydney where he embarked on the “Suffolk.” The embarkation roll shows #1627 WICKS Bert, bank clerk, single. His mother is still shown as his next of kin and his allocation of pay from the 5/- a day is the standard 3/-. Married men with dependents usually allocated 4/- a day. After a little over one month at sea, Bert landed at Suez and proceeded to the Light Horse Remounts Depot at Maadi on the Suez Canal.

The Australian camps in Egypt were filling up with returning Gallipoli veterans and new enlistments, like Bert, direct from Australia. British plans included a doubling of the AIF in Egypt from two to four divisions, which once sufficiently trained, would be dispatched to the Western Front. The expansion plans did not include the Light Horse, which would remain at the previous level of approximately five brigades. Men such as Bert were not required for the LHR but the expanded divisions of the AIF had a need for horsemen, particularly the artillery.

Bert was transferred to the 14^th Field Artillery Brigade on 27^th March 1916. The expanded AIF encompassed 5 divisions of three brigades each. Each brigade would have attached to it a field artillery brigade. The standard artillery piece was the 18 pounder. Each gun was attached to a limber which contained a small quantity of ammunition. The limber in turn was harnessed to a team of six horses, arranged in three pairs. In each pair, a rider rode on the offside horse. The whole arrangement was designed so that the gun could be brought into a battle, unhitched and loaded ready for firing in a short time. In addition to the riding crew, the gun crew travelled on a horse drawn wagon, which included the crew’s baggage, more ammunition and gun spares. The senior NCO in charge of the gun rode his own horse. Bert was initially ranked as a driver but just prior to shifting to France he was redesignated as a gunner (signaller).

The gunners boarded a ship in Alexandria on 20^th June bound for Marseilles, where they boarded trains for the journey across France to the huge British depot at Havre. Once re-equipped with new guns, horses and harness, the brigade proceeded to the sector of the Western Front near Armentieres in Northern France.

On 1^st July 1916, the British Commander in France opened his “big push” along the valley of the Somme. Things did not go well and very little ground had been gained, but at great cost in lives. All of the Australian units in France were under British command and as such were attached to various British armies. The war diary of the 14^th FAB records active shooting by the six batteries of the 14^th in the area of Fromelles from 15 July onward.

Prior to an attack, the artillery was tasked with pounding the enemy’s defenses and wire entanglements. At zero hour, the batteries laid down a protective screen in front of advancing troops. Then according to a previously arranged timetable, the artillery screen or creeping barrage lifted to keep just ahead of the advance. This was the theory. In practice, as the old saying went, “no battle plan survives the firing of the first shot.” Barbed wire was particularly difficult to cut with high explosive or shrapnel shells and even after days of a preliminary bombardment often remained almost completely intact. The terrain in Northern France was predominantly flat, providing little geography suitable for overseeing the enemy. Most reconnaissance prior to an assault relied on aerial photographs or telephone signals from tethered balloons.

Bert’s task as a signaller involved maintaining and repairing telephone cable from Brigade HQ to each battery commander. The phone cables were often cut by hostile artillery and it was the task of the signaller to walk the battlefield (presenting a suitable target to the enemy) to find and repair the break. In certain situations, British cables could be tapped into by the enemy, requiring the use of codes. When cables broke, signallers resorted to semaphore flags, signal lamps or runners until communication could be restored.

The war diary of the 14^th FAB records almost daily shooting by the various batteries in the brigade; sometimes coinciding with an infantry assault, and at other times a more general harassment of the enemy. Mealtimes were a common time to call down a barrage as an attack on morale. Occasionally, there was counter battery fire in the form of an artillery duel where one set of guns would attempt to knock out an opposing gun or gun line. Targeting ammunition dumps was also considered to be particularly valuable as any enemy shell you can destroy in a dump is one less that will be rained on you.

The Somme campaign continued through the latter half of 1916. As winter set in, most aggressive action was put on hold to await the spring. On 15^th November, as the 14^th FAB was being relieved, Bert received a gunshot wound to the head. It was not serious and after being transported by train to the Australian Hospital at Rouen, Bert was discharged, arriving back at the 14^th’s wagon lines on 12^th December. During the winter, the Germans had constructed a heavily defended line some distance behind their front-line positions. As the weather improved, the Germans holding their old front began a strategic withdrawal to the new position, which the British named the Hindenburg Line. The Australian divisions attached to the British 5^th Army were involved in following the German withdrawal eastwards. In April 1917, major battles were fought at Lagnicourt, Gueudecourt and Bullecourt.

The 14^th FAB was included in the planning for a major attack against the Hindenburg defences at Bullecourt. The original plan included the customary artillery creeping barrage, but General Gough was persuaded that tanks could be more effective than explosive shells and as a consequence, the artillery was dispensed with. The attack began on 10^th April with battalions of the AIF lying in the snow waiting for the arrival of the tanks. The tanks did not make it to the start line in time, so Gough postponed the attack until the following day. The attack on 11^th April was doomed to failure. The tanks again broke down, got stuck in shell craters or were disabled by artillery firing over open sights. The fiasco of Bullecourt convinced planners that no offensive action would be successful unless artillery, and lots of it, was employed. The Hindenburg Line had fulfilled its purpose and the German occupation of Northern France continued.

The British failures at Bullecourt brought the sorry saga of the Somme campaign to an end. The British Command turned its attention to Belgium and the Ypres salient. Ypres had been the site of two previous battles in 1914 and 1915. General Haig was convinced that a sustained push from the Ypres ramparts eastward would create a split in the German line. The five divisions of the AIF, and their attendant artillery, were included in the planning for the 3^rd Battle of Ypres.

The first phase was to remove German positions from a low ridge which ran south from Ypres through the village of Messines and on to Meteren. The Battle of Messines began with a prolonged artillery barrage that lasted for two weeks in which three and a half million shells were fired by British, Canadian and Australian gunners. On 7^th June 1917, nineteen explosive mines which had been placed in tunnels under the German positions were fired simultaneously, creating the largest man-made explosion in history up until that time.

The batteries of 18 pounders and 4.5-inch howitzers which made up the 14^th FAB were in action almost constantly during the Messines battle. Once the position was secured, the 14^th FAB was relieved and moved out of the line to carry out maintenance and repairs to the guns, particularly worn barrels and broken recuperator springs. It was also an opportunity for the gun teams to take a well-earned rest. Unlike the infantry which spent relatively short periods at the front, the artillerymen were in almost constant action. They worked in heat, rain and snow keeping up the fire rate dictated by brigade headquarters. Gun lines were often moved during the hours of darkness in readiness for a fresh round of shelling from a different position. Men suffered from perforated ear drums and ear infections. They slept beside their guns or under the limber.

Once the Messines phase of the operation was concluded, General Plumer could begin his series of short, contained battles which would bring his forces up to the village of Passchendaele. The first of these Battles became known as Menin Road. The battle was timed to start on 20^th September 1917. Plumer had 1300 guns at his disposal to fire three and a half million shells. The 14^th FAB had begun to move up into position to begin the preliminary barrage for ten days prior to the start date. The main communication corridor, the Menin Road, ran from the Ypres ramparts to an intersection where one road ran towards Zonnebeke while the main road continued to Menin. Both roads were dead straight and had been registered by German artillery.

The intersection, just two kilometres from Ypres, known as Hellfire Corner, was an obvious choke point and the Germans shelled the location incessantly. Hessian and canvas screens were erected along the roads to screen troop movements, but the Germans continued to rain down high explosive shells. Horse drawn transport wagons and artillery were whipped into a gallop when passing through Hellfire Corner.

In the first week of September, just as the main artillery barrage was building up, the 14^th

FAB were bivouacked in shelters near Hellfire Corner. Reports provided to the Red Cross state that Bert and some other members of the 53^rd Battery were sheltering in a dugout when a German shell landed on the roof of the dugout causing the roof to collapse. Bert sustained serious wounds to his head, chest and abdomen. By the time that rescuers had retrieved the men from the dugout, all were dead including Bert Wicks, Killed in Action 4 September 1917. He was 20 years old. Bert was buried in a grave nearby with a temporary wooden cross.

Official notification of Bert’s death was relayed to George Wicks at Blackall. Bert’s name was also listed in the casualty lists published in the Brisbane Courier. It was probably this notification which prompted Ellen Wicks, who was by that time living in Woodford to write to the authorities and apply for a pension for herself and her infant son, Matthew. The pension was granted from November 1917 in the sum of £2 per fortnight for Ellen and £1 per fortnight for Matthew. Ellen provided a copy of her marriage certificate to the authorities and was then listed as Bert’s next of kin.

The change in next of kin status caused Bert’s mother, Elizabeth, a great deal of concern. All of Bert’s personal effects were eventually forwarded to Ellen Wicks at Woodford. Elizabeth Wicks wrote to the authorities enquiring about a wallet which she said Bert had asked a comrade to send to his mother in the event of his death. Perhaps she did receive this memento after all. Elizabeth Wicks began to sign her correspondence Mrs L. Wicks perhaps to avoid confusion with the younger Mrs E Wicks. Medals and a memorial plaque were sent to Ellen Wicks as next of kin. Bert’s remains were exhumed from the temporary grave at the end of the war to be reinterred in the Birr Cross Roads Cemetery #1, 500 metres from Hellfire Corner. Ellen Wicks and Matthew moved from Woodford to Goomeri in the South Burnett in late 1918. Bert’s parents were transferred to Redland Bay from the beginning of 1918

Bert Wicks is commemorated on a number of memorials and honour boards including Toowoomba Grammar School, E S and A Bank Honour Roll, Blackall, Toowoomba and Redland Bay Memorials. Bert is commemorated on the Woodford Honour Roll and a tree and plaque are included in the Woodford Avenue of Honour.

- Ian Lang, Historian, Researcher VWMA