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communications amongst the opposition. However, the predictable nature
of this form of attack meant that defenders were often well prepared for
the attack. Often the barbed wire was not affected by artillery fire; a factor
because men were extremely vulnerable when they arrived at the wire
protecting the opposition’s positions. The random effect, but destructive
nature of artillery fire, is demonstrated by George Lane (18
th
Battalion)
who thinks he is safe three miles behind the Front when “ a big shell
whizzes overhead and drops near our batteries in a field close by”.
4. The area of land between opposition trenches become known as “
no
man’s land”
for obvious reasons. It was often uneven ground due to the
impact of artillery shells, with limited vegetation, shattered buildings and
barbed wire entanglements. At night it was an area that soldiers used on
reconnaissance missions, to find weaknesses in enemy trench lines and to
kill or capture enemy soldiers.
It was also the place of a hideous death by many soldiers. Joan Beaumont
the author of
Broken Nation: Australians in the Great War
, winner of
the 2014 Prime Minister’s Award, quotes a Corporal George Mitchell
who sees the stupidity and vulgarity of war by describing the failed attack
at Bullecourt…...where “soldiers in no man’s land hung like scarecrows
wounded and helpless only to be riddled by bullets…..They like birds in a
snare just had to stay there until the bullets ended their suffering.”
Mitchell is describing soldiers from his brigade who have nearly reached
their objective but are now unable to break free from the barbed wire and
now wait for certain death.
In Battles like Passchendaele and Bullecourt in poor weather conditions
no man’s land became an impassable morass where men drowned due to
falling into artillery shell holes, artillery fire proved ineffective in
destroying barbed wire and soldiers died unnecessarily due to the slow
progress of stretcher bearers through mud and artillery holes. In many
battles with no side gaining much of an advantage in this area a lot of
soldiers had to be left to die or were already dead in this area and were
only found when a battalion returned to reclaim the land much later in the
war.
Artillery fire on the night before raids were expected to cut holes in the
wire, but all it tended to do was to indicate the direction the opposition’s
attacks were to come from. The photo shows a typical section of barbed
wire.
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