Lemnos and Gallipoli - New book with chapter on Lemnos

Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee member, Dr John Yiannakis of Curtin University, has written a chapter in a major new book on the Anzac story.
The book is titled - "Lest We Forget - Marginalised Aspects of Australia at War and Peace" - and is published by Black Swan Press.
John's article is entitled -  "Lemnos and Gallipoli; Towards redressing a marginalised history".
Dr Yiannakis participated in last years inaugural Lemnos Anzac Conference, delivering a paper.
The book costs $28 and will be published this month.

All those interested in the Lemnos link to Anzac should get themselves a copy.
You can order the book by clicking on the following link - Lest We Forget Book Ordering Website
A brochure on the book can be viewed on the following link - Let We Forget Book brochure

Jim Claven
Secretary
Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee

Lemnos Hero - Private Frank Brent - TV Interview with a Gallipoli Veteran

Frank Brent being interviewed by the BBC in 1964. Source: BBC

In 1964 the BBC interviewed many First World War veterans for a major TV series, The Great War.
One of the veterans interviewed was Private 168 Frank Thomas Brent, a digger in the AIF's 6th Battalion.
Frank was a digger who had been born in Lincoln in England. A 25 year old clerk, he joined up in Melbourne on 20th August 1914 only a few weeks after the outbreak of war. He wrote of his previous military experience as being 4 years with the A.S.C. (Imperial).
On enlistment, his address was given as Nar-Nar-Goon in Gippsland but this was amended to Springvale Post Office, Victoria. His next of kin was recorded as his mother, Margaret, who lived in Kennington, London, England.
He embarked in Melbourne aboard the HMAT Hororata A20 on 18th October 1914.

The HMAT Hororata crossing the Indian Ocean in November 1914, part of the first Australian and New Zealand convoys. Private Frank Brent was on this ship. Source: AWM

In the interview he describes leaving Lemnos on the evening of the 24th April, the voyage to Gallipoli aboard the Galeka - refusing food and being unable to sleep because of the landing to come, the landing itself, the 6th Battalions capture of Anzac Ridge, the 6th Battalions move to Cape Helles further south to take part in attacks there, the disorganization of the campaign, the dangers of shrapnel wounds and bombardments from your own sides' artillery. He recounts his feelings at the deaths of his friends on the battlefield.
This is an amazing recording.

Frank and the 6th Battalion aboard the Troopship Galeka at Lemnos, prior to the departure for the landings. Source: AWM

Frank and the 6th Battalion's experience at Gallipoli was one of taking part in some of the fiercest engagements of the campaign, sustaining massive casualties.
They took part in the Anzac landing on 25 April 1915, as part of the second wave, and going on capture Anzac Ridge on that day as Frank recounts. Following his unit's relief by the British Royal Naval Division, Frank reported his experience of those first days on Anzac and the terrible cost in casualties:
 "Then on the 28th Royal Naval Division came an we were evacuated from the line into these little humpies just in the sand hills and it was then for the first time since the landing that we'd been able to look around for our cobbers. On the first day we were just mixed up and running around like a lot of rabbits - nobody could see who was who and what was what. And it was then for the first time that we realized what the taking of Anzac Ridge had cost, because hardly any of our mates were left."

Ten days after the landing, Frank and the 2nd Brigade was transferred from Anzac to Cape Helles to help in the attack on the village of Krithia. The attack captured little ground but cost the brigade almost a third of its strength. The Victorian battalions returned to Anzac to help defend the beachhead, and in August the 2nd Brigade fought at the battle of Lone Pine - a battle that raged over 4 days from 6th August - ending with over 2,000 Australian casualties.
Frank was wounded at Gallipoli on 18th August - with a severe gunshot wound to his thigh.

A view of Anzac Ridge, where Frank served. This image shows the 22nd Battalion relieving the 6th Battalion. Source: AWM

He was repatriated to Malta, then England.
Frank's Battalion would return to Lemnos for rest and recuperation and also in December after the evacuation of the peninsula. Below members of Frank's Battalion march to Therma, passing local Lemnians. Thus photo could have been taken either before the Anzac landings or after the August offensives.

6th Battalion soldiers pass some local Lemnians on the road to Therma. Frank could have been amongst them. Source: AWM

Below they play a famous football match against the Royal Navy team from HMS Hunter on Lemnos in December.

Frank's Battalion in "battle" against the HMS Hunter football team, December 1915, Lemnos. Source: AWM

After recovering from his wounds, Frank re-joined his unit and served on the Western Front for the rest of the war. Frank describes in the interview taking part on the terrible Battle of Pozieres in France in July 1916.
During leave in England in October 1917, Frank married a young lass from the Beckenham - Agnes Etherington, the daughter of a postman.
Frank would be promoted through the ranks, ending the war as a Company Sergeant Major (he had been promoted to this rank in May 1917). He was also awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal in November 1917. The citation states that this was:
"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in an attack. He took command of a party, and attacked an enemy strong point, capturing twenty prisoners and two machine guns. He also rendered valuable assistance in consolidating the captured position, and set an example to his men."

Franks Distinguished Conduct Medal citation. Source: NAA

He was also awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
He would live in England after the war. He is reported to have carried the Australian flag at the Anzac Commemoration Service in London in 1953. He died in London in 1966. His son Alan (95 years old) and grandson Paul are alive and living in Ireland.

Springvale and Anzac
Continuing the Australian and Springvale connections, Frank's sister Ethel Brent married an Australian soldier - William Henry Fleming (No 780, 8th Batalion) and moved to Australia in 1919. While William was living in Carlton when he enlisted in 1914, the Fleming family had a connection to Springvale in Victoria. He listed his next of kin as his brother Thomas, who resided on Racecourse Road, Springvale.

William Henry Flemings enlistment papers, recording his brothers address and his marriage to Ethel Brent. Source: NAA

After the war the Fleming family played an active role in fighting for veterans and their families welfare. Another brother, Victor Fleming, with his brothers and a couple of cobbers (around the kitchen table of his corner shop) decided that Springvale needed to bring together its servicemen and actioned the birth of the Springvale RSL on January 13th 1920.
William Fleming was the first President of Springvale RSL. Frank Brent was one of the first vice Presidents of Springvale RSL. William and Ethel's ashes are in the memorial garden in Springvale RSL.

 

I would like to thank Frank's grandson Paul Brent who lives in Ireland for additional information on the Brent and Fleming families.

Watch Frank's interview by clicking below:
BBC 4 Collections - The Great War Interviews Part 1 - Frank Brent

Jim Claven
Secretary
Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee

New Zealanders and the locals on Lemnos

Just like the Australians, our Anzac cousins, the New Zealanders at Gallipoli spent time on Lemnos and interacted with the locals in 1915.
Below is a sequence of lovely photographs, showing an Australian and New Zealand soldier of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles talking to and making friends with some local Lemnian children and giving them a donkey ride.
Who knows the descendents of these children may be living in Australia or New Zealand today.
Enjoy.

Source: Imperial War Museum, London


Jim Claven
Secretary
Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee

Our Gala Dinner Dance - Melbourne Greek Newspapers Reports

For all of our Greek-language followers and supporters, click on the links below to read the reports on our recent Gala Dinner in the local Greek media:Neos Kosmos Gala Dinner Article June 2014
Ta Nea Gala Dinner Article June 2014

BBC Radio - 1914 Day by Day

BBC Radio is having a series of programs recording events from WW1 day by day.
Historian Margaret MacMillan chronicles the road to war in 1914, drawing on newly researched archives throughout Europe.
Click here to listen to the program recreating the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand:
BBC Radio - Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand
Click below for the link to the podcasts of these programs:
BBC Day by Day 1914

Jim Claven
Secretary
Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee

BBC Live History - The Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand

BBC has commenced a series of live "history" programs. A major event of WW1 is recreated, with reporters reporting from the actual places of events and in "real time".
The first episode concerns the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo, on 28th June 1914.
Read and watch this program by clicking the link below:
BBC 28 June 1914 - Archduke Ferdinand Assassinated

The funeral of Archduke Ferdinand and Duchess Sophie took place in Vienna on Thursday 3 July 1914.

Jim Claven
Secretary
Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee

ABC Radio launches day of WW1 historical programs

To mark the centenary of World War One, ABC Radio National last weekend hosted a series of special broadcasts. The Great War: Memory, Perceptions and 10 contested questions explores 10 critical questions about the war and Australia’s place in it. Have a listen to these great programs.

The ten programs are:
1. Endgame. The Hundred Days offensive brought an end to the stalemate in the trenches and saw the collapse of the Central Powers, but should the allies have occupied Germany at the end of the war, and if they had, could they have prevented WW2? This program looks at the crucial role played by the US in bringing about victory for the Entente, the legacy of the conflict on the 20th century and beyond, and how we should remember The Great War today.

Crowd in Martin Place, Sydney celebrating the news of the signing of the armistice. (Courtesy of the Australian War Memorial)

2. Other Voices, Other Battles.The colonies of Britain and France fielded millions of men from places like Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, West Africa, Madagascar and Indo-china – not to mention India, and thousands of  labourers from the Chinese mainland. Could the Entente powers have survived the war without the assistance of these troops and workers? And how did the issue of race determine where these men served, the kind of work they were made to do, and the casualty rates amongst them?

Two members of a Chinese Labour Company carrying their equipment during the British retirement in France, 24 March 1918. (Courtesy of the Australian War Memorial)

3. God and Country.  What part did religion play in WW1, and what impact did the conflict have on morality and belief? Throughout the war, churches and religious leaders on all sides were enthusiastic supporters of the slaughter, viewing the conflict as a war for civilisation against a godless and barbaric enemy and using language that spoke of holy war and crusade, of apocalypse and Armageddon. But was the Great War a holy war?

Archbishop Daniel Mannix campaigned prominently against conscription (Donaldytong/Wikipedia Commons)

 

4. The view from Berlin.  Did Germany engineer the war for its own territorial ambitions, or was it a victim of the complicated diplomatic web that bound it to an unstable Hapsburg empire? The issue of German culpability is still hotly debated today, not least amongst German historians. We take the view from Berlin to find out how the war was perceived within the borders of the Central Powers.
 

Did the Kaiser steer Germany towards war? (WikiImages/pixabay)

5. The Pen and the Sword. How important is WW1 literature - the ironic poetry of Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, the vivid memoirs of Robert Graves - to the way we remember the war today? In this program, we look at the canon of literature that emerged out of the Great War, its impact on how we understand the war today, and also at the literature that didn’t stick in the popular mind - the material that's been left behind and long forgotten.
 

Siegfried Sassoon, one of the most famous war poets, who was treated for shell-shock after declaring his opposition to the war in 1917 (George Charles Beresford/Wikipedia Commons)

6. Hell and Healing. Shellshock, poison gas, concussion, the loss of limbs and disfiguring facial wounds. Along with trench foot, these were the kind of injuries common in WW1. Industrial warfare forced doctors and nurses to find new ways to treat the wounded, maimed and psychologically damaged. What insights did the war give us into human suffering, and how have future generations benefited from this?

Camel ambulances flying the Red Cross Banner, with cacolets used to transport wounded on the camels. (Courtesy of the Australian War Memorial)

 7. The Enemy Within. No issue divided the people of Britain, Australia, New Zealand and America more than that of conscription. In each of these countries, Anarchists, syndicalists, Marxists, Christian pacifists, women's groups and intellectuals all appealed to our unease over conscription as part of their wider opposition to the war. So were the soldiers at the front let down by some of the people at home?

Anti-conscription leaflet by the Australian Labor Party (Courtesy of the Australian War Memorial)

8. Sideshows. Entente commanders believed that the war would be decided on the Western Front and that everything else was a “sideshow”, but the Great War also raged in Italy, Austria, Russia, Palestine, Turkey, and New Guinea. These theatres of the war clearly weren’t just sideshows for those who took part. So how were they experienced by the soldiers on the ground, and how important were they to the outcome of the war itself?

The Australian Infantry Signal School in front of the Sphinx and Pyramid. (Courtesy of the Australian War Memorial)

 9. Lions and Donkeys. Many of us were taught in school that WW1 was mishandled by incompetent military leaders. "Lions led by donkeys" became a common phrase used to compare courageous soldiers with their bumbling commanders. But how accurate is the stereotype of the red-faced General, safely holed up in chateaux miles behind the lines, wasting the lives of brave soldiers in futile and badly planned battles?

Group portrait of five decorated Australian Flying Corps officers 1919-20 (Australian War Memorial/ The Commons)

 10. The Contested Beginning. After 100 years and millions of hours of academic research the causes and origins of WW1 are as contested as ever – why? Over the century almost every European leader and nation has been blamed for the outbreak of the war. Many ism’s have also been blamed; colonialism, nationalism and even a non-ism - stupidity. But today there are some historians who argue that no one nation, leader or event was to blame, but that Europe simply slid into war.

The first page of the edition of the Domenica del Corriere, an Italian paper, with a drawing depicting Gavrilo Princip killing Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo (Achille Beltrame/Wikipedia Commons)

For the link to these programs, please click below:

ABC Radio World War One programs

Jim Claven 
Secretary
Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee