Letter from Lieutenant Walter MADDEFORD 44th Battalion
The 44th Battalion was raised at Claremont in Western Australia in February 1916 as part of the 11th Brigade of the 3rd Australian Division. It soon became known as “Old Bill’s Thousand” after its first commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel William Mansbridge. After training, which involved drilling on Claremont Showgrounds and charging up Buckland Hill, the battalion left Fremantle for England on 6th June. After advanced infantry training on the Salisbury Plain, the 44th arrived in France on 27th November 1916. A few days later the 44th entered the front line trenches of the Western Front near Armentieres.
The 44th spent the winter of 1916 alternating between front line trench service and labouring in the rear areas. The battalion fought in its first major battle at Messines in Belgium, between 7th and 10th June 1917. After a brief respite, the 44th returned to the trenches east of Messines. Lieutenant Walter (Roy) Maddeford takes up the story…
In the Line, France. 25.6.1917
I’m up in the firing line now. We came up 3 night’s ago and have had a pretty rough time. We came into a new set of trenches which used to belong to Fritz but out of which he was pushed a week ago. Everything was upside down and we have had to build all our own dugouts. I’m in a little hole in the trench measuring about 3ft x 4ft x 2ft, so you can see I cannot even sit up in it. It’s just a little cave either side of the trench, but it’s cover from the shrapnel that Fritz sends over. As I am writing there’s one continual scream of shells overhead, but one gets used to it as long as you don’t let yourself get the jumps. Talk about the row his shells make when they explode! It’s simply deafening. I couldn’t shave or even wash for the first 3 days. Of course we couldn’t take our boots or pullers off even so you can guess how we all looked! You’d not have recognised me – you would have thought it an impossibility to live in such muck and filth and mud. However, just an hour ago I had a nice wipe over with the wet end of a towel (my face and hands only) and made up my mind come what may I must write to you dear.
I am looking forward to the time when we shall be relieved and get back to billets for a spell. We reckon on being here for another 12 days, so in 12 days time I hope to have a bath! My uniform is covered in mud from top to bottom but nevertheless dear, we don’t mind.
The whole of the countryside is just a vast dreary barren area pitted thickly with shell holes. For 3 square miles hereabouts I’ll swear there’s a shell hole for every 2 square yards. You cannot possibly imagine the awful desolate appearance of this battlefield for we are on the forward slope of the Messines Ridge. 5 or 6 miles back everything is quiet and green, but here is chaos, desolation and ruin. All around are farm houses with everything shot away – just here and there a wall or skeleton of a house standing.
Going through our trenches, you are nearly knocked over with vile smells. Just in the sector my platoon occupies (40 yards) there are no less than 4 dead Fritzes buried in the parapet. When we first came into the line these poor beggars were all over the place. Here and there a leg or arm sticking out of the earth. I tell you dearest it was a gruesome job fixing them up. All over no man’s land there are dead men hanging up in the wires. The thing that I marvel at is the grand cheerful spirit of our boys. Tis the finest honour that could ever befall me dear to command a body (small though it is at present) of Australian troops. There’s not the faintest shadow of a doubt but that they have the finest fighting material in the world in them. They are absolutely fearless and cheerful is not the word for it. We make a joke of everything. Some of the sights we see are too awful to describe, but we still keep on smiling and laughing.
From your loving boy, Roy.
If you were interested in the above article, you may be interested to know that our next tour leaves Australia for France in April 2025:
WW1 Western Front 1916 – 1918 tour: Belgium & France
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- Small number of group participants
- Includes Anzac Day Commemorations – Dawn Service at Villers Bretonneux & afternoon service with the Bullecourt Village Community
- Search assistance for relatives and persons of interest
- No picnic or box meals and no war bore stuff ..
- Relaxing evenings - dining as you choose in rural
towns of Belgium and France - All breakfasts, 9 restaurant luncheons
Our programme is crafted for an exceptionally well informed and balanced tour of Australia’s military history in France and Belgium in The Great War – with the ability to assist with relatives’ research. We offer expert knowledge and commentary. Accurate, exploratory, but not overwhelming, and includes “tourist time” as well.
Get in touch here, or go here to find out more.
This article was kindly supplied by Neville Browning OAM. You can read more about him here, or order his book here.
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