One Man's War on the Western Front, 1917

Nov 21, 2011
Brian Cross

Buttes New British Cemetery, Zonnebeke - Image by Nicksarebi

When Britain called, Private Albert Cross answered, to join the thousands of young New Zealand men who went to war on the other side of the world.

On 16 October 1916, the troop carrier Willochra left Wellington bound for Plymouth, England. On board were some 1,000 men of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, setting off to reinforce the British Army on the Western Front. Even among those with a sense of realism about what lay ahead, there was an air of excitement aboard - in contrast to the sad farewells of family and friends ashore.

Within a few months of their departure from New Zealand, most of those aboard Willochra would encounter the enemy head on in the muddy, bloody battlefields of Flanders.

Off to Fight for Britain on Foreign Soil

As Willochra sailed out of Port Nicholson, Private Albert Cross joined his comrades at the ship’s rail. Just 20 years old and employed as a plumber in Wellington, Albert had enlisted four months earlier, his intention to do his bit for King and country. New Zealand was by now a dominion, but its people still saw their place in colonial terms. The Union Jack flew in priority to the young nation’s own flag, and distance from Mother England was no deterrent to those thousands of young Kiwis willing to heed the call to arms.

Albert had done his basic training at Featherston Military Training Camp, and now it was off to war. First of all there would be a ten-week voyage ‘home’, then some final training at Camp Sling on the Salisbury Plains. By early February 1917 Albert was in France. Along with thousands of other young soldiers, he was being rushed forward to help shore up the New Zealand Division, its ranks sadly depleted after the Battle of the Somme the previous autumn.

Albert arrived in France at a relatively quiet time in hostilities and was posted to the 1st Battalion Canterbury Regiment. Initially attached to Brigade HQ, he was put to work on building command facilities and communication trenches. His plumbing skills would keep him away from the frontline, but only for a while.

Campaign on the Ypres Salient

The strategic focus of British High Command was now turning from one disaster in France to the next in Belgium. Messines was about to explode, to be followed by the bloody and largely fruitless Third Battle of Ypres. At Passchendaele and elsewhere along that stretch of the front, members of the New Zealand Division would be in the thick of things.

For the average infantryman in World War I, three fifths of his time was spent in relative safety behind the lines. There was always a lot of work needed to support those taking their turn at the front - digging and repairing trenches, loading and unloading supplies, transporting the wounded. Compared to the hellish conditions of the trenches, this was considered ‘rest’ time. Sooner or later Albert would be back in range of the shell and sniper fire, where his odds of becoming a casualty were as high as 60%. A combination of good fortune and his trade skills saw Albert survive the major battles of 1917. In late October his battalion was in new billets at Lottinghen, 15 miles east of Boulogne. In mid November, the order came to return to the front lines.

Four miles east of Ypres near the Menin Road was Polygon Wood, a plantation forest until the war came. It had been the scene of fierce fighting back in September, when British forces had taken the German position known as ‘the Butte’. But in Flanders, ground once taken would often later be lost, and so it was at Polygon Wood. On a high point at the eastern end of the sector stood the ruins of Polderhoek Chateau. It was for now in German hands and providing them with an excellent observation post across no mans’s land. Taking Polderhoek was critical to further British advances, and the job fell to the 1st Canterbury Battalion, along with the 1st Otago.

The Futility of Trench Warfare

The assault on Polderhoek Chateau began in late November. Beset by the new threat of bombing from the air as well as the usual heavy artillery, and the forward machine gun posts of the seemingly impregnable defences, every inch of ground would be hard won.

To consolidate small gains made early on, a concerted attack was ordered for 3 December. During the darkness of the early hours, Albert joined his comrades in the front line trench, preparing to go over the top. It was the time to sit and wait. Just what Albert was thinking about in those uncomfortable hours can never be known. At noon the artillery barrage began, and as the line of shelling crept forward, the command was given to attack.

For the ensuing hours of daylight, the men of the 1st Canterbury Battalion found themselves pinned down on the battlefield and taking heavy casualties. The next day they were relieved, and the fighting went on. Within a fortnight the Germans retook all the ground gained by the Canterbury and Otago Regiments. As a military offensive, the assault on Polderhoek Chateau had failed.

At some point in time on the afternoon of 3 December 1917, Private Albert Cross was killed in action. Just one of 255 casualties of the 1st Battalion Canterbury Regiment during that month of activity, just one of more than 16,000 New Zealanders to die during the four years of war. Along with 377 other officers and men of the New Zealand Division killed around Polygon Wood in 1917/18 with no known grave, Albert’s name is inscribed on the New Zealand Memorial at Buttes New British Cemetery in Zonnebeke, Belgium.