Australia. Australian Army. Royal Australian Armoured Corps - Pioneers of Armour in the Great War

PIONEERS OF ARMOUR IN THE GREAT WAR

DAVID A FINLAYSON & MICHAEL K CECIL

First published in Australia as Pioneers of Australian Armour in the Great War,

in 2015 by Big Sky Publishing Pty Ltd

PO Box 303, Newport, NSW 2106, Australia

Reprinted in hardback format in 2017 in Great Britain by

Pen & Sword M ILITARY

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

47 Church Street, Barnsley

South Yorkshire

S70 2AS

Copyright Big Sky Publishing, 2016, 2017

ISBN 978 1 52671 505 0

eSBN 978 1 52671 507 4

Mobi ISBN 978 1 52671 506 7

The right of David A Finlayson and Michael K Cecil to be identified as Authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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For the pioneers of Australian armour during the Great War:

the members of the 1st Australian Armoured Section,

1st Australian Light Car Patrol and the Special Tank Crew.

Part 1

A. The December 1915 receipt for the purchase of armour plate by Captain James. The construction of the armoured cars was a considerable challenge in 1915 Melbourne.

The 1st Armoured Car Battery in Egypt.

Lieutenant Ernest Homewood James, 5th Australian Infantry Regiment, 1908.

Military Order 213 of 1916.

The vehicles of the 1st Australian Armoured Car Section at Royal Park, Melbourne, in mid-1916.

The crews of the 1st Australian Armoured Car Section at Royal Park, Melbourne.

The Daimler-based armoured car the crew named Silent Sue.

Armoured motorcar machine-gun and crew.

The Mercedes-based armoured car and crew at Victoria Barracks in May 1916.

The presentation of the 1st Armoured Car Section to the Minister for Defence, Senator G.F. Pearce, at Victoria Barracks, Melbourne, in May 1916.

First day out! June 1916.

Damage caused by storms in the Indian Ocean.

HMAT Katuna on arrival in the Suez Canal, August 1916.

The 1st Australian Armoured Car Battery awaiting departure for southern Egypt.

The Mercedes armoured car and crew on a railway flatcar preparing for the train journey from Moascar to Minia.

Minia Camp was the home of the British 11th and 12th Light Armoured Motor Batteries.

The Daimler armoured car in difficulties on the western frontier of Egypt.

The arrival of a shipment of new Model T Fords in southern Egypt.

Model T Fords were modified to suit local conditions.

Number 4 Block House.

The New Hudson motorcycle with its demountable sidecar.

Model T Ford LC427 of a British light car patrol with a badly bent front axle.

Sergeant Jack Langley and two other members of the 1st Australian Light Car Patrol aboard a heavily modified Model T Ford in early 1917.

The graves of two Royal Flying Corps airmen who were lost in the desert 40 miles west of Khara.

An Australian soldier stands in a line of defensive pits.

Sergeant Ivan Young, Corporal Bert Creek, Drivers George Jones and George McKay in their quarters with their Christmas gifts, 1916.

Members of the Armoured Car Battery with Christmas gifts provided by the Lady Mayoress Fund.

Senussi prisoners on open railway trucks at Kharga.

Captured Senussi rifles stacked at Block House 6.

A member of the Light Car Patrol stands in front of a dug-in shelter in the Sinai.

Lieutenant James watches Sergeant Ivan Young operate the Colt machine-gun.

An overnight campsite.

Light Car Patrol members wear gas masks while completing anti-gas training.

Looking for enemy machines: the pedestal mount at the rear of one of the 1st Light Car Patrols Model T Fords is used to engage an enemy aircraft.

Repairing a box-bodied Rolls Royce car in the desert.

Four of the Light Car Patrols first issue of Model T Fords.

Two of the 1st Light Car Patrols Model T Fords returning from a patrol.

Typical semi-desert terrain encountered by the 1st Light Car Patrol in Palestine.

A game of football somewhere in Palestine.

The tough conditions of the Palestine Campaign forced the 1st Light Car Patrol to become self-sufficient.

A forward outpost manned by the 1st Light Car Patrol on the Jordan River.

Detail of the Lewis light machine-gun and mounting on one of the Light Car Patrols Model T Fords

Light cars in various states of repair at a desert encampment in Palestine with three drivers working on mechanical problems.

Brew up: crews enjoy a meal somewhere in Palestine in 1917.

At the Dead Sea post the mechanical skills of the members of the Light Car Patrol were put to good use running captured Turkish patrol boats.

Boys playing cricket in the Jordan Valley.

General Allenby decorating Sergeant Langley of No. 1 Light Car Patrol with the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

Broken down on the desert 10 miles from home two of the chaps had to walk back for another car.

A light car in fighting order.

The Battle of Megiddo saw the collapse of the Turkish forces in Syria.

49a. Daily Orders Part II dated 22-2-1919.

The vehicle park of the 1st Australian Light Car Patrol and the British Armoured Car Batteries in Syria, 1918.

A smiling Captain James in typical officers working dress, complete with necktie and a Light Horse emu plume in his slouch hat.

No. 1 Australian Light Car Patrol at Aleppo Railway Station in November 1918.

Sergeant Bert Creek and Driver Hal Harkin with Turkish Prisoners, 150 miles from Alexandretta.

General Allenby, mounted, taking a salute from paraded drivers and crew of armoured cars, including the 1st Australian Armoured Car Section.

Sergeant John Langleys grave marker in the military cemetery at Aleppo, Syria.

Jack Langleys Roll of Honour circular for the Australian War Memorial.

John H. Langley as a student at Trinity Grammar, Melbourne, 1911.

Troopers Cohn and Richardson escort a Turkish Officer.

58a. Crews standing with their vehicles at Minia Camp in late 1916.

The originals of the 1st Australian Armoured Car Section as they appeared prior to embarkation.

Ernest James behind the wheel of an early motorcar.

Cadet Corporal Henry Harkin of the Melbourne Grammar School Cadet Unit.

The wedding party of Lieutenant Ernest James and Kate Melville in Brunswick in 1908.

Pre-embarkation studio portrait of Lieutenant Ernest Homewood James, taken at Broadmeadows Camp in May 1916.