Letter to Beryl Alison Lang from Douglas Ballantyne Fraser

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Letter to Beryl Alison Lang from Douglas Ballantyne Fraser

Maker Douglas Ballantyne Fraser (1895 - 1975)

Date26 November 1968

Object number00056461

NameLetter

MediumPaper, ink

DimensionsOverall: 267 x 201 mm,

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection Gift from Angus Lang

Terms

DescriptionHandwritten letter to Beryl Alison Lang (widow of Arthur William Houstoun Lang) from Douglas Ballantyne Fraser dated 26th November 1968. The letter was composed following Lang’s death on 25 November 1968. The letter refers to Able Seaman Driver Arthur William (‘Bill’) Houstoun Lang, who served with the Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train during the Allied landing at Suvla Bay on 7 and 8 August 1915.HistoryThe 1st Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train (1st RANBT) was formed in Melbourne on 28 February 1915 and intended as a horse drawn engineering unit attached to the Royal Naval Division (RND), then serving as infantry on the Western Front. The term ‘train’ in its title was a direct reference to the horse drawn wagons that would, in theory, form and move ‘in train’ to carry the unit’s heavy lumber, building materials and engineering equipment to the front. The unit was comprised of members of the Royal Australian Naval Reserve (RANR) for whom there were no available billets in seagoing Australian naval vessels. Many of the sailors serving in 1st RANBT were rated ‘drivers’, which again refers to wagon drivers as opposed to motor vehicle drivers. Other seamen were rated as ‘artificers’ or ‘sappers’, the latter being a military term traditionally used to describe army engineers. Lieutenant Commander Leighton Seymour Bracegirdle, RAN was appointed command of 1st RANBT. He was ideally suited to command the unit, having seen active service with the NSW Naval Brigade during the Boxer Rebellion in China as well as serving as a military officer in the South African Irregular Horse during the Boer War in 1901. He had also recently returned from German New Guinea where he served as a staff officer in the joint Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (ANMEF) responsible for the capture of the German colonies in the Pacific in September 1914. Three hundred naval reservists, including 50 men who recently served in New Guinea, were selected for 1st RANBT, and began training in horsemanship, engineering and pontoon bridging at the Domain in Melbourne. By late May 1915, the decision was made to send the unit to Britain to complete its training and then to join the RND on the Western Front. The plan, however, never eventuated. On 4 June 1915, 1st RANBT sailed from Melbourne aboard the troopship HMAT Port Macquarie (A39) bound for active service. While crossing the Indian Ocean, new orders were received that diverted the ship to Bombay where the unit’s horses were disembarked due to an outbreak of illness. 1st RANBT was then sent to Egypt, where it arrived at Port Said on 17 July, and the men were instructed to stand by for new orders. A few days later the unit reembarked in Port Macquarie with instructions to proceed to Mudros, on the Greek island of Lemnos. Once there, Bracegirdle learned that he and his men were to provide engineering support in connection with the British landings at Suvla Bay to the north of Anzac Cove on the Gallipoli Peninsula. During that time, 1st RANBT was to be under British command and control. The unit transferred from Mudros to the Greek Island of Imbros, which was used as a staging area for the landings at Suvla Bay. Early on the morning of 7 August 1915, 1st RANBT landed under fire at Suvla Bay from the transport Itria. Its first task was to construct a pontoon pier to enable supplies and reinforcements to be brought quickly ashore. The campaign at Suvla was ill-conceived and poorly led, with the advance soon becoming bogged down and dissolving into trench warfare, like that experienced at Anzac Cove and Cape Helles. Engineering materials were scarce on the Gallipoli Peninsula and faced with a lack of suitable bolts and iron dowels essential for pier construction, the men of 1st RANBT salvaged a wrecked sand dredge for the necessary material. The unit’s artificers removed guard rails and rungs cut from steel ladders to fashion their own fasteners using a portable forge. These activities took place under frequent enemy artillery fire and occasional air raids which, during 1st RANBT’s five months at Suvla Bay, killed two and wounded over 30 of its number. Two more men succumbed to disease and many others became sick or were injured in the course of their duties. Despite the regular arrival of reinforcements from Australia, the unit was always under strength due to illness or casualties. In December 1915, the decision was made to abandon the Gallipoli Peninsula and Allied troops were soon evacuated from the beaches under the cover of darkness. The operation required the wharves to be in constant use and the men of 1st RANBT were kept busy repairing damage caused by enemy artillery, the elements, normal use, and accident. The bulk of 1st RANBT’s personnel were evacuated from Suvla Bay on the nights of 16 and 17 December 1915, but a small group of 50 remained behind at Lala Baba Beach, in the southern part of Suvla Bay, to maintain the wharf on which the British rearguard would depart. These men were kept busy maintaining the wharf, often damaged by shell fire, and were not evacuated until 4:30 on the morning of 20 December 1915. Consequently, the sailors of 1st RANBT were the last Australians to leave the Gallipoli Peninsula, as the last AIF troops departed Anzac Cove at 4:10 AM the same day. The unit was also Australia’s most decorated naval unit of the First World War, with more than 20 medals awarded to its sailors. Following the evacuation of Gallipoli, 1st RANBT was reconstituted at Imbros in December 1915/January 1916. It was then sent to the Suez Canal Zone to operate various ‘swinging’ pontoon bridges then in use. These bridges allowed soldiers, horses, camels, and vehicles to cross the canal before being 'broken' to allow ships to pass through it. 1st RANBT was again placed under British command during this period. However, the unit’s morale suffered and in April 1916 approximately 98 disgruntled seamen were permitted to transfer from the RANR to the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) for service on the Western Front. Reinforcements from Australia arrived intermittently, but 1st RANBT never comprised more than 300 personnel at any one time. The tedium of the work 1st RANBT undertook in Egypt led several of its personnel to submit repeated requests to transfer to the AIF so they could play a more active part in the war effort. This disenchantment was exacerbated by a number of deaths due to illness and accidents. Two able seamen died from Enteric Fever during late 1916, while a third drowned in the Suez Canal. The pace of fighting in the Sinai during the second half of 1916 quickened and soon front-line troops were pushing Turkish forces back. Resupply of food, water and ammunition for these forward units became a problem, and a plan was developed to conduct an amphibious assault in late December 1916 to seize the Turkish coastal town of El Arish, which could then be used as a forward resupply base. 1st RANBT was directed to provide a 50-man detachment to land with the troops and construct a pier that would be used to land supplies from ships. On 22 December 1916, the 1st RANBT detachment landed at El Arish from lighters and quickly built two piers. The town had been abandoned by the Turks a few days before and no resistance was encountered, but coastal waters were mined and those ashore were within range of Turkish artillery. Due to the unit’s accomplishments at El Arish, 1st RANBT was advised by British authorities that it was to be relieved of duty on the Suez Canal and reassigned to forces advancing into Palestine. However, before that could occur, Lieutenant Commander Bracegirdle was advised 1st RANBT was to be dispersed and its men either transferred to the AIF or returned to Australia for discharge. On 27 March 1917, the unit was officially disbanded. Arthur William (‘Bill’) Houstoun Lang (Service Number 72N) was born in the Sydney suburb of Mosman on 1 January 1894. He was the second of three children to Scottish emigrant William Lang and his wife Florence (née Woodham). The family lived in Mosman and Lang attended Fort St. Boys High, Sydney from 1906 until 1910. His mother died shortly after his 16th birthday, and he subsequently commenced three years compulsory military service with the RANR and Royal Australian Naval Brigade. He was employed as a wool buyer at the time of the outbreak of the First World War. With the conflict’s commencement in August 1914, Lang enlisted in the ANMEF and saw service in German New Guinea. He subsequently returned to Australia and joined the RANBT on 11 March 1915. Lang embarked with 1st RANBT from Melbourne in 1915 and served at Suvla Bay, and then the Suez Canal, until the unit was disbanded. Lang transferred to Australian Imperial Force (AIF) Artillery in March 1917 and underwent artillery training in the United Kingdom, after which he was transferred to France in October 1917. In December 1917, Lang was posted to the 104th Howitzer Battery, 4th Field Artillery Brigade, and served on the Western Front until he was wounded in action on 13 September 1918. He suffered severe shrapnel wounds to his left foot, left wrist and right forearm and was treated in France and England before returning to Australia in March 1919 aboard HMAT Delta. During the voyage home, Lang was admitted to the ship’s hospital with influenza and pneumonia. He survived the flu, arrived back in Australia in March 1919, and was discharged from the AIF four months later. Lang returned to the United Kingdom in 1924 and undertook a course at Leeds University in textiles and wool. He met his future wife on the return voyage to Australia and then resumed his pre-war career as a wool buyer, purchasing wool for firms in France, Belgium, and Europe. He was troubled by his wounds throughout his life: The shrapnel that struck his right forearm severed the ulnar nerve and he had a habit of rubbing the little finger and palm of his right hand with his left hand. However, Lang was most troubled by the aftereffects of his bout with influenza, which left him with recurring and chronic bronchitis and made him prone to chest infections. Later in life, he developed emphysema. In 1968, Lang suffered a stroke, was hospitalised and developed bronchopneumonia. He died on 25 November 1968 at the age of seventy-four. SignificanceThese objects are significant because they are associated with a naval reservist who served in a little known and relatively unheralded unit of the Royal Australian Navy during the First World War. They also comprise a material record of the overseas service of an Able Seaman in the Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train during the Gallipoli Campaign. Very little material evidence associated with the RANBT has survived and most of the unit’s history is known only in relatively small circles, possibly because 1st RANBT was not at Anzac Cove. However, the unit had a significant role in the conflict, as it received the most decorations in the RAN, and was also the last contingent of Australians to withdraw from the Gallipoli Peninsula.