World War I Family Hero- Frederick Cecil Vidler

Frederick Cecil Vidler, known as Fred, was born in 1892, the second son and fourth child of Frederick Ashley and Jane Vidler (nee Haydon), of the Berry area, in southern New South Wales. In the late 1890’s the family moved north to Chillingham, on the Tweed River, in northern New South Wales. He was also the first cousin of my paternal grandmother, Olive Pearl Vidler, whose family also moved from Kiama to Chillingham in the 1890’s.

In World War I, Frederick Cecil Vidler followed his older brother, Ashley Haydon Vidler, and several Vidler first cousins, into the Australian Imperial Forces.

He enlisted in Brisbane on 23 November 1916, soon after the defeat of the 1^st Australian referendum on ‘military conscription’, in October 1916.

Fred went into training at Enoggera Camp in north-western Brisbane, and on 21 January 1917 he embarked on the troop ship ‘Ayrshire’, as part of the 47^th Battalion. After several weeks at sea, he disembarked at Devonport in England, and was sent to the Australian camp at Codford on the Wiltshire plains, to undergo further training.

In early July 1917, he proceeded with his battalion to the port of Le Harve in France, and marched into the nearby camp of Rouelles. A few days later the 47^th was moved to Ypres, Belgium, where the Battle of Passchendaele was raging on the Western Front.

The Battle of Passchendaele fought from July to November 1917 is sometimes called the Third Battle of Ypres. Those that were there, later referred to it as the Battle of Mud.

The attack on Passchendaele was an attempt to break through to the Flanders coast so the German submarine ‘pens’ could be destroyed.

On July 18^th 1917, a heavy artillery barrage was launched at the German line. This lasted for ten days.The wet weather was a problem, but the infantry forces inched forward with artillery cover. Fortunately a change in the weather brought better conditions and on 20 September the ‘Battle of Menin Road’, was a small victory for the allied forces, amid great loss of life..

The Australians were slowly moving forward towards the remnants of Polygon Wood, not far from Zonnebeke.

The 4th and 5^th Australian divisions were brought in on 26 September.This was the ‘baptism of fire’ for young Vidler.The fighting was bloody as the German concrete pillboxes were in the path of the Australians and many thousands of men fell under the heavy shelling and machine gun fire.

Finally with artillery support, the Australian’s captured the Broodseinde Ridge on 4^th October. This was a most welcome and vital victory.

However, heavy rain began to fall making the area, which had been so heavily shelled in the weeks before, a deep quigmire, and both men and beast found it impossible to move forward leading to further heavy casualities.

On the night of 12^th October the Australians (and New Zealanders) launched another attack against Passchendaele, which was atop the main ridge, and heavily fortified by German troops. By now the fighting on the Eastern Front had crumbled and most of those German troops had been moved to the Western Front, particularly re-enforcing the Passchendaele Ridge.

Because of the water filled craters, deep mud and no cover, the Australian troops struggled to keep up with their artillery barrage. Ground was taken, but could not be held, and there was total carnage. Conditions were so devastating the attack was called off next day.

Frederick Cecil Vidler moved out with his Company on the night of the 12^th October moving toward the front line, but they came under heavy German artillery fire. Next day he was reported wounded, but with no further details. He appeared on the gazetted list for his unit and his father was advised accordingly on 6 December, some seven weeks later..

On the 10 December his father wrote to Australian Army Headquarters, enquirying how his son was wounded and what hospital he was in. By this time Fred’s older brother, Ashley Haydon Vidler, who had been badly wounded earlier in the year was recruperating in England.

An Australian Army Headquarters officer advised that there had been no further information, so it was probable that his son Private F C Vidler was progressing well, but he would enquire further to his whereabouts and health.

At this time no further information had come to light on the fate of Private Frederick Cecil Vidler and he was listed as ‘ missing in action’.

A Red Cross Wounded and Missing enquiry was launched and a number of soldiers were questioned about their knowledge of Private Frederick Cecil Vidler.

‘Private J B Finger of the 47^th was interviewed on a hospital ship some months later, on 17 April 1918 and said-

“ He was in C Company. I saw Vidler wounded at Passchendaele on Oct 13^th the night we came out. He came with us to Ypres and he was evacuated from there- as I know. Vidler was a big chap, fair- we called him ‘Fred’.

The Red Cross continued their enquiries . Another soldier of the 47^th W P Filand, reported,

“ There were two Vidlers in the Battalion (47^th), both in C company, who were cousins. About 1 January I was told by another Vidler who was the brother of one and the cousin of the other and is, I think, in the 49^th AIF, that F C Vidler was in hospital, wounded and doing very well. The news came from the cousins in C Company,  both were about 25 years and about 5 feet 11, but F C Vidler whose name was Fred had most of his front teeth out. My informant, Vidler was a very small man, 5, 2 or 3. He gave me the information about Jan 1 in camp near Cambrai.”

However, no further information could be found until his Battalion burial records were searched and it was found that ‘F C Vidler had been killed in action on 12 October 1917’ and had been buried ‘1000 yards SW Passchendaele, and 1000 yards NE Zonnebeke’.

A military inquest conducted by the 47^th Commanding Officer on 22 March 1918 found that- ‘F C Vidler had been killed in action on 12 October 1917- and his family were informed accordingly. His personal effects- listed as ‘four photos’- were packed ready for shipment back to his family. They were placed in ‘crate No 112’ aboard the cargo ship Barunga on 21 June 1918.

This cargo ship was made ready to return to Australia and left port in early July. However, it was torpedoed by a German submarine, as it left the English Channel on 15 July. Although all those on board were rescued, the cargo was lost.

For the rest of the war his family didn’t know what had happened to him. Only that he had been killed.

With the War Graves Commission’s work after the war all those lone graves and groups of the soldiers around Zonnebeke were exhumed and the remains brought in and buried in the Buttes New British Cemetery, in Polygon Wood. The largest percentage of these soldier remains could not be identified and have unnamed headstones.

However in September 1920, the War Graves Commission notified Private Frederick Cecil Vidler’s parents that his remains had been identified and buried in the Buttes New British Cemetery, and asked if they had any wishes concerning wording and symbols on his headstone. The following year they received from the Commission photographs of his grave.

Frederick Cecil Vidler

(This photograph was supplied by the family for the publication, “Australia’s Fighting Sons of the Empire”, p.136, 1918).

Last year we undertook a pilgrimage to the World War I Battlefields of the Western Front, and visited many cemeteries and memorials, where we honoured family members, many of whom had lost their lives in that terrible conflict. I blogged about some of our experiences as well as the stories of our family heroes.

World War I Family Hero- Gunner L A Bell – Passchendaele, posted 20 October 2014, and Australian World War I Battlefield Tour- Polygon Wood, posted 27 October 2014 are two postings that should be read with this post, as they give more information about these places.

This year I have continued family research, including identifying and researching more family heroes, who went to World War I. This included the above Private Frederick Cecil Vidler, who was a first cousin of my grandmother. As his story unfolded we realized we had visited the Butte New British Cemetery, where he is now buried. Although a little disappointed that we didn’t know it at the time, we have now pulled out all our photos and maps of that cemetery, and are able to identify just where he rests in peace.

Here I stand at the end of the row where Private F.C. Vidler is buried . His headstone is just off my left shoulder.

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Australian World War I Battlefields Tour – Polygon Wood

Polygon Wood – Now there is a name that brings an emotional lump to the throat.

This area is about eight kilometres east of Iepers, and is approached from a small road off the main Menin Road.

We could see the 5^th Australian Divisional Memorial through the trees, as we got off the bus, but we visited the Polygon Wood Cemetery first.

The Polygon Wood Cemetery was irregularly used as a front line cemetery between August 1917 and April 1918, and then again towards the end of the war. It is now a Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery. Many of the identified burials were for those who served with the New Zealand Infantry Forces. There was also a lone German grave in this cemetery, which we thought was rather unusual. The Battle of Polygon Wood took place on 26 September 1917.

There was a walled avenue, which led from this cemetery to the Buttes New British Cemetery, which is located below the Australian 5^th Division Memorial.

This cemetery was made after the war when a large number of graves, mostly from 1917, were brought from the battlefields around Zonnebeke.

Also standing here is the Butte New British Cemetery (New Zealand) Memorial, which commemorates nearly 400 New Zealand soldiers, who lost their lives around Polygon Wood in 1917 and 1918, and who have no known grave.

Overlooking this quiet sanctuary was the Australian 5^th Division Memorial.

The Memorial was a grey stone obelisk, which stood upon a long elevated bank known as a ‘butte’, and is approached by a steep flight of stairs, which were extended some years after the Memorial was erected, in 1919. This is ‘Australian’ land acquired by the Division after the war.

There were several story-boards located here, which we spent some time reading.

More information can be found at –

http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/zonnebeke/fifth-australian-division-memorial/battle-of-polygon-wood.php

The 5^th Australian Division was formed in Egypt in February 1916 after the withdrawal of Australian troops from Gallipoli. When the first Australian troops were sent to France to serve in trenches along the Western Front, some battalions were left in Egypt for further extensive training.

However, by July 1916 all the Australian Infantry Forces had arrived in France, the 5^th Division being the last to arrive, took their place as re-inforcements at Armentieres.

It was from here the 5^th Division, the most inexperienced as far as battlefield action goes, found themselves at the Battle of Fromelles on 19 July 1916. This attack was poorly planned and was not fully executed, or supported as it should have been, by the British forces, which resulted in the greatest loss of life of Australian soldiers, in one day, for the whole war . There were over 5,500 causalities, including 400 prisoners. The 5^th Division was totally incapacitated for several months and were not ready for combat again until October 1916. We were to hear more about this horrendous battle from our Tour Guide, Pete Smith the following day, when we visited the new cemetery at Fromelles.

We then boarded the bus and took the short drive to the Hooge Crater cafe and museum, for a late lunch.

Australian World War I Battlefields Tour- Iepers

The second day of our tour began with a walking tour of this beautiful medieval city. Perhaps I need to fill you in on a bit of history of this place first.

Ieper is an ancient town located in the Flemish province of West-Flanders (or Vlaanderen). When World War I was declared in August 1914, it was known by its French name, Ypres.

Soon after the declaration of war and the German mobilization, more than 8,000 German soldiers passed through Ypres on the 7 and 8 October 1914, on their ‘push to the coast’.

Within a few days, French and British soldiers arrived in the town to set up a blockade to stop the full-on German offensive, as they realized the strategic importance of the town.

It was the British soldiers who first called it ‘Wipers’, which was a much easier name to pronounce. They were there for four long years from October 1914 to November 1918.

This town was the focus of German operations in the north-west, as they tried to recapture it. However, despite major offensives and severe artillery shelling, which reduced the town to rubble, the town never fell into German hands during the war.

This town was also the main staging post for allied forces before they went out to fight in the surrounding area, known as ‘ the Salient,’ which is a battlefield feature that projects into enemy territory.

Every allied soldier fighting in Belgium most likely would have passed through this town, at some time.

I can imagine several of our family heroes marching out at night, to their positions in the trenches, batteries and observation posts. Most of the troop movements were at night, because there was some advantage to traveling under the cover of darkness, in such an open and flat country. The enemy was not easily able to observe the size and position of troops, and then bombard the area with artillery and bombs.

With the centenary of World War I, there is so much material on-line that literally ‘puts you there’, such as this film.

The film deals with the participation of the Australian troops in the Third Battle of Ypres during the autumn of 1917. The scenes include Australians preparing for the attack; being reviewed by Sir Douglas Haig before going into action; shells falling amongst the ruins of Ypres and then shows the battlefields over which Australians fought and incidents connected with the fighting.

http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/ieper/a-walk-around-ieper/ruins-of-Ypres-1917-movie.php

Today it is difficult to image there was so much destruction here, and how everything was painstakingly restored after the war, right down to the cobblestoned streets. In fact, the whole city is a memorial to World War I

From the moment we got off our bus at our hotel, we could feel a special atmosphere about the place. It took me a while to work it out. There was a busyness, but not the loud brashness of many tourist places. The people we met were welcoming, but not patronizing. In many places on our travels throughout Europe, the people smiled and rushed out to greet us, but we knew they were looking for our ‘tourist dollar’.

At Iepers it was different. There was a quite respectfulness as if they knew why we were there, especially as our Australian accents soon announced us. Everyone we met wanted to help us understand and to know, what had happened there all those years ago.

However, I must point out the place was not silent and morbid. In fact, when we arrived in the hotel restaurant for our dinner, there were obviously several celebratory parties in progress, including a large school group.

Perhaps you could say there was a certain ‘joyfulness’ about the place too. I don’t really know why, but maybe it is an appreciation of the sacrifice of all those thousands of soldiers, from all over the world, all those many years ago, so that their city could remain in existence, and be reclaimed and rebuilt.

After a wonderful dinner and a good nights sleep, we were ready to begin our walking tour of the city.

We started our tour not far from the hotel at St Jacobs Church. (below).

If you look carefully you can see the original doorway and footings of this medieval church which survived the war, but everything above the door was rebuilt.

We then proceeded to a section of the city wall ramparts, where actual shops had been built into the earthen bank. This area was also used as allied headquarters during the war.

We then visited the Menin Gate. Nothing I can write can do it justice, but I will try, with a separate blog or two soon.

After a very emotional visit to the Menin Gate, we proceeded along the main street until we arrived at the Great Market Square. It was a huge cobblestoned area, surrounded by beautiful Gothic buildings faithfully and painstakingly restored after World War I. The Gemeentehuis, or Town Hall is one such building. (Below).

The weekly markets were taking place in the Square and it was interesting to wander through the stalls. We found them similar to what we could expect to find at city markets back home, and it gave us a comfortable familiar feeling, as the grey over-caste sky gave way to warm summer sunshine.

We headed for the huge inspiring Gothic building, which took up nearly half the square itself. It was the Lakenhalle or Cloth Hall.

So much about the history of this building can be found at-

http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/ieper/a-walk-around-ieper/cloth-hall-lakenhalle.php#

This beautiful restored and refurbished building is the ‘Jewel in the Crown’, for the city for the World War I Anniversary celebrations. Lots of information can be found here.

http://www.greatwar.co.uk/ypres-salient/museum-in-Flanders-fields.htm

Within this building is the In Flanders Fields Museum. This museum is spread over two floors and is an incredible place. It uses all the modern technical equipment to tell the story of the war, not only from the city’s perspective but all those who endured those terrible times. Although the history was well told and illustrated, I found it crowded, gloomy and very oppressive, as it is painted all black inside with little light, except for a cold reflected light from the display cabinets and strategically place down-lights..

A large shop can be found on the ground-floor, where I was able to purchase many gifts and books, which will add to my knowledge and understanding of this very special city, and its surrounding villages.

I was pleased to get outside and have a quick morning tea at one of the many pavement cafes, on the edge of the Square, before we returned to the hotel to join our group to begin our bus tour of the Ypres Salient.

As we boarded the bus the sunshine had deserted us again. Our next stop would be the 5^th Australian Division Memorial at Polygon Wood.