OUR ANZACS
Above: Pompey (circled) as a member of Ormond College football team. Left: Pompey Elliott as a young lawyer
would be assembling and telling the corps commander what they thought of him. The staff officer made a phone call and Elliott was warned that he shouldn’t make such a fuss again. He simply replied that he would do whatever was needed to help his men when he had to. Elliott was promoted to brigadier
general early in 1916, assuming command of the 15th Brigade shortly before the disaster at Fromelles. Despite his inexperience in trench warfare, Elliott pointed out that the width of no-man’s-land was too great for the assault to succeed. Field Marshall Haig decided that the operation must go on, so Elliott did all that was pos-
sible to make it a success by himself going to the front line to personally inspect the lie of the land and encourage his men. He loathed the idea of throwing his men away uselessly and openly wept when it turned out that 1800 of the 5533 Australian casualties were from the 15th Brigade. These losses notwithstanding, the Brigade did magnificent work at the Battle of Polygon Wood at the end of September, 1917, with Elliott proving to be
an inspiring leader. During the battle he went up to the front line to sort out the confusion there. Welsh Fusiliers were mixed up with the Australian troops. One wrote: “It was the only time during the whole of the war that I saw a brigadier with the first line of attacking troops.” Another said it was “... rare for anyone who combines authority and nous to be on the spot.” The Australians were unsurprised; their brigadier was just being himself.
Later, Elliott wrote a report on the performance of a neighbouring British division: it was so critical that Lieutenant General Birdwood ordered all copies to be destroyed. Perhaps Elliott’s testiness could be partly explained by the fact that during this battle his brother, Captain George Elliott, a Military Cross winner, was killed. (George, a doctor, had been an excellent footballer, playing 80 VFL games prior to his enlistment. Al-
Mornington News 19 April 2016
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