John Alexander Milne

John Alexander Milne D.S.O.

9th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force

Died 12 April 1918 age 46

Lieut.-Col. J.A. Milne D.S.O. – Aus. Ex. Force

John Alexander (“Jock”) Milne had a truly remarkable career. He is much celebrated in what became his home town of Bundaberg in Queensland and has earned a place in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.  Researchers sponsored by the Returned & Services League of Australia have developed a claim that actions led by Colonel Milne on 4 and 5 April 1918 at Villers-Bretonneux played a crucial part, hitherto insufficiently recognised, in ending the war. By all accounts, he was an outstandingly brave and effective officer.

Thanks to the Australian sources, and the preservation of this soldier’s record in the online Australian National Archives, we probably know more about his experiences of the war than about anyone else on the war memorial. 

John Alexander Milne was born at Woodside, near Logie Coldstone in Cromar, on 23 March 1872, a son of labourer Alexander Milne and Jane McCombie, a dressmaker. His paternal grandfather lived in Torphins, and in 1881 the family were living at North Footie, Kincardine O’Neil. He had at least four younger brothers all born in the parish – George, Robert, David and James. By 1891 the family were living at Waulkmill. He attended school in Torphins. 

In 1890, aged 18, Milne emigrated to Australia aboard the Dorunda departing from London bound for Cairns. He found work as a farm labourer, miner, engine driver, farmer and commercial traveller in agricultural hardware.  In 1898 he married Mary Elise May Bull at Kilkavian Junction, Queensland. They had three sons. He also had an interest in military matters and by 1908 was an officer in the 1st Battalion of the Wide Bay Regiment. 

Milne (then aged 42) enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (9th Battalion) very shortly after the war broke out, on 20 August 1914. He was accorded the rank of Captain and dispatched to Gallipoli. The 9th Battalion were the first ashore at Gallipoli in the early morning of 25 April 1915. Milne led his company that day in the storming of Anzac Heights. The objective of this action was to capture a gun battery at Gaba Tepe. “A” and “B” companies of the 9th Battalion landing party having landed to the left of their intended objective, Captain Milne nevertheless led his isolated “C” company to the right, in a daring assault upon a strategically vital Turkish artillery battery, capturing it in the face of very heavy fire. In two separate incidents in the course of the day, he sustained serious wounds of the left hand and arm, resulting among other things in the amputation of the terminal phalanx of a finger, in hospital in Cairo a few days later. The wound then became infected. 

Mrs Milne was advised in a telegram that her husband had been severely wounded. He was declared unfit for service for four months. A more favourable report was sent to her on 11 June, but a week later the patient was clearly far from well as he was shipped to England and admitted to the Royal Free Hospital in London. It was not until October 1915 that he returned to Egypt for duty.

Within a few weeks of his return he was promoted to the rank of Major but on 12 November he took ill with paratyphoid fever, and was transferred again to hospital. He wrote home from the 1st Australian General Hospital in Heliopolis in terms which clearly alarmed Mrs Milne, talking of further Mediterranean fever “caught too just as I was going to get a Temp. Lieut. Col. My luck is out. I am still very sick so you must just let me say a Merry Xmas  + H N Year to you and the boys and all at St M…I am sick and lonely”.  We have this letter because Mrs Milne sent it to the Base Records office on 30 December 2015, with a stamped addressed envelope for its return, complaining that she had not been informed of her husband’s illness and that her letters (“I send at least one by every mail”) were clearly not reaching him. She enquired as to his present condition and whereabouts. No doubt she was much cheered by a telegram on 11 January1916, informing her that her husband was on his way back to Australia on the Ulysses (following certification by a medical board) for “three months change”.

On his return home, Major Milne was enthusiastically received, made recruiting speeches, unveiled the honour board at St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Bundaberg, and went on a fishing holiday at Urangan. In May 1916 he embarked again from Sydney, this time for France via England. A mysterious note in his record dated 5 September 1916 reads “Rejoined Unit from Cookery School Weymouth” (where there was an AIF command depot). He then proceeded to Le Havre from Southampton on 25 November. In February 1917 Major Milne was attached to the 36th Battalion, and in the following month granted the temporary rank of Lt. Col., the temporary promotion being made permanent in April. In May 1917, he had a week’s leave in England, after which he rejoined his unit. 

On 25 August 1917, Lt. Col. Milne was awarded the DSO for gallantry at St Yves 7-12 July 1917. The citation reads:

“ For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He showed great capacity and initiative in commanding his battalion when on carrying party duty. He kept the front line well supplied with stores, ammunition and water, and arranged for the relief of the parties in a most efficient manner although constantly depleted by casualties and exhaustion”.

In November 1917, Milne was granted a week’s leave in Parisduring which he again received recognition for his gallant conduct, being mentioned in dispatches “for Distinguished and gallant Services & devotion to duty in the field during the period 26 February 1917 to midnight 20/21 September 1917”.

In January 1918 he was sent for a few days’ flying course in Belgium, followed by a month’s leave in the UK. During this time he was in Scotland and bought a shotgun, which Mrs Milne understood was to be given to his eldest son (also on active service) if anything happened to him. It was to be his last period of leave. In March 1918, Mrs Milne, anxious for news as she had not heard from her husband since a cable of Christmas greetings on 16 December, wrote again to Base Records “I know he was not too well, result of being blown up by a gas shell but he was still in action Nov.28th”.  A reply came back on 14 March 1918 reassuring her that no report of casualty had been received. 

March 1918 marked the beginning of a German offensive on the Western Front, masterminded by General Ludendorff which aimed to attack, break through and separate French and British lines. On 21 March 1918, the Germans launched a major offensive against the British Fifth and Third armies between the Somme and Flanders. This forced the greatest retreat of the war by the British army. By the end of March, the allied line had been pushed back by about 20 miles. Casualties were massive on both sides.

By 4 April 1918, a crucial point of allied communications at Amiens was under threat of imminent capture. The allies under General Gough had established defences at Villers-Bretonneux. The village was strategically vital, as capture by the enemy would bring their artillery within range of bombarding Amiens. On the afternoon of 4 April 1918, the British artillery began to withdraw in the face of what seemed to be irresistible opposition. However, a small force of British and Australian reserves led by Lt.Col. Milne made a spectacular charge on the German lines. This counter-attack was led by the 36th Australian Battalion, supported by a company of the 35thAustralians and soldiers of the 6th Battalion London Regiment. Against daunting and improbable odds, they successfully pushed back the 9th Bavarians despite being greatly outnumbered. This had the effect of rallying others, and inspired further counter-attacks. 

By next evening it was clear that the assault on Villers-Bretonneux had failed. General Ludendorff wrote of this episode in his war memoirs: “It was an established fact that the enemy’s resistance was beyond our strength…In agreement with the commanders concerned, G.H.Q. had to take the extremely difficult decision to abandon the attack on Amiens for good…The battle was over by the 4th April…”.

Researchers in recent years under the sponsorship of the Returned & Services League of Australia, have argued that this action marked a fundamental turning point in the course of the war. Certainly, Jock Milne and the Australians played a pivotal role in the action on that day. *

Eight days later, on 12 April 1918, Milne’s brave and illustrious career came to an end at the age of 46. A report from Lieut. Dunn, Assistant Adjutant, records: “Colonel Milne was badly mutilated by a shell that exploded right into Headquarters whilst he was dictating orders to the Adjutant. He was buried…about 20 yards from the spot at which he was killed. A suitable wooden cross was prepared and erected”

When the news reached Bundaberg, flags were flown at half mast as a mark of respect. The army forwarded to Mrs Milne the insignia of her husband’s DSO in January of 1919. Correspondence followed regarding his various belongings. In April Mrs Milne wrote enquiring, pointing out that a year had passed since her husband’s death, and was informed (the news lagging some considerable time after the event once again) that three packages, sent from England on the S.S Barunga the previous June, had gone down with the ship when it was lost in transit as a result of enemy action. Inventories of Milne’s belongings were preserved. They betray a more than passing interest in both fishing and the various accoutrements of smoking, but also included books and letters, mathematical instruments, a portable camera, photographs and map of Paris. His kit bag, retrieved from the field, contained “Scotch heather” – a souvenir perhaps of the trip to Scotland shortly before his death. 

According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, drawing among other things on personal information, Jock Milne was an excellent rifle-shot, “Strong, broad-shouldered, seemingly fearless, with a powerful voice and marked Scotch accent, the sandy-haired Milne was well-liked and respected by his troops. A rugged individualist, with little respect for formality though a rigid disciplinarian, he was an eminently practical and competent soldier with a strong sense of duty”.

In 1919 the Adelaide Observer reported on a court application by Mrs Milne to set up the terms of a will which her husband had made, commenting that he was killed on active service by a shell “which blew him to pieces and destroyed the will which he had in his pocket”. On 24 March 1921, the Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser reported on the completion of a Milne memorial Challenge Shield for the Wide Bay and District Rifle Association, featuring a photograph surrounded by a laurel wreath flanked by the Union Jack and Australian flags. 

Lt.Col. Milne was reburied in 1920 at Heath Cemetery, Harbonnières.  

*See in particular (sources provided by Ray Phillips):
The [Queensland] Courier & Mail 25 April 2017: https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/time-to-fight-for-our-unsung-hero-john-alexander-milne/news-story/fe0a8a09b7e75a1eb8b6dcd411c7a4f8
Also YouTube war documentary Line of Fire 7 – The Kaiser’s Battle 1918 – 40 minutes in and following.

Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
1881 and 1891 Census
The V.C and D.S.O. Book Vol III (Naval and Military Press)
National Archives of Australia 11545760
National Library of Australia at www.nla.gov.au
Australian Dictionary of Biography
https://www.awmlondon.gov.au/battles/villers-bretonneux
Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918 Vol. I (11th Edition 1941) pp226-7 and 339-43 on Gallipoli; Vol. V (8th Edition 1941) pp342-355 re Villers-Bretonneux.
General Ludendorff: My War Memories Vol II (London: Hutchinson & Co.) on Internet Archive pp 599-600.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Avre
https://www.cwgc.org/our-work/blog/the-battle-of-villers-bretonneux-how-australian-troops-halted-the-german-advance/
Department of Trade outgoing passenger lists found at www.ancestorsonboard.co.uk.
Sydney Mail 5 July 1917 and 22 May 1918 p 27 and Brisbane Courier 27 April 1918 p6 – both at www.nla.gov.au.
Australian web search brings up a great deal of material on this officer.
Photo – www.recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=32519378