Guts Glory and Blunder

Noreuil, 1917, the forgotten fight

By Andrew Faulkner
Published by Big Sky Publishing
RRP $32.99 in paperback | ISBN 9781923144132

In his introduction, Andrew Faulkner says he was drawn to the battle after researching his book, Arthur Blackburn VC (2008). He was intrigued by how Blackburn’s Anzac mates survived Gallipoli only to die ‘at a place I couldn’t find on the map, let alone pronounce.’

Knowing this, I wondered what Google Maps would deliver. Today Noreuil is a small village of less than 200 people. It is close to Bullecourt, a more famous name in the annals of Western Front battles. On its southern outskirts, in a forgotten corner of a small field, you’ll find the graves of 224 war dead, many Australian. 

Faulkner was determined to tell the story of an otherwise forgotten battle which became a footnote in the history books.

Guts Glory and Blunder reaches into the valley beneath the vaunted Hindenburg Line to draw out the story of the men who fought and died seizing the French village of Noreuil in 1917. It is where hardened Anzacs and raw reinforcements fought and died shoulder-to-shoulder. It is where the 50th Battalion displayed uncommon valour in its fiercest battle.

It is where ordinary men performed superhuman feats despite a flawed plan, ‘friendly’ fire, enemy atrocities – a POW massacre and human shield tactics – and a combat mutiny.

It is where a larrikin private was awarded a Victoria Cross for one of the most audacious stunts in the history of the medal.

VERDICT: This is more than a dry recounting of a military engagement; it is, through the recorded words of those who were there, an intimate account of the brutality of war and its aftermath. And the physical reminders of this aftermath lie in the cemetery, clearly visible, that now occupies one corner of a peaceful field.