The Chipilly Six

Unsung Heroes of the Great War

by Lucas Jordan

Published by New South | RRP $34.99 in paperback
ISBN 9781742238098

When I picked up this book, I did not know the origin of the Chipilly of the title. It turns out it was a spur on the Somme River.

On 9 August 1918, on high ground overlooking the Somme River, an entire British Army Corps was held up by German machine gunners. The battle had raged for thirty hours and more than two thousand Englishmen had fallen, for no gain.

Meanwhile, two Australian sergeants, Jack Hayes and Harold Andrews, go absent without leave and cross the Somme ahead of the British lines.

Gathering weapons and four of their best mates, Hayes and Andrews return to take on the Germans, hence the Chipilly Six.

It is interesting how debate raged in the immediate aftermath of who should take the credit for clearing the way for the British. Could it be, as author Jordan suggests, a reluctance to create a hero out of the ‘absent-without-leave, souvenir-hunting larrikin Jack Hayes’ and his mates?

The story does not end with the war, of course.

Each man survived to return home but struggled later as injuries and the mental health cost of war took their toll against the backdrop of the Great Depression.

VERDICT: This is more than a retelling of an heroic event; it is a window into the post-World War I world and the problems that war could never solve.