Albert JACKA VC, MC and Bar

The first Great War VC to an Aussie

The family moved to Wedderburn when Albert was 5. After elementary schooling, Bert worked as a labourer with his father, then for the Victorian State Forests Department. 

He was a shy youth, but excelled at sports, especially cycling.

Jacka enlisted on 18 September 1914 as a private in the 14th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, and trained at Broadmeadows camp.

Early on 19 May the Turks launched a massive counter-attack along practically the entire Anzac line. At about 4 am they rushed Courtney's Post. Amid frenzied fighting some Turks captured a twelve-yard section of trench, one end of which was guarded by Jacka. 

For several minutes he fired warning shots into the trench wall until reinforcements arrived and, after shouting his instructions, he and three others sprang out into the trench. All but Jacka were immediately hit so he leapt back into the communication trench. A new plan was devised. Two bombs were lobbed at the Turks while Jacka skirted around to attack, from the flank. Amid the smoke and the noise he clambered over the parapet, shot five Turks and bayoneted two as the rest hastily retreated. 'I managed to get the beggars, Sir', he reputedly told the first officer to appear. 

• For this action he received the Victoria Cross, the first to be awarded to the A.I.F. in World War I.

Instantly Jacka became a national hero. He received the £5,00 and gold watch that the prominent Melbourne business and sporting identity John Wren had promised to the first VC winner. His image was used on recruiting posters and magazine covers.

On 28 August 1915 he was promoted corporal, then rose quickly, becoming a company sergeant major in mid-November, a few weeks before Anzac was evacuated. Back in Egypt he passed through officer training school with high marks and on 29 April 1916 was commissioned second lieutenant.

The 14th Battalion was shipped to France early in June. Jacka's platoon moved into the line near Pozieres on the night of 6-7 August and, as dawn broke, German troops overran a part of the line. Jacka had just completed a reconnaissance and had gone to his dug-out when two Germans appeared at its entrance and rolled a bomb down the doorway, killing two men. Jacka charged up the dug-out steps, firing as he moved, and came upon a large number of the enemy rounding up some 40 Australians as prisoners. 

He rallied his platoon and charged at the enemy, some of whom immediately threw down their rifles. Furious hand-to-hand fighting erupted as the prisoners turned on their captors. Fifty Germans were captured and the line was retaken. Jacka was awarded a Military Cross for his gallantry. 

C.E. W. Bean described the counter-attack 'as the most dramatic and effective act of individual audacity in the history of the A.I.F.' The entire platoon was wounded, Jacka seriously in the neck and shoulder; he was sent to a London hospital. On 8 September London newspapers carried reports of his death but Bert Jacka was far from done for. He had been promoted lieutenant on 18 August, rejoined his unit in November and was promoted captain on 15 March 1917 and appointed the 14th Battalion's intelligence officer.

Early in 1917 the Germans had retired to the Hindenburg Line and on 8 April Jacka led a night reconnaissance party into no man's land near Bullecourt to inspect enemy defences before an allied attack against the new German line. He penetrated the wire at two places, reported back, then went out again to supervise the laying of tapes to guide the infantry. The work was virtually finished when two Germans loomed up. Realizing that they would see the tapes, Jacka knew that they must be captured. He pulled his pistol; it misfired, so he rushed on and captured them by hand. Jacka's quick thinking had saved the Anzac units from discovery and probable disastrous bombardment; for this action he was awarded a Bar to his Military Cross.

Captain Jacka was wounded by a sniper's bullet near Ploegsteert Wood on 8 July and spent nearly two months away from the front. On 26 September he led the 14th Battalion against German pill-boxes at Polygon Wood and displayed 'a grasp of tactics, and a military intuition that many had not given him credit for'. In May 19 18 he was badly gassed at Villers-Bretonneux and saw no more action. In September 1919 he embarked for Australia aboard the Euripides. A large crowd, including the governor-general, greeted the ship when it berthed at Melbourne and a convoy of 85 cars with Jacka at its head drove to the town hall where men from the 14th Battalion welcomed their famous comrade. 

He was demobilized in January 1920. Shortly after his return Jacka, R.0.Roxburgh and E.J. L. Edmonds (both former members of the 14th Battalion) established the electrical goods importing and exporting business, Roxburgh, Jacka & Co. Pty Ltd. Jacka contributed £700 to the firm's paid up capital. The company's other directors were John Wren and his associate 'Dick' Lean, while Wren's brother Arthur held over three-quarters of the company's shares. In 1923 the business name was altered to Jacka Edmonds & Co. when Roxburgh withdrew.

In January 1921 Jacka had married a typist from his office and settled at St Kilda. In September 1929 he was elected to the St Kilda Council and became mayor a year later. He devoted most of energies on council to assisting the unemployed. His own business flourished until 1929 when the Scullin government increased import tariffs and the company went into voluntary liquidation in September 1930. It was rumoured that the company's difficulties stemmed in part from Wren removing his support after Jacka refused to follow his wishes. 

• Jacka then became a commercial traveller with the Anglo-Dominion Soap Co.

He fell ill, entered Caulfield Military Hospital on 18 December 1931 and died on 17 January 1932. Nearly 6000 people filed past hi coffin when it lay in state in Anzac House. The funeral procession, led by over 1000 returned soldiers flanked by thousands onlookers, made its way to St Kilda cemetery where he was buried with full military honours in the Presbyterian section. Eight Victoria Cross winners were his pallbearers.

At his funeral Bert Jacka was described as 'Australia's greatest front-line soldier'. Few would challenge this assessment. Bean and , men of the 14th Battalion (Jacka's Mob) shared the belief that he had earned three V.C. s. He might have risen higher in the A 1 F but his blunt, straightforward manner frequently annoyed his superiors.' He said what he meant, and meant what he said', recalls a friend. As an officer he invariably won respect by his example. It was claimed that he preferred to punch an offender than to place him on a charge. 'His methods could not have been adopted generally in the A.I.F. without disaster', Bean notes. Nevertheless Jacka seemed to epitomize the Anzac creed of mateship, bravery, fairness and an absence of pretentiousness.

Many sought to exploit his fame. In 1916 and 1918 he spurned offers from Prime Minister Hughes to return to Australia and assist with recruiting campaigns. His name was also used by (Sir) Keith Murdoch in the 1916 conscription referendum. His father promptly stated publicly that Bert had never declared himself in favour of conscription. The anti-conscriptionists made much of this denial but on balance it seems probable that Jacka did support conscription. His standing remained so high that a memorial plaque and sculpture for his grave was paid for by public subscription while £1,195 was raised towards buying his widow a house.

KEVIN J. FEWSTER  The Diggers, Melbourne University Press ISBN 0 522 84470 7

CAPTAIN ALBERT JACKA, VC, MC and Bar

I knew Jacka well. I served with him.

Born in the Winchelsea district, Geelong, in January 1893, he was employed by the Victorian Forestry Commission prior to the Great War. He was only thirty‑nine when he died in January 1932 at St. Kilda.

On the training grounds of Broadmeadows and of Egypt his superior officers saw no more military talent in him than they did in other strong personalities. It was the stress and strain of actual conflict that laid bare the superb fighting and other qualities he possessed. He was a lance corporal when at Gallipoli on 19 May 1915 he won the V.C. by jumping alone into a trench containing a party of Turks, of whom he shot five and bayoneted two.

Under wise leadership Jacka was, as an army in himself; under other circumstances little less than a problem. His pride and strength of character singled him out from his contemporaries; his brother officers naturally looked to him for leadership. He set a standard for battle discipline that others found hard to maintain. Jacka possessed that three o'clock in the morning brand of courage which his exploits on Pozieres Ridge amply demonstrated.

At the time he was a platoon commander and in charge of the 14th Battalion's right flank. No sooner had he taken over than a fearful bombardment fell on the ridge and continued throughout the night. The garrison, despite crippling losses, struggled to keep the trenches clear: it was an impossible task. Later, all who remained alive on the ridge sought shelter in a few captured enemy dugouts.

At dawn, a German bomb exploding at the bottom of the stairway in the dugout told Jacka that an attack had commenced. Racing up the stairs he assembled his men‑eight in all‑and surveyed the situation. Wherever he looked he saw the backs of large parties of Germans on their way to the Australian support line.

While planning a course of action he saw a party of about forty Australian prisoners under a strong escort coming towards him on their way to the rear. Calmly biding his time, he let them approach to within thirty yards and then, with a yell, the Australians led by Jacka charged; a free‑for‑all ensued.

Parties of Germans took to shell-holes and opened fire. One party of four was causing heavy casualties and Jacka made towards them. They put three bullets through him and knocked him down. Getting to his feet, he reached them and killed the lot; turning, he saw a huge man almost on him-he shot him in the guts.

The gallant behaviour of this extraordinary man came as a stimulant to the half-dazed prisoners. As they saw him shooting and killing right and left they took heart, and flung themselves on their captors. Some were killed in the attempt.

Jacka's timely action, starting as a ripple, spread into a wave, as little groups of men in the distance hurried to join in the fray. The Hun had the ridge in his hand, but before the fingers closed, his forces had been rounded up and taken off to the cages. Jacka's action prevented a costly counter‑attack and undoubtedly saved many lives. His action was the talk of the line; everyone said that surely he would receive a bar to his V.C. He received an MC.

In the official history of Australia in the 1914-18 war, it is stated that Jacka's action in this occasion "stands as the most dramatic and effective act of individual audacity in the history of the A.I.F."

A bar was added to his MC  f or a daring reconnaissance and gallantry under fire on 10 April 1917. He obtained valuable information, on which the success of the attack depended, captured a German officer and his orderly, and later personally guided and placed tanks and his battalion in position for the attack.

The pride he infused into others was demonstrated by a Lieutenant who was on loan from Jacka's company. Right or wrong he refused to discard his dressy uniform prior to going into the battle of Hamel. "We don't do things like that in Don Company," he said. An enemy sniper had the choice of killing what he thought was a private or an officer; he chose the officer.

The regard his men had for him was re­markable. At Messines a private picked him up as he would a child and dragged him into a trench away from snipers and shellfire. Shamefacedly he said, "Well, sir, I beg your pardon, but we can't afford to lose you."

No picture of Jacka would be complete without reference to his loyalty to his sub­ordinates-as well as to his seniors. His word was his bond. On one occasion a promise had been made by every staff officer from General Birdwood down to the effect that the battalion would be rested if they willingly undertook a long winter tour of duty while the rest of the Australians were enjoying a three months' rest. When he thought that the promise might be broken, Jacka saw red. Officers who assembled at a certain brigade conference will never forget the forthright manner in which he spoke up for his men. Threats of arrest did not deter him; he merely stormed the harder.

Such is the man I knew.

E. J. RULE (First A.I.F.)

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