Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is represented through a single episode of naval bombardment: its warships fire on a French-held village while Australian ground forces wait nearby. Seen at a distance, the shelling makes the destruction of the settlement the immediate focus, linking naval fire to the shifting fortunes of the troops on the ground.

The Bombardment

The village remains occupied by the French when Dorrigo Evans, muleteers, and machine gunners reach the area. From a safe distance, they watch the Royal Navy’s warships offshore fire methodically, house by house. The settlement is reduced to rubble and dust as the bombardment continues.

The Australians’ Advance

The shelling continues until the French unexpectedly withdraw at noon. The Australians then advance over ground marked by the bombardment, passing collapsed terrace walls, shattered tiles, and damaged trees and artillery. The sequence places the Royal Navy’s action within a larger transition from distant observation to movement through the devastated village, without describing any direct coordination between the ships and the Australians.

Narrative Significance

The episode gives the Royal Navy a limited but consequential presence in the novel: its force is conveyed through the systematic destruction visible to those waiting on land. The contrast between the warships’ methodical firing and the Australians’ subsequent advance presents naval bombardment as part of the wider machinery of war, while the scene remains anchored in the observers’ position outside the village.