Corporal Walter Clarence Gehan, 8th Battalion, AIF.

Corporal Walter Clarence Gehan, 2365, 8th Battalion, AIF.

Born on 9th January 1898 at Stawell, Victoria, the son of Mr. A. Gehan, Post Office, Stawell, Victoria.

He was 5’ 5” tall, weighed 10 stone and had brown eyes and brown hair.

8th May 1915 he enlisted at Stawell, Victoria aged 18 years and 5 months. His job at enlistment is recorded as a labourer.
(His younger brother Herbert James Gehan enlisted 4 days before).

28th May 1915 he was allocated to the 14th Battalion reinforcements.
22nd June 1915 he reallocated to the 7th Reinforcements 8th Battalion.
16th July 1915 he left Australia for Egypt on the “Demosthenes.”
23rd November he joined the 8th Battalion at ANZAC.
7th January 1916 he disembarked at Alexandria.
26th March 1916 he left Egypt for France.
31st March 1916 he disembarked at Marseilles.
1st October 1918 he was appointed Lance-Corporal.
19th December 1918 he was promoted to Corporal.
23rd March 1919 he returned to Australia on the “Kildonan Castle.”
29th June 1919 he was discharged from active service.

His brother Herbert James Gehan, was killed in action on 18th August 1916 aged 20 at Pozieres.

Source : National Archives of Australia

Mont Huon Military Cemetry, Le Treport, France.

When the original military cemetery at Le Treport filled, it became necessary to use the new site at Mont Huon.

There are now 2,128 Commonwealth burials of the First World War in the cemetery and seven from the Second World War. The cemetery also contains more than 200 German war graves.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.

Private Herbert James Gehan, 8th Battalion, AIF.

Private Herbert James Gehan, 2364, 8th Battalion, AIF.

He was form Lake Lonsdale, Victoria and the son of Mr. A Gehan Post Office, Stawell, Victoria.

He was 5’ 6” tall, weighed 154 lbs and had grey eyes and dark hair.

4th May 1915 he enlisted at Stawell, Victoria aged 19 years and 8 months. His job at enlistment is recorded as a labourer.
(His younger brother Walter Clarence Gehan enlisted 4 days after).

28th May 1915 he was allocated to the 14th Battalion reinforcements.
22nd June 1915 he reallocated to the 7th Reinforcements 8th Battalion.
1st October 1915 he was temporarily transferred to Divisional Headquarters at Lemnos.
23rd November he joined the 8th Battalion at ANZAC.
7th January 1916 he disembarked at Alexandria.
26th March 1916 he left Egypt for France.
31st March 1916 he disembarked at Marseilles.

18th August 1916 He was killed in action aged 20.

He is buried in Pozieres British Cemetery Ovillers-La-Boisselle

National Archives of Australia - Digital Image 4025083.

Mr A Gehan's letter of permission for his son to join up.

His brother Walter Clarence Gehan, survived the war and returned to Australia on 23rd March 1919.

Source : National Archives of Australia

Le Treport Military Cemetery, France

Le Treport is a coastal town approximately 30 kilometres north-east of Dieppe. The Military Cemetery lies to the south of the town next to the town's Communal Cemetery on the D940.

During the First World War, Le Treport was an important hospital centre. No 3 General Hospital was established there in November 1914, No 16 General Hospital in February 1915, No 2 Canadian General Hospital in March 1915, No 3 Convalescent Depot in June 1915 and Lady Murray's BRCS Hospital in July 1916. These hospitals contained nearly 10,000 beds. No 47 General Hospital arrived in March 1917 and later that year, a divisional rest camp and a tank training depot were established in the neighbourhood.
By March 1919, the hospitals had been closed and Le Treport became the headquarters of the 68th Division, which re-formed there before going to the Rhine. The divisional supply depot was closed in June 1919.

There are now 445 Commonwealth burials of the First World War in the cemetery. Three of the four Second World War burials are unidentified. The cemetery, one of the first three Commission cemeteries to be built after the First World war, was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.

An Account of Pozieres by C.E.W. Bean

The Australian 1st Division attacked Pozieres early on July 23rd 1916 and captured the town after fierce fighting. The Germans who were not giving up launched several counter-attacks in a grave effort to wrest control from the Australians, but these were repulsed. The Germans eventually launched one of the heaviest artillery barrages of the war and shelled the Australians unremittingly - at the height of the bombardment the shells rained down at the rate of 20 a minute.

After three days the 1st Division had lost 5285 men and the rest were exhausted. The Division was withdrawn and replaced by the 2nd Division. German continued on relentless and after 10 days the 2nd Division had lost 6848 officers and men. It too was withdrawn and replaced by the 4th Division. This cycle continued until September 3rd - each Division fought until exhausted and was then replaced. When the replacement Division was itself exhausted, the original Division was rotated back into the line. The 1st, 2nd, and 4th Divisions were used as a battering ram against the German strong points at Pozieres until they were almost destroyed.More than 50% of the Australians who fought at Pozieres were killed, wounded or captured. Five Victoria Crosses were won by Australians during the relentless fighting.

(Rough sketch showing some of the German defences of Pozières and the direction of the Australian attacks between July 22 and September 4 1916. (From Pozières to Moquet Farm is just over a mile.)

This account of the action of 1st Australian Division around Pozieres for July 23rd – July 26th 1916 comes from the Letters from France, by C. E. W. Bean.



(Charles Edwin Woodrow Bean (November 18, 1879 – August 30, 1968), usually known during his career as C.E.W. Bean, was an Australian journalist, war correspondent and historian who is renowned as the editor of the 12-volume Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918.)



"POZIÈRES


France, July 26th.


I have been watching the units of a certain famous Australian force come out of action. They have fought such a fight that the famous division of British regular troops on their flank sent them a message to say that they were proud to fight by the side of them.


Conditions alter in a battle like this from day to day. But at the time when the British attack upon the second German line in Longueval and Bazentin ended, the farther village of Pozières was left as the hub of the battle for the time being. This point is the summit of the hill on which the German second line ran. And, probably for that reason, the new line which the Germans had dug across from their second line to their third line—so as to have a line still barring our way when we had broken through their second line—branched off near Pozières to meet the third line near Flers. The map of the situation at this stage of the battle will show better than a page of description why it was necessary that Pozières should next be captured.


There were several days' interval between the failure of the first attack on Pozières and the night on which the Australians were put at it. The Germans probably had little chance of improving their position in the meanwhile, for the village was kept under a slow bombardment with heavy shells and shrapnel which made movement there dangerous. Our troops could see occasional parties of Germans hurrying through the tattered wood and powdered, tumbled foundations. The garrison lost men steadily, and on about the night of Thursday or Friday, July 20th or 21st, the Second Guard Reserve Division, which had been mainly responsible for holding this part of the line, was relieved; and a fresh division, from the lines in front of Ypres, was put in. The new troops brought in several days' rations with them, and never lacked food or water. It was probably a belated party of these new-comers that our men noticed wandering through the village in daytime.


During the afternoon of Saturday our bombardment of Pozières became heavier. Most of these ruined villages are marked on this shell-swept country by the trees around them. It is not that they originally stood in a woodland; but when the village is a mere heap of foundations powdered white the only relic of it left standing erect, if you except a battered wall or two, is the shredded trunks and stumps of trees which once made the gardens or orchards or hedges behind the houses. Our troops had three obstacles before them—first a shallow, hastily dug trench in the open in front of the trees around the village; then certain trenches running generally through the trees and hedges and behind a trench railway; thirdly, such lines as existed in the village itself. The village is strung out along a stretch of the Albert-Bapaume road up which the battle has advanced from the first. Just beyond the village, near what remains of the Pozières Mill on the very top of the hill, is the German second line still (at time of writing) in possession of the Germans. Another line crossing the road in front of the village was then in their hands.


On Saturday afternoon our heavy shells were tearing at regular intervals into the rear of the brick heaps which once were houses, and flinging up branches of trees and great clouds of black earth from the woods. A German letter was found next day dated "In Hell's Trenches." It added: "It is not really a trench, but a little ditch, shattered with shells—not the slightest cover and no protection. We have lost 50 men in two days, and life is unendurable." White puffs of shrapnel from field guns were lathering the place persistently, so that when the German trenches were broken down it was difficult to repair them or move in them.


Our men in their trenches were cleaning rifles, packing away spare kit, yarning there much as they yarned of old over the stockyard fence or the gate of the horse paddock.


That night, shortly after dark, there broke out the most fearful bombardment I have ever seen. As one walked towards the battlefield, the weirdly shattered woods and battered houses stood out almost all the time against one continuous band of flickering light along the eastern skyline. Most of it was far away to the east of our part of the battlefield—in some French or British sector on the far right. There must have been fierce fire upon Pozières, too, for the Germans were replying to it, hailing the roads with shrapnel and trying to fill the hollows with gas shell. They must have suspected an attack upon this part of their line as well, and were trying to hamper the reserves from moving into position.


About midnight our field artillery lashed down its shrapnel upon the German front line in the open before the village. A few minutes later this fire lifted and the Australian attack was launched.


The Germans had opened in one part with a machine-gun before that final burst of shrapnel, and they opened again immediately after. But there would have been no possibility of stopping that charge with a fire twenty times as heavy. The difficulty was not to get the men forward, but to hold them. With a complicated night attack to be carried through it was necessary to keep the men well in hand.


The first trench was a wretchedly shallow affair in places. Most of the Germans in it were dead—some of them had been lying there for days. The artillery in the meantime had lifted on to the German trenches farther back. Later they lifted to a farther position yet. The Australian infantry dashed at once from the first position captured, across the intervening space over the tramway and into the trees.


It was here that the first real difficulty arose along parts of the line. Some sections found in front of them the trench which they were looking for—an excellent deep trench which had survived the bombardment. Other sections found no recognizable trench at all, but a maze of shell craters and tumbled rubbish, or a simple ditch reduced to white powder. Parties went on through the trees into the village, searching for the position, and pushed so close to the fringe of their own shell fire that some were wounded by it. However, where they found no trench they started to dig one as best they could. Shortly after the bombardment shifted a little farther, and a third attack came through and swept, in most parts, right up to the position which the troops had been ordered to take up.


As daylight gradually spread over that bleached surface Australians could occasionally be seen walking about in the trees and through the part of the village they had been ordered to take. The position was being rapidly "consolidated." German snipers in the north-east of the village and across the main road could see them, too. A patrol was sent across the main road to find a sniper. It bombed some dug-outs which it found there, and from one of them appeared a white flag, which was waved vigorously. Sixteen prisoners came out, including a regimental doctor. There were several other dug-outs in this part and various scraps of old trenches, probably the site of an old battery. The Germans, now that they had been driven from their main lines, were naturally fighting from the various scraps of isolated fortification which exist behind all positions. During the afternoon two patrols were sent to clear out other snipers from these half-hidden lurking places. But the garrison was sufficiently organised to summon up some sort of reserve, and the patrols had to come back after a short, sharp fight more or less in the open.


After dark, the Australians pushed across the road through the village. By morning the position had been improved, so that nearly the whole village was secure against sudden attack.
An official report would read: "The same progress continued on Tuesday night, and by Wednesday morning the whole of Pozières was consolidated." That is to say—in the heart of the village itself there was little more actual hand-to-hand fighting. All that happened there was that, from the time when the first day broke and found the Pozières position practically ours, the enemy turned his guns on to it. Hour after hour—day and night—with increasing intensity as the days went on, he rained heavy shell into the area. It was the sight of the battlefield for miles around—that reeking village. Now he would send them crashing in on a line south of the road—eight heavy shells at a time, minute after minute, followed up by burst upon burst of shrapnel. Now he would place a curtain, straight across this valley or that, till the sky and landscape were blotted out, except for fleeting glimpses seen as through a lift of fog. Gas shell, musty with chloroform; sweet-scented tear shell that made your eyes run with water; high bursting shrapnel with black smoke and a vicious high explosive rattle behind its heavy pellets; ugly green bursts the colour of a fat silkworm; huge black clouds from the high explosive of his 5.9's. Day and night the men worked through it, fighting this horrid machinery far over the horizon as if they were fighting Germans hand-to-hand—building up whatever it battered down; buried, some of them, not once but again and again and again.


What is a barrage against such troops! They went through it as you would go through a summer shower—too proud to bend their heads, many of them, because their mates were looking. I am telling you of things I have seen. As one of the best of their officers said to me, "I have to walk about as if I liked it—what else can you do when your own men teach you to?" The same thought struck me not once but twenty times.


On Tuesday morning the shelling of the day before rose to a crescendo, and then suddenly slackened. The German was attacking. It was only a few of the infantry who even saw him. The attack came in lines at fairly wide intervals up the reverse slope of the hill behind Pozières windmill. Before it reached the crest it came under the sudden barrage of our own guns' shrapnel. The German lines swerved away up the hill. The excited infantry on the extreme right could see Germans crawling over, as quickly as they might, from one shell crater to another, grey backs hopping from hole to hole. They blazed away hard; but most of our infantry never got the chance it was thirsting for. The artillery beat back that attack before it was over the crest, and the Germans broke and ran. Again the enemy's artillery was turned on. Pozières was pounded more furiously than before, until by four in the afternoon it seemed to onlookers scarcely possible that humanity could have endured such an ordeal. The place could be picked out for miles by pillars of red and black dust towering above it like a Broken Hill dust-storm. Then Germans were reported coming on again, as in the morning. Again our artillery descended upon them like a hailstorm, and nothing came of the attack.


During all this time, in spite of the shelling, the troops were slowly working forwards through Pozières; not backwards. Every day saw fresh ground gained. A great part of the men who were working through it had no more than two or three hours' sleep since Saturday—some of them none at all, only fierce, hard work all the time.


The only relief to this one-sided struggle against machinery was the hand-to-hand fighting that occurred in the two trenches before-mentioned—the second-line German trench behind Pozières and the similar trench in front of it. The story of it will be told some day—it would almost deserve a book to itself."

Also see - Pozieres - today

Pozieres as recalled by Phillip Gibbs, War Correspondent.

Pozieres described by Lieutenant J.A. Raws.

1st Australian Division

1st Australian Division

On the 3rd of August 1914 the Australian government offered to send an expeditionary force of 20,000 men to Europe, which it decided to organise as an infantry division and a light horse brigade. Accordingly, the First Division was formed in Australia in August 1914. Intended to be representative of the nation as a whole, it was organised from contingents from all states. It was originally intended to send the division to England for training and thence on to the Western Front but the division was diverted to Egypt instead on the recommendation of Colonel Harry Chauvel, owing to the state of training areas in the United Kingdom. The division arrived in Egypt in December and began training at Mena, near Cairo.

On Anzac Day, 25 April 1915, the First Division made an amphibious assault at what is now known as Anzac Cove, on the Gallipoli Peninsula. On Anzac Day the division was unable to capture its objectives but secured a toehold on the peninsula. It served throughout the campaign there. In May the 2nd Brigade was re-embarked and participated in the attack on Krithia at Helles but returned in time for the Turkish counter offensive on 19 May. On 15 May, its commander, Major General William Bridges was fatally wounded by a sniper. During the August offensive, the First Division captured the Turkish positions around Line Pine. Finally, it was involved in the withdrawal to Egypt in December 1915.

In March 1916 it moved to France, taking over part of the line in the "nursery sector" around Armentieres. On 23 July 1916, it joined the Somme Offensive, capturing the town of Pozieres. A second tour of Pozieres followed in August and a third at Flers in October after a rest break in the Ypres sector.

In 1917 it was involved in the pursuit of the Germans to the Hindenburg Line. While maintaining outposts close to that line around Lagnicourt, the division was struck by a powerful German counterattack on 15 April 1917. In May it relieved the Second Division in the Second Battle of Bullecourt.

After a rest spell, the division returned to the Ypres Salient and participated in the Third Battle of Ypres, in which it fought with at Menin Road in September and Broodeseinde in October.

In April 1918 the First Division halted the German offensive at Hazebrouck. It remained there, apart from the other divisions for four months, it rejoined the Australian Corps in the Somme region in 1918 in time to participate in the Battle of Amiens and fought on to the Hindenburg Line.

Commanders:

Major General William T. Bridges 6 August 1914 to 15 May 1915 (mortally wounded)

Brigadier General H. B. Walker 15 May 1915 to 24 June 1915

Major General J. Gordon Legge 24 June 1915 to 26 July 1915

Brigadier General H. B. Walker 26 July 1915 to 13 October 1915 (wounded)

Brigadier General J. J. Talbot Hobbs 13 October 1915 to 6 November 1915

Brigadier General/Major General Harry Chauvel 6 November 1915 to 14 March 1916

Major General H. B. Walker 14 March 1916 to 31 May 1918

Major General T. William Glasgow 31 May 1918 to past November 1918

Campaigns:

Egypt: Defence of Suez Canal,

Gallipoli: Landing at Anzac, Defence of Anzac, Sari Bair,

Western Front: Pozieres, Mouquet Farm, Le Barque, Tilloy, Boursies, Demicourt, Hermies, Lagnicourt, Bullecourt, 3rd Battle of Ypres, Menin Road, Broodseinde Ridge, Passchendale, Battle of the Lys, 2nd Battle of the Somme, Lihons, Chuignolles, Hindenburg Line.

Casualties:

killed in action: 10,447
died of wounds: 3,553
other deaths: 1,133
prisoners: 500
wounded: 35,984
total: 51,647

Memorial

Pozieres, France,


Order of battle:

First Division (Egypt and Gallipoli, 1914-15)

1st Division Artilley

1st Field Artillery Brigade [12 x 18 pounders]
1st, 2nd, 3rd Field Artillery Batteries (New South Wales)
1st Brigade Ammunition Column

2nd Field Artillery Brigade [12 x 18 pounders]
4th, 5th, 6th Field Artillery Batteries (Victoria)
2nd Brigade Ammunition Column

3rd Field Artillery Brigade [12 x 18 pounders]
7th, 8th, 9th Field Artillery Batteries (Queensland; Western Australia; Tasmania)
3rd Brigade Ammunition Column

1st Heavy Battery [2 x 6 inch howitzers, 1 x 4.7 inch gun]

1st Division Ammunition Column

1st Division Engineers
1st,2nd,3rd Field Companies (New South Wales; Victoria; Outer States)
1st Signal Company
2nd Signal Troop

1st Infantry Brigade
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Infantry Battalions (New South Wales)

2nd Infantry Brigade
5th, 6th, 7th, 8th Infantry Battalions (Victoria)

3rd Infantry Brigade
9th, 10th, 11th, 12th Infantry Battalions (Queensland; South Australia; Western Australia; Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia)

1st Division Medical Services
1st, 2nd, 3rd Field Ambulances (New South Wales; Victoria; Outer States)
2nd Light Horse Field Ambulance
1st Sanitary Company

4th Light Horse Regiment (Victoria)

2nd Light Horse Brigade
5th, 6th, 7th Light Horse Regiments (Queensland; New South Wales; New South Wales)

1st Divisional Train
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th Army Service Corps Companies (New South Wales and Victoria; New South Wales; Victoria; South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania)

First Division (France, April 1916)

1st Division Artillery

1st Field Artillery Brigade [16 x 18 pounders]
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 22nd Field Artillery Batteries
1st Brigade Ammunition Column

2nd Field Artillery Brigade [16 x 18 pounders]
4th, 5th, 6th, 23rd Field Artillery Batteries
2nd Brigade Ammunition Column

3rd Field Artillery Brigade [16 x 18 pounders]
7th, 8th, 9th, 24th Field Artillery Batteries
3rd Brigade Ammunition Column

21st Field Artillery (Howitzer) Brigade [12 x 4.5 inch howitzers]
101st,102nd,103rd Field Artillery (Howitzer) Batteries
21st Brigade Ammunition Column

1st Division Ammunition Column

1st Division Trench Mortars
V1A Heavy Trench Mortar Battery [4 x 9.45 inch heavy trench mortars]
X1A,Y1A, Z1A Medium Trench Mortar Batteries [12 x 2 inch medium trench mortars]

1st Division Engineers
1st, 2nd, 3rd Field Companies (New South Wales; Victoria; Outer States)
1st Signal Company

1st Infantry Brigade
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Infantry Battalions (New South Wales)
1st Machine gun Company [16 x Vickers Machineguns]
1A/1, 1A/2 Light Trench Mortar Batteries [8 x 3.7 and 4 inch trench mortars]

2nd Infantry Brigade
5th, 6th, 7th, 8th Infantry Battalions (Victoria)
2nd Machinegun Company [16 x Vickers Machineguns]
2A/1, 2A/2 Light Trench Mortar Batteries [8 x 3.7 and 4 inch trench mortars]

3rd Infantry Brigade
9th, 10th, 11th, 12th Infantry Battalions (Queensland; South Australia; Western Australia; Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia)
3rd Machine gun Company [16 x Vickers Machineguns]
3A/1, 3A/2 Light Trench Mortar Batteries [8 x 3.7 and 4 inch trench mortars]

1st Pioneer Battalion

1st Division Medical Services
1st, 2nd, 3rd Field Ambulances (New South Wales; Victoria; Outer States)
2nd Sanitary Section

B Squadron, 4th Light Horse Regiment (Victoria)

1st Cyclist Company

1st Salvage Section

1st Divisional Train
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Australian Army Service Corps Companies

1st Division Supply Column

1st Division Ammunition Sub Park

1st Mobile Veterinary Section


First Division (France, July 1916)

1st Division Artillery

1st Field Artillery Brigade [12 x 18 pounders, 4 x 4.5 inch howitzers]
1st, 2nd, 3rd Field Artillery Batteries
101st Field Artillery (Howitzer) Battery

2nd Field Artillery Brigade [12 x 18 pounders, 4 x 4.5 inch howitzers]
4th, 5th, 6th Field Artillery Batteries
102nd Field Artillery (Howitzer) Battery

3rd Field Artillery Brigade [12 x 18 pounders, 4 x 4.5 inch howitzers]
7th, 8th , 9th Field Artillery Batteries
103rd Field Artillery (Howitzer) Battery

21st Field Artillery Brigade [12 x 4.5 inch howitzers]
22nd, 23rd, 24th Field Artillery Batteries

1st Division Ammunition Column

1st Division Trench Mortars
V1A Heavy Trench Mortar Battery [4 x 9.45 inch heavy trench mortars]
X1A,Y1A,Z1A Medium Trench Mortar Batteries [12 x 2 inch medium trench mortars]

1st Division Engineers
1st, 2nd, 3rd Field Companies (New South Wales; Victoria; Outer States)
1st Signal Company

1st Infantry Brigade
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Infantry Battalions (New South Wales)
1st Machine gun Company [16 x Vickers Machineguns]
1st Light Trench Mortar Battery [8 x 3 inch Stokes Mortars]

2nd Infantry Brigade
5th, 6th, 7th , 8th Infantry Battalions (Victoria)
2nd Machinegun Company [16 x Vickers Machineguns]
2nd Light Trench Mortar Battery [8 x 3 inch Stokes Mortars]

3rd Infantry Brigade
9th, 10th, 11th, 12th Infantry Battalions (Queensland; South Australia; Western Australia; Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia)
3rd Machine gun Company [16 x Vickers Machineguns]
3rd Light Trench Mortar Battery [8 x 3 inch Stokes Mortars]

1st Pioneer Battalion

1st Division Medical Services
1st, 2nd, 3rd Field Ambulances (New South Wales; Victoria; Outer States)
2nd Sanitary Section

1st Salvage Section

1st Divisional Train
1st, 2nd 3rd, 4th Australian Army Service Corps Companies

1st Mobile Veterinary Section


First Division (France, September 1918)

1st Division Artillery

1st Field Artillery Brigade [18 x 18 pounders, 6 x 4.5 inch howitzers]
1st, 2nd, 3rd Field Artillery Batteries
101st Field Artillery (Howitzer) Battery

2nd Field Artillery Brigade [18 x 18 pounders, 6 x 4.5 inch howitzers]
4th, 5th, 6th Field Artillery Batteries
102nd Field Artillery (Howitzer) Battery

1st Division Ammunition Column

1st Division Trench Mortars
1st, 2nd Medium Trench Mortar Batteries [12 x 6 inch Newton Mortars]

1st Division Engineers
1st, 2nd, 3rd Field Companies (New South Wales; Victoria; Outer States)
1st Signal Company

1st Infantry Brigade
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Infantry Battalions (New South Wales)
1st Light Trench Mortar Battery [8 x 3 inch Stokes mortars]

2nd Infantry Brigade
5th, 6th,7th, 8th Infantry Battalions (Victoria)
2nd Light Trench Mortar Battery [8 x 3 inch Stokes mortars]

3rd Infantry Brigade
9th, 10th, 11th, 12th Infantry Battalions (Queensland; South Australia; Western Australia; Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia)
3rd Light Trench Mortar Battery [8 x 3 inch Stokes mortars]

1st Machine gun Battalion [64 x Vickers Machineguns]
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 21st Machine gun Companies

1st Pioneer Battalion

1st Division Medical Services
1st, 2nd, 3rd Field Ambulances (New South Wales; Victoria; Outer States)
2nd Sanitary Section

1st Salvage Section

1st Division Train
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Australian Army Service Corps Companies

1st Mobile Veterinary Section

Source and for more information : The AIF Order of Battle.

Private Richard Saxon, 8th Battalion AIF

Private Richard Saxon, 3915, 8th Battalion AIF

Son of Margaret Saxon, 36 St Johns Street, East Brunswick. His father had died by the time he had enlisted.

He was 5’ 10” tall, weighed 12 stone and had brown eyes and black hair.

27th May 1915 He enlisted at East Brunswick, Victoria aged 43 years and 6 months. His occupation is given as a miner.

4th November 1915 he joined the 12th Reinforcements of the 8th Battalion.
29th March 1916 he left Alexandria on the ‘Trannsylvania” for Europe.
4th April 1916 he arrived in Marseilles.
25th June 1916 he joined the entrenching Battalion at Etaples.
14th July 1916 he joined the 8th Battalion.

18 August 1916 Killed in action aged 44.


The Red Cross reports into his death:

“I knew Saxon who was in my platoon. I was told by Corporal de Weir, D Company, 14th Platoon , that he was in charge of a bombing party of whom Saxon was one near Contalmaison about 18th August 1918. He said he had seen Saxon killed and that his body was left. It was at night.” Pte. B.H. Beaton, 1742, 8th Battalion.

He is buried in Pozieres British Cemetery Ovillers-La-Boisselle

Source : National Archives of Australia

Private John Leo Egan, 8th Battalion A.I.F.

Private John Leo Egan, 4779, 8th Battalion A.I.F.

He was the son of William and Mary Egan, of 20, Hopkins Street, Richmond, Victoria, Australia

He was 5’ 5” tall, weighed 9 stone 5 lbs, and had blue eyes and dark hair.

16th November 1915 enlisted at Richmond, Victoria aged 18 years and 7 months. His Occupation at enlistment was Leather Worker.

3rd December 1915 He was placed in 14th Depot Battalion at Ballarat.
13th January 1916 he was moved to the 15th Reinforcements of the 8th Battalion at Broadmeadows.
7th March 1916 embarked on the ‘Wiltshire’
28th May 1916 he embarked from Alexandria for Europe.
4th June 1916 he disembarked at Marseilles.
7th June 1916 he was marched into Etaples.
29th July 1916 he joined the 8th Battalion.

18th August 1916 he was killed in action, aged 19.

The Red Cross reports into his death:

“He was on my gun. Pte. Braybook told me that he was killed. His pay-book and disc were handed in to the office. He was a dark young fellow of about 18 and was in C. Company, Machine Gun Section.” L/Cpl Wilton, 5258, C Company

“He was amote of mine and went into action about August, at or near Pozieres. He was on the same gun as myself, and we both went over the parapet together and we were about hundred yards from the enemy trench, and a shell burst close to us and knocked me into a shell hole and I never saw him after, and the next I heard was that his pay book was found, if so he is dead, but he never suffered any pain because I was in the same shell-hole for about ten minutes, and he could not have been more than ten yards away at the time, when he got killed and I could have heard him.” Pte. L. Braybrook, 5049, 8th Battalion, A.I.F. Machine Gun Section.

“While retiring from an unsuccessful battalion raid when about a third of the way back I saw him struck by Machine Gun fire and killed instantly. His pay-book and disc were brought in with us. He was buried later in the vicinity. Short, slight, fair, clean shaven, about 20.” H. Ladkins, 4317.

“He was killed at Pozieres on the 8th august 1916. I know this because Father O’Heran, the Roman Catholic Chaplain to the Brigade had his pay boo. Somebody had found it on his body and gave it to the padre. Pte. Ladkins, of c. Company Machine Gun Section told me this. I saw Ladkins in April. He was then with the battalion.” Pte. O’Laughlin, 5429, C Company.

He is buried in Pozieres British Cemetery, Ovillers-La-Boisselle.

Source : National Archives of Australia

Sidcup War Memorial, London

I was in Sidcup, London on Saturday and took these Photo's of the War Memorial.

Sidcup War Memorial is a simple yet beautiful monument on the edge of The Green in central Sidcup. The memorial was erected to give thanks to the many brave people who lost their lives during the First and Second World Wars.

The Lochnagar Mine Crater, La Boisselle, France

The Lochnagar mine crater is one of several which remain visible on the Western Front today. In the Somme area, others may be seen at Hawthorn Ridge near Beaumont Hamel and on the edge of High Wood

It is the largest British mine crater on the Western Front, this was one of several mines exploded under the German front line positions on the Somme on 1st July 1916. A charge of 60,000 lbs (26.8 tons) of Ammonal explosive was blown at 7.28am resulting in a crater 90 feet deep and 300 feet across.

Lochnagar Crater, named after the trench from where the main tunnel was started, is now owned by Englishman Richard Dunning. He saved it from being filled in 1978, and now each year on the 1st July a ceremony is held here to remember men of all sides who fell on the Somme in 1916.

Units of the 34th Division attacked the area and the nearby village of La Boisselle on 1st July. This formation contained two whole brigades of ‘Pals’ battalions – the Tyneside Irish and the Tyneside Scottish. They suffered many casualties that day – five battalions losing over 500 men each. Indeed the whole division lost 6,380 that day.

The Dairy of Lieutenant William Pitt of the 8th Battalion, on being relieved after the 1st Australian Division had captured the town of Pozieres and had endured horrendous shelling.

"Thursday July 27th 1916.

We had heard rumours of being relieved today but did not think it was right. However we were agreeably confused when at 2 o/c the 24th battalion (a company) came in to relieve us and we moved out. Thankfully it was very dark and a good night for a relief and we went straight down to the battalion cookers and got a drink of hot tea, the first for some time. We then marched to the place where we first camped. Turned in and had a good sleep and then woke up to find a good meal awaiting us. The battalion has suffered very heavily there only being about 381 of us left after collecting all stragglers. We have had a very trying time and will want a good rest to reorganize before we are fit to fight again. Our CO is nowhere to be seen, I have not seen him since we went into the line. We got our overcoats on the way here last night. We are camped just close to the original Hun line and practically alongside the huge La Boiselle crater. It is 57 feet deep and was blown by 70 tons of ammonal. Perfectly marvellous. Things must have been very lively about here the 1st week in July. We left here about 6 o/c and picked up the rest of the brigade from then on. Arrived at our bivouac about 11 o/c. On the way I met Major Dexter. Issued with blankets and I slept like a log."

Cecil Lewis, then an officer in the Royal Flying Corps, witnessed the explosion of the mine on 1st July from his aircraft high above La Boisselle:

“The whole earth heaved and flared, a tremendous and magnificent column rose up into the sky. There was an ear-splitting roar, drowning all the guns, flinging the machine sideways in the repercussing air. The earth column rose higher and higher to almost 4,000 feet."

The site is now maintained by the Friends of Lochnagar. Their website is found at:
http://www.friendsoflochnagar.co.uk/


Photos: Roger Stoakley at: rjstoakley@btopenworld.com

A Register of Aliens

This story on the home front is about keeping a Register of Aliens. The lady in question, although guilty was given a very lenient fine.

The Mayor must have had some sympathy with her, but the frustration is obviously with the Chief Constable who sent out forms for them to be thrown away!

It appeared in the Eastbourne Gazette on 25th July 1917:

“Boarding House Keeper Fined

Sarah Hill, boarding house keeper, of Marine Parade, was summoned for failing to keep a register of aliens staying at her house on July 12.

Inspector Cunnington gave evidence to the effect that two Belgians subjects were staying at defendant’s house was unable to produce an alien’s register recording the fact.

Defendant said she understood that it was not necessary to register foreign visitors when the customary forms had been filled in and submitted to the police by the aliens themselves.

The Chief Constable mentioned that he received three or four hundred forms a week which were not properly filled in. He also remarked that forms of instruction sent by the police to the boarding house keepers were sometimes relegated to the dustbins.

The Mayor emphasised the necessity for boarding house keepers and others to comply with the regulations and pointed out that defendant had rendered herself liable to a penalty of £100 by the breach. The Bench however, proposed to take a lenient view and imposed a fine of 15 shillings.”

Private Richard Fry, 12th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment.

Private Richard Fry, 12th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment.

He was the son of Jesse and Mary Ann Fry, was killed on 30th June 1916 aged 23. He is buried in St. Vaast Post Military Cemetery, Richebourg-L’Avone and is commemorated on the Hampden Park Memorial.

The Eastbourne Gazette on 9th August 1916, gave this report:

“One of the brave men who fell in the “Great Push” was Private R. (Dick) Fry of Hampden Park. He was educated at Willingdon Church School and previous to joining the Southdown’s was employed at Moffat’s Bazaar, in Seaside Road.
Private Fry formally resided with his sister (Mrs. G. Goldsmith of Hampden Park), who has been the recipient of the accompanying letter from Lieutenant Robinson, which has since been confirmed by official War Office intimation of death.

“Kya Lami, The Greys, Eastbourne, July 1916,

Dear Mrs Goldsmith. – I am very much afraid your brother R. Fry was killed on June 30. I spoke to a man who was quite near to him when he fell and I think there can be no doubt about it. He volunteered to act as my runner during the attack and I hope it may be some small consolation to you to know that he died doing his duty to his King and country like a soldier and a gentleman.
Before I took over the company he was in my platoon (No. 3) and I have many times asked him to accept promotion by the never would, although I know he would have made an excellent N.C.O. Please accept my deepest sympathy. –

Yours very truly.
Harold C T Robinson.””

The Justice of a Soldier

This article appeared in the Eastbourne Gazette on 25th July 1917.
The soldier obviously thought he was hard done by, but the magistrate was more concerned about his ‘state of mine.’

The Justice of a Soldier

"William Riley, on remand, was charged with being an absentee. He was a private in the Canadian regiment, and had been stationed at Seaford.

Police-constable Morris said he saw the prisoner, who was unshaven, and asked him if he had a pass, to which he replied, “I am a discharged soldier; I don’t want a pass.” He did not believe the prisoner whom he arrested. He had a dandy brush and two curry combs in his possession at the time.

The Chief Constable (Major Teale) said he had not been able to find out anything about the prisoner and requested a further remand for another week.

Prisoner – “Can I have the justice of a soldier?”

The Magistrates Clerk (Mr. E.O Langham) – “Certainly.”

Prisoner – “Then can I smoke in my cell? I am entitled to a smoke. A burglar gets a smoke.”

The Mayor said a remand would be granted, and prisoner must obey the police regulations. It was ordered that his state of mind should be enquired into."

Corporal Trevor David Lovell Anderson, 8th Battalion AIF.

Corporal Trevor David Lovell Anderson, 517, 8th Battalion AIF.

He was born in Horsham Victoria, the Son of David and Alice Elizabeth Anderson, of 36, Noble St., Newtown, Victoria, Australia.

He was 5’ 10” tall, he weighed 11Stone 8lbs, had grey eyes and fair hair.

He went to school at Doonen.

His job at enlistment was a plumber.

He enlisted on 18th August 1914 at Horsham, Victoria aged 22 years and 11 months.

19th October 1914 He embarked on “Benalla”
8th May 1915 He received a Gun Shot Wound to Leg and hand.
17th May 1915 He was admitted to Tinge Hospital, Malta.
9th June 1915 He was discharged.
8th June 1915 He embarked for Egypt on the “Archia”
14th June 1915 He left for Gallipoli on the “Southland”
20th June 1915 He rejoined the 8th.
7th February 1916 He was appointed Lance-corporal
26th February 1916 He was promoted to Corporal.
26th March 1916 left Alexandria.
31st March 1916 Arrived in Marseilles.

27th July 1916 he was killed in action aged 24.

The Red Cross report of his death:

“Informant states that – On Monday, 24th July 1916, at Pozieries, Corporal D.T. Anderson was killed by shell-fire, about 2 or 3 o’clock in the afternoon. His burial is doubtful. Pte. Nelson (1st Aus Div, 8th Btn, A Coy) was killed by the same shell.

Lieutenant Luke P. Fay, 8th Battalion, A.I.F. 1st London General Hospital, 31/07/16.

Note: Informant was reliable.

Letter to his parents from the Base Records Office

Dear Sir,

With reference to the report of the regrettable lose of your son, the late no.517, Corporal T.D.L.Anderson, 8th Battalion. I am now in receipt of advice that he was killed in action on the afternoon of 27th July 1916., in France; death caused by a shell was instantaneous. His company had advanced into Pozieres and dug-in that morning. He was buried in Pozieres British Cemetry, France.

Major Base Records Office.

He is buried in Pozieres British Cemetery Ovillers-La-Boisselle

Source : National Archives of Australia

Sergeant Charles James Percival Breach, Royal Garrison Artillery, 12th Siege Bty.

Sergeant Charles James Percival Breach of the Royal Garrison Artillery, 12th Siege Bty.

He was killed on 5th July 1917 aged 31. He is Buried in Vlamertinghe New Military and is commemorated on the Hampden Park Memorial.

This report appeared in the Eastbourne Gazette on 25th July 1917:

“Official intimation received by Mrs Marian I. Breach, Littlecot, Hampden Park, states that her husband Sergeant Charles James Percival Breach, Royal Garrison Artillery was killed in action near Ypres on July 5. Deceased who was the only son of Mr and Mrs H.T.Breach, Seaside Nursey, Roselands, Eastbourne was 31 years of age.

Educated at Holy Trinity Church School and Eastbourne Municipal Secondary School, Sergeant Breach entered the teaching profession. In 1902 he was appointed a teacher at the Willowfield Higher Grade School, an appointment he held until 1906, when he became a teacher at St. Marys Church School, Old Town. In 1911, he was appointed assistant head master on the first staff at the new Hampden Park Council School, a post he held until the date of his enlistment. That he was highly esteemed is evidenced by the large numbers of letters of condolence received by the widow.

Mr. Breach enlisted on May 18 1916, with the head master (Mr. R.H. Balcombe). He served at the front for 6 and a half months as a Corporal, was made Sergeant. On June 19th he returned to the front and in less than three weeks he was killed instantaneously, together with three other sergeants. He was buried in a graveyard between Poperinghe and Ypres.
Sergeant Breach was for some time captain of the Hampden Park Bowling Club.

The following tribute to the deceased has been received:

Dear Sir,
As an old scholar of the Hampden Park Council School, and on behalf of other old scholars, I would like, through the medium of your paper, to express the great regret which we all feel at the death of our one-time teacher, Mr. Breach. That he should take his place in the long line and that his name should be added to the list of those who so nobly made the supreme sacrifice, I am sure we are all justly proud.
We heartily appreciate the kind consideration which he always showed to us while under his tuition. Our remembrance of him will always be of the warmest kind, for we owe a great deal to his careful instruction.
To Mrs. Breach and his family we tender our warmest sympathies in the dark period of sorrow through which they are passing.
Yours sincerely,
Wesley Rentall-Read, Stantons, 34, Station Road, Hampden Park."

The Chemist's Assistant and the Australian.

Whilst in a local second-hand book I purchased a strange little book published in 1917, ‘A second diary of the Great War’ by Sam Pepys, Junior, foretime of Magdalene College in Cambridge. Written in the style of the first Samuel Pepys it gives an interesting insight to life on the home front.

These entries are about a Chemists Assistant whom the writer takes a ‘shine’ to. Unfortunately for the writer she casts her affections towards an Australian Sergeant!

Jan 13th 1917

"Home and by the way going to Miller’s shop, the chemist, to buy sope (soap), where I have not been a great while, he hath to serve there a mighty pretty girl that wears a nurse’s white clothes and looks like a Nun almost. She comes, she says, in place of Mr. Miller’s shop man that is combed out and pretty it is to see maids thus habited to serve in Pothrcaries’ shops; so had 3 boxes off her (4s 6d)."

Feb 21th 1917

"So home, and by the way, having a new onset of the swim in my head, and going to Miller’s for a fresh draught against it, there is my little white nun; but what vexes me is she serves tooth-brushes to 3 Australian soldiers, and she laughing and playing with them, no more than nods to me, but to cry ‘shop’ and goes on with this philandering. So Miller comes and serves me. It is very observable of girls that do serve in shops how they be taken with soldiers, to the neglect of the citizens."

Mar 28th 1917

"Walking out, and calling at Miller’s for some corn plasters, I find my little white nun is gone; and enquiring of her, he tells me that she hath wedded a certain Sergeant of the Australians. Poor girl! I pity her."

Hampden Park War Memorial, Sussex.

I have lived in Eastbourne for a number of years and have often visited Hampden Park. If I am honest I have not paid much attention to the War Memorial there.

A couple of weeks a go I stopped and i took these pictures of the Obelisk. Eventually I hope to find some details of the men whose names are engraved upon it.

On 5th January 1920 the people of Hampden Park erected their own War Memorial, an obelisk in Hampden Park on the west side of the Rosebery Avenue exit, it was unveiled by the Mayor.

Men Mentioned on the Memorial:

Sergeant Charles James Percival Breach

Richard Fry

Henry Smith