Merivale Street

Queensland, 24 March 1919

The following is a contemporaneous account of the battle at Merivale Street taken from the pages of the Brisbane Courier.  The text from the scan is of poor quality and thus cannot be readily transcribed into text but it is legible enough to allow the contents to be satisfactorily read.

The ongoing Battle of Merivale Street, Queensland, from the account published in the Brisbane Courier, 27 March 1919.

Further Reading:

Merivale Street, Queensland, March 24, 1919

Battles where Australians fought, 1899-1920

Posted by Project Leader at 11:01 PM EADT

Updated: Monday, 30 March 2009 1:12 PM EADT

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German 605th Machine Gun Company (MGC)

War Diary, 1 April to 3 April 1916

The entries

1.IV.16:

At 5.15 we got our breakfast at Köbánya near Budapest. Departure 6.25 via Felso, Fulsptschallas to Kilkoros. Here we got our midday meal at 12.30 p.m. and departure at 1.45. We travelled via Tschabadka where we arrived at 4.45 and left again at 7.30 p.m. Here we got our evening meal.

2.IV.16:

This morning 5 a.m. we arrived at Kanaloa. Here we got breakfast but stopped till 12.30. Here we were allowed to visit the town or village under the supervision of an acting S.M. At 1.30 we reached Semlin where we were rationed by the German railway station staff. Departure at 2.00 and arrived at 2.25 at Belgrade. Here we had a stop till 5.

3.IV.16:    

At Cuprija (Serbia) we got coffee at 2.15 a.m.

Previous Page: 605th Machine Gun Company War Diary - 29 to 31 March 1916

Next Page: 605th Machine Gun Company War Diary - 3 to 7 April 1916

Further Reading:

German 605th Machine Gun Company (MGC) , Contents 

The Battle of Romani

Light Horse Battles

Battles where Australians fought, 1899-1920

Citation: 605th Machine Gun Company War Diary - 1 to 3 April 1916 

Posted by Project Leader at 12:01 AM EADT

Updated: Wednesday, 15 April 2009 10:59 PM EADT

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Diaries of AIF Servicemen

Bert Schramm

During part of the course of his military service with the AIF, 2823 Private Herbert Leslie Schramm, a farmer from White's River, near Tumby Bay on the Eyre Peninsular, kept a diary of his life. Bert was not a man of letters so this diary was produced with great effort on his behalf. Bert made a promise to his sweetheart, Lucy Solley, that he would do so after he received the blank pocket notebook wherein these entries are found. As a Brigade Scout since September 1918, he took a lead part in the September 1918 breakout by the Allied forces in Palestine. Bert's diary entries are placed alongside those of the 9th Light Horse Regiment to which he belonged and to the 3rd Light Horse Brigade to which the 9th LHR was attached. On this basis we can follow Bert in the context of his formation.

 Bert Schramm's Diary, 19 March 1919

Bert Schramm's Handwritten Diary, 17 - 19 March 1919

[Click on page for a larger print version.]

Diaries

Bert Schramm

Wednesday, March 19, 1919

Bert Schramm's Location - Zagazig, Egypt.

Bert Schramm's Diary - Started off again this morning at 7.30 and came through to Zagazig. Arrived here about 2 pm. And we are camping here. I don't know for how long but we have put all our tents up again and I suppose we will have another shift in a few days. I don't know what the blazes these Gippos want. They scarcely have any arms so they cannot put up much of a fight. There are troops everywhere but I don't expect we will have the opportunity of slaughtering any of them. Too much red tape for that.

9th Light Horse Regiment War Diary

9th Light Horse Regiment Location - Zagazig, Egypt.

9th Light Horse Regiment War Diary - 0200 McDonald, Captain JM, MC, returned having escorted the Greek family back safely to Zagazig. On the way out he came upon a party of inhabitants wrecking the railway. These he dispersed by firing a few shots, killing one.

1000 Moved to new bivouac area near Turkish Prison Barracks. Rear parties from Moascar joined up.

Mounted Squadron marched in about 1900 and bivouacked with Regiment.

Darley, TH, With the Ninth Light Horse in the Great War, Adelaide, Hassell Press, 1924.

Next: Bert Schramm's Diary, 20 March 1919

Further Reading:

9th Light Horse Regiment AIF War Diary - Complete day by day list

Bert Schramm Diary 

Bert Schramm Diary - Complete day by day list

Additional Reading:

Darley, TH, With the Ninth Light Horse in the Great War, Adelaide, Hassell Press, 1924.

Citation: Bert Schramm's Diary, 19 March 1919

Posted by Project Leader at 12:01 AM EADT

Updated: Wednesday, 6 May 2009 10:59 AM EADT

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The Battle of Hébuterne

France, 27 March to 5 April 1918

AIF

Roll of Honour, 29 March 1918

Poppies on the Roll of Honour, Australian War Memorial, Canberra

The Roll of Honour contains the names of all the men from the Allied Forces known to have given their lives on 29 March 1918 during the Battle of Hébuterne, France, 27 March to 5 April 1918.

Roll of Honour

 

Harold Gordon AHLBRAND, 41st Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

Reginald AMES, 27th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

Harry Edward ARDILL, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade, 29 March 1918

Samuel ARNOTT, 1st Pioneer Battalion, 29 March 1918

 

John Richard BELL, 1st Pioneer Battalion, 29 March 1918

Stephen Richard BETHERAS, 4th Pioneer Battalion, 29 March 1918

William James BREWER, 15th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

Reginald Jack BRIGHT, 37th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

Smith BROOK, 44th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

Thomas Allison BRUCE, 4th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

James BULL, 16th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

George BYRNE, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade, 29 March 1918

 

Robert Gordon Kenneth CHADDOCK, 47th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

Colin CLARK, 40th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

William Joseph Thomas CONLIN, 43rd Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

 

Edward Harry DARBY, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade, 29 March 1918

Horace DAVIES, 17th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

David MacNair DOIG, 47th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

 

William Francis FELAN, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade, 29 March 1918

 

George Robert GREEN, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade, 29 March 1918

 

Victor Ernest HALL, 14th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

John Percy HANMER, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade, 29 March 1918

Charles HILLS, 16th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

Norman Thomas HODGES, 40th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

George William HOWARD, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade, 29 March 1918

George Lloyd HUGHES, 14th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

Andrew HUME, 47th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

 

Walter Charles JOSEPHS, 43rd Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

 

Albert LEVY, 39th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

Victor LINKLATER, 41st Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

Rowland Frank Eugene LOMAS, 15th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

 

Justin Charles MACCARTIE, 2nd Field Artillery Brigade, 29 March 1918

William Stephen MARIAN, 38th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

 

Alwyn Horace James NEWBERY, 20th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

 

Bernard James O'BRIEN, 15th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

 

Thom Duncan PALMER, 47th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

Benjamin Harold PISTRUCCI, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade, 29 March 1918

 

Harold Roy QUINN, 40th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

 

Edward Bolton REVILL, 14th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

 

Charles SKINNER, 27th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

Frederick Stanley Martin SMART, 19th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

Percival SUTHERLAND, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade, 29 March 1918

 

John Forrest TATTERSON, 10th Field Artillery Brigade, 29 March 1918

Robert William THOMAS, 53rd Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

George Miller TURNER, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade, 29 March 1918

 

William UNWIN, 48th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

 

Walter Boyd WALLACE, 8th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

John WHITTLE, 48th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

Clements Fred WILLIAMSON, 40th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

Leonard Joseph WILLIS, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade, 29 March 1918

Arthur Charles WOODS, 13th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

 

Andrew Will YEATMAN, 14th Infantry Battalion, 29 March 1918

 

Lest We Forget

Further Reading:

The Battle of Hébuterne, France, 27 March to 5 April 1918, Contents

The Battle of Hébuterne, France, 27 March to 5 April 1918, Roll of Honour

Battles where Australians fought, 1899-1920

Citation: The Battle of Hébuterne, France, 29 March 1918, Roll of Honour

Posted by Project Leader at 12:01 AM EADT

Updated: Monday, 28 March 2011 7:05 AM EADT

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Kimberley

South Africa, 13-15 February 1900

Kimberley, a major operation undertaken by British forces on 13-15 February 1900 (during the Second South African War) to break the Boer siege of the diamond - producing town of that name on the western border of the Orange Free State. After the campaign to relieve the town mounted by Lieut.-General Lord Methuen during November-December 1890 ended at Magersfonein (q.v.), a second attempt was prepared by Field Marshal Lord Roberts who arrived to supersede General Sir Redvers Buller as British Commander-in-Chief in South Africa in January. This effort entailed massing 47,000 combat troops (30,000 infantry, 7,501 cavalry and 3,600 mounted infantry), along with 120 guns, in the area between the Orange River and Modder River stations (q.v.). Included in this formidable army were about 500 Australians - men of the Queensland Mounted Infantry, New South Wales Mounted Rifles, and New South Wales Lancers - who were incorporated into the cavalry division commanded by Lieut.-General John French.

By 11 February Roberts was ready to move. While ordering Methuen to again take his 1st Division forward in a feint towards Magersfontein - thus tying the Boer general, Piet Cronje, to the defences the enemy had carefully developed there - at 2 a.m. the next day he began moving his main force north towards Modder River, as though confirming Boer expectations that the next major thrust would be along the axis of the railway. The cavalry division was used to guard the British right flank, moving out into Orange Free State territory to secure crossings on the Riet River for use by the 7th Infantry Division.

On the morning of 13 February, Roberts inspected the cavalry division before instructing French to proceed with the next step in his hold plan. Instead of continuing a slow ponderous advance via Magersfontein, Roberts had decided to cut the cavalry loose from the main body and send it on a rapid sweep forward to achieve the relief of Kimberley within two days. French's route from deep inside the Free State would carry him across Cronje's line of communications and threaten to cut off all Boer forces assembled on the western border unless these quickly fell back. Roberts himself was preparing to make an easterly thrust with his main force aimed at capturing the Free State capital at Bloemfontein.

Proceeding in scorching summer heat across the waterless veldt, both horses and riders in French's force suffered terribly; hundreds of mounts dropped in their tracks and had to be destroyed. Added to the hardships imposed by the country was the spirited resistance of the Boers, who realised they had been thoroughly wrong-footed and sought desperately to impose delay on the British cavalry's progress from the line of the Riet towards the Modder. Throughout the next two days, the Australian horsemen in French's division were in the vanguard and often under fire. The Lancers in particular were hotly engaged on 14 February at Klip Drift, where a large Boer camp beside the Modder was taken by surprise and captured.

When Cronje realised the significance of French's appearance off his left flank, he despatched 900 men with guns to block any British attempt to push further north away from the drift. The obstruction presented by this force was swept aside on the morning of 15 February with amounted charge which sent the enemy scattering in all directions - mostly back towards Magersfontein. British casualties during this day's fighting were five dead and ten wounded, but nearly 70 horses were lost through exhaustion. The way to Kimberley was now wide open, and by early that same evening General French with his staff and nearly 5,000 men finally rode in through the hastily abandoned Boer lines, to the immense relief of the town's 48,000 residents.

Despite the Australians' prominence during the advance, the only element to actually accompany the relieving troops into the town was a bearer company of the New South Wales Army Medical Corps; this was, in fact, the only medical unit able to keep up with the horse-killing pace of the dash. If the Queensland and New South Wales horsemen were denied a share in the glory of breaking the siege, they still found some hard fighting in securing areas out from Kimberley. On 16 February, for example, both the QMI and NSW Lancers were involved in an action at Dronfield (eleven kilometres north of the town) against an entrenched Boer party who eventually left of their own accord.

Extracted from the book produced by Chris Coulthard-Clark, Where Australians Fought - The Encyclopaedia of Australia's Battles, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1998, pp. 66-68.

Additional References cited by Chris Coulthard-Clark:

R.L. Wallace (1976) The Australians at the Boer War, Canberra: Australian War Memorial & Australian Government Publishing Service.

Further Reading:

Battles where Australians fought, 1899-1920

Posted by Project Leader at 11:01 PM EADT

Updated: Sunday, 5 April 2009 5:30 PM EADT

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