"At a mile distant their thousand hooves were stuttering thunder, coming at a rate that frightened a man - they were an awe inspiring sight, galloping through the red haze - knee to knee and horse to horse - the dying sun glinting on bayonet points..." Trooper Ion Idriess
The Australian Light Horse Studies Centre aims to present an accurate history as chroniclers of early Australian military developments from 1899 to 1920.
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Gallipoli Signal No. 2, 3 June 1915 Topic: AIF - 3B - 3 LHB Sigs
One of the most complete set of Light Horse unit signals at Gallipoli belongs to the 3rd Light Horse Brigade. Signals provide a window into the unvarnished form of history. These are the comments made by people who had important needs that required immediate attention. As such, they tell a story about a campaign that existed before the occurence of the newspaper reports leading to the Official Histories and all the other works that followed. Since they do not originate in a vacuum, it is the immediacy of the signal in a dense communication transfer that gives it a unique currency. It is a moment in time. We need all the other items such as the War Diary, Routine Orders and lastly, the published books to get a fully appreciation of the humble signal.
To ensure that this appreciation is available to many, over the coming months, a series of signals will be posted commencing from April till December.
The following entries are extracted and transcribed from the 9th Light Horse Regiment War Diary, the originals of which are held by the Australian War Memorial. There are 366 entries on this site. Each day has entries as they occurred from 1914 to 1919. In addition to the 9th Light Horse Regiment War Diary, when appropriate, entries from the 3rd Light Horse Brigade War Diary and other regiments with the Brigade will also appear. Entries from the unit history, Darley, TH, With the Ninth Light Horse in the Great War, Adelaide, Hassell Press, 1924 will also appear from time to time. The aim is to give the broadest context to the story and allow the reader to follow the day to day activities of the regiment. If a relative happened to have served in the regiment during the Great War, then this provides a general framework in which the individual story may be told.
9th Light Horse Regiment Location - Rhododendron Hill
9th Light Horse Regiment War Diary - Again shelled with shrapnel. One man died of wounds and another badly injured. Both hit in stomach. Two others also wounded.
1916
Friday, September 15, 1916
9th Light Horse Regiment Location - Hod Amara
9th Light Horse Regiment War Diary - Brigade Operation Order received for attack on Bir Mazar. Regimental Order issued and attached.
2330, The Regiment left camp at 2330 and joined the remainder of the Column (10th Light Horse Regiment, 8th Light Horse Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery etc).
1917
Saturday, September 15, 1917
9th Light Horse Regiment Location - Abasan el Kebir
9th Light Horse Regiment War Diary - Two Officers and two Non Commissioned Officers per Squadron moved out 0600 to inspect outpost line El Shellal. Returned to bivouac 1500.
Commanding Officer inspected the lines in afternoon.
Siekmann, Major TA; and, Freebairn, Lieutenant DT; and, 20 Other Ranks marched out of Port Said Rest Camp.
1918
Sunday, September 15, 1918
9th Light Horse Regiment Location - Ludd area
9th Light Horse Regiment War Diary - Fifteen Other Ranks from Moascar.
1030 Voluntary church parade.
1919
Monday, September 15, 1919
9th Light Horse Regiment Location - Adelaide
9th Light Horse Regiment War Diary - Regiment disbanded.
Diaries of AIF Servicemen, Bert Schramm, 14 September 1918 Topic: Diary - Schramm
Diaries of AIF Servicemen
Bert Schramm
14 September 1918
Bert Schramm
2823 Private Herbert Leslie SCHRAMM, a 22 year old Farmer from Whites River, South Australia. He enlisted on 17 February 1916; and at the conclusion of the war Returned to Australia, 10 July 1919.
During part of the course of his military service with the AIF, Bert Schramm 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 Offensive 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.
The Diaries
The complete diary is now available on the Australian Light Horse Studies Centre Site at:
Bert Schramm's Handwritten Diary, 11 - 17 September 1918
[Click on page for a larger print version.]
Bert Schramm
Saturday, September 14, 1918
Bert Schramm's Location - Ludd area
Bert Schramm's Diary - The whole division went out on manoeuvres today and everyone is preparing for a move from here shortly.
9th Light Horse Regiment War Diary
9th Light Horse Regiment Location - Ludd area
9th Light Horse Regiment War Diary - Divisional full marching order parade and inspection followed by divisional tactical exercise. The Regiment returned to bivouac at 1400.
Nominal Roll, AWM133, Nominal Roll of Australian Imperial Force who left Australia for service abroad, 1914-1918 War.
War Diaries and Letters
All War Diaries and letters cited on this site should be read in conjunction with the Australian Light Horse Studies Centre, War Diaries and Letters, Site Transcription Policy which may be accessed at:
The Australian Light Horse Studies Centre is a not for profit and non profit group whose sole aim is to write the early history of the Australian Light Horse from 1900
- 1920. It is privately funded and the information is provided by the individuals within the group and while permission for the use of the material has been given for this
site for these items by various donors, the residual and actual copyright for these items, should there be any, resides exclusively with the donors. The information on
this site is freely available for private research use only and if used as such, should be appropriately acknowledged. To assist in this process, each item has a citation
attached at the bottom for referencing purposes.
Please Note: No express or implied permission is given for commercial use of the information contained within this site.
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