The Battle of Anzac Cove

Gallipoli, 25 April 1915

1st Infantry Brigade War Diary 

The following is a transcription of the War Diary of the 1st Infantry Brigade, AIF, of their role in the landings at Anzac on 25 April 1915.

24 April 1915

Lake Michigan

Wind riding again - east by north. No rain.

The accommodation on this ship is very bad.

12 noon - Left Lemnos - absolutely calm and fine.

4pm Anchored north of Lemnos.

Kings message received.

11 pm - Left anchorage. All lights out.


25 April 1915

6.15 am - First to with Brigade Headquarters left ship.

7.0 am - Landed two miles north of Kape Tepe.

Tows under shrapnel.

7.25 am - Brigade Headquarters established on beach.

7.55 am - Two companies 3rd Infantry Battalion moved up to help reinforce 3rd Infantry Brigade - Verbal.

9.15 am - 1st Infantry Battalion sent up reinforce 3rd Infantry Brigade - Verbal.

9.30 am - Two companies 3rd Infantry Battalion sent up to join remainder - Verbal.

10.45 am - Two companies 2nd Infantry Battalion sent up Hill 224 Cb to reinforce 3rd Infantry Battalion and two platoons to left as outpost.

12.50 pm - Brigade completely landed.

1.7 pm - Reinforcements required left flank.

Personal reconnaissance by Officer Commanding and Battalion.

Two companies 2nd Infantry Battalion sent to hold ridge on left 237 W5 (outpost platoons withdrawn).

5.30 pm - 4th Infantry Battalion moved out to the left of 2nd Infantry Battalion.

Infantry Brigade Headquarters moved up to ridge.

Officer Commanding 2nd Infantry Battalion inspected position at 224Bb. At this time applications for reinforcements from every direction was frequent. Firing went on all night. Weather fine.

 

26 April 1915

Ridge East of Landing Beach, 224H4

5.15 am - Reported disposition to Divisional Headquarters.

6.5 - Headquarters 1st Infantry Brigade moved to 3rd Infantry Brigade late headquarters at 224 I4.

All Battalions in firing line in different places and sometimes mixed.

War Diaries

All War Diaries cited on this site should be read in conjunction with the Australian Light Horse Studies Centre, AIF War Diaries of the Great War, Site Transcription Policy which may be accessed at:

Australian Light Horse Studies Centre, AIF War Diaries of the Great War, Site Transcription Policy 

Further Reading:

The Battle of Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, 25 April 1915

The Battle of Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, 25 April 1915, 1st Infantry Brigade, Roll of Honour

The Battle of Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, 25 April 1915, AIF, Roll of Honour 

Battles where Australians fought, 1899-1920

Posted by Project Leader at 12:01 AM EADT

Updated: Thursday, 15 April 2010 9:59 AM EADT

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The Battle of Karee Siding

South Africa, 29 March 1900

Outline

Karee Siding, an action during the Second South African War, fought on 29 March 1900, some 30 kilometres north of the Orange Free State capital, Bloemfontein. After the British army under Field Marshal Lord Roberts entered the town on 13 March, Boer forces under General J.H. De la Rey continued to occupy the hills through which the railway line passed to Brandfort. Deciding to eliminate the menace which the enemy presence here presented, and having selected Karee Siding as a suitable place for an advanced supply base, Roberts began concentrating troops at the Glen Siding-the point eleven kilometres south of Karee where the railway crossed the dodder River.

By 28 March 9,000 British troops were at the Glen, comprising the 7th Infantry Division of 6,000 men, two cavalry brigades totalling 2,000 horsemen and a 1,000-strong mounted infantry brigade. Supporting this force were 30 field-guns and two pom-pom quick-fire weapons. Lieut.-General John French had been sent to take command of the cavalry, but Lieut.-General C. Tucker held command of the infantry and the brigade of mounted infantry led by Colonel PWJ. Le Gallais. Among the regiments of Le Gallais's brigade was the New South Wales Mounted Rifles under Lieut.-Colonel G.C. Knight, while the 1st Cavalry Brigade led by Colonel T.C. Porter contained a squadron of the New South Wales Lancers commanded by Captain Charles Cox and another of the 1st Australian Horse (also a New South Wales unit) commanded by Captain Elworthy.

Generals French and Tucker both arrived at the Glen on the evening of the 28th, the day before that set for the advance to begin. Although lacking reconnaissance information regarding enemy positions - or even whether any enemy actually remained - they determined on making an infantry advance directly along the rail-line accompanied by turning movements on both flanks, by the cavalry on the west (left flank) and mounted infantry on the east respectively. Though unknown to them, available to oppose this plan were 3,500 Boers led by General Tobias Smuts in the absence of De la Rey. The bulk of the enemy forces were deployed east of the railway, in three parallel ranges of hills running across the proposed line of advance, but a portion also held a plateau called Houtenbeck on the other side of the tracks.

When launched the next morning, the British advance initially met no resistance. The flanking movements encountered no opposition, and consequently Tucker's infantry set off to take the first of the ridge lines, finding it already abandoned by the enemy. The second parallel was also seized by 1.30 p.m., after the leading battalion had only a few shots fired at it. It was only on the last ridge that the Boers disclosed their presence in strength, opening a heavy fire from positions concealed in the brushwood covering the hillside. For about an hour a fire fight took place on this front, and also on the left where the British line had now encountered the Boers on the Houtenbeck feature. Artillery was brought up to deal with the enemy on both sides of the railway, and shortly after 4 p.m. a bayonet charge against the Houtenbeck trenches found the Boers already in flight across the bare open plain towards Brandfort.

Meanwhile, the cavalry and mounted troops - whose movement had been intended to smooth the infantry's progress and ensure that any enemy encountered were not merely dislodged but severely dealt with - remained effectively out of the battle. In the judgement of The Times History Of The War, French's movements had been 'unaccountably slow' while on the eastern flank:

Le Gallais had chased some parties of Boers from the outlying ridges .... but only with the result of sending them to reinforce the main body opposed to Tucker; and in the afternoon he had allowed his whole brigade to be delayed by a small party of Boers on an outlying spur. The consequence was that he never got round.

In this whole poorly managed operation the British sustained 189 casualties (including members of the New South Wales Mounted Rifles and Australian Horse), compared to Boer losses of only 34. The victory was important, nonetheless, in opening the way for Roberts to resume his advance across the northern half of the Free State and on to the Transvaal.



Extracted from the book produced by Chris Coulthard-Clark, Where Australians Fought - The Encyclopaedia of Australia's Battles, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1998, pp. 71-72.

Additional References cited by Chris Coulthard-Clark:

L.S. Amery, (ed.) The Times History of the War in South Africa 1899-1902, Vol. 3 (1905), London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co.

John Stirling (1907) The Colonials in South Africa, 1899-1902. Edinburgh: W. Blackwood & Sons.

Further Reading:

The Battle of Karee Siding, South Africa, 29 March 1900

The Battle of Karee Siding, South Africa, 29 March 1900, Roll of Honour

Battles where Australians fought, 1899-1920

Posted by Project Leader at 12:01 AM EADT

Updated: Friday, 1 April 2011 5:56 PM EADT

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The First Battle of Dernancourt

France, 28 March 1918

Outline

First Dernancourt, another action resulting from the German offensive of March 1918, involving troops of the 4th Australian Division, on 28 March 1918. As a result of a British division being mistakenly withdrawn from the positions it was holding protecting Albert, the 12th and 13th brigades were ordered south from their positions in support of the 4th Brigade at Hébuterne (q.v.) to fill the gap. Marching through the night of 26 March across part of the German front, the next day they occupied positions around Dernancourt - a village on the River Ancre close by the south-western outskirts of Albert, which itself was already in enemy hands-relieving exhausted troops of a Scottish division. Here, with the 3rd Australian Division in the vicinity of Morlancourt (q.v.) further south, and the British 35th Division holding a short sector in between, they formed the southern flank of the British Third Army.

On 28 March the Germans attempted to continue their advance, crossing the Ancre and the Albert-Amiens railway between Albert and Buire. The first movement, carried out in early morning mist was detected by the battalions of the 12th Brigade and repulsed. Fighting along the whole front between Dernancourt and Albert then erupted, but all the attacks mounted by the 50th (Prussian) Reserve Division were beaten back on the right with the assistance of the 19th Northumberland Fusiliers of the 35th Division. The day’s action had cost the Germans 550 casualties, and the Australians at least 137.

Extracted from the book produced by Chris Coulthard-Clark, Where Australians Fought - The Encyclopaedia of Australia's Battles, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1998, pp. 138-139.

Additional References cited by Chris Coulthard-Clark:

C.E.W. Bean (1937) The Australian Imperial Force in France during the Main German Offensive, 1918, Sydney: Angus & Robertson.

The First Battle of Dernancourt, France, 28 March 1918, Contents

The First Battle of Dernancourt, France, 28 March 1918, Roll of Honour

Battles where Australians fought, 1899-1920

Posted by Project Leader at 12:01 AM EADT

Updated: Monday, 28 March 2011 7:43 AM EADT

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The First Battle of Morlancourt

France, 28 - 30 March 1918

Outline

First Morlancourt, an action on 28-30 March 1918 which took place largely in parallel with the fight at Dernancourt (q.v.) which lay less than three kilometres to the north. It was into the triangular peninsula between the River Ancre in the north and the River Somme in the south-upon which the right flank of the British Third Army and the left of the Fifth were respectively anchored - that the 3rd Australian Division under Major-General Sir John Monash was sent on 27 March. The positions initially occupied by Monash's troops, running from Méricourt to Sailly-le-Sec, lay about three kilometres behind those held by flanking formations, so shortly before noon the next day he was ordered to move forward about 2,000 metres to occupy the ridge-line overlooking Morlancourt from the west and thereby considerably straighten the line.

Advancing after 4.30 p.m.-the 10th Brigade on the left and 11th on the right - the 3rd Division enjoyed little support from artillery since few guns were yet in range. When strong resistance began to be encountered on the bare steep slopes from enemy machine-guns and artillery, progress was slowed and on the left eventually stopped after only 500 metres. Monash ordered the march to be resumed after dark, by which time a light drizzle was falling. The advance became stalled by Germans holding a copse in the centre, and on the extreme right troops sent to secure the village of Sailly-Laurette beside the Somme stumbled into an ambush by enemy outposts containing six or seven machine-guns and nearly 100 men were lost. All up, the day's activity had cost some 300 casualties.

Giving up hopes of an advance without effective artillery support, Monash ordered his batteries to take up new positions during
the remaining hours of darkness. The guns proceeded to hammer the obstacles encountered in the centre during 29 March, forcing the enemy to abandon these posts, and the Australian line began digging in on the forward slope of the spur-lines it now occupied. The 11th Brigade, holding the southern portion of the division's front, was forced to defend its ground when attacked at noon on 30 March by a fresh enemy division. The initial German deployment was stopped at heavy cost to the attacking troops, as was a second attempt two hours later and a third made about 4 p.m. The 11th Brigade easily held its positions, sustaining about 150 casualties. The enemy loss was several times that number, though nothing like some estimates which ran to 3,000-4,000 killed.

Australians on the ridge behind Morlancourt

Extracted from the book produced by Chris Coulthard-Clark, Where Australians Fought - The Encyclopaedia of Australia's Battles, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1998, p. 139.

Additional References cited by Chris Coulthard-Clark:

C.E.W. Bean (1937) The Australian Imperial Force in France during the Main German Offensive, 1918, Sydney: Angus & Robertson.

The First Battle of Morlancourt, France, 28 - 30 March 1918, Contents

The First Battle of Morlancourt, France, 28 - 30 March 1918, Roll of Honour

Battles where Australians fought, 1899-1920

Posted by Project Leader at 12:01 AM EADT

Updated: Monday, 28 March 2011 8:31 AM EADT

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The Battle of Anzac Cove

Gallipoli, 25 April 1915

Roll of Honour

1st Infantry Brigade, AIF

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

The Roll of Honour contains the names of all the men from the 1st Infantry Brigade known to have served and lost their lives during the Battle of Anzac, 25 April 1915.

Roll of Honour

 

Carl AMOS, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Charles ARMSTRONG, 2nd Infantry Battalion.

 

Reginald Albert BASSAN, 2nd Infantry Battalion.

Warren Francis BATES, 1st Infantry Battalion.

James Edward BOOTH, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Wallace Hector BRANDER, 3rd Infantry Battalion.

Duncan Napier BROWN, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Percy Sydney BRUSHETT, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Thomas Duffy BURKE, 2nd Infantry Battalion.

Rainald Knightly BURNE, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Ronald BURNS, 3rd Infantry Battalion.

Frederick BUTTON, 4th Infantry Battalion.

 

Arthur James CARNELL, 3rd Infantry Battalion.

Maurice Frederick CARR, 3rd Infantry Battalion.

Walter William CAVILL, 3rd Infantry Battalion.

Donald Walter COOKE, 3rd Infantry Battalion.

Rodger COX, 3rd Infantry Battalion.

 

Alan Douglas Gibb DAWSON, 2nd Infantry Battalion.

George Noel DRAPER, 1st Infantry Battalion.

William Sydney DUCHESNE, 1st Infantry Battalion.

 

Herbert Henry EREKSON, 3rd Infantry Battalion.

 

Stanley Squire FARNELL, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Victor Emanuel FARR, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Richard FINDON, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Edgar Lewis FITZGERALD, 4th Infantry Battalion.

Joseph Thomas FLYNN, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Walter FREEBAIRN, 1 Field Company Australian Engineers.

William James Gordon FREEMAN, 2nd Infantry Battalion.

 

Leigh George John GLANVILLE, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Charles George GORDON, 2nd Infantry Battalion.

William Earle GUTHRIE, 1st Infantry Battalion.

 

Arthur HALLAM, 3rd Infantry Battalion.

Claude Hilfred HANSEN, 2nd Infantry Battalion.

Barker Orielly HARDING, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Robert Charles Neil HENDERSON, 1st Infantry Battalion.

John Joseph HICKEY, 3rd Infantry Battalion.

Douglas Clive HOBDEN, 2nd Infantry Battalion.

Michael John HOGAN, 3rd Infantry Battalion.

Richard Joseph HORAN, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Vincent Williams HUGHES, 2nd Infantry Battalion.

 

Francis Duncan IRVINE, 1 Infantry Brigade Headquarters.

 

Henry James JUBY, 2nd Infantry Battalion.

 

George Edward Eccleston KELLY, 2nd Infantry Battalion.

 

Edward Rennix LARKIN, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Martin Joseph LARKIN, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Charles Edward LEER, 3rd Infantry Battalion.

Frederick Augustus LIGHT, 1st Infantry Battalion.

William Frederick LOGAN, 3rd Infantry Battalion.

 

Arthur Archibald MACBETH, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Alexander Joseph MCDONALD, 1 Field Company Australian Engineers.

Donald Neil MACGREGOR, 3rd Infantry Battalion.

Ian Gordon MACINNES, 2nd Infantry Battalion.

Allan Cameron MACLEAN, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Lionel MARKS, 1st Infantry Battalion.

William MOORE, 1 Field Company Australian Engineers.

Charles MORELL, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Hugh Fuller MORGAN, 2nd Infantry Battalion.

Frank Sinclair MORRISH, 1st Infantry Battalion.

 

Harry Bowlin NOAD, 2nd Infantry Battalion.

 

Frederick Leslie O'BRIEN, 1st Infantry Battalion.

 

Cleveland Edmund PAGE, 1 Field Company Australian Engineers.

Michell PICAUD, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Frank PRUTTON, 3rd Infantry Battalion.

Arthur Sydney PUTT, 3rd Infantry Battalion.

 

Cyril George Moore READ, 1st Infantry Battalion.

George Alfred REES, 4th Infantry Battalion.

Ernest George RENN, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Fred REYNOLDS, 1 Field Company Australian Engineers.

John George ROBERTS, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Norman ROBERTS, 3rd Infantry Battalion.

John Thomas ROLLASON, 1st Infantry Battalion.

 

Frederick SHARP, 3rd Infantry Battalion.

Eric Martin SOLLING, 2nd Infantry Battalion.

Selby Albert Shepherd STEWART, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Robert SUTTIE, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Blair Inskip SWANNELL, 1st Infantry Battalion.

James SWEENEY, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Harry Foster SWINBOURNE, 1st Infantry Battalion.

 

William TUCKER, 1st Infantry Battalion.

 

John Bryden WALKER, 1st Infantry Battalion.

George William WHITE, 2nd Infantry Battalion.

Charles Louis WILLIAMS, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Herbert Edwin WILLIAMS, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Robert Edgar WILLISON, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Thomas Clark WILSON, 3rd Infantry Battalion.

Cecil Robert WINCH, 1st Infantry Battalion.

Samuel WRIGHT, 1st Infantry Battalion.

 

Further Reading:

The Battle of Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, 25 April 1915

The Battle of Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, 25 April 1915, AIF, Roll of Honour 

Battles where Australians fought, 1899-1920

Posted by Project Leader at 12:01 AM EADT

Updated: Tuesday, 6 April 2010 9:15 AM EADT

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