Australian Infantry Battalion
1st Brigade, 1st Division
1914 – 1919
The Colours of the 1st Battalion Royal New South Wales Regiment are emblazoned with the Battle Honours of the 1st Battalions WW1 – WW2
August 4th 1914. War
{“We shall pledge our last man and last shilling” – Andrew Fisher, Prime Minister of Australia}
They arrived in thousands to defend the Empire. From the shops, from the factories, from the offices men volunteered to fight. Miners and workmen laid down their tools. Out in the bush, men were setting out on the trek to the city by train, by horse and with their swag on their backs. Old and young, they were the foundations of a new army as they marched to Victoria Barracks Paddington, Sydney.
“I left home early in the morning and went to Victoria Barracks and had to wait outside the gates with about 1000 or more other recruits for about an hour. When the gates opened there was a big rush of men to get in. We were drafted into two batches with one body composed of those who had done soldiering before and those who had not. By 20th August over 10,000 men had enlisted.” (Pte C Lee KIA 5/6/1915 age 22)
The Broken Years by Bill Gammage page 6
The 1st Battalion was formed on the 17th August 1914 and on that day the men marched from Paddington to Randwick to begin their training. The history of the 1st Australian Infantry Battalion contains the names of many soldiers who served in the South Africa campaign of 1899 – 1902 with the 1st Regiment of NSW Infantry and in British units. In 1911 the Australian Government had introduced compulsory military training for young men. About 40% of the 1st Battalion had previous service either in the militia or in the Australian Military Force (AMF). At first married men were barred from enlisting but that proved unpopular and was revoked.
General Bridges, GOC 1st Division, inspected the battalion on the 14th September and on the 17ththe men completed a route march to South Head and back. Rumours of an early departure had the men looking to say goodbye to friends and family. Many a ruse was tried. One group decided to send telegrams to themselves saying, ”Come at once. Mother dying.” This worked for the first couple but when about 30 telegrams arrived at once the game was up.
After marching through the streets of Sydney the battalion was embarked on HMT “Afric” on the 18th October bound for Albany, Western Australia. On 1st November the fleet totaling 36 ship carrying 29,500 men departed for Cairo, Egypt. The battalion strength was 1013 including officers.
Training continued to improve the standard of soldiering and marksmanship and on the 4th April the battalion embarked on the “Minnewaska”. The ship carried about 1900 men and 500 horses plus a large quantity of timber to construct a wharf. The ships arrived in Lemnos on the 12th April where the battalion was practiced in small craft landings. More provisions were taken on board and some days later the ship moved out to sea.
The 1st Australian Division led by the 3rd Brigade with the 9th, 10th and 11th battalions in formation with the 12th battalion in reserve was the first to land at ANZAC Cove. This force landed about 0420hrs on the 25th April and was immediately followed by the 2nd brigade about 0530hrs.
The 1st Brigade was the third wave to land on “ANZAC Beach”, Gallipoli. The 1st Battalion landed about 0740hrs and immediately started taking casualties. This was the beginning of a long campaign of decision and non-decision by the British commanders, which cost the Australian forces dearly. In the battle at Lone Pine two members of the battalion were awarded the Victoria Cross for valour.
Roll call of D Company, 1st Battalion, at Hell Spit after the fighting at the landing. This company went into action with six officers – Major B I Swannell, Captain H Jacobs, Lieutenants Fogden, Shout, Duchesne and Street and 213 other ranks. When reassembled, the muster was one officer, Captain H Jacobs, and 88 other ranks. AWM.
Major Blair Inskip Swannell
1st Battalion
War service: Major, “D” Company, 1st (New South Wales) Battalion, 1st Brigade, Australian Imperial Force
Swannell was commissioned in the Australian Militia as a Lieutenant in 1912, and promoted to Captain in 1914. He applied for a commission in the AIF on 1 September 1914, and was appointed as a Captain in Q Company, 1st Bn, 1st Bde on 3 September. On 1 January 1915, after travelling to Egypt on the transport A19 The Afric, he was promoted to Major. While travelling to Gallipoli on the troopship SS Minnewaska, he said that he felt sure that he would be killed, but that he would play this game as he had played Rugby – with his whole heart. He was killed in action on 25 April 1915, at Gallipoli, during the assault on Turkish positions at the hill named Baby 700.
Officers of the 1st Battalion (New South Wales) outside their tents at Mena Camp, Egypt, during training, March 1915. Sitting on the left in the back row is Major Blair Swannell, a rugby international who, according to one witness, had ‘his head half blown off’ on the day of the Gallipoli landings. Also killed that day was the man sitting in front of Swannell, Lieutenant William Duchesne. Next to Swannell sits Lieutenant Alfred Shout, who received the Victoria Cross for bravery at Lone Pine, but died on 11 August 1915 of wounds received in the fighting. Captain Harold Jacobs, seated in front on the right, was the only one to survive the war.
The 1st Battalion landed with a unit strength of 30 officers and 942 other ranks. After the first day 366 were killed or wounded.
The Prime Minister, Andrew Fisher, told the nation on the 29th of April 1915 that Australian troops were in action in the Dardanelles but what he did not know was the horrific cost the nation was to pay.
“The paid dearly for their glory. For a week after the landing exhausted men fought a hundred fights: attack and counter attack followed in wearying succession, and at the Daisy Patch, on Johnstone’s Jolly, at Steele’s Post, at Courtney’s and at Quinn’s, at the Bloody Angle, at Pope’s Hill and at the Nek the dead spread thickly over the ground.”
The Broken Years by Bill Gammage page 58
First Day – Allied Forces – 2000 killed and 5000 wounded
Turkish Forces – 2000 killed and 6000 wounded
On the 24th May a truce was negotiated to allow the recovery and burial of thousand of Turkish and Australian and New Zealand soldiers whose bodies lay rotting in no-man’s land. The bodies were swollen and covered with flies and maggots. The only way to identify them was by searching for their pay book or identification discs. In one gully about 4000 Turks lay dead.
The Truce
Captain George Wootten, Gallipoli June 1915
Teams of tunnellers would dig towards the Turks and could often hear the Turks tunneling towards them. The hole was filled with explosive and detonated just before a planned assault. Sometimes the tunnel roof would show bits of the bodies of the dead buried days before.
Bodies of dead soldiers, probably all Australian, killed during the Battle of Lone Pine in August 1915, lie on the ground as they fell. This area in front of the Lone Pine trenches was too exposed for any of the bodies to be recovered. Captain (Capt) H R Poate, a doctor serving in the 1st Field Ambulance, noted in his diary for 6 September 1915, “walked to Lone Pine”, his only visit. This one of two photographs taken by Capt Poate from the first of the captured Turkish trenches looking west over the area the Australians attacked from on the 6 August 1915. AWM
The evacuation of the ANZAC Forces was difficult for some of the soldiers who had begun to look upon the ground as a sacred place where many of their mates had died and they wanted victory not retreat.
The “Aquitania” with 4,500 wounded on board
Lt Gen Sir Willian Birdwood on the last day – 19-12-1915
There is no difference between the Johnnies
The remains of soldiers of the 1st Battalion taken in 1919
By January 1916 the 1st battalion was back in Egypt and had been reinforced and was in continuous training. This included duties guarding the Suez Canal.
On the 21st March the 1st Division left for France. The bloodiest battleground of the war was waiting and during the next three years the ANZAC Corps was to pay a high price. The first battle of Pozieres 23rd July 1916, attack on Bayonet and Hilt Trenches 5th November 1916, attack on Hermies 7th April 1917, Bullecourt 3rd May 1917, attack on Broodscinde Ridge 4th October 1917 and many others saw the 1st Battalion strength reduced by hundreds.
Pozieres was a small village on the Bapaume road and was a German strong point. It had been attacked several times without any success and as this was the first major engagement for the 1stBattalion in France, the men were eager to succeed. The Australians took the village and then held on until relieved. Losses were high with 7 Officers and 100 Other Ranks killed and 4 Officers and 376 Other Ranks wounded and 48 missing.
“When the barrage began, it seemed as though the earth had opened with a crash. The ground shook and trembled and the concussion made our ears ring. It was impossible to hear or speak to the next man. They dug trenches: the guns obliterated them. They crouched in holes but the guns found them and blew them to oblivion. The relieving units found dead men by the dozen with the look of horror on their faces as the storm of shells buried men alive leaving the place looking like a ploughed field.”
The Broken Years by Bill Gammage page 162-164
SEVEN TIMES THE AUSTRALIANS WERE USED AS A BATTERING RAM against the German defences at Mouquet Farm, Pozieres. In separate exploits Lieutenant A. C. Blackburn and Private John Leak displayed outstanding valour. Both Blackburn and Leak were awarded the VICTORIA CROSS.
Lieutenant Blackburn 10th Battalion (South Australia) was sent with 50 men to capture a German machinegun post. He made two attacks, and on each occasion all four men with him were killed. On the third attempt he captured an enemy trench and in a fourth movement he gained and held 200 metres of German trench. Fighting since 5.20am, he was finally relieved at 2pm. Private Leak 9th Battalion (Queensland) was of the do-or-die type for which Australians became famous after Pozieres. During his company’s assault, the German lighter grenades were outranging the Australian bombs. Leak jumped out of his trench exposing himself to machinegun fire at close range, and running forward threw three bombs into the enemy bombing post. Then he leapt into the pit and bayoneted the three unwounded enemy bombers. German reinforcements drove the Australians back from trench to trench and on each occasion Leak was the last to withdraw, all the time throwing grenades. Faced with this recurrent resistance, the trench was recaptured. Throughout July 23, Australian activity was incessant and Captain F. E. Herrod 2nd Battalion (NSW) found a way of capturing a strong point known as GIBRALTAR, previously considered impregnable. While he and a few men fired from the front, Lieutenant W. L. Waterhouse and 10 men worked their way to the far side and rushed Gibraltar. They captured 3 officers, 23 men and much equipment. The fight for a trench system known as OG 1 was ferocious. The Australians stuck to it with courage nothing short of sublime. In 3 days the 1st Division lost 5285 officers and men. The 2nd Division replaced the 1st Division in the line, spent 4 days and lost 6848 men before being relieved bythe 4th Division.
The ANZAC CORPS in 6 weeks lost more than 22,000 officers and men in the fighting at Pozieres.
The 1st Division 7000 – 2nd Division 8100 – 4th Division 7100
This was 50 per cent of their original fighting strength. Withdrawn from the Somme by 5th September, the Australian were sent 120 klms north of Ypres Salient in Belgium. It is by the experience of Pozieres that all Australian Infantry activity in France and Belgium must be judged. It was by the standards of soldierly behavior set at Pozieres that the AIF judged its courage, enterprise and fortitude to the end of the war.
Photo by Lt H D Andrews DCM, 1st Battalion
Photo by Lt H D Andrews 1st Battalion
Photo by Lt H D Andrews 1ST Battalion
Photo by Lt H D Andrews 1st Battalion’s Kitchen
Photo by Lt H D Andrews 1st Battalion
Portrait of H D Andrews and friend N Way 1918
Lt H D Andrews 1st Battalion AIF
The Cover of the 1st Battalion’s Book with Signatures of Members
Thanks to Peter Andrews for the above photos taken by his Grandfather Harold Andrews
The list of Battle Honours of the 1st Battalion is reflected in the casualties list.
During its four and a half years of active service 286 Officers and upward of 6,000 Other Ranks passed through the battalion. The memory of their deeds and their sacrifice will never fade.
1st Battalion casualties were:
Battalion strength: Officers 32, Other Ranks 1013 (departing Sydney 18th Oct 1914)
1917. Portrait of Lieutenant (Lt) Leonard Keysor VC, 1st Battalion. Lt Keysor was awarded the Victoria Cross as a lance corporal (LCpl) for “most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty at Lone Pine Trenches, in the Gallipoli Peninsula” on 7 August 1915. LCpl Keysor, in a trench under enemy bomb attack, picked up two live bombs and threw them back at the enemy, and although he was wounded continued to throw bombs until the trench was secure. The next day, he successfully bombed the enemy out of a strategically important part of the trench. He was again wounded and, refusing to leave, volunteered to throw bombs for another company which had lost all of their bomb throwers. In 1918 Lt Keysor returned to Australia to assist in the recruiting campaign, before being discharged on medical grounds on 12 December 1918. In 1920 he returned to London, where he died on 12 October 1951. (Donor R. Arman)
Captain Alfred John Shout was born in Wellington, New Zealand on 8 August 1881. In 1900 he joined the New Zealand Contingent to the Boer War as a Lance Corporal rising to sergeant serving with the Border Horse at Wittebergen, Transvaal and Cape Colony until 1902. Records suggest that he also served with the Stellenbosch District Mounted Troop. For his actions at Thabaksberg on 29 January 1901 he was awarded a Mention in Despatches.
The citation for the award reads: ‘Displayed great courage and assisted greatly in keeping men together. Under a heavy fire he brought out of the firing line a wounded man of the 17th Battery, RFA, and took him to a place of safety.’
During his service in South Africa he was wounded in the chest, some reports say twice, but made a full recovery. He chose to remain in South Africa at the end of hostilities, becoming a sergeant with Captain MacDonald’s Squadron, Cape Colonial Forces. He married Australian-born Rose Howe in Cape Town in 1905. Their daughter, Florence Agnes Maud, was born soon afterwards.
The Shouts emigrated to Sydney in 1907, where Alfred was employed as a carpenter at Resch’s Brewery. He joined 29 Infantry Regiment soon after emigrating and obtained a commission on 16 June 1914. Enlisting with the AIF on 27 August 1914 as a second lieutenant with 1 Battalion, he embarked for the Middle East on 18 October.
Shout was promoted to lieutenant on 1 February 1915 during the training period in Egypt. His battalion landed at Gallipoli on 25 April and Lieutenant Shout immediately displayed the leadership and bravery that came to characterise his service on the peninsula. He and his company managed to advance and assist in holding the left flank of the feature ‘Baby 700’ throughout the day of 25 April but a determined Turkish advance forced their retirement at 4.30 pm.
The first days on Gallipoli were disastrous for 1 Battalion. Over four days the battalion suffered 366 casualties and were scattered throughout the Australian front. Indicative of the esteem to which Shout was held, even at this early stage in the fighting, is the following account:
‘He was the bravest of many brave men that revealed themselves that day’, recalled Private Bethel, ‘I saw him first on the Tuesday morning after the landing. There were only two officers left, Lieutenants Shout and Harrison, and our position was desperate. The gallantry of both was remarkable, but Lieutenant Shout was a hero. Wounded himself several times, he kept picking up wounded men and carrying them out of the firing line. I saw him carry fully a dozen men away. Then another bullet struck him in the arm, and it fell useless by his side. Still he would not go to the rear.’
Following a month of recuperation on a hospital ship, Shout rejoined his battalion on 26 May. For his actions two days after the landing, Shout was awarded the Military Cross.
On 29 July he was promoted to captain. His contribution during the first months of the fighting was further recognised with a Mention in Despatches in early August. A few days later the battalion took part in the Battle for Lone Pine. It was during the fighting on 9 August that Shout was mortally wounded in the action for which he was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.
In the fourteen weeks that Shout was on Gallipoli he attained an almost legendary reputation among his peers. Between 25 April and his death three days after his 33rd birthday, he had won a Victoria Cross and a Military Cross as well as a Mention in Despatches, becoming Australia’s most decorated soldier on the peninsula.
1917. Studio portrait of Sergeant (Sgt) George Julian (Snowy) Howell VC MM, 1st Battalion. Sgt Howell was awarded the Victoria Cross as a Corporal (Cpl) for “conspicuous bravery” on 6 May 1917, near Bullecourt, France. Cpl Howell climbed onto the top of a parapet and under heavy fire proceded to bomb the enemy, pressing them back along the trench. After he exhausted his stock of bombs, he continued to attack the enemy with his bayonet, before being severely wounded. A month before this action he was awarded the Military Medal “for courage and devotion to duty while leading a rifle bombing section” during the battalion’s capture of the village of Demicourt. He returned to Australia and was discharged on 5 June 1918. He later served as a Staff Sergeant at Headquarters, Eastern Command, during the Second World War before joining the United States Sea Transport Service in August 1944. Note he has three wound stripes on his left sleeve. (Donor R. Arman)
Source –
AWM
The Official History of Australia in the War 1914 – 1918, CEW Bean
The History of the 1st Australian Infantry Battalion AIF 1914 – 1918, 1st Battalion History Committee