Pte G. Honey #1291
Pte T. Hunt #347
Pte A.W.J. Irving #1528 found
Pte J. Joyce #1624
Pte A.T. Knable #1603
Pte D.M. Lawlor #126 found
Pte F.O. Loader #2064 found
Pte R.H. Magor #3209
Pte R.T. Maudsley #137
Pte A.M. McKenzie #1797a found
Pte J.G. McKenzie #151
Pte H. McLean #293 found
Pte A.V. Momplhait #3282 found
Pte E.W. Parham #2092
Pte A.M. Perry #2095
Pte H.C. Pitt #595 found
Pte Walter H. Pretty #1556 found
Pte. H.J. Randall #1558 found
Pte M.L. Reid #3256 found
Pte S.T.J. Ridler #1036 found
Pte M. Ross #1040
Pte R.G.M. Scott #1046 found
Pte A.G. Smith #1640
Pte J.R. Stead #187 found
Pte W.C. Tucker #1581 found
14TH BRIGADE
53rd Battalion (6)
Pte A.C. Bromley #4744 found
Pte A.S. Clingan #3168 found
2nd Lt Clarence Timbwell Collier
Sgt C.S. Hill #842
Pte George William Hungerford #3327 found
L/Sgt E. Jentsch #3331 found
Pte G.H. Johnston#3096
Lt Harry Lowry Moffitt
Lt Col Ignatius Bertram Norris found
Pte P. Shannon #3433
Pte A. Verpillot #4885 found
Pte F.J. Williams #3605
Pte E.R. Wilson #4887 found
Pte Samuel Charles Wilson # 3534 found
54th Battalion (15)
Pte Michael Balkin #4254 found
Sgt Jack Campbell #495
Pte Roy Allison Clark #4155
Pte W. Connolly #3585a
L/Cpl William Andrew Craigie #4420 found
Pte Henry Alfred Cressy #4179a found
Pte William Joseph Cuckson #3032 found
Pte E.H. Dibben #4183a found
Pte Willie Hilton Doust #3557
Pte B.J.A. Dunston #4483 found
Pte F.A. Dyson #3560 found
Pte G.R. Gray #2927
Pte Laurence Harriott #4509 found
Pte C.D. Holliday #4801 found
Pte J.L. Holmes #4305
Pte E.J. Hope #4188
Pte C.D. Johnston #4315a found
Pte P.L. Myers #4850Pte A. Needham #4946
L/Cpl G. Pagan #2966 found
Pte W. Pheasant #3462 found
Sgt H. Richardson #4581
Pte B. Richardson #4581
Pte A. Russell #4299 found
Pte J. Scott #4873
Cpl J. Toole #690
Pte J. P. Wailes [Wallis] #4617 found
Sgt W. Wass #239
Pte R. R. Wildman #1888 found
Pte A. Williamson #4249
55th Battalion (7)
Pte V. Baker #3007
Pte V. E. Baker #3247
Pte R.C. Bishop #3761 found
Cpl H.T. Bolt #3009 found
Pte L. Broadhurst #3013
Pte R.A. Dewar #3047 found
Pte P.W. Fahey #3060 found
Cpl F. Fletcher #3310 found
Pte J.J. Harris #3819
Pte L. Leister #4840 found
Pte R.J. McGuarr #3873
Lt B.L. Mendelsohn found
Pte H. N. St Smith #3924
Pte A. Thompson #2825
56th Battalion (1)
Pte D. Dodd #4770
14th Machine Gun Company (2)
Pte N.T. Lee #2779
Cpl G.F. Stalgis #2898
Lt R.D. Burns found
15TH BRIGADE ( 7 )
57th Battalion
None
58th Battalion
None
59th Battalion (2)
Lt J.C. Bowden
Cpl R.W. Johnson #3367
60th Battalion (5)
Sgt. V.M. Grogan #3114
Pte F.G. Holst #2925
Sgt D.C. McCaul #1980
Pte J.L. Nitchie #146
C.Q. Sgt J. Ralston #1501 (1382?)
The soldiers who are on the wall at VC Corner as missing / unidentified plus the additional soldiers who are on the memorial wall at Villers-Bretonneux. They all have files in the Red Cross records showing they were gathered at Fromelles and buried by the Germans.
This list of missing Diggers was compiled prior to the exhumations. The 79 soldiers listed as ‘found’ were identified in 2010 and 2011. The names of a further 31 soldiers are given on pages xlviii–lii
Appendix III
5TH DIVISION AIF DEATHS, FROMELLES
Appendix IV
CASUALTIES OF WORLD WAR I
Source: http://www.greatwar.nl/index.html
Appendix V
BROTHERS WHO DIED
AT THE BATTLE OF FROMELLES
(List researched by Stephen Brooks)
8TH BRIGADE
14TH BRIGADE
15TH BRIGADE
Appendix VI
MAJOR - GENERAL VON BRAUN ORDER
NO. 5220
No. 5220 21.7.16
Bayer. Res. Inf. Rgt. No. 21
(21st Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment)
Subject: Bringing up of materials and recovery of bodies
1. The following are assigned to the Regiment to undertake recovery of the wounded and dead:
a. 1 NCO and 24 men of the Medical Company. These will be billeted at Desprez (Eck Farm) and draw rations with the 21st Infantry Pioneer Company. They will be employed as directed by the Regimental Medical Officer.
b. Three motor lorries. These will be loaded at Brulle with screw pickets, rolls of wire and long stakes, which will be unloaded beside the light railway line, E of Fromelles, on the Mittlere Hochstrasse. The unloading will be carried out by a working party from the h-Company. The lorries will then be loaded in the vicinity of the Regimental Command Post with German dead, which are to be deposited in the SE quadrant of the cemetery at Beaucamps. The Regimental Band will detail men to carry out this work as ordered by the Regimental Medical Officer, who will also arrange for the necessary supervision by a Medical Officer and other personnel, as required.
Sergeant-majors are to be in attendance during the laying-out of the bodies and will collect papers and identity disks in such a way that the personal effects and identity disk are removed from each body individually and are immediately placed in a sandbag, tied off and tagged with a cardboard or stiff paper label (pendant address label), on which the number and company appearing on the identity disk are recorded.
Each body thus registered is to be laid immediately in one of the mass graves excavated in accordance with 3. below. The Medical Officer in attendance, who will direct the operation, is to ensure that each layer of bodies is immediately covered with a layer of earth mixed with chloride of lime, and that, when full, the grave is immediately covered over in a suitable manner. The grave sites will be allocated by the Ortskommandant (Town Major) of Beaucamps. Consecration of the bodies and the graves will take place later.
Tent squares [Zeltbahnen] may be used to move the bodies, but must not be used as burial shrouds. Detached body parts are to be wrapped in cloth and buried.
The other vehicles used to transport the pioneer materials are likewise to bring back German bodies; the light railway is also to be used for this purpose as far as the halt at Beaucamps, from where the bodies will be transported on stretchers. The unloading points are to be sited to one side, fenced off at a suitable distance with barbed wire and guarded in watches by sentries posted by the Regimental Band.
The civilian population is to be prevented from loitering and staring at the bodies.
The entire recovery operation at Beaucamps will be carried out in four-hour shifts until specific arrival times are known. The sergeant-majors of the IIIrd Bn will begin at 8.00pm today, followed by those of the 1st, then those of the IInd Bn, etc.
The ‘English’ bodies will be buried in mass graves immediately to the south of Pheasant Wood. The removal of effects and identity disks, in the same way as for the German bodies, is to be carried out by the h-Company, supported by one medical NCO and 4 men of the regiment, under the orders of the Regimental Medical Officer.
In order to expedite the rapid removal of the bodies, the dead are to be separated by nationality and laid out at depots close to the light railway, Grashof and Christuskreuz.
The misappropriation of even the most insignificant item of property from a body (German or ‘English’) constitutes robbery of the dead and will be severely punished. The collection of effects, as ordered above, may only be carried out by the sergeantmajors at Beaucamps or in the presence of a senior NCO of the h-Company at Pheasant Wood.
The IIIrd Bn is to provide one section, in rotation, to assist at Beaucamps. The assistance of stretcher bearer sections from RIR 20 is requested.
2. From today, three motor lorries are assigned to undertake double trips during the night to take forward the pioneer materials. See 1. above.
The h-Company will provide a squad from 10pm to carry out the unloading at Fromelles (tonight, the occupying Company for the first trip, then the relieving Company for the second trip).
The IIrd Bn will provide two squads each day to load the other vehicles at Desprez when requested by the commander of the Infantry Pioneer Company. The e-Company will provide two sections to unload the materials at Christuskreuz. Times to be decided by Leutnant Marx.
3. The Ortskommandatur (Town Major’s Office) at Beaucamps is to have mass graves dug for approximately 300 bodies, separated by unit, but alongside one another. The officers are to be laid out separately in the centre. For the burial of the ‘English’ dead, the h-Company is to excavate mass graves for approximately 400 bodies. Until that time it is only to be employed on remedial works within the [*] position.
Signed: von Braun
Copies to:
Battalions: 3
Companies: 14
Reg. Med. Off.: 1
IInd & IIrd Bn. Med. Offs: 2
Ortskommandatur: 1
23
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My thanks to Lambis Englezos, for his friendship, foresight, passion and determination. Without Lambis, the missing Diggers of Fromelles would still be languishing in their unmarked and lonely graves at Pheasant Wood.
Martial Delebarre, for his friendship, knowledge and unquenchable passion for Fromelles, and the men who fought for her liberty.
John Fielding and Ward Selby, for their devotion to the cause well beyond the call of duty.
Chris Bryett, for his friendship and his untrammelled determination and energy in pursuing the story of the fate of the missing Diggers of Fromelles.
Peter Reece for his wise counsel and his enduring advocacy on behalf of the Digger.
Tim, Liz and Alexandra Whitford for their friendship and their deep emotional connection to the men of Fromelles and their determination to keep the story alive.
Richard Wright for his knowledge and experience so freely given.
Roger Lee, for his help and devotion to the Digger.
Sarah Lindsay for her love and support and her hard work in Fromelles.
Robin Corfield and Neville Kidd for their wonderful scholarship and devotion to the Diggers.
Stephen Brooks for his diligent sleuthing into the casualties of Fromelles.
Bruce Billson and Cameron Hooke for their openness and concern for the men of Fromelles and their descendants.
Mike Kelly, George Jones and Martin Brown for their support and efforts to keep the story alive.
Mme Carole Laignel, M. Hubert Huchette, the late M. Pierre Demassiet, Mme Marie-Paule Demassiet and the people of Fromelles for their hospitality and generosity of spirit in remembering the men who fought for their freedom so long ago.
My admiration and special gratitude to Mme Marie-Paule Demassiet for her selfless donation of her land at Pheasant Wood ‘pour les soldats’.
Jenny Ingham, Judy Fitzhenry, Jill Potter and the many other families of the missing for keeping the faith. May their prayers be answered.
Kevin O’Brien for his support.
The Hon. Warren Snowdon, Minister for Defence, Science and Personnel, for his candour and passionate support of the Digger.
Sandy Grant, Keiran Rogers, Pam Brewster, Fran Berry, Julie Pinkham, Jenny Macmillan, Rod Morrison, and the team at Hardie Grant for all their skill and support.
My special thanks to Carl Harrison-Ford for his wonderful work editing this manuscript.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS
Adam-Smith, Patsy, The Anzacs, Nelson, Melbourne, 1978
Bean, C.E.W., Anzac to Amiens, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1948
Bean, C.E.W., Official History of Australia in the War, 1914–1918, Vol. II, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1929
Bourne, John, The Great World War, 1914–1945, HarperCollins, London, 2000
Carlyon, Les, Gallipoli, Pan Macmillan, Sydney, 2001
Carlyon, Les, The Great War, Pan Macmillan, Sydney, 2006
Carthew, Noel, Voices From the Trenches: Letters to Home, New Holland, Sydney, 2002
Cobb, Paul, Fromelles 1916, Tempus Publishing, London, 2007
Corfield, Robin S., Don’t Forget Me, Cobber!, Corfield & Co., Melbourne, 2000
Corfield, Robin S., Hold Hard, Cobbers, Vol. I, Corfield & Co, Melbourne, 1992
Coulthard-Clark, Chris, The Encyclopaedia of Australia’s Battles, Allen &Unwin, Sydney, 1998
Dixon, Norman, On the Psychology of Military Incompetence, Jonathan Cape, London, 1988
Gilbert, Martin, The First World War, Holt, London, 1996
Gilbert, Martin, The Somme, Henry Holt, New York, 2006
Grey, Jeffrey, A Military History of Australia, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1999
Hanson, Neil, The Unknown Soldier, Doubleday, London, 2005
James, Lawrence, Warrior Race: A History of the British at War, Abacus, London, 2002
Keegan, John, The First World War, Pimlico, London, 2002
Kidd, Neville, An Impression Which Will Never Fade, self-published, Sydney, 1999
Knyvett, Captain R. Hugh, Over There With the Australians, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1918
Kyle, Roy, An Anzac’s Story, Penguin, Melbourne, 2003
Lindsay, Patrick, The Spirit of the Digger, Pan Macmillan, Sydney, 2004
MacDonald, Lyn, Somme, Michael Joseph, London, 1983
McMullin, Ross, Pompey Elliott, Scribe Publications, Melbourne, 2002
Miller, William Ian, The Mystery of Courage, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 2000
Odgers, George, 100 Years of Australians at War, Lansdowne Press, Sydney, 1999
Pedersen, Peter, Fromelles, Leo Cooper, South Yorkshire, 2004
Pedersen, Peter, The Anzacs: Gallipoli to the Western Front, Penguin Viking, Sydney, 2007
Pelvin, Richard, ANZAC: An Illustrated History, 1914–1918, Hardie Grant Books, Melbourne, 2004
Stevenson, David, 1914–1918: The History of the First World War, Allen Lane, London, 2004
Travers, Tim, The Killing Ground: The British Army, The Western Front and the Emergence of Modern War, 1900–1918, Pen & Sword, London, 2003.
Williams, John F., Anzacs, the Media and the Great War, UNSW Press, Sydney, 1999
Williams, John F., Corporal Hitler and the Great War, 1914-1918: The List Regiment, Cass Military Studies, London, 2005
Wray, Christopher, Sir James Whiteside McCay, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2002
PAPERS AND COLLECTIONS
Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau Files, www.awm.gov.au/database/1drl428.asp
Australian War Memorial Collection Databases, www.awm.gov.au
Commonwealth War Graves Commission official registers, www.cwgc.org
Elliott, Major General H.E. (Pompey)
, ‘The Battle of Fleurbaix’, Melbourne, 1929–30
‘Fromelles Inquiry’, Journal of the Royal United Service Institution of NSW, Vol. 50, No. 4 Summer 1997/98
National Archives of Australia, Online War Service Records, WWI, www.naa.gov.au
INDEX
A
Albert, France
Alexandria, Egypt
Allied High Command
Amann, Max
Anzac cemetery
Arblaster, Captain Charles
Armentières
Armistice
Arras
artillery
Australian
German
Association pour le Souvenir de la
Bataille de Fromelles
Aubers
Aubers Ridge
Australian Army
History Unit
Australian Imperial Force
Australian War Memorial
ANZAC
Anzacs
Anzac Corps
I Anzac Corps
II Anzac Corps
New Zealand Army Corps
Battalions
2nd
29th
30th
31st
32nd
53rd
54th
55th
56th
57th
58th
59th
60th
Brigade
6th
8th
14th
15th
casualties
Division
1st
2nd
4th
5th
New Zealand Division
Light Horse Brigade
Australian Defence Department
Australian Defence Force
Austria-Hungary
Australian Memorial Park
Australian Naval and Military
Expedition Force
Australian War Graves Service
Australian War Memorial
B
Balsdon, Privates James, Russell
Joseph
Barbour, Lieutenant Tom
Barr, Privates David, Colin
Barry, Private William ‘Bill’
Barton, Peter
Battle of Fromelles
Battles Nomenclature Committee