99th Anniversary

Ninety-nine years ago today Australian soldiers were involved in an offensive near Flers and Geuedecourt, France. 

 Thomas (my great-grandfather) and his fellow Australian soldiers of the 1st and 3rd Battalion attacked a 'triangle' just near Geuedecourt, France. Unfortunately a number of them were wounded and/or died during this attack.

This is an attack map for the 'triangle' attack on November 5th 1916

A little further along the front the 25th, 26th, 27th and 28th Battalions were also involved in this offensive. They were attacking a section called 'The Maze' and a larger number of these soldiers were wounded and/or killed then involved in the 'triangle' attack.

This is photograph of the original attack plan for the November 5th offensive.

 

 

Unfortunately for a number of the soldiers killed (especially in the 'triangle' attack) they remained un-buried where they fell until early March 1917. 

Narrowing Down

I decided that I needed to concentrate on the soldiers that had unknown graves along with Thomas. I needed to stop researching all the 1st Battalion soldiers who died on the 5th November 1916 and just concentrate on those few.

I looked at the information I had already gathered and created a list (which follows).


These men died on November 5th 1916 and where buried (according to the personnel files) about 450yards N.N.W of Gueudecourt, Sheet 57c N.20 D.3.7 and are commemorated at Villers-Bretonneux

B Company
Gordon Bromley (M)
Alic Brown (R M)
William Gibney (M)
Leslie Miller (M)
Robert Miller (M)
Wallis Rankine (M)

C Company
Alan Andrews (* M)
Thomas Bannan (M)
Ernest Clarkson (M)
William Constable (M)
Robert Costellow (M)
Herbert Elmes (R M)
Reginald Flower (R M)
William Graham (M)
Charles Hambling (M)
John Harris (* M)
William Harris (R M)
John Howell (M)
George Jamieson (M)
Joseph Lanyon (* M)
Osswild McGregor (R M)
David Murray (M)
Milton Penketh (R M)
Thomas Rutherford (R M)
Horace Schofield (M)
Leslie Tiedeman (M)
Sydney Todd (R M)
Sydney Vandine (R M)
George Wallgate (* M)
Thomas Whitton (M)

D Company
James Lewis (M)

Company Unknown or Not Sure
Charles Cregan (M)
Edward Fanning (R M)
Thomas Lunn (R M)
Matthew Thorburn (M)
James Henry (M)

* – No Red Cross File

R - Same burial reference as Thomas in their Red Cross File [Buried about 450yards N.N.W. of Gueudecourt, Sheet 57c S.W N.20 D.3.7]

M - Same burial reference as Thomas written on their Military File [Buried about 450yards N.N.W. of Gueudecourt, Sheet 57c S.W N.20 D.3.7]

There were some soliders that I couldn't place on the above list because the records did provide me with the same information.

# Director of graves: Buried 2 ½ miles south of Bapaume

James Charles Simington

# No exact co-ordinate found in any records for burial, just general stuff - can assume with others.

Emanuel Hansen

John Harold McIntyre

Niall Joseph Mullarkey

George Joseph Parr

Continued Research

With continued research more information is turning up and yet it isn't. What is turning up is adding to the information of the 1st Battalion soldiers being buried March 1917. Yet the information isn't always specific - some of it is very general.



An example of the information adding to the knowledge of the burial of the 1st Battalion soldiers is to the right. This letter clearly states that William Gibney was buried about 450 yards North North West of Gueudecourt but after searching they couldn't locate his grave.


To me this letter proves that the soldiers were buried before the end of the war near Gueudecourt but for some unknown reason after the war their graves couldn't be found. One such reason could be the cross or crosses marking their graves was destroyed during the war. Also after reading war diaries I discovered that the area around Flers and Gueudecourt was bombed by the German for the following few months after March 1917 (when they were buried).


William Gibney had the same burial location in his military file as Thomas Rutherford. The record below is taken from William Gibney's military file.