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==Brief History==
 
==Brief History==
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Raised at Claremont, Western Australia, in February 1916, the battalion formed part of the 11th Brigade, which was part of the 3rd Division. Following some initial training in Australia the battalion embarked on 6 Jun 1916HMAT A29 Suevic for England where it spent further months training before moving to France on 27 November 1916.
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Raised at Claremont, Western Australia, in February 1916, the battalion formed part of the 11th Brigade, which in turn was part of the 3rd Division. Following some initial training in Australia the battalion embarked on 6 Jun 1916 aboard [[HMAT A29 Suevic]] for England where the battalion spent a further four months training before moving to France on 27 November 1916.
  
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During the very cold winter of 1916-17 they alternated between manning front line positions and working details when in the rear.  Their first real taste of battle came at Messines (7-10 Jun 1917), but they had previously participated in an unsuccessful two company raid on enemy positions.  They also participated in the Battle for Broodseinde Ridge in late October taking very heavy casualties (158 unscathed of the 992 that entered the battle).
 
  
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Following the winter which they spent in Belgium, in March 1918 they were moved south to the Somme valley when the German attack in 1918 threatened Amiens.  Their defensive positions helped repel a German attack near Morlancourt, and later they participated in the attack on Le Hamel and the Hundred Days Offensive that followed commencing in August 1918. The battalion's final battle came when it with others breached the German defences at the St Quentin Canal.
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During the very cold winter of 1916-17 they alternated between manning front line positions and providing men for working details when in the rear.  Prior to their first real taste of battle which came at Messines (7-10 Jun 1917), they had been billeted in a rest area at Coulomby. They had previously participated in an unsuccessful, two company raid on enemy positions.  They participated in the Battle for Broodseinde Ridge in late October 1917, taking very heavy casualties (only 158 unscathed of the 992 that entered the battle).
  
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Total casualties during the war amounted to 437 killed and 1,346 wounded.
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[[File:44th_Bn_Coulomby.jpg]]<br>
  
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AWM ART03540 Major Edwin Summerhayes.
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 +
Following the winter of 1917-18 which they spent in Belgium, in March they were moved south to the Somme valley when the German attack in 1918 threatened Amiens.  Their defensive positions helped repel a German attack near Morlancourt, and later they participated in the attack on Le Hamel and participated in the Hundred Days Offensive that followed commencing in August 1918. The battalion's final battle came when it, with others, breached the German defences at the St Quentin Canal. Total battalion casualties during the war amounted to 437 killed and 1,346 wounded.
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===Battalion Personnel===
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A
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* † [[Martin Abolin]] 18 Nov 1916 - 8 Jun 1917 - KIA Messines Ridge
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* [[Edgar Copley Adams MID]] 21 Jul 1916 - Feb 1919
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* [[William James Allen]] ?? Dec 1916 - 25 Jan 1919
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* [[Henry Ogilvie Allom (Jnr)]] 1 Sep 1917 - 24 Apr 1919
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* † [[George Alexander Armstrong]] 9 Jul - 4 Oct 1917 - KIA Zonnebeke
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* [[James Arnold]] 2 Jun  - 29 Nov 1916 - to Army School of Musketry & 8 Feb - ?? - Apr 1919
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* † [[William Atkins]] 26 Aug - 4 Jul 1918 - KIA Hamel
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B
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* † [[William George Ball]] 23 Apr - 14 Oct 1917 - KIA Passchendaele
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* † [[Beverley Loxton Bennett]] 29 Nov 1917 - 8 Aug 1918 - DOW received 4 Jul 1918 Hamel
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* [[Arthur Leworthy Bettenay]] 4 Feb - 8 Jun 1917 - WIA Messines Ridge
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* [[Wilfred George Bettenay]] 23 Mar - 5 Oct 1917 - WIA Broodseinde Ridge
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* [[Robert Frank Bickford]] 22 Jun 1917 - 20 Dec 1918
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* [[William Bingham]] 14 May - 10 Jun 1917 - WIA Messines
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* [[Alan Harry Boyce]] 18 Dec 1917 - 24 Jun 1918 - Returned to Australia, underage
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* † [[John Buckland]] 19 Jan 1916 - 7 Jul 1917 - KIA Messines area
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* [[John Thomas Buckland]] 4 Jun 1916 - 29 Jun 1917 WIA - Messines area
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* [[Samuel Buckland]] 17 Feb 1916 - 4 Jul 1917 - medical return to Australia
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* † [[Leonard Frederick Bysh]] Feb 1916 - 4 Oct 1917 - KIA Zonnebeke
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C
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* [[William Wright Casterton MM]] 8 Feb 1917 - 4 Jul 1918 - WIA Hamel
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* [[Walter Eugene Cockram]] 8 Feb 1917 - 28 Mar 1919 - WIA Roisel
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* [[William Edwin Cousens MM]] 26 Oct 1916 - 1 Apr 1919
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* [[John Humphrey Coyle]] 6 - 22 Jul 1917 - WIA x 2
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* [[Patrick (John) Curo]] Feb 1916 - 1 Dec 1918
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D
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* [[Thomas Henry William Denny]] Feb 1916 - 2 Nov 1917 Medical return to Australia
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F
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* [[Percy Fleming]] Feb 1916 - 7 Apr 1919
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* [[Harry Simpson Francis]] 7 Feb 1918 - 3 Apr 1919
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G
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* [[John Wilfred Gargett]] 23 Sep 1916 - 23 May 1918
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* † [[John James Gill]] 10 Dec 11917 - 3 Jun 1918 - KIA Villers-Bretonneux John
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* [[Rupert Gregg]] 21 Feb 16 - 26 Aug 1918 - KIA Bray
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H
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* [[Clarence William Hammond]] 24 Dec 1917 - 7 Jan 1919
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* † [[Raymond Harold Hanretty]] ?? Feb 1916 - 31 May 1918 - KIA Somme
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* [[Albert John Harris]] 1 Sep 1917 - 13 Mar 1919
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* [[Charles Stephen Haughey]] Feb 1916 - 30 Jan 1917 - Accidental death
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* [[Roby Helliwell]] 26 Mar - 13 Oct 1916 - transferred to 28th Battalion
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* † [[Henry Ernest Howard]] 28 Jan 1916 - 30 Mar 1918 - KIA Morlancourt
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* [[Jason Howard]] 28 Jan 1916 - 2 Jun 1918
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* [[Donald Gordon Melville Huggins]] 27 Oct 1916 - 19 Feb 1917 - WIA Armentières area
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* † [[Leslie Charles Hutchinson]] 4 Jan - 22 Aug 1918 - KIA Bray area
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J
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* [[Arthur Patrick Joyce]] Feb 1916 - 13 Mar 1917 - WIA
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* [[Robert Hastings Joyce]] 23 Apr 1917 - 31 Aug 1918 - medical complication of WIA
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* † [[Tom Baxter Joyce]] 2 Jan - 1 Jun 1917 - KIA near Pont de Nieppe
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K
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* [[John Kiely]] 10 Dec 1917 - 11 Jan 1918 - 11th Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery
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* [[Charles Kelly]] 23 Sep 1916 - ?? Apr 1919
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M
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* [[Thomas Frederick McDonough]] ?? Feb 1916 - 6 Apr 1919
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* [[Thomas McGow]] Feb 1916 - 6 Apr 1919 - WIA x 2
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* [[James Lawrence McKenna]] 27 Oct 1917 - 1 Apr 1919
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* † [[Cecil Herbert McKeown]] 29 Jan - 30 Mar 1918 - DOW Querrieu, France
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* [[William Moffat McLachlan MM]] ?? Feb 1916 - ?? Apr 1919
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O
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* † [[John Terrence O'Neil]] ?? Feb 1916 - 10 Jul 1917
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* [[Gustaf Adolf Olson]] 13 Oct 916 - 1 Apr 1919
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P
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* † [[Alfred Parker]] 7 Oct 1917 - 4 Jul 1918 - KIA Hamel
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* † [[Frederick Oliver Pierce]] 16 Jan 1916 - 4 Oct 1917 - KIA Broodseinde
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* [[George Henry Norman Pringle]] ?? Feb 1916 - 1 Mar 1919
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R
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* † [[Thomas Alfred Reed]] 1 Jun 1916 - 24 Jun 1917 - KIA Messines area
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* † [[Herbert Clarence (Bert) Ronan]] 28 Jan 1916 - 4 Apr 1917 - DOW Ploegsteert
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* † [[Maurice James Ronan]] 28 Jan 1916 - 14 Mar 1917 - KIA Ploegsteert
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S
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* † [[Robert Melville Salter]] 30 Oct 1917 - 30 Mar 1918 KIA - 1st Morlancourt
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* † [[Lionel Newton Savage]] ?? Feb 1916 - 28 oct 1917 - KIA Ypres area
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* † [[Ernest William Serls]] 6 Feb - 4 Oct 1917 - KIA Broodseinde
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* [[Archibald Shepherd]] 8 Feb - 9 Jun 1917 - WIA Messines Ridge
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* [[William Arthur Shepherd]] 8 Feb - 21 Apr 1917 - medical return to Australia
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* [[Norman Leslie Skewes]] 9 Dec 1917 - 23 Feb 1919
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* [[Alfred Slee]] 10 Feb 1916 - 26 Sep 1917 - Medical return to Australia
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* [[Mervyn Alexander Stalker]] 23 Jan 1918 - 28 Mar 1918 - WIA Sailly-le-Sec
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T
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* [[Mount (Mont) Alexander Taylor]] 3 Mar - 9 Oct - to 51st Battalion
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* [[Alfred Martin Tilly]] 28 Jan 1916 - 6 Feb 1919
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* [[Norman Sedrick Tonkin]] 28 Jan 1916 - 2 Jun 1918
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* [[Ralph Trotter]] 28 Jan 1916 - 4 Jul 1918 - WIA Hamel
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W
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* † [[Ronald Daniel Wallace]] 28 Jan 1916 - 27 Oct 1917 - KIA Pozières region
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* † [[Stephen Hubert Christian (Hughie) Wallace]] 29 Sep 1917 - 29 Sep 1918 - KIA Bony (Somme Canal Tunnel)
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* † [[Charles Alexander Wann]] 18 Jul 1917 - 30 Sep 1918 - KIA  St Quentin Canal
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* [[Clarence Victor Watson]] 3 Mar - 19 Oct 1916 never joined them in France
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* [[John Henry Wilkinson]] 1 Jun - 1 Nov 1916 never joined them in France
  
 
==Battle Honours==
 
==Battle Honours==
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==Notes==
 
==Notes==
 
Content for the history and  honours sections has come from a combination of Wikipedia and the Australian War Memorial websites.
 
Content for the history and  honours sections has come from a combination of Wikipedia and the Australian War Memorial websites.
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 +
For further information concerning this battalions role in the war, see:<br>
 +
* ''Eggs-a -Cook - The Story of the Forty-Forth'' by Capt C. Longmore
 +
* ''The Westralian Battalion - The Unit History of the 44th Battalion, AIF'' by Neville Browning OAM
  
 
<references />
 
<references />

Latest revision as of 16:07, 18 February 2022

44th Battalion
44th Battalion.jpg
Shoulder patch
44th Bn.jpg
Voting in 1917 Referendum at Neuve Eglise. AWM photo E01605


Brief History

Raised at Claremont, Western Australia, in February 1916, the battalion formed part of the 11th Brigade, which in turn was part of the 3rd Division. Following some initial training in Australia the battalion embarked on 6 Jun 1916 aboard HMAT A29 Suevic for England where the battalion spent a further four months training before moving to France on 27 November 1916.


During the very cold winter of 1916-17 they alternated between manning front line positions and providing men for working details when in the rear. Prior to their first real taste of battle which came at Messines (7-10 Jun 1917), they had been billeted in a rest area at Coulomby. They had previously participated in an unsuccessful, two company raid on enemy positions. They participated in the Battle for Broodseinde Ridge in late October 1917, taking very heavy casualties (only 158 unscathed of the 992 that entered the battle).

44th Bn Coulomby.jpg

AWM ART03540 Major Edwin Summerhayes.


Following the winter of 1917-18 which they spent in Belgium, in March they were moved south to the Somme valley when the German attack in 1918 threatened Amiens. Their defensive positions helped repel a German attack near Morlancourt, and later they participated in the attack on Le Hamel and participated in the Hundred Days Offensive that followed commencing in August 1918. The battalion's final battle came when it, with others, breached the German defences at the St Quentin Canal. Total battalion casualties during the war amounted to 437 killed and 1,346 wounded.

Battalion Personnel

A

B

C

D

F

G

H

J

K

  • John Kiely 10 Dec 1917 - 11 Jan 1918 - 11th Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery
  • Charles Kelly 23 Sep 1916 - ?? Apr 1919

M

O

P

R

S

T

W

Battle Honours

  • Messines 1917
  • Ypres 1917
  • Polygon Wood
  • Broodseinde
  • Poelcappelle
  • Passchendaele
  • Somme 1918
  • Ancre 1918
  • Hamel
  • Amiens
  • Albert 1918
  • Mont St Quentin
  • Hindenburg Line
  • St Quentin Canal
  • France and Flanders 1916–18

Individual Honours

Notes

Content for the history and honours sections has come from a combination of Wikipedia and the Australian War Memorial websites.

For further information concerning this battalions role in the war, see:

  • Eggs-a -Cook - The Story of the Forty-Forth by Capt C. Longmore
  • The Westralian Battalion - The Unit History of the 44th Battalion, AIF by Neville Browning OAM


External Links

Retrieved from "https://www.birtwistlewiki.com.au/index.php?title=44th_Battalion&oldid=56177"