44th Battalion
From Our Contribution
 Shoulder patch | |
 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 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.
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).
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.
Total casualties during the war amounted to 437 killed and 1,346 wounded.
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
- 3 Distinguished Service Orders
- 1 Member of the Order of the British Empire
- 16 Military Crosses, with 1 bar
- 13 Distinguished Conduct Medals with 1 bar
- 99 Military Medals, 1 bar (William Edwin Cousens MM), (William Wright Casterton MM), and (William Moffat McLachlan MM)
- 5 Meritorious Service Medals
- 21 Mentioned in Despatches (Edgar Copley Adams MID), and
- 11 foreign awards
Notes
Content for the history and honours sections has come from a combination of Wikipedia and the Australian War Memorial websites.