416,809 Australians, 13.43 per cent of the white male population and probably about half those eligible, enlisted in the AIF, and 330,770 embarked for services abroad. The majority, about 295,000, served in France.
63,163 or a little fewer than one man in five died on active service. 152,422 were otherwise made casualties, including some later killed. Casualties therefore totalled 215,585 which was 64.98 per cent of those who embarked with the AIF.
27,594 of these casualties were suffered on Gallipoli, 4,851 in Sinai or Palestine, 179,537 in France or Belgium, and the remainder in England, Egypt, Malta, or at sea.
Bill Gammage
The Broken Years.
a shocking bombardment, hell let loose......it seemed as though every gun the enemy possessed was ranged against us, it was God darn awful, &......the Germans set up a cheering & shouting, the like, I have never heard before & simultaneously charged us in mass formation.....they reached our flank & got in amongst our fellows. It was fearful yet awe inspiring, for the first few minutes I felt sick, then as steady as a rock, I was right in the line of fire & the shells came straight for my bay.....some fellows nerves gave way & they became gibbering idiotes Sergeants & all sorts, god it was little wonder for.....fighting here is simply massacre.
Corporal A.G. Thomas.
6th Battalion.
Letter dated 9/5/16
Killed in action 8/6/18 aged 40
We are going to take our place alongside of the rest of the Australians who have been fighting here for a few months. I hope I get through alright and get back to Australia again.
I am in the best of health and spirits and not at all nervous about the ordeal we have to face and hope we all keep up the grand reputation the Australians have for bravery.
Lieutenant W.G. Blaskett.
48th Battalion.
Letter dated 30/5/16
Killed in action 11/4/17 aged 21
At last the day is near when Australia's boys will once again be given an opportunity to show the world what we are made of...to-morrow we hope to be on the road to Berlin.....we are ready, fit and well, and with God's help we will punish the Bosh for his cruelty to the weaker races......to-day you should have seen the look of determination on the faces of all. I am sure that the Hun will be sorry for the day when Australia sent her sons to France.
Lieutenant H.E. Malpas.
7th Machine Gun Company.
Letter dated -/7/16
Killed in action 7/8/16 aged 22
(or) crouched close under cover.....Chaos and weird noises like thousands of iron foundries, deafening and dreadful, coupled with the roar of high explosives.....ripped the earth out of the parapet,.....we crept along seeking first of all the serious cases of wounded. Backwards and forwards we travelled between the firing line and the R.A.P, with knuckles torn and bleeding due to the narrow passageways. 'Cold sweat', not perspiration, dripped from our faces and our breath came out only in gasps..... By the time we had completed 2 trips (each of three miles)....we were...completely exhausted.
Private W.J.A. Allsop
8th Field Ambulance.
Letter dated 20/7/16
we had to get up as close to the parapet as possible anybody who did not do this was simply courting death for shells were falling all around.....there were dead and wounded everywhere ....I had to sit on top of a dead man as there was no picking and choosing.... I saw a shell lob about twelve yards away and it...lifted (two men) clean up in the air for about 6 feet and they simply dropped back dead...one or two of the chaps got shell shock and others got really frightened it was piteous to see them....One great big chap got away as soon as he reached the firing line and could not be found....I saw him in the morning in a dug out and he was white with fear and shaking like a leaf. One of our Lieuts. got shell shock and he literally cried like a child, some that I saw carried down out of the firing line were struggling and calling out for their mother, while others were blabbering sentences one could not make out....(a) badly wounded (chap)....had his body partly in a small hole that had a good deal of wood work about it, this somehow got alight and all I could see was the lower parts of his legs and a piece of his face, all the rest was burned.
Lieutenant L.J. Martin.
1st Machine Gun Battalion.
Letter dated 31/7/16
I can tell you I should never have got out alive. Most of the stretcher bearers were killed and wounded and the wounded could not get out.....there were some wounded (Germans) down in the dug-outs that could not move, so we left them there to die.....I think I will be away from the Batt about 2 months, then I hope the war will be over. I had a terrible shaking up, though I never lost my nerve for a moment. Some of the men went mad. The Australians....took a village.... the English had 3 goes (at)....and they stop in a trench while 15 inch shells are landing and very few of them show any fear....I hope the war is over very soon for if I ever get a spot like I was in I do not think it possible to get out alive. It was perfect Hell. Two minutes before I was hit 50 men (were) left out of my company of 220 strong. When I was hit, 18 others were hit at the same time.
Lance Corporal J. Cohen.
24th Battalion.
Letter dated 29/7/16
Killed in action 4/3/17 aged 23
All day long the ground rocked & swayed backwards & forwards from the concussion....(like) a well built haystack.....swaying....about.....men were driven stark staring mad & more than one of them rushed out of the trench over towards the Germans. any amount of them could be seen crying and sobbing like children their nerves completely gone....we were all in a state of silliness and half dazed but still the Australians refuse to give ground. men were buried by the dozen, but were frantically dug out again some dead and some alive.
Sergeant A.A. Barwick.
1st Battalion.
Letter dated 24/7/16
we lost some men going over to the enemy’s lines and you could hear the moans of the wounded and dying wherever you went. I got over the parapet …(and) made for a big hole and rested there while we got our breath…after that we made a dash but had to drop into any sort of hole we could find for machine guns were turned on to us and the bullets were just skimming over our heads…. We got to Fritz’s front line trenches eventually….(and then) to the portion of trench which was behind their front line….and stayed there until 5:30am when we were forced to retire….The Germans got somehow or other into their own front line while we were between their first and second and there was grave danger of our being cut off, so we had to make a bolt for it and a good few were hit coming back…but the bullets happened to miss me somehow or other.
Lieutenant L.J.Martin.
1st Machine Gun Battalion
Letter dated 31/7/16
Terrific bombardment by enemy batteries. as…(it) increases…we retire into our dugouts not that they afford much protection as they are shallow and the roof is thin but they are some protection from flying splinters. we lie flat on the floor of our dugouts, most of which are only built for one man, and listen to the awful bombardment, which is rapidly merging into a continuous roar, the ground trembles beneth me, and the air is charged with the acrid reek of high explosive fumes in all this overcharged terror there comes, as by merciful despensation of nature a certain insensibility to all fears, quite simple thoughts pass through one’s mind, so it is to end here: Here in this dark mildewed hole in the earth. I am to go out I look round me at my damp rat-hole the sides and roof of which are lined with sandbags…the lower bags are green with mildew and the upper ones up near the sun and the air are sprouting grass. halfway up in the corner a cluster of poison mushrooms or toadstools peer down at me. the center one a little taller than the rest seems to nod at me as it sways and trembles to the concussions….one simply notes these things, fear of death having left one: and one prays that at least IT may prove one well placed shell. a crash of thunder and a lightning flash, to thrust us through the the dark gates into eternity. only let it not be the crippling and yet life… one wonders whether that last light explosive was a gas shell how one’s comrades are faring whether ANY of us will be alive when the bombardment ceases. suddenly there there is a concussion that seems to shake the breath out of my body. a big shell has burst very near. Already a man feels in his inmost self half-way to the other world, hopeless but without fear. Hark! Is the bombardment really getting less violent or is it only fancy? It is not fancy? It is reality overhead is a new note. The scream of shells, our shells, passing over us on their way to the enemeys batteries, one is astonished still to be living, and then one hopes one may be alive not only tonight but also to morrow, a month hence, yes, even till the troops go home. and then we creep out and take stock of the damage and set to work to assist the wounded, and remove the dead. everywhere can be heard the cry “Streacher bearers at the double” After which we set to work to repair our wrecked trench. a heart breaking task. Far into the night we labour …at last.. we post sentries and lie down to get an hour or two’s sleep. in four hours time….there is….a bit of night sniping going on and I take part in it.
Private D.B. Harford.
51st Battalion.
Letter dated 14/10/16
Died of wounds 31/3/17 aged 31.
God, I cannot express the horrors of last night, we were relieved and coming back shelled cruelly and five men knocked. The wounded had a fearful time, God help us in a scrap here, we are four miles from a dressing station. The officer lost us so at 2:30 I asked him to let us bivouac which he did, so we just fell down and slept, rain and all, and shells falling all about us, but we were too exhausted to bother, we didn’t mind if we were killed, it was terrible.
Corporal A.G. Thomas.
6th Battalion.
Letter dated 3/11/16
Killed in action 8/6/18 aged 40
as soon as we (hopped over)… the flares were sent up in batches which lit everything up like day, & showed us men falling everywhere & the boys struggling through the mud bogged nearly to the knees… I was forcing my way through as fast as I could & calling for my men to keep up & “box on”….(in the German wire, I) got badly cut all over & ended up by getting hung up in the stuff for all the world like a sack of wool chucked onto a heap of barbed wire, but I felt nothing at the time for my blood was running hot & we only thought of getting in their trench, the fighting by this time was very fierce, shells, bombs, mortars, & worse than all liquid fire bombs were falling amongst us like hail….I had one of the most thrilling minutes of my life for I was rushing….down a shallow trench….when…a Hun rushed out at me & made a desperate lunge at my body. I must have parried quick as lightning & …his bayonet slid down my rifle & stuck in the fleshy part of my leg….a sharp stinging pain went through my body…but I kept my block & before he could draw his rifle back for another attempt I shot him dead.
Sergeant A.A. Barwick
1st Battalion
Letter dated 5/11/16
All my pals…I came over with are gone, but 7 out of 150 remain, it’s simply scientific murder, not war at all. As for seeing Germans its all lies you never get close enough to do that, unless in a charge. I keep smiling but I tell you it takes some doing….the premonition I had when leaving Sydney, that I would never see home again still hangs about me – one would be unnatural to go through uninjured, if I get out of it with a leg and arm off I’ll be perfectly satisfied, so you will understand what it is like…..so don’t get married till after the war.
Private E.O. Neaves.
20th Battalion
Letter dated 15/2/17
Killed in action 6/11/17 aged 25
Heavy firing all morning - simply murder. Men falling everywhere....Expecting death every second. 23 men smothered in one trench. Dead and dying everywhere. Some simply blown to pieces. Shells falling like hail during a storm. Five left in trench,
Sergeant L.R. Elvin.
1st Battalion.
Letter dated 25/7/16
Killed in action 5/5/17 aged 26
I cannot tell the light and shade, the things we laughed over, the tragedies, the lifetimes lived in an hour…a big German In a steel helmet popped up….I fired as he threw his bomb. In my haste I missed. Quickly I worked the bolt. But…..there were no more cartridges in the magazine. So I shook my fist in sheer rage, and the Fritz grinned amiably back at me….for ten minutes I waited.
Up came his head. My bullet crashed into it and his last bomb was unthrown….The muzzle of a rifle peered over cautiously followed by a head in a pork pie cap. It was he or I for it. We aimed together. I fired first….and the German pitched back…..Word came back ”throw everything away. Hop over the top and run for it.” But I was not going to abandon my Lewis gun….I walked to the barbed wire….I heard the bullets as they hailed all around. I saw the dead, wounded and dying as they lay huddled everywhere….I was in the midst of our own fierce barrage, and also a German barrage. Machine guns were playing the devil with us. I unhitched myself casually from the wire…I did not even desire to run.
Captain G.D. Mitchell, MC, DCM.
48th Battalion
Letter dated 11/4/17
One of our men….went suddenly demented. The s.s. (shell shock) had an electrifying effect upon him…(He) dropped his rifle and…rushed out over the front line trench into No mans land, the Germans blazing away at him: then he turned and ran down between the lines of the two armies: no one seemed able to bring him down. Then he turned again, raced into our system, down overland through the support trenches…where men from the Battalion pursued him, overpowered him, and forcibly rolled him in blankets and tied him up with rope…. He was unwounded but evacuated raving mad.
Captain R.A Goldrick MC.
33rd Battalion.
Letter dated 13/4/17
I am now ready for the “big push” ready in body, mind and spirit, I was never better in health than I am now, my mind is just as clear, my soul has been purified, and the whole is in God’s hands. If I die, do not fear…I give my life willingly for my country knowing that it is given in a righteous cause. I can do no more, I give my love to you all and Jesus Christ my maker.
….(I hate) the curse of military life…with my intensest hatred as an unworthy and despicable means of settling affairs. If I live I shall stand by Red hot socialists and peace cranks to stop any further wars after this one, but while I am at it I will fight like one facing death can fight.
Private G.H.J. Davies.
36th Battalion.
Letter dated 6/6/17
Killed in action 12/7/17 aged 28.
we were well out in the open…suddenly crash and several big musher (high explosive) shells shrieked about our ears, then on they came thick and heavy & what was more disastrous gas two sniffs and I was satisfied….. I whipped out my helmet and jambed the rubber into my mouth put the nose clip on & then speedily warned my platoon to put on their equipment….We have a lot of new men and they completely lost their heads, an easy thing to do when new but it is fatal in these big gassing stunts, a number of them put the hoods on & could not see through the glasses, then they tore them off, so I had to risk everything & yell out orders & help the poor excited humanity about me, of course I got a gutful but I didn’t give a damn, my usual faith in things, however I got them moving….at a steady walk, it was awful the uncanny feeling of death eating at ones entrails & the gasping of the men trudging behind you, the thunder of the shells, & the fires from the dumps showing ghostly through the gas smoke, a bluish vapour hanging like a pall….(for more than an hour, we) just kept going through a veritable hell let loose; it was my job to get my men treated for gas, many of them starting to tumble about as though they were drunk & half a mile away, in a tunnel, was an A.M. Red Cross station; at last….we reached the hospital & each man very exhausted & fearfully windy was given a drink of amonia which is supposed to have a beneficial effect; however two men died from the gassing, weak hearts you see, poor devils it is terrible & the horror of it; yet we all had to go up again the next night & carry on as usual.
Corporal A.G. Thomas.
6th Battalion.
Letter dated 20/3/18
Killed in action 8/6/18 aged 40
he is the first dead chap I have dared look at, but I knew him so well I just had to. I looked at him & felt no horror, for he looked so serene & the morning was beautiful & the larks how they sing here, & the stretcher bearers took him away to the graveyard alongside the ruined farm, another life chucked into the gutter soon to be forgotten.
Corporal A.G. Thomas.
6th Battalion.
Letter dated 9/6/16
Killed in action 8/6/18 aged 40.
we ....are preparing for something big....the biggest move any Australians have done in France.....long before this letter reaches you you will know the result, which I feel certain will be to the credit of Australia, if I happen to be one of the un-lucky ones you will know I have done my best and lead a straight life right up to the finish.
Lieutenant J.M. d'Alpuget.
54th Battalion.
Letter dated 15/7/16
Killed in action 17/7/16 aged 30.
I am not afraid. Of course I am a bit shakey, but not very scared....I'm writing this to you because you will (then) know something of what is doing should anything happen....I feel sure God will watch over me and pull me through. Cheerio anyway.
Lieutenant E.H. Chinner.
32nd Battalion.
Letter dated 15/7/16
Died while a prisoner of war 20/7/16 aged 22.
We are in for a stouching up for certainty, for we are going to try and do what English troops have so far failed to do....I don't expect many of us will come out alive....whether we take or fail in the charge however the boys are all very confident over it.
Sergeant A.A. Barwick.
Letter dated 17/7/16
Well Darling one at 12 oclock tonight.....we go over the parapet & then our fate is sealed - if I am lucky we'll be relieved I suppose within a week....The place is like Hell darling but the sooner we get it over the better.....remember it is better to die for you & Country than to be a cheat of the empire. I'll try love for your sake to do well & come through.....God be with you Love for all Time .....Remember me to baby when she is Born - if a boy dont make him a tin soldier but should war break out, let him enlist & do his bit if not he'll be no son of mine.
Captain A. McLeod.
16th Battalion.
Letter dated 9/8/16
Died of injury 5/12/16 aged 25.
I'll go into action with the calm assurance that I have done my duty to my men and my Country. If I happen to fall, - rest content with the knowledge that I have played the game, and done my job thoroughly.
Captain H.E.S. Armitage
50th Battalion.
Letter dated 30/7/16
Killed in action 3/4/17
The Australians have been in the thick of it at last and...have actually excelled themselves. What a reputation we will have if we keep on going. But I am sure I have no desire to keep at this game . I'd sooner be slicing hunks off a tough old Gray Box, than poking holes in a Prussian, any day. But I suppose that will have to wait till the other job is finished.
Sergeant A.W. Armstrong.
24 th Battalion.
Letter dated 24/7/16
Died of wounds 29/7/16 aged 26.
a salvoe of shells landed near. I glanced up to try and locate the burst by the flying mud, when I noticed that the whole side of the shell-slit was falling in....It struck me in the act of rising and completely buried me. The weight of my tin hat pressed me down irresistably and forced my chin into my chest. After struggling a little I found that it only settled the earth closer around me. The brim of my hat kept the earth out of my nose but the weight gradually forced it further down on my head, the head band gradually travelling down my nose and taking the skin with it......Then the realization came of what was gradually but surely ending things. The soft earth at first yielded slightly to my struggles, but was was slowly settling down and compressing under the weight above, so that the movement of my ribs was becoming more and more constricted. It was as though an iron band were tightening round my chest and preventing any movement. Then I heard the Sergeant Major speaking, and calling me, as though he were a long way off.....I heard him say, "Good God, I believe the man's buried! Come here two men with shovels. - Now gently - don't maim him." At last the terrible weight was relieved , and they lifted me out and laid me on the floor of the trench.
Lieutenant R.A. McInnis
53rd Battalion.
Letter dated -/11/16
at 6 o'clock this morning I shot a Hun, an observer, at 400 yards.......he was all alone, looking through a pair of field glasses, with his head and shoulders above the parapet (foolish fellow)......took careful but quick aim and pulled the trigger . He spread his arms out and fell backwards throwing his glasses in the air.....a queer thrill shot through me, it was a different feeling to that which I had when I shot my first Kangaroo when I was a boy. For an instant I felt sick and faint; but the feeling soon passed; and I was my normal self again; and looking for more shots
Private D.B. Harford.
51st Battalion.
Letter dated 14/10/16
Died of wounds 31/3/17 aged 31.
At about noon...was told an Armistice had been declared.....it was hardly creditable....so to all intents and purposes the war is finished or seems so. And as one sits and ponders sadly of those many pals who are 'gone to that home from which no wanderer returns.' It seems so strange that it should be, that one's dearest pals should fall and that I even I should still be here. The very flower of our manhood have paid the greatest price, not willingly for not one of them but longed to live, return home and forget, yes just forget the horrors of the past. Most of us enlisted for....Patriotism or Love of Adventure but not one...had the slightest conception of the terrible price required....Please God.....the sacrifices have not been in vain. Brude old pal of mine, would to God that you were here with me this day, but no, God willed it otherwise and so 'farewell'.
Corporal R. Morgan
2nd Battalion.
Letter dated 11/11/18
We had two victory's today. we won the war and defeated the 5th Field Coy @ Soccer. The news of the Armistice was taken very coolly.....nobody seemed to be able to realise it.
Private T.J. Cleary.
17th Battalion.
Letter dated 11/11/18
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