Meanwhile, back on the Peninsula

The 8th Battalion, with many Ballarat and district men in its ranks, has been resting on Lemnos Island, away from Anzac since early September.  Now it is time for the men to return to "have another shot at 'Joe Turk'". First the men were marched out and embarked on the Abbassia, but as the piers at Anzac Cove had been damaged in a storm, and there was nowhere to land them, they disembarked and returned to camp - which had been struck, on their departure. The entire battalion camped overnight in the YMCA hut.

On the evening of 21st November, the battalion boarded the Princess Ena, and departed for Anzac Cove, where they were sent up to Bolton's Ridge, and occupied support trenches just vacated by the 10th Battalion.

Now the 8th Battalion worked at sapping tasks, but the change of weather from July to November could not have been more extreme.  On 24th November a blizzard left half a metre of snow on the ground, followed by severe frost.  The weather conditions provided further justification for an evacuation of Gallipoli, but the men themselves were unaware of this possibility.

A snow covered gun position of the 9th Battery in November 1915. [AWM P00046.040]

Lone Pine and The Nek

This week marked the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Lone Pine and the Light Horse charge at the Nek at Gallipoli.  Both of these events were part of the August Offensive which was posted about last week.  The Battle of Lone Pine occurred between 6 and 9 August 1915. Initially conceived to be a diversion from attempts by New Zealand and Australian units to force a breakout from the ANZAC perimeter on the heights of Chunuk Bair and Hill 971. The Lone Pine attack, launched by the 1st Brigade AIF in the late afternoon of 6 August 1915 pitched Australian forces against formidable entrenched Turkish positions, sections of which were securely roofed over with pine logs. In some instances the attackers had to break in through the roof of the trench systems in order to engage the defenders. The main Turkish trench was taken within 20 minutes of the initial charge but this was the prelude to 4 days of intense hand-to-hand fighting, resulting in over 2,000 Australian casualties.

This battle was significant for Ballarat for two important reasons. Firstly the 8th Battalion, made up of men from Ballarat and country Victoria, took part at Lone Pine and as a result were among the 2,000 casualties, and secondly Golden Point resident William Dunstan was awarded his Victoria Cross for his actions at Lone Pine. (ome information courtesy of The Australian War Memorial)

Australian Soldiers in captured Turkish trenches following the Battle of Lone Pine. Photo courtesy of Australian War Memorial  AWM 1514

 
 The charge at the Nek was launched on the morning of 7 August 1915, again as a second diversionary action, when three regiments of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade, 8th, 9th and 10th Light Horse were to attack Russells Top and force the Turkish army from the positions they had held sine April 25th. As the Nek was a narrow ridge, The Light Horse serving as infantry without their horses were forced to attack the Turkish line head on.

The majority of people are familiar with the Charge of the Nek via its depiction in Peter Weir's film Gallipoli.  The film shows the  terrible loss of life that followed the charge, but also the bravery of the men that took part. The 8th Light Horse suffered 234 casualties, 154 fatal; and the 10th, suffered 138 casualties, 80 fatal.

The charge of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade at The Nek, 7th August 1915 by George Lambert. Courtesy of the Australian War Memorial ART07965.

The 7th and 8th Battalions at Ismailia on the Suez Canal

The 8^th Battalion recruited from Ballarat, central and Western Victoria.  Lieutenant Colonel William Bolton, of Ballarat, originally led the Battalion, and there are many Ballarat names in the Battalion’s rolls.  The 7^th and the 5^th Battalions also carried recruits from Ballarat and district.

The Battalions were encamped at Mena in Egypt and “enjoying” their desert training (things had become monotonous) when news was received at headquarters of a large Turkish force advancing across the Sinai Desert, aiming to capture the Suez Canal and threaten Cairo.  British commanders called up reinforcements to protect the canal around Ismailia, and the reinforcements selected were the two country battalions of the 2^nd Brigade – the 8^th and the 7^th.

Colonel Bolton wrote of the excitement aroused by news received at midnight on 3^rd February of the move to the Suez Canal:

…[the Battalions were] to be ready to march out of camp in one hour…Talk about excitement in the camp…long before the hour was up these two battalions were out on parade and ready to move off…men delighted with prospect of change…whole camp turned out of bed and lined the road to wish us luck and express envy and regret at not going with us ¹

But the excitement was short lived. The Turkish forces were withdrawing by the time the Battalions arrived. Despite being detailed for a pursuit across the Western Sinai Desert, the orders were soon cancelled, and there were “plenty of disappointed faces” as one soldier noted in his diary.

In fact the Turkish advance across the Sinai was disastrous for them, with thousands of casualties, and the ease with which the Turks were repulsed influenced the thinking of senior British commanders, who felt the fighting value of the Turkish soldier was very low.  This thinking was to have profound consequences, when the two armies next met – at the Dardanelles.

 

The 8th Battalion travelled to and from Ismailia on open railway trucks

1.       Austin, Ron.  Cobbers in Khaki: the history of the 8^th Battalion 1914-1918. 

         Slouch Hat Publications, 1997 p.  29   (available in the Australiana Room if you’d like to read more)

Richard Wells and Con Burrow, of Ballarat

Richard Wells was the subject of a previous post (24th November 2014), where we found that he was not a Ballarat man, but included in the Avenue of Honour.  His father in law, Con Burrow, lived in Ballarat, and I became curious to know who he was.

This is his entry in Citizens and Sports, one of our favourite resources in the Australiana Room:

Goodness! Can you read all those abbreviations? Con Burrow is evidently one of Ballarat's outstanding citizens, a publican and a military man. Both his sons, Sgt. Arthur Alfred and Lieutenant Sydney are with the AIF, in the 8th and 7th battalions, respectively.  I see now that Richard Wells would have been welcomed into the Burrow family, and everyone must have been very pleased to see that he had been promoted to Major on January 1st.

Imagine Richard's wife - her husband and both brothers on active service.

And this is a link to a quite splendid photograph of Con Burrow, held at the State Library Victoria.

Private Henri Julius Paulig

Henri Julius Paulig was a son of Herman Julius Paulig and Lawrie Margaret Paulig.
According to information contained with his service record he was one of six children, three boys and three girls. Henri was born in January, 1893 in Ballarat. His brothers names were Albert James and Stein W Paulig but his sisters names are not recorded. 
His mother was deceased prior to his enlistment in The Great War and his father lived in Ballarat (formerly in Alfred Hall in Curtis Street and later at 106 Doveton Street North).
He was 5 feet 101/2 inches tall and weighed 11 pounds 2 ounces. He had brown eyes, black hair, a dark complexion and was raised as a Methodist. Henri was also a carpenter by trade before he entered the war.


He enlisted in Ballarat on the 19th August, 1914 at the age of 21 years and 7 months. His service number was: 246. He was assigned to the 2nd Brigade, Infantry 8th Battalion B Company and embarked from Melbourne on the HMAT A24 Benalla on the 19th October, 1914. He arrived in Egypt on the 2nd December, 1914.

These photographs are taken from an album Kensington to Cairo and from Cairo to Gallipoli : album of photographs, 1914-1915 in the collection of the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales.  (It has been digitised and can be found here)  The album was created by Henry Charles Marshall, 1st Battalion, Infantry, no. 577, a professional photographer, who fought and died at Gallipoli. The album contains impressive personal photographs of the soldiers' lives from initial training in Australia through to desert training in Egypt and the landings and fighting at Gallipolli.

Christmas in Egypt and keeping in touch with 'the boys' before the internet age

The 8^th Battalion of the 1^st Division, AIF, included many Ballarat men who enlisted in the first days after war was declared. In the history of the 8^th Battalion, Cobbers in Khaki, the author Ron Austin describes the Battalion’s first Christmas away from home as “a most forgettable one” - the Christmas dinner left a lot to be desired.  It sounds a very ordinary menu – stew, followed by rice and raisins.  The Battalion was encamped near the Pyramids and after lunch some of the men climbed the Cheops pyramid – and then had bread and jam for tea!

Cyril Bryant, from Ballarat, wrote home to his mother – 

Just fancy Mother, it is Christmas Day that I am writing this letter in Egypt, little did we know that I would be so far away from you this Xmas. We had a telegram from the people of Ballarat today, wishing us a merry Xmas…¹

Meanwhile, the 100 year old Ballarat Courier reports arrangements have been made for soldiers in Egypt to have cablegrams sent to them at reduced rates:

…cable messages could be sent to the Australian troops in Egypt at the rate of 10 pence a word.  The ordinary rate would be 3/6 a word.

And on Christmas Day the Courier reports:

Taking advantage of the innovation the Mayor of the City (Cr. R. Pearse) despatched the following message: Col. Bolton, 8^th Battalion, Mena House, Guizeh: Ballarat greets Australia’s soldiers and wishes them a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

On the 28^th December the Courier records Colonel Bolton’s reply:

Greetings much appreciated. Please express greetings to all our folks.  Our hearts are in Victoria. Bolton

     1.  Austin, Ronald, Cobbers in khaki: the history of the 8^th battalion 1914-1918. Slouch Hat Publications, 1997 p. 25 (there’s a copy in the Australiana Research room if you would like to look at it)