Sergent Harold Edwin Kercher
Service #: 4321
Summary
Harold Edwin Kercher was born in Goulburn in 1896, son of Edwin G & Eliza Kercher. He had 3 older sisters. He and his wife are listed on the Banner St Memorial, Murwillumbah which lists the 2348 pioneer settlers of the Tweed district. His father had a hairdressing & tobacco shop in Murwillumbah
He then signed a declaration confirming he had answered the questions correctly and was willing to voluntarily agree to service in the Military Forces of the Commonwealth of Australia
CERTIFICATE OF ATTESTING OFFICER
On the second page of the attestation documents the attesting confirms the following
“The foregoing questions were read to the person enlisted in my presence. I have taken care that he understood each question, and his answer to each question has been duly entered as replied to by him
OATH
He also made the following oath in the presence of the Attesting Officer: “I, ………………. … swear that I will well and truly serve our Sovereign Lord the King in the Australian Imperial Force until the end of the War, and a further four months thereafter unless sooner lawfully discharged, dismissed or removed therefrom: and that I will resist His Majesty’s enemies and case His Majesty’s peace to be kept and maintained; and I will in all matters appertaining to my services faithfully discharge my duty according to law
SO HELP ME, GOD.”
MEDICAL EXAMINATION
His medical showed he was 5ft 5 ½ inches tall (1.66m), weighed 128 lbs (58kgs), with a brown complexion, grey eyes & brown hair. His eyesight was good. Harold was Church of England
CERTIFICATE OF MEDICAL EXAMINATION
I have examined the abovenamed person, and find that he does not present any of the following conditions, viz: -
Scrofula; phthisis; syphilis; impaired constitution; defective intelligence; defects of vision, voice, or hearing; hernia’ haemorrhoids; varicose veins, beyond a limited extent; marked varicocele with unusually pendent testicle; inveterate cutaneous disease’ chronic ulcers; traces of corporal punishment or evidence of having been marked with the letters D. or B.C; contracted or deformed chest; abnormal curvature of spine; or any other disease or physical defect calculated to unfit him for the duties of a soldier.
He can see the required distance with either eye; his heart and lungs are healthy; he has the free use of his joints and limbs; and he declares he is not subject to fits of any description
CERTIFICATE OF COMMANDING OFFICER
This is completed during the recruits training.
He certifies that this attestation of the abovenamed person is correct, and that the required forms have been complied with. I accordingly approve and appoint him to 13th reinforcements, 2nd Battalion (but this changed) with service No 4321
TRAINING AT RIFLE RANGE CAMP, ENOGGERA
As was the case with men from the Northern Rivers district in New South Wales, they trained at Rifle Range Camp, Enoggera near Brisbane. The Barracks Block was built as accommodation for men in two dormitories, each 36 feet by 22 feet (10.97 x 6.7 metres). Beds or bunks were not provided, instead each man slept on a palliasse with ground sheet on the floor. For many it was their first time away from home. Men from every walk of life, from clerks and teachers to factory and shop workers, were crammed together
Now training for the new recruits began. Firstly, the men received their vaccinations for smallpox, rabies & plague, then a recruit had to be inducted into military forms of discipline, command, and order. This was partially achieved through a program of basic training carried and, in a sense, was maintained for a long as a man was in the service. It involved marching and drilling with the rifle, cleaning and caring for personal equipment and being supervised and inspected in ways quite different to ordinary civilian life. For example, no boots should be allowed to get in a bad state of wear but must be sent to the bootmaker without delay for repair. Men who were found with hair long and unshaven had to have a haircut and shave
Secondly, after basic training there followed the far more serious exercise of turning a man into a fighting soldier at least partially prepared for the kind of warfare he was about to experience overseas. The topics and exercises in the syllabus of training were a world away from their former lives and included daily physical training, entrenching, wiring, firing rifle grenades, firing the Lewis light machine gun, dealing with gas attack, using hand grenades, using the bayonet, and the routines to be followed in the trenches.
This training was then put into practice during what were called ‘Field Days,’ when men would practice using the skills they had acquired in mock attacks both by day and by night. How well men had learnt to use their weapons, in cooperation with each other in training, would be tested in the harsh reality of the front line. Training would take several months
The recruits were issued with their uniform- service dress jacket was made of Australian wool, and its loose fit gave the wearer more allowance for movement. The four large pockets were very useful. A unique feature designed for comfort was the pleated back, which provided a double thickness of cloth down the back that the pack rubbed against. Breeches were corduroy worn with wool wrap puttees. The famous khaki felt slouch hat or early service cap is probably the most distinctive part of the uniform. turned up on the left and featuring a plain khaki band, chinstrap and “rising sun” badge. A soldier’s equipment also included a dixie (mess tin), water bottle, mug, .303 Lee-Enfield rifle and bayonet.
VOYAGE OVERSEAS FROM SYDNEY TO EGYPT
On the 18th of December 1915 his unit caught the troop train from Brisbane to Sydney and on 20th December 1915 they embarked on the HMAT Aeneas A60. Alongside his comrades, Harold marched aboard, his boots ringing on the gangway. As the ship’s lines were cast off and the quay began to slip away, the reality of war lay ahead, but for now, the sea breeze carried only the sound of voices and the excitement of men bound for adventure, duty, and the unknown.
Sleeping & Living Arrangements
Recruits likely slept in a crowded troop deck below, where rows of hammocks or three-tier wooden bunks were crammed close together.
Air below decks could be stuffy, especially in warmer climates, and seasickness was common during the first few days.
Daily Routine
Reveille early each morning, followed by physical exercises on the open decks (weather permitting). There were parades and inspections—officers ensured uniforms, rifles, and kit were clean and in order. Training was a little problematic; drill without much space, rifle maintenance, lectures on military discipline, signalling, and trench warfare theory. The ship’s decks were used for marching in tight circles or practising bayonet thrusts into stuffed sacks. Rifle shooting was impossible at sea, so soldiers learned to strip and clean their weapons until it was second nature.
Meals
Three hearty meals a day were served; breakfast usually consisted of porridge, stew, and tea. Lunch included soup, meat, vegetables, and pudding. Meat, bread with jam and tea was served for dinner. The meals were served in shifts from the ship’s galley. Queues were long, and eating on a rolling ship meant many tried to eat quickly before nausea set in.
Health & Sanitation
Shipboard hygiene was critical—every man was ordered to scrub his section daily to prevent disease. Saltwater baths were the norm, with freshwater rationed for drinking.
The Voyage Experience
Entertainment included church drill, concerts, singalongs, card games, and makeshift cricket matches on deck when the weather allowed. To keep up morale, an area of the ship was roped off where regular boxing and wrestling tournaments were held. This became commonly known as the Stoush Stadium. No letters could be sent until they reached port, but men often wrote diaries or unsent letters to be posted later.
The troops engaged in lifebelt drill; a cookhouse on deck; soldiers on fatigues peeling potatoes 'spud bashing'; going to the dentist; barber, pay day; soldiers cleaning personal equipment; medical inspection
CROSSING THE EQUATOR CEREMONY
The crossing the Equator ceremony, ‘Neptune’s Journey,’ was played out on each troopship.
SIGHTS AT SEA
On the way to Egypt the ship would pass through the Great Australian Bight, cross the Indian Ocean, and stop at Colombo (Ceylon now Sri Lanka) for coal and supplies.
SECURITY
By late 1914, German raiders were active, so lifeboat drills were frequent, and lookouts kept watch for suspicious ships. Troopships generally sailed in convoys or at least took zig-zag courses to make torpedo attacks harder. Ships often travelled under blackout conditions at night, with lookouts specifically watching for periscopes or torpedo wakes.
APPROACHING EGYPT
After several weeks at sea, the men finally saw the dusty shoreline of Port Said or Alexandria. The reality of leaving home truly sank in. The recruits would soon exchange the ship’s cramped decks for the sandy training grounds of Egypt, preparing for what lay ahead.
EGYPT
Harold left Sydney on 20 December 1915 aboard the troopship HMAT Aeneas A60, part of the steady stream of reinforcements bound for the reorganising Australian Imperial Force in Egypt. After nearly two weeks at sea, the transport reached Suez on 1 January 1916. Within days Harold would have disembarked, entrained, and joined the great concentration of Australian troops camped around Cairo.
He was posted to the 2nd Battalion AIF, one of the original battalions that had fought through the long ordeal of Gallipoli. The battalion had only just withdrawn from the peninsula in December 1915 and was rebuilding its strength in Egypt. Thus, when Harold arrived in early January 1916, he stepped into a formation that was battle-hardened but depleted, filled with men who carried the memory of Anzac Cove in their bearing and conversation.
He was sent to the great camp at Zeitoun. There, amid endless lines of bell tents pitched on sandy ground, the work of rebuilding began. The weeks that followed were filled with drill, musketry, route marches beneath the Egyptian sun, and the steady grind of discipline. There was bayonet practice, bombing instruction, trench-digging exercises, and the patient shaping of reinforcements into reliable infantrymen. The desert wind carried fine dust into everything; the days were bright and hot, the nights often surprisingly cold. For Harold, it was a period of intense preparation — the bridge between raw reinforcement and seasoned soldier.
In early 1916 the AIF underwent a major expansion. The veteran battalions were used as “parent” units to create new formations for service in France. On 24 March 1916, at Tel el Kebir, Harold was transferred to the newly raised 54th Battalion AIF. This was no random move; it was part of a deliberate reorganisation. Half the men of the 54th came from the experienced ranks of the 2nd Battalion, providing a seasoned core around which new drafts were formed. Harold was now part of that backbone
Tel el Kebir was another vast desert encampment, its history stretching back to earlier imperial wars. Here the 54th Battalion took shape — companies allocated, officers appointed, platoons sorted and drilled into cohesion. Training intensified at brigade level. The men practised extended-order advances, trench systems were laid out in the sand, and the routines of a Western Front battalion were rehearsed with increasing seriousness. Everyone knew that France lay ahead.
In those first three months of 1916, Harold’s soldiering matured quickly. From disembarking reinforcement in January, to trained infantryman in a newly formed battalion by late March, his path mirrored the transformation of the AIF itself — expanding, reorganising, and preparing to carry the war from the deserts of Egypt to the fields of France
By February 1916 Harold was firmly settled into the rhythm of soldiering in Egypt. Having arrived only weeks earlier, he found himself swept up in the great reorganisation of the AIF. The camps around Cairo were alive with movement — battalions breaking apart and reforming, experienced Gallipoli men mingling with fresh drafts from Australia, officers sorting and re-sorting their companies in preparation for service in France.
After his transfer on 24 March to the 54th Battalion AIF at Tel el Kebir, Harold became part of a unit still finding its identity. The battalion was drawn in large part from the veteran 2nd Battalion AIF, and men like Harold helped provide steadiness to the influx of newcomers. The weeks that followed were not idle ones. Under the hard Egyptian sun, the 54th drilled relentlessly. Companies practised advancing in extended order, platoons rehearsed bombing attacks and defensive trench routines, and long route marches toughened the men for the campaigning to come. There were inspections, equipment issues, musketry qualifications, and brigade manoeuvres designed to mould the 5th Division into a cohesive fighting formation.
By late May and early June, the pace subtly shifted. Rumours hardened into certainty: France was imminent. The battalion received final equipment scales for the Western Front — steel helmets were issued, packs adjusted, ammunition pouches checked and rechecked. Medical inspections ensured each man was fit to embark. Camp routines took on a sharpened edge, as though everyone sensed that the next stage would be irrevocable.
FRANCE
On 19 June 1916 Harold marched with his battalion to embark at Alexandria aboard the transport HMT Caledonia. Within days the convoy put to sea. Although the distance between Egypt and southern France was not vast, the journey to Marseilles, where they arrived on 29 June, was deliberately cautious. Troopships travelled in convoy and often zig-zagged to reduce the risk from German submarines operating in the Mediterranean. They might alter speed, change course, or pause while assembling escort vessels. Safety, not speed, governed the passage. Thus what might seem a short voyage stretched to ten days at sea.
For Harold, those days aboard ship would have been filled with anticipation. The Mediterranean crossing marked a clear turning point. Egypt — with its dust, sun, and training camps — was falling behind. Ahead lay France, and the grim reality of the Western Front. By the time the Caledonia eased into Marseilles on 29 June 1916, Harold was no longer simply a reinforcement or a man in training. He was part of a formed battalion of the AIF, about to enter a very different theatre of war.
After crossing the Channel Australian soldiers were sent to one of the Australian Infantry Base Depots (AIBDs) in northern France
At the Base Depot, soldiers:
· Were accommodated temporarily in tent lines or huts.
· Underwent further medical checks and physical conditioning.
· Received final kit issue or replacements, like steel helmets or trench gear.
· Participated in more training, especially focused on trench warfare, gas drills, musketry, and battlefield discipline.
· Waited for transport orders to go “up the line” to join their assigned battalion.
The base depot system was designed to ensure new arrivals were combat-ready after the journey and the winter conditions in France & to regulate the flow of reinforcements to the front, only sending them when the unit was ready to receive them or when replacements were needed
WESTERN FRONT & TRENCH WARFARE
The soldiers now found themselves fighting the Germans in trench warfare. On the Western Front in 1914–1918, both sides constructed elaborate trench, underground, and dugout systems opposing each other along a front, protected from assault by barbed wire. The area between opposing trench lines (known as "no man's land") was fully exposed to artillery fire from both sides. Attacks, even if successful, often sustained severe casualties. Trench warfare created a living environment for the men which was harsh, stagnant, and extremely dangerous. Not only were trenches constantly under threat of attack from shells or other weapons, but there were also many health risks that developed into large-scale problems for medical personnel. Apart from the inescapable cold during the winters in France & Belgium, trenches were often completely waterlogged and muddy, and crawling with lice and rats
The time soldiers spent in the trenches varied depending on factors like their army's rotation system and the intensity of the conflict in their sector. On average:
· Front-line trenches: Soldiers typically remained here for about 4–6 days at a time. This was where the fighting was most intense and the conditions were the harshest.
· Support and reserve trenches: After time on the front line, soldiers were rotated to these positions for around 6–12 days. These trenches were set further back and offered slightly better conditions.
· Rest periods: Soldiers were then moved away from the trench system entirely for rest, training, and recovery, often lasting several weeks, depending on operational needs.
The rotation system helped prevent complete physical and mental exhaustion, but the constant dangers of trench life meant there was rarely any true respite.
When Harold disembarked at Marseilles on 29 June 1916 with the 54th Battalion AIF, he entered an entirely different world from the desert camps of Egypt. The heat and dust were replaced by long rail journeys north in crowded troop trains, the countryside rolling past in a blur of unfamiliar villages, church spires, and cultivated fields. The battalion detrained in northern France and marched into billets — brick barns and farmhouses that would serve as temporary homes while they adjusted to the Western Front.
FLEURBAIX, FRANCE, JULY 1916
The 54th formed part of the 14th Brigade of the 5th Division, and in July 1916 they moved into the Fleurbaix sector, a comparatively “quiet” stretch of the line near Armentières. Quiet, however, was a relative term. Here Harold learned the routines of trench warfare: wiring parties working after dark, carrying rations and water up communication trenches, standing-to at dawn and dusk, repairing parapets smashed by shellfire, and enduring the constant tension of sniping and intermittent bombardment. The flat Flanders landscape was a maze of duckboards and mud, and the smell of damp earth and cordite replaced the desert air of Tel el Kebir.
MAJOR ACTION FROMELLES JULY 1916
On the night of 19–20 July 1916 the 5th Division undertook its first major action at Fromelles. The 54th Battalion attacked as part of that ill-fated operation. The fighting was savage and confused, conducted in darkness against strongly held German positions. Casualties were severe. For men like Harold, scarcely a month in France, it was a brutal initiation into the realities of the Western Front. Those who came through carried with them a sobering understanding of the war they were now part of.
LIFE IN THE TRENCHES
In the months that followed, the battalion rotated between front-line trenches, support positions, and reserve billets. The pattern became familiar: a spell in the line, followed by rest areas where equipment was repaired, reinforcements absorbed, and training refreshed. There were route marches through sodden countryside, musketry practice when circumstances allowed, and endless fatigues — carrying timber, sandbags, and ammunition. The winter of 1916–1917 closed in with bitter cold. Trenches flooded, frost stiffened uniforms, and the strain of maintaining vigilance never eased.
THE SOMME SECTOR
By late 1916 the 5th Division shifted south to the Somme sector. There the battlefield bore the scars of earlier fighting — shattered villages, splintered trees, and a churned landscape that turned to deep mud with every fall of rain. The 54th occupied sectors near Gueudecourt and later around Flers and Le Sars. Even when not engaged in major assaults, the men endured heavy shelling, patrol clashes, and the constant labour of trench maintenance.
PROMOTION TO CORPORAL JANUARY 1917
Somewhere in this grinding routine Harold proved himself steady and capable. Promotion in wartime infantry battalions was rarely casual; it came either through demonstrated leadership or through the harsh arithmetic of casualties — often both. By 13 January 1917, amid the frozen trenches of a European winter, Harold was appointed Corporal. The step from private to non-commissioned officer carried real responsibility. A corporal commanded a section of men, oversaw their discipline and welfare, and led them in patrols and in battle. It suggests that in the six months since landing in France, Harold had shown reliability under fire and the quiet authority needed to guide others.
Thus, between June 1916 and January 1917, Harold’s battalion had moved from new arrivals in a “nursery” sector, through the ordeal of Fromelles, and into the relentless rhythm of trench warfare on the Somme. In that crucible, he grew from trained infantryman into a leader of men.
WINTER IN THE TRENCHES
When Harold was promoted to Corporal on 13 January 1917, the 54th Battalion AIF was enduring one of the bleakest periods of the war — the depths of a northern French winter. The battalion was serving in the Somme sector, in country already shattered by the great battles of 1916. Villages lay in ruins, roads were churned to mud, and trenches flooded or froze depending on the day’s weather.
January and February were not months of grand offensives, but of relentless strain. The battalion rotated between front line, support, and reserve positions. In the line, Harold would have supervised a section of men, ensuring sentries were posted correctly, rifles kept clean despite the mud, and rations brought forward through communication trenches that were often knee-deep in water. Wiring parties worked under cover of darkness, strengthening defensive belts of barbed wire. Patrols crept into No Man’s Land to test enemy strength and repair damaged obstacles. German artillery remained active, and even in so-called quiet sectors sudden shelling could inflict sharp losses.
When the battalion withdrew to reserve billets, there was little true rest. Equipment had to be cleaned and repaired; men required reinforcement training; drafts of new soldiers needed to be integrated. As a newly promoted corporal, Harold would have been responsible not only for drill and discipline, but for the welfare of his section — checking on their boots, socks, and health in a season when trench foot and influenza were constant threats. Leadership at that level was intimate and practical. It required steadiness, patience, and example.
By February 1917 the German Army had begun preparations for its strategic withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line further east, though this was not yet fully evident to the Australians. Local raids and patrol clashes continued. The 5th Division maintained pressure, conducting aggressive patrol work to gather intelligence. Such operations demanded capable junior leaders — men who could guide small groups in darkness, maintain direction across broken ground, and respond quickly if contact was made.
PROMOTED TO SERGEANT FEBRUARY 1917
It was in this environment that Harold’s responsibilities increased once more. On 26 February 1917 he was promoted to Sergeant. The step from Corporal to Sergeant was significant. A sergeant typically served as platoon second-in-command, assisting the platoon officer, maintaining discipline across several sections, organising working parties, and steadying men under fire. In wartime battalions, advancement often came through a combination of demonstrated ability and the harsh toll of casualties among senior NCOs.
Between January and late February 1917, then, Harold was living the hard, grinding routine of winter trench warfare — leading his section through cold, mud, and intermittent shellfire, absorbing reinforcements, and preparing for the campaigning season that would soon follow. In scarcely eight months since landing in France, he had risen from private to sergeant. It speaks strongly of competence, reliability, and the confidence his superiors placed in him at a time when such qualities were tested daily.
LEAVE LONDON MAY 1917
After his promotion to Sergeant on 26 February 1917, Harold’s battalion did not remain continuously in the line. In early 1917 many NCOs were sent to England for courses, leave, or temporary duties. Given that Harold next appears in London in early May, it is most likely he had been granted leave — a well-earned respite after the grinding winter in the Somme sector — or possibly detailed for a short instructional course in England.
Leave to the United Kingdom was a prized opportunity for men serving in France. Soldiers crossed the Channel by transport, usually via Boulogne or Le Havre, then travelled by train to one of the large leave depots before proceeding to London. For many Australians, London was overwhelming — crowded, noisy, bright with theatres, music halls, and public houses. After months of mud, shellfire, and responsibility, the sudden freedom could be intoxicating.
DISCIPLINED
On 8 May 1917, while in London, Harold found himself in trouble. The entry in his record reads:
Crime: Interfering with Military
Police whilst in the execution of their duty.
Award: Reprimanded.
Place: London
Date: 8/5/17
The wording suggests that Harold either obstructed or argued with Military Police while they were carrying out an arrest or maintaining order. Such incidents were not uncommon in London leave areas. Military Police were strict, particularly with colonial troops, and tensions could flare — especially if alcohol was involved or if a soldier believed a mate was being treated unfairly
THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES MAY 1917
When Harold returned to his battalion in May 1917, he stepped back into a world that had hardened even further since he had last been with them. The Australian divisions were deeply involved in the great offensive in Flanders, part of the vast struggle known as the Third Battle of Ypres. Through the late winter and into the sodden summer months, the men lived in a landscape that scarcely resembled earth at all — a churned wilderness of mud, splintered timber and water-filled shell holes.
MAY TO AUGUST 1917
From May through to August, Harold’s days would have followed the relentless rhythm of trench warfare. When in the front line, he endured constant shellfire, the crack of rifles from unseen snipers, and the ever-present threat of gas drifting silently over the parapet. When withdrawn to support or reserve lines, there was no true rest — only the exhausting labour of repairing shattered trenches, laying duckboards across sucking mud, carrying ammunition and rations forward under cover of darkness, and burying the dead. Sleep was short and broken. Clothing was perpetually damp. Boots rarely dried. The air was thick with the smells of mud, cordite, sweat and decay.
Hygiene, in such conditions, was almost impossible. Men lived shoulder to shoulder in cramped dugouts. Blankets were shared. Tunics and underclothes went weeks without proper washing. Vermin thrived in seams and folds of cloth. It was in this environment that Harold developed scabies, and it would have come as no surprise to him or to the medical officers who examined him.
HOSPITALISATION SCABIES AUGUST 1917
Scabies is caused by a microscopic mite, Sarcoptes scabiei, which burrows into the skin to lay its eggs. The result is an intense, maddening itch, often worse at night, accompanied by red eruptions and inflamed tracks where the mite has tunnelled. In the trenches of Flanders, it spread easily through close contact and shared bedding. A man could contract it simply by sleeping beside an infected mate or wearing inadequately disinfected clothing. No amount of personal care could fully guard against it in such surroundings.
By 12 August 1917, Harold’s condition was serious enough for him to be admitted to hospital. Though not life-threatening, scabies could render a soldier unfit for duty. The itching alone could deprive a man of sleep; scratching often led to broken skin and secondary infection, particularly in the grime of the front.
His treatment would have begun with the complete removal of his clothing, which was either disinfected or destroyed. He would have been thoroughly bathed — a rare and almost luxurious experience after weeks in the line — and then treated with sulphur-based ointments, the standard remedy of the day. The ointment was thick, pungent and uncomfortable, but effective if properly applied and repeated. Clean garments would have been issued, and he would have remained under observation until the infestation was cleared. The process was not instantaneous; several weeks were often required to ensure the mites and their eggs were eradicated.
RETURNED TO UNIT SEPTEMBER 1917
Harold remained away from his unit until 13 September. That month in hospital, though undoubtedly unpleasant, removed him from one of the most brutal phases of the Ypres fighting — the battles fought in deep mud under ceaseless artillery fire. While his comrades endured the horrors of places that would become synonymous with suffering, Harold was recovering in comparatively cleaner and more ordered surroundings behind the lines.
When he rejoined his battalion in mid-September, he would have returned to men wearied by months of fighting, their ranks thinned but their discipline unbroken. The war had not paused for his absence. It seldom paused for anyone.
THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES CONTINUING
When Harold rejoined his battalion on 13 September 1917, he returned to a formation still deeply engaged in the Flanders campaign. The great struggle of the Third Battle of Ypres was still unfolding, and through September and October the Australians fought a series of savage set-piece battles in conditions that defied description. The ground around Polygon Wood, Broodseinde and Passchendaele had been pulverised into a vast swamp of mud and shattered timber. Men advanced not across fields, but across craters filled with water and the remains of those who had fallen before them.
Harold would have been absorbed straight back into this routine of attack, consolidation and relief. When his battalion went forward, he would have moved at dawn behind a creeping artillery barrage, advancing in short rushes, burdened with rifle, ammunition and pack. Once an objective was taken, the real labour began — digging in under fire, wiring the new front line, establishing Lewis gun posts, carrying wounded back across open ground. Even when withdrawn to reserve, there was little respite. There were route marches through the mud, weapons inspections, reinforcement drafts to absorb, and endless fatigues.
BATTLE OF YPRES ENDED NOVEMBER 1917
By late November the Flanders offensive had ground to its grim conclusion. The battalion would have rotated south into comparatively quieter sectors for the winter. Winter on the Western Front brought its own misery. Trenches collapsed under frost and rain; duckboards floated loose; braziers smoked in dugouts as men tried to keep some warmth in numb hands. Patrols slipped out into No Man’s Land at night, probing enemy wire and listening for movement. Sniping and shelling never truly ceased. It was a season of endurance rather than manoeuvre.
PARIS LEAVE JANUARY 1918
It was after these months of sustained strain that Harold was granted leave to Paris on 22 January 1918. Leave to the French capital was both reward and reprieve. After the desolation of the line, Paris must have seemed almost unreal — electric lights, cafés bright with conversation, women in fashionable dress, the sound of music rather than artillery. For several precious days he would have slept in clean sheets, eaten fresh bread and hot meals, perhaps visited the great boulevards or simply wandered, absorbing the normality of civilian life. When he returned to his unit on 3 February, he carried back with him the memory of warmth and colour — a small reserve of morale against what lay ahead
SPRING OFFENSIVE FEBRUARY- MARCH 1918
February and early March 1918 were tense months. The German Army was preparing what would become its great Spring Offensive. Though the blow had not yet fallen, patrol activity increased, intelligence reports circulated, and units strengthened their defences. Harold’s battalion would have deepened trenches, improved wire entanglements, rehearsed counter-attack drills and integrated reinforcements. There was a sense that something immense was coming.
GRANTED LEAVE UK MARCH 1918
On 20 March 1918, just one day before the German offensive erupted further south, Harold was granted leave to the United Kingdom. The timing was fortuitous. He crossed the Channel and found himself in England — a land at war, but untouched by the mud and immediacy of the front. Leave in Britain often meant visits to training depots, time in London or other cities, perhaps reunions with friends made earlier in the war. Soldiers attended theatres, walked in parks just turning towards spring, and for a brief time felt themselves ordinary men again rather than instruments of war.
While Harold was in England, the German Spring Offensive burst across the Somme on 21 March 1918. The front convulsed. Australian divisions were hurried south to stem the advance. By the time Harold returned to his unit on 28 April, the battlefield had shifted dramatically. The desperate defensive fighting around Villers-Bretonneux had just taken place, and the line had stabilised — but only just.
RETURNED TO UNIT APRIL 1918
He stepped back into a battalion that had been tested once more in the crucible. The months ahead would bring yet another phase of the war — this time one of advance rather than endurance — but in April 1918 none of that was certain. All that was certain was that Harold, like the men around him, resumed his place in the line as though he had never been away.
GERMAN SPRING OFFENSIVE
When Harold returned from leave in England on 28 April 1918, he rejoined his battalion at a critical moment in the war. The German Spring Offensive had torn great gaps in the Allied line only weeks before, and the Australian divisions had been rushed south to help stem the advance. Through May and June 1918, Harold would have been engaged in hard defensive fighting and constant movement as the line stabilised east of Amiens. These were not the static trench months of earlier years; they were fluid, anxious weeks marked by sudden attacks, sharp counterattacks, and long hours strengthening hastily prepared positions.
The Australians played a decisive role in halting the German advance around Villers-Bretonneux and along the Somme sector. Harold’s days would have been filled with digging new defensive systems, wiring positions, standing-to before dawn and dusk, and patrolling aggressively to keep pressure on the enemy. There was little glamour in it — only exhaustion, tension, and the knowledge that the fate of the line hung in the balance. By June and into July, as the German impetus faltered, preparations quietly began for what would become the great Allied offensive of August 1918. Training intensified. Units rehearsed open warfare tactics once more. Confidence, cautiously, began to return
ENGLAND JULY 1918
Then, on 20 July 1918, Harold’s record shows a significant change — he was sent to England. The entry indicates he embarked from France and proceeded overseas. This was not leave; it was movement out of the theatre of war.
The next entry places him at Folkestone, the principal port of arrival for troops crossing from Boulogne. From there he was posted to the 9th Machine Gun Battalion depot at Codford, one of the large Australian training and holding camps on Salisbury Plain. Codford was a vast expanse of huts, parade grounds and training fields, populated by reinforcement drafts, men recovering from illness, and soldiers awaiting further posting. After the violence of France, it would have felt orderly, almost subdued — though still governed by strict military routine.
AUGUST 1918 TIDWORTH- LEWIS GUN COURSE
On 22 August 1918, he was sent “on command” to Tidworth for a Lewis Gun Course. Tidworth was another major Australian camp on Salisbury Plain and an important training centre. A Lewis Gun course was a specialised instruction program in the use of the light machine gun that had become central to infantry tactics by 1918. This suggests Harold was being further trained — either as a gunner, instructor, or reinforcement specialist. The Lewis Gun required skill in rapid firing, barrel changing, drum loading, stoppage clearing and coordinated section tactics. By this stage of the war, mastery of such weapons was critical to the new style of open, advancing warfare.
TAKEN ON STRENGTH 5TH BATTALION SEPTEMBER 1918
The final notation indicates that in early September he was taken on strength of the 5th Battalion (or transferred within machine gun establishments, depending on the exact reading of the entry). In essence, Harold had moved from front-line service in France to reinforcement and specialist training duties in England. While his former comrades were preparing for the great offensive that would begin at Amiens on 8 August 1918, Harold was on Salisbury Plain, drilling with machine guns under English skies.
QUALIFIED IN RANGE PRACTICES SEPTEMBER 1918
By early September 1918 Harold was firmly in England. On 7 September 1918 the record shows he attended the 20th Lewis Gun Course at Tidworth, at the Australian School of Musketry. This was serious instruction. The Lewis Gun was no longer just a support weapon — by 1918 it was central to infantry tactics. That he was sent on course as a Sergeant suggests he was considered reliable and capable, possibly being prepared as an instructor or section leader.
The note that he “qualified in Range Practices in Trainers 2nd Class” tells us he successfully completed the course. This was not simply attendance; it was proficiency.
POSTED TO 56TH BATTALION SEPTEMBER 1918
Then on 29 September 1918, in red ink, we see he was posted to Reinforcements of the 56th Battalion. This is significant. The 56th Battalion was part of the 14th Brigade of the 5th Australian Division. By late September 1918 the Australian Corps was driving forward in the great Allied advance that followed the Battle of Amiens. Reinforcements were urgently needed. But Harold does not appear to have returned to France.
TRANSFERRED TO 53RD BATTALION NOVEMBER 1918
On 23 November 1918 — twelve days after the Armistice — the entry shows him transferred as reinforcement to the 53rd Battalion, and at that time he was at the 14th Training Battalion in England. The war was over. Movements now were administrative — reorganising units, redistributing men, preparing for demobilisation.
Then in early 1919 the record becomes purely procedural. He is shown on strength of the 14th Training Battalion, then on command to another training establishment (likely part of the demobilisation machinery). By this stage thousands of Australians were waiting in England for transport home. Camps such as Tidworth and Codford became vast holding depots while shipping was allocated.
In short, from September 1918 onward Harold’s war was no longer one of mud and artillery. It became one of waiting — drills, parades, inspections, route marches to maintain discipline, and the endless anticipation of a ship.
DISCIPLINED MARCH 1919
Harold had been a very good solider, disciplined and orderly but the stress of the years showed themselves when he was waiting to go home. On 3rd March he committed the crime of prejudice of good order and military discipline in that he gave the wrong address on leave application form. Awarded reprimand on 27th March. On the same day he was charged AWL from 25th March to 27th March and was awarded severe reprimand and 2 day’s pay
GOING HOME MAY 1919
The red administrative entries that follow are the slow unwinding of a soldier’s service — transfers, postings, and finally, the long road to embarkation and return to Australia. Harold left England in April and disembarked in Australia on 10th May 1919
CLOTHING AND NECESSITIES GIVEN TO SOLDIERS FOR SOLDIERS PROCEEDING TO AUSTRALIA FOR DEMOBILISATION
Badges Hat Badges Collar (2) Bags kit universal
Bags kit sea Braces (pair) Brush, shaving
Brush, tooth Breeches M.S (Military service)
Cap comforter (warm cap) Comb, hair
Disc identity with cord Drawers (2 pairs)
Great Coat Hat, Khaki fur Hat, white
Holdall Housewife (compact sewing kit)
Jackets Cardigan Jackets S.D (service dress)
Leggings 1 pair Laces, leather 1 pair
Puggarees, small (a traditional Indian head wrap, worn in warm conditions
Puttees, 1 pair (cloth bandages worn by soldiers, to provide support and protection for the lower leg)
Razor Shirts, flannel (2) Socks, 3 pairs
Singlets (2)
Strap chin Soap piece Suit, working
Towels, hand (2)
Titles “Australia” (4)-
Australian soldiers and
non-commissioned officers wore an “Australia” title at the base of their
shoulder straps. Each serving soldier also
wore unit titles above this which
indicated the units to which they belonged
FOR HIS SERVICE
For his service Harold was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, and the Victory Medal and his name is recorded on the Murwillumbah War Memorial
HOME LIFE
On his return to Murwillumbah, he married Margaret Irene Beresford in Brisbane, and they had two daughters Margaret & Lorna and one son, Stanley. Margaret died in 1929 and is buried in Murwillumbah Old Cemetery and Harold died on 13 July 1935 in Murwillumbah and is buried next to her
If you have any additional information about this individual, we invite you to email us at rsl@msmc.org.au.
Memorial Location
Murwillumbah War Memorial
Buried Location
Murwillumbah Old Cemetery
