21st Battalion Australian Imperial Force

12th October 1916 Reliefs

13th Oct 1916 Trench Raid

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These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War.

Those known to have served with
21st Battalion Australian Imperial Force
during the Great War 1914-1918.

Catani Enrico Ferdinando . 2nd Lt. (d.29th July 1916)
Hogan Arthur Douglas. Lt. (d.9th October 1917)
Martin James Charles. Pte. (d.25th Oct 1915)
McConnell James. Pte. (d.14th April 1918)
Ross Walter Alexander. Pte.

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Pte. Walter Alexander Ross 21st Battalion

Walter Ross had been taken down by a bout of laryngitis while his Battalion were behind the lines at Jesus Farm near the River Lys doing infantry training. He'd paraded sick on 20th of May 1916 but despite being taken off duties and sent for medical care, it had worsened into Bronchitis and he was sent to the No. 5 Convalescent Hospital. He was subsequently sent to a hospital in England, and remained in England before returning to France on 12th of November 1916.
Walter was subsequently wounded again on 20th of March 1917, being shot in the thigh while his unit was attempting a flanking movement on the town of Noreuil, and required hospitalization at the No. 6 General Hospital in Rouen. The injury wasn't too serious and he rejoined his unit again a few weeks later.
He joined the 21st Battalion as they assaulted the Hindenburg Line at Bullecourt on 3rd of May 1917. Walter was in the 4th wave of troops who pushed forward against well entrenched machine guns, and a hail of High Explosive artillery shells. Walter was hit in the right shoulder by a machine gun bullet, fracturing his shoulder blade and lodging so deep that the doctors didn't dare remove it. He was one of 441 men from the 21st Battalion wounded that day, in addition to 67 killed and 60 missing. He was sent to England where he was assessed as having a permanent disability, and then returned to Australia on the hospital ship S.S. Borda, returning home to his wife Sarah and young son Vernon.
Greg Calvert

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Pte. James McConnell 21st Battalion (d.14th April 1918)

James McConnell was admitted to Fargo Hospital on 21st of February 1917 with Bronchitis. He was discharged back to duty 1st March 1917 and was killed in action on the 14th of April 1918 at Dernancourt, France.

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Lt. Arthur Douglas Hogan 21st Battalion (d.9th October 1917)

Arthur Hogan was born on 30th of November 1886 in Sydney, NSW, Australia. He was an optician and jewellery salesman by trade, and prior to enlisting in April 1915, had been living in the Riverina town Wagga Wagga for three years. There, he was employed by the town's oldest business, Messrs. Hunter Bros. (which still exists today), as Manager of their jewellery department. He was almost 29 years old when he enlisted.
He undertook his basic military training at Broadmeadows Camp in Victoria, where he also attended the 6th Officer's School of Instruction. After receiving his Commission (2nd Lieutenant) on 16 July 1915, he sailed from Melbourne aboard the 'Nestor' on 11 October, arriving in Suez two months later.
As part of the 5th Battalion, he was stationed in Egypt for the next three months. In February 1916, he was invalided back to Australia for 3 months' change, having contracted paratyphoid fever. On his arrival back in Australia, he returned to Broadmeadows, and transferred from the 5th Battalion to the 13th. On 3rd of July 1916, he once again left Australia, this time, bound for the battlefields of the Western Front.
On 11th of December 1916, Arthur was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, serving with the 21st Battalion. In March 1917, during the fighting around Bapaume, Arthur was shot through the left thigh. Although a severe injury, he was lucky that it hit neither nerves nor bone. 8 days later, he was admitted to the 8th General Hospital at Rouen, before being shipped back to England and admitted to the Kitchener Military Hospital at Brighton. In May 1917, Arthur was transferred from Brighton to Cobham Hall, an Australian convalescent hospital in Kent. He was discharged from Cobham Hall in June 1917, and from there, travelled to Perham Downs near Tidmouth, where he finished his convalescence.
On 3rd of July 1917, Arthur returned to France. On 10 August, he was appointed Bombing Officer with the 6th Brigade.
Early on the morning of 4th of October 1917, the Battle of Broodseinde Ridge began. A large operation, involving 12 divisions, the Australian troops involved were shelled heavily on their start line, and one seventh of their number became casualties even before the attack began. The cost of this battle for the Australians was high, with Australian divisions suffering 6,500 casualties.
Arthur fell on 9th of October 1917, most probably shot by a sniper. His Battalion Commander wrote, in a letter to his mother: 'I happened to be in command of the attack on 9th of October and unhesitatingly chose him for my central commander. He fell gallantly leading the attack on the German positions over Broodseinde Ridge between Dairy and Daisy Woods. He leaves a great gap in the battalion where he was admired, respected and even loved by all ranks. He had previously done splendid work for the battalion on the Somme and was certain to have secured fitting recognition for this work. He was a gallant soldier and met a gallant end.'
Michelle A. Maddison

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2nd Lt. Enrico Ferdinando "Puss" Catani 21st Btn. (d.29th July 1916)

Eric Catani was a grazier from Kyneton Victoria. He was the second son of Carlo Catani (a noteworthy civil engineer) and Catherine. He was born in 1891. The family were of Italian origin. Eric enlisted in April 1915 and embarked aboard HMAT A38 Ulysses from Port Melbourne on 10th of May 1915. He served at Gallipoli. His unit were moving through the village of Pozieres towards the front line. This was part of the battle of the Somme. He was killed in action on 29th of July 1916.
He was buried at Cemetery Post Station, near Pozieres. However, in 1932 the body of an 'unknown' soldier was exhumed from another location and this was identified through the identification disc and other personal effects to be Enrico Catani. There are a series of letters in Enrico's Military file between the Australian War Graves Service and Enid Catani regarding this discovery. In the end Enrico was buried again in the Serre Road No 2 Cemetery near Beaumont Hamel, in France.
A memorial to his death read: Catani. A tribute of esteem to the memory of Lieutenant E. F. ("Puss") Catani, killed in action on the 29th July 1916, in France. His many acts of kindness will never be forgotten. "Grammar to the fore."(Inserted by E. R.)
Rhiannon Urquhart

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Pte. James Charles Martin 21st Infantry Battalion (d.25th Oct 1915)

James Charles Martin was born at Tocumwal, New South Wales, on 3 January 1901. Keen for all things military, Jim joined the cadets at school and the year after leaving school he took up work as a farm hand. In 1915, Martin was eager to enlist with the Australian Imperial Force. His father had previously been rejected from service and Jim, the only male child of his family, was keen to serve in place of his father. Anyone under the age of 21 required written parental permission to enlist, and although Martin looked old for his age and his voice had broken he could not pass for a 21-year-old.
When Jim threatened to run away, join under another name and not to write to her if he succeeded in being deployed, his mother reluctantly gave her written permission for him to enlist. Martin succeeded in enlisting at the age of 14 years and 3 months, almost 4 years under the minimum age. After training for several months at Broadmeadows Camp, he departed with the 21st Infantry Battalion from Melbourne aboard HMAT Berrima on 28 June 1915.
From Egypt Martin and the other reinforcements of the 21st Battalion were deployed to Gallipoli. Their transport ship was torpedoed en route by a German submarine and Martin and several others spent hours in the water before being rescued. Martin eventually landed on Gallipoli in the early hours of 7 September and took up position near Wire Gully. In the following few months casualties from enemy action were slight, but the front-line work, short rations, sickness, flies, lice, and mosquitoes took their toll on the unit. Martin sent several letters to his parents from Gallipoli. In late October he contracted typhoid fever and was evacuated to hospital ship HMHS Glenart Castle on 25 October 1915. By this time he had lost half his weight and was in a bad state. Despite the best efforts of the medical staff aboard, in particular that of Matron Frances Hope Logie Reddoch, Martin died of heart failure just under two hours later. He was three months short of his 15th birthday. Martin was buried at sea and is commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial on Gallipoli. The day after his death, Matron Reddoch wrote a heartfelt letter to Martin's mother back in Australia about her young son.
While he may not have been the youngest Australian to serve during the First World War, James Martin is considered the youngest to have died on active service.
s flynn

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21st Battalion Australian Imperial Force

Want to know more about 21st Battalion Australian Imperial Force?

Those known to have served with
21st Battalion Australian Imperial Force
during the Great War 1914-1918.

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If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.

Announcements

Recomended Reading.

Links

The Wartime Memories Project - 21st Battalion Australian Imperial Force during the Great War -

21st Battalion Australian Imperial Force

Want to know more about 21st Battalion Australian Imperial Force?

Those known to have served with21st Battalion Australian Imperial Forceduring the Great War 1914-1918.

Can you help?

If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.

Announcements

Recomended Reading.

Links

The Wartime Memories Project
- 21st Battalion Australian Imperial Force during the Great War -

Those known to have served with
21st Battalion Australian Imperial Force
during the Great War 1914-1918.