27th Battalion WW1 History Books Stories and Diaries

There and Back with a Dinkum By W.R.G. Colman, Edited by Claire Woods and Paul Skrebels

Coleman is 1st from left, taken at the
time of his facial wound

The author William Russell G. Colman was a student at Adelaide University before joining the AIF on the 2 August 1915. Colman was only 18 years of age, so he gained his Father’s consent. Graham Leaver a student friend of Colman also joined at the same time. Colman became a Private (enlistment number 2552) with the 27^th Battalion AIF and remained with the 27^th Battalion throughout the war.
He was wounded three times in the field, 2^nd December 1917, 20^th April 1918 and 21^st April 1918.  The wound that he received in 1917 was a severe gunshot wound to the face, while the other two wounds received on consecutive days were minor - he remained on the battlefield.
He was commissioned, being promoted to Lieutenant on the 12^th April 1918.
On the 31^st July 1918, he was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry in the field.
In board daylight he led his men across the open, entered enemy line, and captured some 800 meters of trench, together with 20 prisoners, inflicting considerable losses on the enemy.
 

Click to see
27th Battalion History Digger Book

In 1933, Colman wrote of his experiences during the war providing a deeply intimate account of his own experiences, revealing common ordeals as a member of the 27^th Battalion. Later in 1933, Colman entered his book in a War Novel Competition that was established by the Victorian RSL. He did not win; the book ‘Crucible’ by J.P. McKinney won the competition.
Subsequently, Colman never published and he donated the original handwritten manuscript to the Australian War Memorial where it remains to this day.
 
The Editors, Claire Woods and Paul Skrebels have undertaken considerable further research and have included much additional material. This addition information has been included  in this book. This includes the original diary entries of Coleman, Biographic information about Coleman and other soldiers during and after the war, explanation of the real names of people mentioned in the book, chapter by chapter commentary research, wartime photos of Coleman and 27^th Battalion mates.
 
‘Although described as a novel, Colman’s work (book) is real autobiographical and accurate; it can be tested against the records.’ Peter Burness Senior Historian, Australian War Memorial
 
The Blue and Brown Diamond
A History of the 27th Battalion Australian Imperial Force, 1915 - 1919.   
by W Dollman and H.Skinner.
 
Click Here to see a quality reprint of this history.


The Official History of the 27th Battalion AIF was published in 1921. The book was never released in considerable quantity and remains rare. It has only ever been reprinted once in the 1990's and this reprint was limited to 200 books.
Walter Dollman co authored the 27^th Battalion History, "The Brown and Blue Diamond. He was a South Australian Militia Officer before WW1. He had outstanding service with the  "Adelaide Rifles", 10th Australian Infantry Regiment and later becoming the CO, of the the 74th Infantry Regiment.

He was appointed CO of 27th Battalion AIF, during its raising in March 1915 and embarked for overseas service 31 May 1915. He commanded the Battalion through the Gallipoli campaign and then on to the Western Front.  After Pozieres and Mouquet Farm, he was wounded as a result of a gas attack, and thus unfit for further frontline service.  He returned to Australia in September 1916.
He remained a stalwart of the 27 Battalion becoming State President of the South Australian RSL in 1929.
He died on 23 August 1945 at Malvern, South Australia. 72 years of age.

His co author was Sergeant Henry Skinner who was a NCO in the Battalion. At Morlancourt on the night of 10-11/6/1918 he was awarded the Military Medal for gallantry.

A Pictorial History of the 27th Battalion WW1 is now available

The Pictorial History of the 27th Battalion 

This is a newly created book which is a Pictorial companion Volume II to the original Blue and Brown Diamond History the 27th Battalion AIF.When the original 27th Battalion History was first published in 1921, the cost of printing photographs was very expensive. Thus most of the photographs taken by Battalion members were never used in the printing of the Battalion history. Guy Dollman who is the grandson of the original author and commanding officer, Colonel Walter Dollman, has collected a large quantity of original photographs from Battalion members. Many are from Colonel Walter Dollman's private photograph collection and have never before been printed.

In the book there are over 200 printed photographs all relating to the history of the 27th Battalion World War I.

A Pictorial History of the 27th Battalion WW1 is now available

Letters Home By Colonel Walter Dollman

In 2020 a new book was published about the 27th Battalion during WW1.
Letter's Home 1915-1916 Mitcham to Pozieres By Colonel Walter Dollman
edited by WJ and GH Dollman

Colonel Walter Dollman VD was the Commanding Officer of the 27th Battalion from inception on the 15 March 1915 to his leaving the Battalion on the Western Front after the Pozieres Campaign.

Walter Dollman returned home to Australia, in late 1916, to a hero's welcome. While overseas he had taken many photographs especially on his outbound journey to Egypt, Gallipoli and then into France. While away he also wrote constantly to his wife Rose, as well is to his parents and friends. On receipt, many of these letters were transcribed by his daughter, Edith, into two volumes. Later Colonel Dollman was a co-author of the Blue and Brown Diamond, the official historic record of the 27th Battalion AIF in World War I. This book marries Colonel Dollman's formal Chronicle, The History of the 27th Battalion, with the personal narrative of its commander as told through his letters and photographs. Complimentary stories of other members of the 27th Battalion and their photographs have also been added.

Click to see Details of the book Letters Home

Further Link reading about the 27th Battalion WW1

Australian War Memorial 27th Battalion History
Australian Unit War Diaries
Wikipedia History 27th Battalion
RSL 27th Battalion History
South Australian Regiments Association
 See a quality reprint of the 27th Battalion History

Dollman and the 27 Battalion embarking 1915

Australian Navy HMAS Australia WW1

Australian Navy HMAS Australia                      

Onboard HMAS Australia 1914-1918.

Click to see more details of the book.

In 1914, William Warner joined the Australian Navy with the rank of Boy 2^nd Class. Back then a boy of 14 years old could join the navy but they would at first be sent to the training ship HMAS Tingara. After completion of training, he was promoted to Boy 1^st Class and was transferred to HMAS Australia. This book is the extraordinary story of his life on the Australia. Mostly employed on the lower decks. He has recorded rare in-depth details of conditions prevailing on a capital warship in WW1. This book is valuable reading for anyone researching the life and times of a sailor serving during WW1 on an Australian warship.

HMAS Australia

The Australia Government ordered HMAS Australia from the British in 1909. Being launched in 1911, she became the flagship of the Royal Australian Navy. A Indefatigable Class Battlecruiser she was the pride of the Navy and honoured by a Nation.
Prior to WW1 she visited many Australian ports, a large imposing ship of 22000 tons with eight 12 inch guns. The likes of which had never been seen before in the Australian Navy. At the start of World War I, HMAS Australia sailed with the Australian and New Zealand  Forces to attack German interests in New Guinea and the Pacific Islands. The Australia was especially required to find and destroy the German East Asia Naval Squadron. After the successful completion of her Pacific duties the Australia journeyed to Great Britain to help block German ships from entering the North Sea and undertake convoy duties. In 1924, as a requirement of the disarmament Washington Naval Treaty the Australia was scuttled off of Sydney Heads.

William Warner c 1924

Australian 24th Battalion History Book

24th Battalion

 Australian 24th Battalion History Book  

RED AND WHITE DIAMOND Authorised History of the Twenty-fourth Battalion AIF' by Sgt. W J Harvey MM. 

Prior to WW1, Sgt Walter Harvey was a journalist with the Echuca based Riverine Herald. No doubt, a profession which enabled him to write such precise and detailed narrative for this history. He continued to write articles back to the Riverine Herald while he was on the frontline - some are shown in margins.
 
Harvey joined the AIF on the 15/4/1915, he was allotted the 24 Battalion enlistment number 2465. Soon after enlisting he come down with meningitis. Thus he did not embark for overseas service with the Battalion until the 5th reinforcements. He was with the Battalion at Pozieres where on the 15th August 1916 he was awarded the Military Medal for bravery in the field. He was a Stretcher Bearer who continually entered no man's land under heavy fire to recover wounded - it was said that he was the last 24th Stretcher Bearer to leave the Pozieres Battlefield.
 
Harvey has written a full History of the 24th Battalion which received its 'baptism of fire' upon reaching Gallipoli on the 5th September 1915. On the 10th September 1915, the Battalion entered the Lone Pine Trenches. It remained at Lone Pine for 16 weeks, due to the dangerous position Battalions were rotated every day. After the Gallipoli evacuation, the 24th Battalion transferred to the Western Front where the main battles fought were at Pozières in July 1916 and Mouquet Farm in August 1916, the costly 2nd Battle of Bullecourt and the offensive at Broodseinde Ridge during 1917.
 
During the latter 1918 Offensive, the Battalion suffered casualties which were not being replaced, it has become a distinction of the Battalion that it fought in the last Australian Battle of WW1 at Montbrehain on the 5th October 1918.
 
They did not know it at the time, but this would be the last WW1 Battle that any Australian would take part. This was the final stage of the war, the Battalions had been fighting for the past two days and the troops were expecting to be relieved.
This attack order came as some surprise, it was said, that the troops regarded it as the “bombshell, which did not come from the enemy”.

On the eve of the Battle, nine Officers of the 24th Battalion joined an impromptu parody singsong in the trenches.
’D’ Company, Captain John Fletcher and ‘A’ Company, Captain John Mahony MC sang I’m Courting Bonnie Lizzie Lindsay Noo and Fletcher alone sang The Bells Of St Mary’s. Fletcher and Mahoney were life long friends from Bendigo where Fletcher was a School Teacher. They had both fought at Gallipoli and endured the worst battles on the Western Front. At Mouquet Farm in 1916, Mahoney was distinguished with the awarding of the Military Cross.

Another 24th Officer in the trenches that night was Lieut. John Gear MC who was also a Victorian Teacher from Ballarat. During the war, Gear had continued his teaching showing how to kill a man by sniping.

The next day, the 5th of October was a tragic day for the 24th Battalion Officers, Fletcher and Gear both of ‘D’ Company were killed in the same attack. Mahoney was mortally wounded and died several days later on the 9th of October 1918.

"Mates to the Last" joined together 1915, survived Gallipoli, Mouguet Farm,Western Front until 5th October 1918, knocked on the same day... Fletcher (center) and Mahoney (right).

Above details sourced from the The Red and White Diamond Official History available from Books On War Australia

When Did Australia declare war in WW1 World War One ?

Australia declared war in WW1 on Germany and Belligerents (Central Powers ) on the 5th August 1914.

Historical Dates from an Australian Perspective.
28th June 1914 - Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and wife, heir to Austro-Hungarian Empire.
28th July 1914 - Is accepted as the Start of World War One when Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia.
31st July 1914 Friday -Prior to this date a Federal Election had been called in Australia. Thus the Prime Minister Joseph Cook and the Opposition Leader Andrew Fisher were electioneering when WW1 commenced. Two historic speeches were given on consecutive nights by the then Federal Opposition leader, Andrew Fisher (in Colac on Friday night the 31st July 1914),and followed the next night by Prime Minister Joseph Cook (in Horsham on the 1st August 1914). The two speeches declared Australia`s commitment to follow Britain into World War One, with Opposition Leader Fisher declaring "Australia will stand by the mother country to our last man and our last shilling" and Cook`s opposing speech on the Saturday night in Horsham with "If the old country is at war, so are we."
3rd August 1914 Monday - Germany declares war on France
3rd August 1914 Monday - Following Canada and New Zealand, PM Cook announces that Australia offers a 20000 man force to the Motherland.  
4th August 1914 Tuesday - Germany enters Belgium, Britain responds by declaring war on Germany.
5th August 1914 Wednesday - The then Governor General, Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson, received the cable that Britain had declared war on Germany at midday local time on 5 August. Prime Minister Cook then advised the people that Australia was at war with Germany. Australia did not have to 'declare war' as back then it had no constitutional right. Suffice to say, if 'Britain was at war', that meant Australia was at war.
The first hostile shot of the war (British and Dominions) occurred in Australia when the Victorian Fort Nepeanfire fired at the German merchant ship Pfalz trying to leave Port Phillip Bay.
10th August 1914 - AIF recruitment commences.
19th August 1914 - Australian Forces depart to capture German interests in New Guinea and Islands.
1st November 1914 - Convoy first AIF Leaves.

So It Begins, at the start of Great War Australia pledged 20000 men by the end of WW1, on the 11th November 1918, 330000 odd Australians had been sent to the front.
information sourced from Australian War Books

9th Battalion & 10th Battalion AIF WW1 Commander Honoured in new book

Australian 10th Battalion CO

A Magnificent Anzac The Untold Story Of Lieutenant Colonel Maurice Wilder Neligan CMG, DSO and Bar, DCM, Croix De Guerre MID 5 times

In 1980, the author, Peter Holmes worked in the Research Section at the Australian War Memorial. While at the AWM he assisted Mr Clarrie Wrench in researching his 9^th Battalion History book, ‘Campaigning With The Fighting 9^th Battalion AIF’. Clarrie Wrench had been a Lieutenant in the Australian 9th Battalion during WW1. In the latter part of 1918, during the Allied Offensive, he was awarded the MC medal for gallantry while leading his 9th Battalion platoon against a German machine gun post. After the war, he became a leading advocate for the 9th Battalion Association. It was said that he, ‘lived for the Battalion’.

During the many hours of discussion between Peter Holmes and Clarrie Wrench it become obvious that Clarrie had a deep affection for the 9th Battalion Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Maurice Wilder Neligan. Peter Holmes become fascinated with the stories, life and mystery of this highly decorated Australian WW1 Commander. He has just released a new Australian Military Book about Wilder Neligan.

Australia's Official Historian and WW1 Commanders bestowed many tributes on Wilder Neligan not least,
'a restless adventurous spirit’
'the most brilliant raid that Australians undertook’
'an impetuous dare devil officer'
'clever soldier and inevitably a leader'
'The best show ever done by a battalion in France'
'never a greater organiser'
'a dashing leader'
Click to read more of this Magnificent Anzac Book 10th Battalion commander

Pompey Elliott Famous Australian WW1 leader

Pompey Elliott WW1 Hero

Harold 'Pompey' Elliott

'POMPEY' ELLIOTT was a famous Australian leader of WW1. In civilian life, he was a respected Melbourne solicitor and Federal Senator from Ballarat Victoria. Before World War One he fought in the Boer War where he was awarded the DCM medal for ‘particular daring’ gallantry.

During the Boer war he was promoted with a Officer’s commission. Upon his return to Australia he continued with law study and the militia.  At the start of the Great War, due to his Boer War and Militia service he immediately joined the AIF and was made the CO of the 7^th Battalion.
 
 He was an outstandingly successful military leader who was able to ‘train men to become soldiers’. Amongst his men he was known as 'the bravest of the brave' and was given the nickname 'Pompey' or just 'Pomp' 'Brig', he was renowned for never sending anyone anywhere he was not prepared to go himself.

Elliott was wounded in the ankle while landing at Gallipoli with the battalion. The boot he wore is now part of the Australian War Memorial collection. He returned to Gallipoli in June 1915 and was present at the Battle of Lone Pine when men from his Battalion were awarded 4 Victoria Cross Medals. After Gallipoli in 1916, he was given command of the 15th Brigade shortly before the disastrous Battle of Fromelles. He was present at the Battle of Fromelles when his Brigade was decimated; he was never able to forget this loss. He went on to lead at the Battles at Polygon Wood, Villers-Brettoneux, Peronne and the Hindenburg Line. During the war Pompey Elliott was MID eight times, made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1917, Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1918, and his other decorations included a  Distinguished Service Order. Besides his Commonwealth decorations, he was awarded the Order of St Anne, 3rd Class and the Croix de guerre.

After WW1, in 1919 was elected to the Australian Senate. He was plagued with the bad memory of the war years. He made an attempt to suicide by gassing himself at his home. The next day on the 23rd March 1931, while in hospital for this problem he did commit suicide – he was 52 years old. Pompey Elliot was buried on 25th March 1931 at Burwood Cemetery, the inscription on his grave reads, 'This was a Man'. 

The former PM, Stanley Bruce, attended the funeral and later wrote to Elliott's wife Kate:

'I have just returned for his funeral and I have never seen a greater tribute paid to a man ... it must be some comfort to you to see the universal regard, esteem and even affection in which he was held.' 

Recently, his memory was preserved in Ballarat when a magnificent statue was dedicated to him in the main Street of Ballarat.

Above information sourced from Australian Boer War Books

What was the Desert Mounted Corps in WW1?

What was the Desert Mounted Corps in WW1?

 The Desert Mounted Corps was a major Allied Cavalry Force of the Middle East campaign during World War One. In June 1917, Sir Edmund ‘Bull' Allenby took command of the Allied Forces (Egyptian Expeditionary Force) in the Middle East. He set about reorganising this Force. The Desert Mounted Corps was to be commanded by the Australian Sir H.G. Chauvel. Leading up to the formation of the Corps, Chauvel had been successful at the Battles of Gaza, Romani and Rafa while commanding the Anzac Mounted

Desert Mounted Corps HQ Staff - Harry Chauvell
 first row 2nd left

Division. In 1916, the Anzac Mounted Division had became part of the newly formed Desert Column under command of Major-General Sir Philip Chetwode, In August 1917, Chauvel learned that Allenby was to rename the Desert Column, he requested it be called the Desert Mounted Corps. At that time, Chauvel received a major promotion when he was given command of the Desert Mounted Corps. The Desert Mounted Corps consisted of the Anzac Mounted Division, the Australian Mounted Division (both of which comprised in part of various Australian Light Horse Regiments), the newly formed Yeomanry Mounted Division and the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade (French Cavalry being added in the final stages of the war)

The Corps took a major roll in pushing the Ottoman (Turkish) forces from the Suez Canal area, and then into the Sinai Desert and further into Palestine. Under Chauvel’s leadership the Corps took part in many famous Battles which included the Battle of Beersheba in October 1917, Allenby’s Battle of Megiddo in 1918 and the subsequent capture of Damascus.  
Above information from Australian Light Horse History Books