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Australia

Son of William and Minnie Stephens, of Main St., Beeac, Victoria, Australia. Born Ballarat, Victoria.

From François Berthout

CSM 3945 John Dunstan Stephens 
59th Australian Infantry Battalion,
15th Brigade, 5th Australian Division

Today in the Somme, silent and peaceful, it is alongside my Australian and New Zealand friends that we have come together to commemorate ANZAC Day and to honor the memory of a whole generation of men who, for peace and freedom, came from the other side of the world and fought bravely in the trenches and fields of northern France, a country they knew little about but for which they did and gave so much and which here, in Amiens, in Villers-Bretonneux, Pozieres and Longueval will always have all our love and utmost respect and it is with honor and gratitude that I will always watch over them who rest in peace in the white cities and through the poppies that remind us every day their sacrifices and their bravery. I will always protect and preserve the memory of these young boys to bring them back to life and for their names to live forever.

Today, it is with emotion, with the utmost respect and the deepest gratitude that I would like to honor the memory of one of these young men, one of my boys of the Somme who gave his today for our tomorrow.I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Company Serjeant Major number 3945 John Dunstan Stephens who fought in the 59th Australian Infantry Battalion, 15th Brigade, 5th Australian Division, and who was killed in action 104 years ago, on April 25, 1918 at the age of 25 on the Somme front.

John Dunstan Stephens was born in 1892 in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, and was the son of William Stephens (1866-1923) and Mary Ann Stephens (née Dunstan, 1865-1942), of Main Street, Beeac, Victoria. John had four brothers, Roy William, Thomas, Alan Collins, Harrie Lower, and three sisters, Leah Jane, Grace and Susan Elsie. John was educated at Colac State School, Victoria then was a student of the International Correspondence School. After graduation he worked as a carpenter and lived in Horn Street,Colac.

John enlisted on July 3, 1915 at Colac, Victoria, as an Acting Corporal in the 7th Australian Infantry Battalion, and after a four month training period at Broadmeadows Camp, Victoria, he embarked with his unit from Melbourne, on board HMAT A40 Ceramic on November 23, 1915 and sailed for Egypt.

On January 25, 1916, John arrived in Egypt and was disembarked at Zeitoun and promoted to the rank of Corporal the same day. The following month, on February 26, he was transferred and taken on strength in the 59th Australian Infantry Battalion whose Commanding officer was Harold Eward "Pompey" Elliott and was reverted to private rank on joining the battalion. On March 4, 1916, John was again promoted to Corporal at "Ferry Post", fought in the defense of the Suez Canal and on June 18 , with his unit, he joined the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) and embarked from Alexandria on board "Kinfauns Castle" then proceeded overseas for France.
After a trip of a little over ten days on the Mediterranean Sea, John arrived in France and was disembarked in Marseilles on June 29, 1916 then, a few days later, on July 3, he was promoted to the rank of Lance Serjeant then to the rank of Serjeant on July 13, and on July 19, the 59th Battalion was heavily involved during the Battle of Fromelles, their first major battle on the Western Front.

Directed against a strong German position known as the Sugar Loaf salient, the attack was intended primarily as a feint to draw German troops away from the Somme offensive then being pursued further to the south. A seven-hour preparatory bombardment deprived the attack of any hope of surprise, and ultimately proved ineffective in subduing the well-entrenched defenders.

When the troops of the 5th Australian and 61st British Divisions attacked at 6 pm on 19 July 1916, they suffered heavily at the hands of German machine-gunners. Small parts of the German trenches were captured by the 8th and 14th Australian Brigades, but, devoid of flanking support and subjected to fierce counter-attacks, they were forced to withdraw.

By 8am on 20 July 1916, the battle was over. The 5th Australian Division suffered 5,533 casualties, rendering it incapable of offensive action for many months; the 61st British Division suffered 1,547. The German casualties were little more than 1,000. The attack was a complete failure as the Germans realised within a few hours it was merely a feint. It therefore had no impact whatsoever upon the progress of the Somme offensive.

Attacking in the first wave, the 59th suffered heavy casualties at the hands of German machine-gunners, and its advance faltered far short of its objective. Despite grievous losses, the units of the 5th Division manned the front line around Fromelles for a further two months.

Unfortunately, during the attack of July 19, 1916, John was wounded by a German machine gun and received a gun shot wound to his shoulder and was evacuated and admitted to the 15th Field Ambulance the next day then transferred to the 25th General Hospital and finally to the 1st Convalescent Depot in Boulogne on August 31, was discharged on September 1 and joined the 5th Australian Divisional Base depot in Etaples on September 4.

On September 21, 1916, John marched out for his unit and joined the 59th Battalion on September 30 at "Rue Bianche" near Fromelles then on October 2, joined "Cellar Farm Dugouts" and on October 15, marched into Billets at Estaires, Hauts-De-France where they remained until October 18. The following day, the battalion joined Bailleul from where the men embarked by train for the Somme and arrived at Longpré the same day at 6:50 p.m.

On October 19, 1916, the 59th Battalion marched to Villers-Sous-Ailly where they underwent a period of training consisting of bayonet fighting, physical exercises, rifle drills until October 21.The next day they left Villers-Sous-Ailly for Ribemont on October 22 then for Montauban on October 23 where they remained until October 30 and joined the front line at Flers where they occupied several positions known as "Carlton Trench" and "Switch trench" where they fought until November 5. The following day, the 59th Battalion marched into Billets for Flesselles, near Amiens and underwent a period of training until November 17.

On November 18, 1916, John and the 59th Battalion marched to Dernancourt then moved back to Montauban where they joined "A Camp" and two days later, on November 21, returned to the Flers front line and occupied the "Needle Trench " in a thick fog and under the fire of the German artillery particularly active in this sector then on November 23, were relieved by the 57th Australian Infantry Battalion and marched for the "D Camp" near Montauban where they remained until December 9.

Unfortunately for the men of the 59th Battalion, the rest was short-lived and on December 10 they were once again sent to the front line at Flers and occupied several trenches including the "Needle Trench", the "Cow Mail Trench" and the "Windmill Trench" then replaced the men of the 32nd Australian Infantry Battalion in the "Zenith Trench", "Gusty trench", "Spectrum Trench" and "Rose Trench" and fought in snowy and rainy weather then on December 15 left the front line and marched to "E Camp" near Montauban. On 19 December they were sent to lines of support at Flers where the men were mainly employed in the construction of new dugouts then were relieved on 22 December by the 21st Australian Infantry Battalion and marched for Ribemont where they remained until January 2, 1917.

On January 3, 1917, John and his comrades left Ribemont and walked through Rainneville and arrived in Billets at Vignacourt where they underwent a period of physical training in very cold weather and then on January 13 they moved back to Ribemont and marched to Sydney Camp. located in Fricourt then were sent to Delville Wood before returning once again to the front line between Flers and Gueudecourt where they fought until January 26. The following day they were relieved by the men of the 57th Australian Infantry Battalion and marched for the "B Camp" in Trones Wood and returned to the Delville Wood area until February 14.

A week later, on February 21, 1917, John was promoted to the rank of Company Serjeant Major at Fricourt and two months later, on April 18, he proceeded on leave to England then on May 7, marched for Hurdcott and from July 2 until November 4 he was in charge of a school of instruction at Chelsea.After that he was sent to Longbridge Deverill's Overseas Training Brigade and on November 15 embarked from Southampton and proceeded to France.

On November 16, 1917, John arrived again but for the last time in France and was disembarked at Le Havre where he joined the 5th Australian Divisional Base depot, marched out to unit on November 19 and joined the 59th Battalion on November 22 at Lindenhoek, Belgium. On November 29 the battalion was sent to Wytschaete then fought at Messines until December 14 then marched to Lindenhoek Camp where the men had a brief rest period. Three days later the battalion entered the trenches at Messines Ridge .After particularly hard fighting, John was granted furlough in Paris on January 30, 1918 and joined his unit on February 7 at Rossignol Camp, Kemmel, Belgium, where they remained until February 21.

Between February 22 and March 16, 1918, the 59th Battalion fought again at Messines Ridge and the next day moved back to Rossignol Camp where they remained until March 25 but four days earlier, on March 21, 1918, the army The German army launched its spring offensive with the aim of capturing the vital railway junction of Amiens and breaking through the Allied lines and on March 28 the battalion was quickly sent to the Somme to stop this offensive which threatened Amiens but also Paris.

On March 28, 1918, John and his battalion arrived in the Somme, in the village of Doullens then marched through Louvencourt, Lealvillers, Harponville, Varennes and arrived at Corbie, near Villers-Bretonneux on March 30 where lines of defense were established and protected by machine guns to counter possible German attacks between the city and the Somme canal.

On April 1, 1918, the battalion was sent to Bonnay, near Corbie where the men had a few days of rest but on April 4 news was received informing them that the Germans were attacking in the south of the Somme and had captured the village of Hamel and were ordered to join Hamelet, a village towards which the Germans were advancing but the sector was relatively calm. On April 10 the battalion marched for La Neuville, Blangy-Tronville on April 11 and arrived at Villers-Bretonneux on April 13.

On the night of April 24 to 25, 1918, the 59th Battalion launched a very strong and vigorous attack against the German lines at Villers-Bretonneux and on April 25 the Australians captured the town and definitively stopped the Germans, but during this fateful day, John met his fate and was killed in action, he was 25 years old.

Today, Company Serjeant Major John Dunstan Stephens rests in peace alongside his men, comrades and brothers in arms at Adelaide Cemetery, Villers-Bretonneux, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription: "Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away."

Roy William Stephens, one of John's brothers also fought during the great war, he served in the 59th Australian Infantry Battalion, Service Number 3944, but unfortunately he was killed in action on July 19, 1916 during the battle of Fromelles at the age of 22 and rests today in peace at Rue-Du-Bois Military Cemetery, Fleurbaix.

John, determined and brave, it was in the prime of your life that you answered the call of duty alongside your brother to join the ranks of men united around the ANZAC spirit, around the highest values and who together, at Gallipoli, Messines and Villers-Bretonneux, fought with determination and conviction in the finest spirit of camaraderie which gave them the strength and courage to stand valiantly under rains of bullets and storms of fire which consumed the world that sank into the madness and fury of a war that ruthlessly mowed down waves and whole regiments of heroes who, without regard for their own lives, proudly served and fought alongside their friends who fell in the hailstorms of lead that enraged machine guns spat at them. Through the poppies of the Somme, these young boys lost their innocence, their childhood and found, through poison gas, under shells, in hand-to-hand combat, death and destruction, the horrors of a war that pushed so many men to kill each other and who, bayonets and rifles in hand, fell into the barbed wire in which they hung in their uniforms stained with blood which flowed on the sacred soils of the once peaceful north of France which became cemeteries to open sky, abominable slaughterhouses scarified by kilometers of trenches in which lived, suffered and died so many men far from home but who until the end, did their duty for those who stood by their side and who, with resolution gave their all so that others could live.They were young, they were brave and thousands of them did not have the chance to return home but they never stopped living and today, in the fields of Villers-Bretonneux, Amiens, Pozières, de Flers, de Gueudecourt, they always stand proud and solemn alongside their friends and brothers in arms who did so much for our country and for the French people who admired and adopted these young Diggers as their sons and children and who saw in them the life and the hope of better days but also the courage and the determination of all the young and strong Australian nation which fought at our sides with their French brothers who saw in the Australian soldiers the most courageous men that they never met and who were honored to fight with them for peace and freedom.More than a hundred years have passed but today more than ever we remember the Australians and New Zealanders who gave their lives for us and this morning it is with immense pride and emotion in my heart that I stand their sides at the Villers-Bretonneux memorial to honor their memory but also to honor and continue to bring the ANZAC spirit to life in the Somme so that the next generations after us can remember what so many men did for us and over whom I will always watch with the utmost respect to bring them back to life, to tell who they were, men above all and for what they are through my eyes, heroes and in my heart, my boys of the Somme. I will always watch over them so that their names live on forever and their memory, like the poppies of the Somme, never fades.Long live Australia and New Zealand, our friends and brothers united in the most sacred friendship.Thank you so much John,for everything.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.