Herbert John (Bert) VON DITTMER

VON DITTMER, Herbert John

Service Number: 6594
Enlisted: 18 January 1916
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 10th Infantry Battalion
Born: Macclesfield, South Australia, 25 November 1892
Home Town: Goolwa, Alexandrina, South Australia
Schooling: Goolwa Public School, South Australia
Occupation: Farmer
Died: Killed In Action, Bullecourt, France, 6 May 1917, aged 24 years
Cemetery: No known grave - "Known Unto God"
Memorials: Adelaide National War Memorial, Glenelg Tribute Plaque, Goolwa Soldiers Memorial Gardens WW1 Memorial, Goolwa War Memorial, Macclesfield ANZAC Memorial Gardens, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France)
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World War 1 Service

18 Jan 1916: Enlisted AIF WW1
23 Oct 1916: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 6594, 10th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Port Melbourne embarkation_ship_number: A16 public_note: ''
23 Oct 1916: Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 6594, 10th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Port Melbourne, Adelaide
5 May 1917: Involvement AIF WW1, 6594, 10th Infantry Battalion, Bullecourt (Second)

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Biography contributed by St Ignatius' College

Herbert John Von-Dittmer was born in Macclesfield, South Australia on November 25 1893.

Before the war, Bert lived on a farm near Goolwa with his mother and siblings, and he worked as both a farmer and butcher. Showing courage, he enlisted on 18 January 1916. During the war, he served in the 9th Light Horse from January 24 to July 19. Showing endurance, he was sick in Hospital for several months, four to be precise (June 30 to September 14), with the later part of this time being at the hospital on Torrens Island near Port Adelaide.

On his recovery, he was transferred to the 10th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), which was a South Australian based infantry battalion. On the 21st of October he embarked at Melbourne on HM Troopship ‘Port Melbourne’ and disembarked at HMNB Devonport near Plymouth in the United Kingdom on the 28th of December. They marched in from Australia on the 29th of December. On the 5th of April, the 10th battalion proceeded overseas to Folkestone, France.

In France on the 6th of May 1917, Herbert (Bert) John Von-Dittmer was killed in action in the early days of the second battle of Bullecourt (3 May to 20 May) in France which killed or injured 7,000 Australian soldiers. There are no details available about how he died but he must have shown considerable courage. They never found his body, so he may have been killed as part of an artillery barrage or similar with his death possibly reported by another soldier who saw it occur.

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