Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

# 3654  PETHERBRIDGE  Patrick                                 47th Battalion
 
Pat Petherbridge was born around May 1900 at Woodford to parents William and Ellen Petherbridge. The family lived in the Stanmore District and Pat attended Stanmore School. After leaving school, Pat began work in the timber industry and over time acquired skills in tree felling and bullock teams.
 
Pat presented himself for enlistment to the Brisbane Recruiting Depot on 23rd January 1917. He claimed to be 18 years and 7 months old. Statements from his father after Pat’s death indicate that he was in fact only 16 years and 7 months old at enlistment. In spite of Pat’s young age, he would appear to have been living independently as his parents were no longer living together. Pat had with him a signed statement from his parents (a copy of the statements is in Pat’s file) giving their permission for him to enlist.
 
Pat was passed medically fit and proceeded to Enoggera where he was placed in a depot battalion before transferring to the 5th Light Horse Depot at Chermside. Pat was granted two day’s home leave in February. Upon reporting back to camp, Pat presented himself to the medical tent. He was diagnosed to be suffering from syphilis. Pat was sent to the isolation camp at Fort Lytton where he spent 61 days. Pat reported back to Enoggera on his release where he was reallocated to the 10th reinforcements of the 47th Battalion. At the end of July, the reinforcements travelled by train to Sydney where they embarked on the “Militiades” on 2ndAugust 1917.”
 
The latter half of 1917 had seen a dramatic increase of enemy submarine activity in the Atlantic and as a consequence, all shipping emanating from Australia heading to England had to sail via South Africa and Sierra Leone for coaling before taking a wide circular path into the North Atlantic before berthing at sheltered ports on the British west coast. The 10th reinforcements landed at Glasgow on 2nd October. They had been at sea for two months and despite a rigorous schedule of on-board training, the men were far from combat fit.
 
Pat and the other reinforcements were taken by train south to the 12th Brigade Training Battalion at Codford in Wiltshire in Southern England. While at Codford, Pat spent time in hospital with bronchial trouble which turned into pneumonia. He was not fit enough to be posted to the western front until January 1918. During the winter of 1917/18, the Australian forces went into rest camps around the Belgian town of Poperinghe. When Pat finally joined his battalion, the 47th were billeted around Meteren. There were battalion and brigade sports, stage shows and films. Once fully rested and re-equipped, the AIF began to re-enter the front lines, where there was very little activity.
 
The British Commander, General Haig, was fully expecting a German assault in the Spring of 1918 but he guessed incorrectly that the main thrust would be aimed at the Ypres salient in Belgium. When Germany’s Operation Michael began on 21st March 1918, the main assault was aimed along the line of the Somme River in Northern France, the scene of so much fighting and hard won victories by the British forces, including the 47th Battalion, in 1916.
The British 5th Army, which was holding the line astride the Somme at the time was unable to hold the German onslaught which in some places amounted to a five time numerical advantage. As the British withdrew, often in disarray, the German Stormtroopers retook all of the gains made by the British in the Somme campaign and were within a few days of capturing the vital communication city of Amiens. If Amiens fell, Haig might well have lost the war; the situation was deadly serious.
 
Haig ordered his most successful and battle hardened troops, the 4th Division of the AIF in Belgium, to race south to establish a defensive line in front of Amiens. On 23rd March, the 47th began a journey south. At first, they travelled by train and then motor buses. The situation was confusing and at one point the 47th had begun a march before the order was rescinded and the troops had to return their start. For the final part of the trek, the men marched through the night of 26th March with full packs and equipment at a rate of 108 paces per minute, with a ten minute rest every hour. The 4 battalions of the 12th Brigade marched through the night a distance of 35 kilometres with the encroaching enemy somewhere out on their left. On 28th March the 47th Battalion reached a position overlooking the railway line between Amiens and Albert, and the village of Dernacourt just across the railway embankment.
 
The position was less than satisfactory as the exhausted troops faced a large enemy force. Some sections of the 47th were sent down the exposed gentle slope towards the railway embankment where they attempted to dig in in the event of an attack which eventuated late in the afternoon of the 28th. The attack was thwarted primarily by the action of a small number of men, led by Sergeant Stanley McDougall, who engaged the attackers by firing his Lewis gun from the hip until his left hand blistered. Another man held the barrel as McDougall continued to engage the enemy. For that action, McDougall was awarded the Victoria Cross.
 
Sometime during the confusion of 28th March, Pat Petherbridge was reported killed in action. It would have been his first taste of battle. He was 17 years old. Pat was probably buried by a 47th burial party but the location of the grave was not recorded as the battle of Dernacourt would rage for another eight days. His remains were never located.
 
Pat’s parents were notified of his death. His mother was boarding at Albion in Brisbane and his father was living at the Treasury Hotel in Brisbane city. A small parcel of personal effects was prepared to be despatched to Ellen Petherbridge but the parcel was lost at sea when the S.S. Barunga was torpedoed off the southwestern tip of England. In 1938, some 20 years after the end of the First World War, the Australian Government constructed the Australian National Memorial at Villers Bretonneux. The memorial was dedicated by the newly crowned King George VI. The memorial records the names of over 10,000 Australian soldiers who lost their lives in France and have no known grave; Patrick Petherbridge among them.
 
Patrick is commemorated on the Honour Board of St Matthias’ Church, Woodford and a tree and plaque in the Woodford Avenue of Honour.