Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

William Walter Wippell was the only son of William Alfred Dowle Wippell and Letitia Thompson.  William was working as a farmer on the family property at Kangaroo Ground when he enlisted in the A.I.F. on 20 January 1916, at almost twenty-three years of age.  He is described as being 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighing 126 pounds.  He had grey eyes and dark brown hair; his complexion is recorded as fresh.  William was assigned to the 8th Battalion, 17th Reinforcements.  The battalion trained at Broadmeadows until orders came to ship out for the Middle East. 

The troops sailed from Melbourne on the 4 April 1916, aboard HMAT Euripides (A14), disembarking at Suez on 14 May 1916.  The 8th Battalion was part of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, and after taking part in the Gallipoli campaign, the battalion was sent to France in March 1916.  After some delay, William was finally able to catch up with the battalion while they were stationed in Belgium during September.  Fortunately for William, he had missed the fighting along Pozieres Ridge, and on his arrival, the battalion was being withdrawn to Flanders for the winter.  The rest was short-lived, however, and the 1st Division soon found itself recalled to the front line to support elements of the British 4th Army around Gueudecourt.  By this time, the entire Somme battlefield was a slough of mud, and any offensive operations were bound to fail.  Incredulously, the British High Command ordered a series of attacks that cost many lives, including that of William’s cousin George Wippell.  

In February 1917, the German Army withdrew to fortified positions along the Hindenburg Line.  The 1st Division pursued the Germans towards Bapaume, and the 3rd Brigade captured the villages of Le Barque and Ligny-Thilloy, repelling a German counterattack.  The 1st and 4th divisions were then withdrawn.  The pursuit of the retreating Germans was continued by the 2nd and 5th divisions.  The Anzac Corps was then assigned to the British 5th Army.  In April, the 1st Division took part in operations within striking distance of the Hindenburg Line, capturing the villages of Hermies, Boursies, and Demicourt.  On 24 April, William was assigned to Divisional Headquarters, and he remained there until he was granted leave to the United Kingdom at the end of September.  Returning on 7 October, William was assigned to the 2nd Company, 8th Battalion.  

The battalion wintered at Flanders in the vicinity of Messines and conducted peaceful penetration operations along the front line.  In the spring of 1918, the Germans began a series of offensives, and the Australian Corps was ordered to relieve the exhausted British divisions at the town of Hazebrouck.  The 1st Division held the line five miles east of the town.  The German advance was halted on 13 April 1918, in what became known as the Battle of Hazebrouck.  

On 4 May, William was transferred back to the 1st Division Headquarters, and here he saw preparations for the coming Hundred Days Offensive, an allied master stroke that ultimately led to the end of the war.  The offensive began with an attack on the Amiens sector on the morning of 8 August.  Nineteen divisions of the British 4th Army poured across the enemy lines.  The spearhead of the attack was the Australian Corps, comprising all five divisions, and the Canadian Corps, comprising four divisions.  The advance was rapid, and the Australian 2nd Division reached its objective by early morning.  The allied advance on the first day of the battle was eleven kilometres, one of the largest single-day gains of the war.  This prompted German General Erich Ludendorff to describe the events as ‘the black day of the German Army.’  The 1st Division was sent into battle on the second day, relieving the 5th Division. 

On 23 August, the 1st Division attacked towards Chuignes, overrunning a German artillery position and capturing a 15 inch naval gun.  The division sustained 1,000 casualties during the heavy fighting and took 2,000 German prisoners.  By 18 September, the division was down to one-quarter of its nominal strength, and Australian General John Monash knew that the limit for all Australian divisions must soon be reached.  Most of his battalions were at half strength before the battle started, and with the war so unpopular back home, there was no hope of significant reinforcement.  Despite this, the 1st Division pushed on, assaulting the Hindenburg Line during the Battle of Epehy.  The division managed to capture a large section of the line, but at the cost of nearly 700 casualties.  The morale of the German army was wilting under the allied onslaught, and German troops were surrendering in their thousands.  Kaiser Wilhelm II, the last emperor of Germany and the King of Prussia, met with his high command.  General Ludendorff reported that some of his divisions had lost the will to fight.  The Kaiser conceded, “I see that we must strike a balance.  We have nearly reached the limit of our powers of resistance.  The war must be ended.”  Soon after the Battle of Epehy, the entire Australian Corps was retired from the front line.  The divisions required restructuring if they were to remain an effective fighting force. 

On 1 October, William was granted leave for England, returning to France on 17 October.  Once the armistice was declared, William waited his turn to be sent home.  Finally, he sailed from England aboard the SS Khyber and was discharged from the A.I.F. on 6 July 1919.  Once back home, William wasted no time getting on with life, and in October 1919, he married Nilma Emmaville Tame.  The young couple began farming in Boralma, near Rutherglen in North East Victoria, where they raised three children, Bill, Reg, and Eva.  In 1979, William and Nilma celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary at Benalla.  William died in 1980, and Nilma died in 1981.