Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

RILLEY John Albert  # 2705. 47th/46th Battalion

John Rilley was born at Bald Hills to Sarah and John Rilley. Up to his enlistment, he had lived in the Bald Hills / Strathpine area all his life and probably attended school at either Bald Hills or Strathpine. Presenting himself for enlistment at Brisbane on 5th August 1916, John stated that he was 22 years old, single and his occupation was fisherman. Two months later, John’s younger brother Herbert also enlisted. He was a year younger than John and also stated his occupation as fisherman. It is quite probable that the two boys spent a deal of time in each other’s company fishing commercially in the Pine River estuaries and Moreton Bay.

John spent time in a depot battalion at Enoggera before being posted as a reinforcement for the 47th Battalion. Brother Herbert enlisted on 7th October and joined John at Enoggera and was also allocated to the 47th. The brothers boarded the “Marathon” in Brisbane on 27th October bound for England. Both John and Herbert allotted 3/- of their pay to their mother.

The reinforcements landed in Plymouth on 9th January 1917 and were marched to the 12th Training Battalion at Codford. John spent three weeks in hospital with influenza during February and March. In June he left England to join his battalion in the field.

When John joined up with the 47th on 21st June 1917, the battalion was in the rear support trenches at Messines, having had a rough time of it on the opening day of the battle of Messines on 7th June. Almost every junior officer had been either killed or wounded and it would take some time to rebuild the battalion. The 47th went back into the line at Wytschaete in August but were then pulled out to prepare for the battles of September and October that collectively are known as Passchendaele. Given the casualties that occurred during the latter half of 1917, John was indeed fortunate to have survived unscathed.

The cold and muddy conditions of Passchendaele resulted in John being hospitalised at Boulogne for two and a half months with trench feet. While he was in hospital, the 47th was rushed from winter quarters near Poperinghe to the bank of the Ancre River, a tributary of the Somme, at Dernacourt. On 5th April 1918, John rejoined his battalion just as two brigades of the 4th Division(12th and 13th Brigades) faced three divisions of German infantry across the Amiens to Albert railway line at Dernacourt. The 47th took the brunt of the initial attack and in addition to heavy casualties, almost an entire company were captured and became POWs. One of those taken prisoner was John’s brother Herbert although he was initially listed as Missing in Action. The enemy were finally driven back by counterattack later in the day.

The situation in front of Amiens, a vital communication centre, was acute during the month of April as the Germans threatened the city. It was at this time that Sir Douglas Haig issued his famous “backs to the wall” speech. After the 15th and 13th Brigades drove the enemy from the village of Villers Bretonneux on 25th April, Amiens was saved. The 47th were employed in mopping out stragglers who had been trapped in the village when the Australians surrounded it and from then on held a series of positions to harass the enemy, what Monash called “peaceful penetration”.

From the middle of 1917, the entire AIF had suffered a severe manpower shortage. New enlistments had dropped alarmingly and the number of reinforcements and those returning from hospitals were insufficient to keep battalions up to strength. This was particularly true for the 47th Battalion which had been understrength since Messines. The losses incurred at Passchendaele coupled with the casualties at Dernacourt, and of course the loss of entire company taken prisoner, had reduced the 47th to the size of two companies. On 5th May 1918 it was determined that the survivors of the 47th would be reorganised into two companies and transferred into the 46th Battalion. John’s file records his transfer being effective on 25th May.

The newly organised 46th engaged in rigorous training during June and July in preparation for what would turn out to be the single most important battle of the war for the AIF. The battle of Amiens began on 8th August after being meticulously planned by the newly appointed and knighted Australian Corps Commander, Sir John Monash. The gains made on that day were truly remarkable compared to what could have been classed as a success previously. The Australian and Canadian Divisions advanced a distance of over 7 miles into open country. The German defenders surrendered in their thousands, Ludendorff called it the “Blackest Day”. This was the beginning of the campaign that would bring the war to an end. John’s 46th Battalion had great success and only suffered 18 killed during the battle.

The Australians continued to push the Germans back across the valley of the Somme towards Mont St Quentin and Peronne. German counter attacks by artillery troubled the 46th as they occupied old German trenches near Harbonnieres. The Battalion war diary records 4 killed on 18th August, one of whom was John Rilley. There are no official records that record the circumstances of his death but it is likely that the Company Commander wrote to John’s mother with some details.

John was buried at Harbonnieres with a chaplain in attendance. John’s remains were reinterred at the Fouquescourt British Cemetery in 1922 and photographs of his grave were sent to his mother.

Herbert Rilley survived the war and on his release from a POW camp was repatriated to Australia in the middle of 1919. Both John and Herbert Rilley are commemorated on the Strathpine Patriotic League Roll of Honour, although surprisingly John is not listed as killed.