Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Eric Pirival Ipkendanz was born at Marrickville, New South Wales, on 19 April 1895 to parents William Louis Ipkendanz and Lina Ipkendanz (nee’ Probst), the fifth of seven children. Eric attended primary school at Springwood, New South Wales and later attended the Petersham Commercial School.

Shortly after his sixteenth birthday in 1911 Eric commenced a cadetship with the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand (USCNZ) for a period of four years to gain officer qualifications in the mercantile marine. The early training with USCNZ was undertaken on the training ship Dartford, a full-rigged sailing ship which the company purchased in 1909. During his cadetship, Eric travelled on the Dartford on its two voyages to San Francisco and Port Eureka on the west coast of the United States. Each one-way trip taking about 80 days. The Dartford was converted to a coal hulk in New Zealand in 1913 and the cadets, including Eric, were then transferred to the replacement training ship Aparima which was fitted out to carry 50 cadets. The Aparima was requisitioned by the New Zealand Government between 1915 and 1917 as a troopship. It was torpedoed in the English Channel in 1917 with the loss of 56 of the 110 crew, including 17 cadets. Shipping records indicate that Eric was engaged as 5th Mate on the Australian coastal steamer Manuka during February and March 1915. In April 1915 Eric received his Certificate of Competency as a Second Mate.

Shortly after obtaining his 2nd Mate qualifications and following the completion of his four-year indenture with USCNZ, Eric enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on 12 May 1915 and was posted to the 3rd Battalion, 9th Reinforcements. Eric embarked from Sydney on the troopship Argyllshire on 30 September 1915, the same month that one of his brothers Robert, a sergeant in the 7th Light Horse Regiment, was being evacuated from Gallipoli with enteric fever.

After arriving in Egypt Eric was taken on strength in the 3rd Battalion at Tel-el-Kebir on 6 January 1916. The 3rd Battalion had been evacuated from Gallipoli only three weeks earlier. Eric only remained with the 3rd Battalion until 11 February 1916 when, following orders from the 1st Australian Divisional Headquarters, several new battalions were created for a 5th AIF Division. Eric was taken on strength with the new 55th Battalion, part of the 14th Brigade, on 13 February 1916. In March 1916 the 5th Division was ordered to take over a portion of the Suez Canal defenses at Ferry Post, requiring travel of 57 km from Tel-el-Kebir to Moascar. Part of the Division travelled by train and the 15th Brigade marched along hard sand next to a Canal but the 14th Brigade, which included Eric’s battalion, had to march along a different route across soft sand, with a full pack and extreme heat of up to 50 degrees with limited water. Most of the Brigade eventually succumbed to heat exhaustion and heat stroke and were eventually assisted by a New Zealand battalion to reach their destination.

The 55th Battalion was transferred to France in June 1916 as part of the 5th Division AIF, initially to the trenches in the Bois Grenier-Armentieres-Fromelles area where they were given experience in trench warfare. On 19 June 1916 the AIF was involved in its first major battle when the 5th Division was ordered to attack German positions at Fromelles. The 55th Battalion were part of this attack. Australia suffered its worst-ever military losses at Fromelles with over 5,500 dead, wounded or missing.

The Battalion was later involved in numerous actions on the Somme sector of the Western Front. On 31 March 1917 the Battalion was located at Bancourt and Villers-Au-Flos and then moved to Velu. On 1 April 1917 the 55th and 56th Battalions were readied to attack the villages of Doignies and Louverval respectively, the attack planned for 2 April 1917. Eric was in open country running towards Doignies at about 6 a.m. with other members of his Company, on the north-eastern side and about 100 metres from the edge of the village when he was hit by machine gun fire in the groin/abdomen. Eric was moved to a shell hole where he was eventually picked up by stretcher bearers and taken to the 55th Dressing Station. He was unconscious during part of the stretcher trip but regained consciousness at the dressing station. His wounds were attended to, and he was readied for transport back to the Battalion hospital, but he died either at, or soon after, leaving the dressing station. There are ten personal accounts of his fate from Red Cross records. A detailed account of this battle is featured in the book which chronicled the 55th Battalion, Snowy to the Somme by Timothy J. Cook, 2014.

Eric is buried in plot A3 of the Bapaume Australian Cemetery in France, which is only a short distance from Doignies.