Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Lance Corporal Oliver Leslie (Les) Knight  SN 3891

The Bendigoian Newspaper reported on October 28, 1915 the following –                                                                                   A very large number of friends of Private L. Knight assembled at the residence of Mr W. E. Sanders in White Hillls, Thursday, for the purpose of bidding him farewell on the eve of his departure for the front. A pleasing programme of musical items was contributed by friends of the young soldier, and parlor games were indulged in. Many speakers referred to the high esteem in which Private Knight is held by all those who know him, and to this high qualifications as a soldier. He was wished god speed and a safe return. For some years Private Knight was employed in the Loco department at the Bendigo railway station, but at the time of his enlistment he was attached to the staff of the Melbourne shops. Both in Bendigo and in the metropolis, he was very popular. On the 29th instant he proceeded to Melbourne, and was presented by his 'companions there with a beautiful wristlet watch. Amongst those present, at Thursday's gathering were Private Hardie, of White Hills, who is also on final leave.

Les Knight was the youngest son of Mr Jonathan and Annie Knight of 96 Raglan street, White Hills a former gold mining hamlet north of Bendigo on the Bendigo creek. At enlistment on August 16, 1915 at the Bendigo Town Hall, Les was 21 years of age, single and listed his occupation as a ‘Fitters assistant’.  He had been in the employ of the Railways at their major workshop in Newport, west of Melbourne.

War had been declared a year earlier and at the time of Les’s enlistment Australian Infantry Forces (AIF) were locked in fierce battles on the Dardanelles peninsula attempting valiently to open a safe passage for British ships to take Istanbul from the Ottoman forces.

The Bendigo Advertiser reports that Les along with a dozen or so other local lads pass their medical examinations two days later on August 18. Fellow White Hills lad Issac Cahill would also enlist on this day and both would be assigned to the 12th Reinforcements of the 5th Battalion. They would initially commence training at the Bendigo camp, the current site of the Bendigo Race course in Epsom. (see photo of the trainees).

Further training for the Bendigo district recruits would have taken place at the Broadmeadows camp and on November 23, 1915 they would embark from Port Melbourne on HMAT Ceramic A40 for Egypt.

Sailing to Europe in 1915 on a troop ship was a long and uncomfortable journey, usually a one to two month journey. Les and fellow recruits possibly lucked in by being allocated passage onboard HMAT Ceramic A40 as she was a relative new vessel, recently launched in Belfast in December 1912. The Ceramic had also been deployed in the second AIF flotilla to leave Australia in 1914 and had just returned to Melbourne to ferry thousands more AIF troops off to the war. The Ceramic went on to serve in both World Wars being tragically sunk by a German submarine in 1942, leaving only one survivor from the 656 people aboard.

The reinforcements on board the Ceramic would arrive in Egypt to witness the returning ANZAC Battalions depleted and wounded ranks recently evacuated in late December 1915 from the horrific and ill-fated Gallipoli campaign.

As they took in this sight in an ancient land they would soon learn that their war would now be on the Western front in Europe.  

The 5th Battalion camp at Serapeum, was the site of the ancient and great temple dedicated to the Greek – Egyptian god of Serepis in ancient Alexandria founded around 300 BC. Very little of this ancient monument remained standing, however the troops would pitch their tents within sight of the ancient pyramids. (see Photo)

On February 8, 1916 Les would be admitted to the Australian General Hospital at Heliopolis near Cairo suffering from Influenza. This virus would claim many AIF lives, especially those soldiers returning physically weakened by the Gallipoli campaign. Les would spend 10 days in hospital being released in time to join other reinforcements preparing to sail from Alexandria for the French port of Marseilles.  

After the searing sands of Egypt, arriving into the harbour at Marseilles on March 30, 1916 would have been a sight young AIF recruits would have dreamed of. From here it be long train journeys through the interior of France, beyond Paris to the British Expeditionary Forces main depot town of Estaples.

Les’s Military record shows that on April 19, 1916 he is attached to the Grenadier Platoon but remaining with the Battalion for Duty. Although there is no detail on what this appointment entailed, in the British army context, Grenadiers were selected troops who showed good ability to throw grenades and were trained accordingly.    

The 5th battalion's first major action in France was at Pozieres in the Somme valley in July 1916. After Pozieres the battalion fought at Ypres in Flanders then returning to the Somme for winter.

Pozieres, was a small village in the Somme valley in France, was the scene of bitter and costly fighting for the 1st, 2nd and 4th Australian Divisions in mid 1916.The village was captured initially by the 1st Division on 23 July 1916. The division clung to its gains despite almost continuous artillery fire and repeated German counter-attacks but suffered heavily. By the time it was relieved on 27 July it had suffered 5,285 casualties. (Source – AWM website)

Being part of the Second Brigade of the First Division, the 5th Battalion were involved in the battle for Pozieres. On July 25, 1916, as the First Division were holding the recently captured village we can see that Les is wounded in action which is later recorded as ‘Gun shot wound’ (GSW) to ear and back. The following day, he is treated at the No.3 Stationary hospital located near the town of Rouen, a facility run by the Canadian military forces.  

His wound is judged as needing further treatment and he is transferred by British Hospital ship the HMHS Aberdonian to Portsmouth on the south coast of England. This would be his first glimpse of England albeit from a hospital bed.

Les is treated at the Graylingwell Hospital in Chichester, in the county of West Sussex, twenty miles from Portsmouth. Les’s parents would be advised by telegram two weeks later that he has been wounded with no further details coming until mid September that his wound is ‘Mild’.

Two and an half months later on October 9, 1916 he is released from hospital and ‘Marched In’ to the 2nd AIF training camp at Perham Downs on the Salisbury Plain in southern England.

Just two weeks later on October 22, Les is heading back to the fighting on the western front and his record is marked, P.O.S ‘Proceeding Overseas – France’ where he would rejoin the 5th battalion on November 16.

Les would probably be fortunate to miss the worst of the disastrous battles of Passchendaele and Ypres where the AIF suffered dreadful loses for little gain. Les was most likely back in line for the battle at Gueudecourt, a village on the Somme battlefield in northern France, which became the scene of two attacks by Australian troops in November 1916 which were made amid conditions rated as the most difficult ever faced by the AIF. Here the onset of Autumn rains turned the ground into a quagmire, and attacks against the German lines by the British Fourth and Fifth Armies during October all failed totally with heavy losses.                                                                     (Source- http://alh -research.tripod.com/Light_Horse/index.blog/1884516/gueudecourt-france-november-5-to-14-1916/

The winter conditions in the trenches sees Les sent to hospital sick on December 15, 1916. First described as ‘Sore feet’, two days later it is ‘Trench feet’ one of the most debilitating ailments a soldier in the trenches can suffer. It’s back to England for treatment three days later on December 20, Les would embark on another British Hospital ship the HMHS Glenart Castle from the French port of Havre for England.

Despite his condition, Christmas back in England would have been a better prospect than in further exposure to the mud and blood on the western front. Les is taken to the Royal Herbert Hospital at Willesden in north London. His parents are again advised that their youngest son is back in hospital in England this time being treated for Trench Feet.

In February, Mr and Mrs Knight would receive an additional telegram from Army Headquarters in Melbourne advising that their eldest son Arthur serving with the 58th Battalion is also suffering from severe Trench feet in another English hospital. No doubt the Knight family in White Hills would be sick with worry with both their sons so far away.

Between hospital and camp, Les is found to be Absent Without Leave (AWL) for two days from March 17-19 and awarded punishment of 5 days confined to barracks and forfeiture of 3 days pay. On March 20, 1917 he is back at the AIF camp at Perham Downs where he was just six months ago. By May 11, Les is to ‘Proceed Overseas to France’ again this time via Southampton rejoining his battalion in late June. Despite wounding and extended hospitalisation Les in appointed Lance Corporal on August 18, 1917.

At this time in the autumn of 1917, the 5th battalion as part of the First Division were about to be involved in the Battle of Menin Road which was an offensive operation, part of the Third Battle of Ypres on the Western Front. The initiative was undertaken by the British Second Army in an attempt to take sections of the curving ridge, east of Ypres, which the Menin Road crossed. The attack was successful along its entire front, though the advancing troops had to overcome formidable entrenched German defensive positions which included mutually supporting concrete pill-box strong points and also resist fierce German counter-attacks. A feature of this battle was the intensity of the opening British artillery support. The two AIF Divisions sustained 5,013 casualties in the action.                        (Source - https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/E97 )        

Unfortunately, Les would be one of those casualties again. On September 22 he is wounded in action again with a GSW to the back. Six days later he would again be transferred by hospital ship H.S St Denis back to England. This time he is admitted to the Royal Surrey County Hospital at Guildford. Les’s parents are again advised by telegram on October 12. He would spend a further 6 weeks in hospital before being discharged on November 12. He would spend another Christmas and new year and more importantly the worst of winter again in the AIF camps on the Salisbury Plain. Following recuperation over winter he again will be stamped ready to P.O.S –France on April 23, 1918. He would sail via the port of Folkestone and rejoin the AIF troops in base camp in northern France.

Les would be back with 5th Battalion in time for the crucial 100 days of the war. For the first time all Australian Divisions would be led by an Australian in Major General Sir John Monash and would see significant victories with Australian soldiers taking the lead role.

Les would continue in AIF service right through till the armistice on November 11, 1918. Despite the war being over Les would spend winter this time in northern France awaiting return to England on January 24, 1919.

Back in England for the fourth time, Les would be given priority as he enlisted in 1915 and given passage in late March onboard the HMAT City of Poona for repatriation back to Australia. He would arrive home back in Melbourne on May 14, 1919.  

Lance Corporal Oliver Leslie (Les) Knight is remembered by the people of White Hills. The names of the local lads who sacrificed their lives and those that were fortunate to return from the Great War are shown on the embossed copper plaques on the White Hills Arch of Triumph, at the entrance to the White Hills Botanic Gardens.