Narrative
Percy Kilcoy SMITH #1760 49th Battalion
Percy Smith was born at Kilcoy and judging by his middle name, he and his family had a long association with the district. Percy enlisted in Brisbane on 12th January 1916 where he stated he was 18 years old. He was a well built young man standing 5’10” and weighing 150 lbs. Percy stated his occupation as stockman and named his mother, Jane Smith of West End, Kilcoy as his next of kin.
After a short period in a depot battalion at Enoggera, Percy was allocated as part of the 2nd reinforcements of the 49th Battalion. He and the rest of the reinforcements travelled to Sydney by train to board the “Hawkes Bay” on 20th April. By June, Percy was in camp with the 13th Training Battalion at Rolleston in England. On 6th July, he was charged with being drunk on guard duty and was sentenced to 28 days detention in the guard house.
In France, Field Marshall Haig had launched his big offensive on the Somme on 1st July 1916. The regiments of “Kitchener’s New Army” suffered appalling casualties but in spite of this, Haig was determined to push on throwing more and more resources into the fight. In July and early August, the 1st and 2nd Australian Divisions faced their first major action at Pozieres, with limited success. The point of the attack moved less than a kilometre north along the Pozieres Ridge in the middle of August to Mouquet Farm.
Percy’s 28 days in the guard house were cut short and he was shipped out to join his battalion on 20th August. The 49th Battalion as part of the 4th Division AIF would soon be added to the other two AIF divisions which were rotating in and out of the line at Mouquet Farm. Two weeks after joining his battalion, Percy went into action for the first time at Mouquet Farm.
The actual farm buildings at Mouquet Farm had long been blasted to rubble by artillery but the Germans had expanded and fortified the cellars creating an almost impenetrable defensive position. Additionally, troops advancing on the farm from the British lines were faced with an ever narrowing front up a shallow gully, enfiladed by murderous machine gun fire. The ground was so churned up by constant high explosive shells that trenches could not be maintained or prevented from collapsing. On 9th September 1916, the 49th went into action. The battalion suffered crippling casualties without taking the objective. Among the casualties was Percy Smith.
Reports to the Red Cross Inquiry Service by witnesses stated that Percy was severely wounded and had been placed in a trench. No further trace was found. On the basis of the rather spurious claim that Percy was wounded, the authorities cabled Percy’s mother advising that he was reported wounded. Jane Smith cabled back asking for further details.
On 17th October, base records in Melbourne replied to Jane by letter stating that no further news was available and that “therefore it may be assumed that his wound(s) are not serious and that favourable progress is being maintained.” The letter even suggested an address to which letters could be sent.
This correspondence naturally spurred the family into greater efforts to get news of Percy. Percy’s sister, Blanche, wrote to the Red Cross to instigate enquiries and Jane had a Mrs Butler, wife of the station manager at Kilcoy Station write on her behalf.
In spite of the “wounded claim”, the official records list Percy as Missing, believed Killed. On 31st July 1917, a Court of Inquiry determined that Percy Smith had been killed in Action on 3rd September 1916. After all the false hopes that the family had held, such news would have been devastating; doubly so because their was no trace of Percy’s remains. Like so many of those killed at Pozieres and Mouquet Farm in 1916, Percy Smith is listed on the Memorial Tablets at the Australian National Memorial at Villers Bretonneux. He is among 10,000 Australians killed in France who have no known grave.
Submitted 7 March 2022
by Ian Lang
