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Harold Speck was born in Gawler, South Australia on 20 October 1893, to Thomas Speck and Priscilla (nee Underwood). Harold was the seventh of eight children. His father, Thomas, spent the majority of his working life as a self supported gold miner / fossicker. In January 1883 while getting wattle bark on the Barossa Ranges, and while at work in a place called Dead Horse Gully, Thomas Speck picked up a nugget of gold which turned the scale twelve (12) ounces avoirdupois. Some doubt was cast at first upon the genuineness of the find, but a number of people examined the nugget, and it has been tried with acid, and, without doubt, it is gold, although there is a large admixture of iron stone with it.

Prior to the war Harold Speck was working as a labourer and assisting his father fossicking for gold.

1916

Harold joined the Army on 10 January 1916 in Adelaide, and was assigned the Regimental number 4523. He was assigned to the 27th Battalion, 11th Reinforcement. After basic training the reinforcements embarked from Outer Harbour, South Australia, on 25 March 1916 on-board HMAT A9 'Shropshire', bound for England.

In early May HMAT A9 'Shropshire' passed through the Suez Canal and landed her troops at Alexandria. The 11th Reinforcements went to Fort Meix, where the area around the fort was used as a holding and transit camp. On 29 May the reinforcements boarded the SS Tunisian for the journey to Marseilles arriving seven days later, on 5 June. From Marseilles the 11th Reinforcements spent three days travelling to the 2nd ADBD (Australian Divisional Base Depot) just outside Etaples in northern France. At the ADBD the reinforcements continued with their training before joining their unit in the front line.

Harold was part of the reinforcements that joined the 27th Battalion on 11 August 1916 at La Boiselle, where he was assigned to C Company. In the preceding days the 27th Battalion had been involved in the Battle of Pozieres where they captured the first line of German trenches and although the follow-up waves became lost amidst thick smoke, the two assault companies began to consolidate their position during the night. In the early morning of 5 August a heavy German counter-attack was launched and the attack was turned back with considerable cost, with the Germans suffering an estimated 100 men killed and 60 men captured. While the battalion sent out patrols into No Man's Land, Harold and the other reinforcements, were brought up.

No sooner had the reinforcements been sent up when the battalion was subjected to heavy shellfire from German guns positioned around Thiepval. Although successful, the attack proved costly with the battalion reporting 40 killed, 289 wounded and 67 missing.

The 27th Battalion were relieved by the 48th Battalion not long after. During the handover Harold Speck met up with his brother John who was part of the 48th Battalion. The brothers had not seen each other for two years and caught up with all their news. It would be the last time they would see each other as John Charles Speck would be killed by a bomb blast, at Bullecourt, during the First Battle of Bullecourt in April 1917.

After the Battle of Pozieres, and having been relieved by the 48th Battalion, the 27th Battalion marched sixty miles south, on 12 August, to the farm of Fieffes, where they bivouacked. After a number of rest days the 27th Battalion commenced daily marches, from camp to camp, until they reached Steenvorde, 100 miles south of the Somme. They remained at Steenvorde until 5 October when they entrained for Ypres and relieved the 19th Battalion in the Salient and became the battalion on the right side of the Brigade front. Here they remained until relieved by the 25th Battalion on 12 October, whereupon they moved into barracks at Ypres. The 27th Battalion remained at Ypres until 16 October when they entrained for St Lawrence Camp. Again they were on the march; occasionally they managed to stay two nights in one place. Eventually, on 27 October, they arrived at Dernacourt.

The next few days were spent completing their training and on 2 November they marched out of Dernacourt at 1pm and made their way towards the front arriving at Montauban at 10 pm. The next day they relieved the 53rd Battalion in front line trenches at Le Barque, south-west of Bapaume.

On the 5th November the 27th Battalion moved out of their trenches and attacked the enemy position in Bayonet Trench, a complex of trenches known as "the Maze", as part of the Battle of Flers. By this time the Somme battlefield had been deluged with rain and the attacks were made in atrocious conditions. The attacking waves of troops were sucked down by the cloying mud and thus, unable to keep up with their creeping artillery barrage, became easy targets for German machine-gunners and riflemen. The right portion of Bayonet Trench was held for 1½ hours when a withdrawal was necessary as no reinforcements were available.

During this battle Harold Speck received a severe gun-shot wound to his right forearm and was evacuated the 150 miles to the 1st Australian General Hospital (1 AGH) at Rouen. On 9 November Harold was transported to England on the cross-channel Hospital Ship 'HS St. George' and, on 10 November, admitted to the Northamptonshire War Hospital on the outskirts of Duston village.

It was here that Harold met his future wife, Ethel Maud Wadsworth, a nurse at the Northamptonshire War hospital who lived in the village of Old Duston. While he was at the hospital he received letters from home and one letter, from his mother, informed him that his brother John had been married to an English girl, Jane Anne Andrews, at Dudleston, Shropshire on 25 October 1916. Another letter informed Harold that he was an uncle, as John and Jane had a baby daughter, born on 8 November 1916, and named Kathleen May Speck.

1917

On 12 January 1917 Harold was transferred to the No. 1 Australian Auxiliary Hospital, situated at "Harefield Park", Harefield, Middlesex, a home for convalescent wounded soldiers of the A.I.F. He was now 60 miles south of Ethel Wadsworth. On 26 January Harold was granted eight days furlough and due to return to Harefield Park at 6 pm on Friday 2 February. Unfortunately he didn't report back until Monday 5 February at 5:30 pm and, having been Absent Without Leave (AWL), was reprimanded and docked four days pay. No doubt an extra weekend with Ethel was worth the loss of pay.

Two days later, Wednesday 7 February, Harold was transferred to the Monte-Video, No. 2 Convalescent Depot at Weymouth, on the south coast of England. He was now 170 miles away from Ethel. At the time there were over 5,000 Australians in the camp, all convalescing after active service in Gallipoli or France, waiting to be shipped home to Australia or back to the Front-line. The depot was a lively place with, on average, a concert every week and an excursion to the local picture theatres every fortnight. The convalescing troops had also formed their own band, the No. 2 Command Depot Band, which performed regular concerts.

In May 1917 Harold received a letter, from his mother, notifying him that his brother John had been reported missing during the First Battle of Bullecourt that took place in April 1917. It wasn't until 20 September that the family were informed that eyewitness reports had informed that John Charles Speck had suffered a direct hit by a German bomb.

On Friday 12 October Harold went on leave and the following Tuesday, 16 October 1917, he married Ethel Maud Wadsworth at the Duston Parish Church, Northamptonshire. Harold had to report back to Weymouth on 26 October and one month later was transferred to the No.4 Command Depot and Clearing (Convalescent) Hospital at Hurdcott, Wiltshire. It was here that Harold was deemed fit to return to the Front and was transferred to Longbridge Deverill, a staging camp for men returning to France, on Wednesday 12 December.

From the Longbridge Deverill Camp Harold, other soldiers returning to the Front and reinforcements, were transported to Southampton on Monday 24 December, spent Christmas 1917 on the English Channel, arriving at Le Havre, France on Friday 28 December. They marched through Le Havre to the AIF Base Reinforcements Camp, seven miles on foot through snow and ice. After a two day stay in camp they marched back through Le Havre to the railway station. The train they boarded took them 218 miles, north-east through Amiens, Arras and finally Armentieres. Those soldiers joining the 27th Battalion, including Harold, had a three and half mile march across the border into Belgium where they rejoined the battalion at Romarin, on 1 January 1918.

1918

On 2 January 1918 the 27th Battalion relieved the 25th Battalion in the front line. They set about repair work on the trenches, duck-boards and drains. Enemy action was fairly quiet but the weather was extreme with cold and snow most days. They were relieved of their Work Program by the 23rd Battalion on 12 January and they took over and garrisoned the forward posts vacated by the 21st Battalion. The 27th Battalion marched out to Locre Area on 27 January to board a train at De Kennebak Siding and travelled to the Henneveux Area. They were tasked with covering a 24 mile length of the Front-line between Bellebrune and Cremarest. They remained there throughout February and March during which time they undertook training and the men were given leave to visit Boulogne.

During the first week of April the 27th Battalion left the Armentieres Area and proceeded south by bus and train to Amiens and took over a part of the front from the 3rd Australian Division.

In March 1918, the Germans launched their Spring Offensive in an effort to bring about an end to the war. The offensive saw considerable tactical gains, and although the Australian Corps missed the opening phase of the offensive as they were out of line at the time, they were brought up in April to help stem the tide of the German advance. As a part of this effort, the 27th Battalion returned to the battlefields of the Somme, as the 7th Brigade relieved the 13th Brigade around the Somme Canal on the night of 7/8 April. At the end of the month they moved to the Camon–Rivery area. As the German offensive became focused upon Villers–Bretonneux they were called upon to undertake a supporting role to the Australian counter-attack, relieving the 6th Brigade around Ville-sur-Ancre following the 6th's assault on the town. The area covered approx 2,000 yards from Buire Village toward Albert where it remained until relieved on 1 May. Again the Germans were fairly quiet and the battalion was able to carry out various jobs like adding extra barbed wire to the line. The battalion marched to Pont Noyells on 1 May where they were billeted out in the village. Next day they headed for Rivery, a suburb of Amiens and billeted at the Hospice Saint Peter.

The Germans were bombing Amiens at night while they were there. The battalion marched out on 11 May and took up new positions at Franvillers-Lahoussoye where they supplied a working party to lay cable from Heilly to Franvillers. There was heavy enemy shelling in the area and air fights in the sky. On May 18 the battalion moved to Ribemont to relieve the 22nd Battalion and provide support to the 6th A.I.F. Brigade for the attack on Ville-Surre-Ancre. It was a success, as the enemy showed little resistance, and the 27th Battalion was not required. They moved in to relieve the 23rd Battalion at the front line on 21 May. Fairly quiet, 2 prisoners captured and a lot of new barbed wire was set out to close off the swap area. They were relieved by the 26th Battalion on 26 May and went into support until the end of the month.

June, working parties were again burying cables and training continued. On 5 June they moved out of the trenches to relieve the 20th Battalion in the Sailly-le-Sec Sector. A little more shelling from the Germans, mostly during the night, but the front moved forward after a successful attack and ground was gained. After 12 June the Germans became increasingly hostile with more shelling, planes and snipers. On 15 June the 27th Battalion moved back to Franvillers and then on to Allonville for more training until 26 June when they moved to the Villers- Bretonneux area.

In July the 27th Battalion relieved the 25th Battalion in the front lines east of Villers-Bretonneux, and on July 6 an empty enemy trench was taken over and a fighting patrol was sent out on 10 July which captured 13 Germans, 1 machine gun and killed 8. Now in the enemy trenches they went on to capture a further 24 prisoners and 1 Lewis Machine Gun. The 27th Battalion was relieved by the 25th Battalion on 12 July and sent to the Support Battalion Area.

There was an attack on the enemy lines on 17 July and the 27th Battalion was moved in to support the Front-line on the next day in case of a counter-attack. The enemy was repulsed easily and they did not gain any ground. The 27th Battalion were relieved by the 23rd Battalion and went back to the Support Battalion Area on 19 July where they remained until 25 July when they moved to Tronville Wood until the end of the month.

The 27th Battalion was resting up until 6 August when new orders arrived for an attack on a large scale in the vicinity of the White Chateau. The attack was to begin at 4.20am on 8 July. It was a misty morning and visibility was poor. Starting with an Artillery barrage the infantry advanced along with the tanks. They captured the ‘Green Line’ at 6.30am. The enemy fell back. Another attack was made on 9 July and again the enemy bolted away from their line. The 27th Battalion held the line in the Framerville Area for the next two days and then moved to the Harbonieres Area for a rest period until 17 August and then moved to the Bussy Area for more rest until 27 August.

The 27th Battalion were in the Support Area on 1 September in the Fuellacourt Sector. They received orders to prepare for an attack to capture Allaines and Haut Allaines. The barrage started at 5.30am on 2 September and the line advanced to Tortelle Trench and over to the spur in front where intense machine gun fire was experienced. A and C Company (Harold's Company) led an attack on Brune Trench which was held and 60 prisoners were captured. The following day the Germans continued to shell the area. On 4 September they were marched to Mereaucourt Wood for a rest and on the next day they moved to the Somme Canal Bank where they remained until the end of the month, when they moved to the Tincourt Area.

After a rest, the battalion marched to Bellicourton on 1 October, occupying a portion of the old German Trench system. Another attack was ordered for 6.50am on 3 October. The barrage was heavy and the enemy wasn’t given any opportunity to offer very strong resistance. The 27th Battalion captured 3 machine guns and about 150 prisoners with 8 men killed and 35 wounded. The German prisoner’s moral was very low, an expected counter attack never eventuated. There were however German planes overhead that were bombing the area. The battalion returned to the trenches in the evening and the next day there was more enemy shelling. By the morning of 5 October the enemy had taken control of the nearby railway line in two places and the artillery arranged a barrage in that area. The 27th Battalion was relieved late on 5 October and moved out on 7 October by train to Amiens, arriving at 11.55pm before a long march to Beateucourt, arriving there at 5.30am. They then had two days of rest followed by training.

Harold took leave to England on the 29th October and was in Duston when the Armistice between the Allies and Germany went into effect at 11am on 11 November 1918, and marked the victory for the Allies and a complete defeat for Germany. At 11am people rushed into the streets as Church bells, all over England, rang out to signal the end of war. Trains on every railway line let out a continuous shrill whistle in competition with sounds from the church bells. Union Jack's flew from every window, balcony and post.

Harold returned to France and the 27th Battalion on 17 November and rejoined at their Mazinghein camp. The Battalion moved to Le Grand Fayt on November 27 where they stayed until mid December. The battalion started doing salvage work in December, route marches, cleaning, Company Parades and more training.

They left Le Grand Fayt on 17 December at 7.50am and it rained most of the day. The battalion standard bearers marched at the head of the column with the Australian and Regimental flags while the battalion band played the occasional song to help pass the time. They marched for 14 miles passing through Cartignies, Dom-Pierre, Dourlers and Eclaibes on the way to Beaufort where they were billeted for the night. They continued on the next day, again in the rain, through Damousies, Obrechies, Quievelon and Aibes, the ten and a half miles to Cousolre. They left at 8.10am, crossing the Belgium border through Bousignies, Leersch and Fosteau to Thuin, where they rested overnight after a 17 mile march. The last stage of the march started at 8.30am on 20 December, the twelve and a half miles through Gozee to Mont-Sur-Marchienne, a suburb of Charleroi, arriving at 2pm. They were billeted at Mont-Sur-Marchienne until the end of the month.

The Prince of Wales presented medals to soldiers of the 7th A.I.F. Brigade on the 27th Battalion's parade ground at 2pm on 24 December. Christmas Day was celebrated with a meal provided by the Company Officers. The Australian Comforts Fund, N.S.W. supplied boxes of gifts to the men. On 31 December the men were gathered on the Parade Ground to have their photos taken.

1919

Education classes, lectures, football, rifle practice and workshops continued until Harold went on leave to England on 25 January. He went to Old Duston to be with Ethel and organise her to return, with him, to Australia. He rejoined his unit in France on 15 February. The A.I.F. had started sending the troops back to Australia based on their length of service. Harold was marched out from the 27th Battalion's French camp, as part of the 1916 Personnel Group, on the 12 March and was transported to England where he arrived, at Weymouth, on 26 March. Harold was based at Weymouth until he and Ethel left England on 19 July aboard the H.T. 'Indarra' and they arrived in Australia on 3 September.

Harold took Ethel, by train, to Gawler to meet his mother, Priscilla, and the rest of his family. He was able to relate to them the meeting that took place with his older brother, John Charles Speck, during August 1916 in the trenches near La Boisselle, France in the heart of the Somme battlefield. It was only eight months later that John was reported missing, during the First Battle of Bullecourt in April 1917, after which reports indicated that he had been killed.

Harold returned to Keswick Barracks, in mid October, and on Monday 27 October 1919, he was discharged, age twenty-six, medically fit, from the A.I.F. after duty in WWI where he had spent three years and two-hundred and ninety-two days in the 27th Infantry Battalion in France and Belgium, and had been wounded once.

A couple of incidents involving Harold Speck, in 1923 and 1924, are worthy of a mention. After his discharge from the A.I.F., in October 1919, age twenty-six, Harold settled down with his English wife, Ethel, on a small farm in the Turretfield area, six miles from Gawler. On a hot February day in 1923 Harold and four local boys went to the local Salt creek for a swim. Harold was the first to undress and jump in, but unfortunately, he didn't realise that the creek was so deep and he landed in a ten-foot hole. Unable to swim he started to struggle, scream and sink, and in doing so dragged down the two Wilson brothers, who went in after him. The other two boys, Ray Lane and Cliff Waddy, rescued the Wilson brothers and went about rescuing Harold. By the time they had got Harold onto a rocky ledge he was unconscious and it took them some time before they were able to drag him onto the bank. Luckily, for Harold, his rescuers, Ray and Cliff, had learnt, as boy scouts, the resuscitation methods and, after thirty minutes, brought him back to life.

In May 1924, Harold went to the Gawler Court where he was being charged for assault, by his neighbour, Harry Bailey. The situation arose when a cow, belonging to Harold, had been impounded by his neighbour as it wandered onto his property. When Harold went to retrieve his cow, an argument erupted and Harold punched Harry, after which Harry kicked and punched Harold. The Magistrate did not prosecute the case and it was dismissed with no costs awarded.

Sources

Australian War Memorial - www.awm.gov.au (www.awm.gov.au)

The Immigrants, Paul M. Hoskins, Xlibris, 2014