Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From Greta Heritage Group and Greta Hansonville Hall

2nd Lt Robert Whitworth WHITEHEAD [2472]

Today we remember the FOUR men with ties to the Greta Hansonville district who lost their lives on this day.

3rd May marks the start of the second battle of Bullecourt in 1917.

As part of the final throes of the British Army's Arras offensive, a renewed attempt was made to secure the fortified village of Bullecourt in the period 3-17 May.
The Australian 2nd Division (5th and 6th Brigades) and the British 62nd Division attacked at 3.45 am on 3 May 1917.

The Australians penetrated the German line but met determined opposition which frustrated the envelopment plan.

Drawing more and more forces in, renewed efforts on 7 May succeeded in linking British and Australian forces, but inspired a series of ferocious and costly German counter-attacks over the next week and a half.

Following the repulse of the counter-attack of 15 May, the Germans withdrew from the remnants of the village.

Although the locality was of little or no strategic importance, the actions were nevertheless extremely costly: AIF casualties totalled 7,482 from three Australian Divisions. (source https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/E84360)

All four men died on the same day, tragically two brothers.

None of the men’s bodies were ever recovered and they are immortalised on the Australian National Memorial at Villers Bretonneux.

Today the village of Bullecourt remembers the battles and the tragic loss of life.

There is a wonderful museum - The Bullecourt WW1 Museum, opened in 2012, is based on the collection and life’s work of the late Jean and Denise Letaille. It is well worth a visit.

Visitors are able to lay flowers at the ‘Bullecourt Digger’ in the Bullecourt Memorial Park which is just out of town- this is in the middle of the area in which the Australians attacked. It commemorates the 10000 Australian Soldiers killed or wounded during the first and second battles.

A few more hundred metres back out of town on an embankment above the road stands ‘La Petite Croix’ which overlooks the fields where the battle took place. This memorial has both unit and individual plaques attached.

In Memory of:
1. LCpl John Cromwell HURLEY [5931]
22nd Battalion, 16th Reinforcement
Notes: Brother of Horace Hurley

2. 2nd Lt Robert Whitworth WHITEHEAD [2472]
23rd Battalion, 5th Reinforcement
Notes: Brother of Walter Whitehead

3. Lt Walter Middleton WHITEHEAD  [1002]
21st/24th Battalion, D Company
Notes: Brother of Robert Whitehead

4. Pte Charles WINNELL  [#5110]
22nd Battalion, 13th Reinforcement

From How We Served
 
The Whitehead brothers, Walter Middleton (1002) and Robert Whitworth (2472) had been well known residents of Cheltenham, Victoria when they enlisted for War Service during 1915 and were both allocated to the 21st Battalion, 1st AIF.

Walter had been employed as a salesman when he enlisted on the 1st of January 1915 at the age of 23, following which he was embarked for Egypt on the 8th of May.

After his training phase in Egypt, he would be with his Battalion when they entered the trenches on Gallipoli towards the end of August. He survived the campaign unscathed and returned with his Unit to Egypt after the general evacuation of Gallipoli.

Walter would receive his Commission and was made a Second Lieutenant, following which he was initially transferred to the 24th Battalion, before returning to the 21st Battalion, with whom he was shipped to France with on the 19th of March 1916.

Robert had been employed as a clerk when he enlisted on the 3rd of August 1915 at the age of 22, and embarked for Egypt on the 29th of September 1915, where he joined his brother following the 21st Battalion's withdrawal from Gallipoli.

Robert would be embarked with his brother for France and was 'Wounded in Action' on the 31st of August 1916 during the fighting around Pozieres.

Following hospitalization in England Robert was returned to his Unit in the trenches of Northern France. Walter as well would receive his Commission and by the end of January 1917 he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant.

On the 3rd of May 1917 - both brothers were with their Unit when the 21st Battalion was ordered to advance on the Hindenburg Line in front of the village of Bullecourt.

During the battle that followed both brothers would be listed as 'Missing in Action' and were later confirmed as 'Killed in Action'. Robert was aged 24, and his older brother Walter was aged 26.

Neither would be located following the end of the War, and subsequently they would be added to the Australian National Memorial at Villers Bretonneux for those members of the 1st AIF who have no known grave in Northern France.
Back home in Australia their grieving parents would have their two missing sons, who had made the supreme sacrifice during the 'Great War', privately commemorated at the family's collective burial site within Cheltenham Pioneers Cemetery, Victoria.