HART, Leslie William
| Service Number: | 865 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 14 July 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 32nd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Ballarat Victoria, Australia, date not yet discovered |
| Home Town: | Cuballing, Cuballing, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Beaconsfield and Budgetown, WA |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Fromelles, Departement du Nord - Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France, 20 July 1916, age not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery Plot III, Row D, Grave No 3, Pheasant Wood Military Cemetery, Fromelles, Lille, Nord Pas de Calais, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Bridgetown Methodist Church Honor Roll, Cuballing War Memorial, Narrogin War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 14 Jul 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Corporal, 865, 32nd Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 18 Nov 1915: | Embarked AIF WW1, Corporal, 865, 32nd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '17' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Geelong embarkation_ship_number: A2 public_note: '' | |
| 19 Jul 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Corporal, 865, 32nd Infantry Battalion, Fromelles (Fleurbaix), List of British Dead (Paybook handed to German authorities from N.O.A.O.K. 6) forwarded by Comite International de la Croix Rouge at Geneva to H.M. Minister at Berne. Assistant Adjutant General rules to be reported as 'Killed in action, 20 July 1916'. |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Steve Larkins
Corporal Leslie William HART
Born in Ballarat Victoria, to Frederick and Jane HART, 62 Kingsley Street, Elwood, Victoria. but by the time of the outbreak of War in 1914, Leslie Hart was a farmer aged 22 living in Cuballing in WA.
He enlisted in June 1915, in Perth and trained at Blackboy Hill camp before travelling across the Nullabor to Adelaide to join the rest of the 32nd Battalion, a composite SA / WA unit.
He embarked in November 1915, too late to see service at Gallipoli. The 32nd Battalion was never designated to go to Gallipoli. Not long after disembarking in Egypt the AIF was reforming and 'doubling' in size prior to embarkation for Marseilles in France and then a long train journey north to the Armentieres sector near the Belgian border.
The 32nd Battalion was part of the newly raised 5th Division. Its baptism of fire on the Western Front was to be the AIF's first major action on a large scale and it occurred at Fromelles on 19/20th July 1916.
795 or nearly 90% of the fighting strength of the 32nd Battalion became casualties during the ill-fated attack at Fromelles, the single worst day in the history of the Australian Army.
Previously listed as Missing in Action, Corporal Leslie Hart was one of many soldiers killed at Fromelles whose fate was only revealed in 2008-10 when the Pheasant Wood mass grave was discovered and opened. The remains of Australian and British soldiers, killed behind the German lines during the battle of Fromelles, were buried there by the Germans following the battle on 19/20th July 1916. The discovery of the grave led to a forensic study and many of the soldiers have subsequently been identified by DNA analysis.
Pheasant Wood Cemetery is the newest CWGC site on the Western Front having been constructed to accommodate the remains of Australian and British soldiers recovered from a Mass Grave nearby. The soldiers interred there were buried behind the German lines immediately following the battle of Fromelles.
He was 22 years old.
Steve Larkins Sept 2017
Click images to start slideshow.