Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Frederick Zingelmann # 3221 41st Battalion

Fred Zingelmann was 26 years old when he presented himself for enlistment in Brisbane on 29th November 1916. He gave his occupation as labourer, his address as Boonah and named his widowed mother Marie Zingelmann as his next of kin.

Fred was allocated as a reinforcement for the 41st Battalion, part of the 11th Brigade of the 3rd Division AIF. After a period of home leave, Fred journeyed to Sydney by train to embark on the “Wiltshire” on 7th February 1917. The embarkation roll shows that he had allocated 3/- of his daily pay to his mother.

Fred arrived at Devonport on 11th April and was marched out to the 11th Training Battalion at Fovant. The bulk of the 3rd Division; which Fred would eventually join, had been preparing for the major offensive in the Ypres salient. The offensive began on 7th June 1917 with the blowing of 19 underground mines along the Messines Ridge. The 41st Battalion had only a minor support role at Messines and by the time Fred crossed the English Channel in August, the 41st was in training for the advance from Ypres along the Menin Road to the village of Passchendaele.

The war diary of the 41st records a successful operation on the Broodseinde Ridge on the 4th and 5th of October which resulted in the capture of enemy trenches and the taking of a considerable number of prisoners and war materiel. Battalion casualties recorded were comparatively light (compared to casualties sustained on the Somme in 1916 and Bullecourt in 1917) with just 36 killed and 200 wounded.

Unfortunately Fred Zingelmann was one of those killed. His death may in part be attributed to his lack of experience as Broodseinde was Fred’s first time in action. It is possible that Fred was buried somewhere on the battlefield but as the battle of Passchendaele went on for another two months before grinding to a halt in the Flanders mud, the location of his remains was lost.

At the end of the war, the Imperial (since renamed Commonwealth) War Graves Commission began the task of establishing and maintaining cemeteries and memorials for the fallen. There were many men for whom no grave nor remains could be found.

Fred Zingelmann is commemorated on the stone tablets of the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres. He is listed alongside 50,000 soldiers of British Empire who perished in Flanders and have no known grave. The citizens of Ypres each evening conduct a remembrance ceremony under the arch of the Menin Gate to honour their sacrifice.

Frederick was one of my grandmother's siblings.
He went to war in France to fight for his adopted country against Germany, the country from where his parents came from. One of the many who will always be remembered.