Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Herbert Barrie, according to details on the Roll of Honour card, was born in Maryborough but attended East Brisbane and Kangaroo Point schools. He listed his occupation as moulder and gave his age at enlistment on 6th October 1916 as 20 years and 7 months. He was the youngest of the four brothers who saw service. Herbert reported to Enoggera where he was drafted into the 26th Battalion as a reinforcement. The 26th Battalion was comprised originally of volunteers from Queensland and Tasmania. The reinforcements sailed from Brisbane on 28 March 1916 for Melbourne and then England.

On 17th May, the troopship, “HMAT Commonwealth”, reached Alexandria where Herbert was admitted to hospital with mumps. Diseases such as mumps were quite common amongst servicemen travelling overseas for the first time. After discharge from hospital, Herbert proceeded to France and the Australian Training Camp at Etaples, known as the Bullring, before joining his unit on 8th August 1916.

At that time, the 26th Battalion had just come out of the line in and around Pozieres and had suffered considerable casualties. After such a mauling, the battalion needed a period of rest and retraining, not to mention reinforcements. According to the battalion diary, the 26th moved from the Somme to the Ypres sector and then back to Dernacourt on the Somme during the latter part of 1916. Battalions moved frequently from billet to billet whilst in a sector, usually as a route march. The roads of rural France and Belgium were usually rough cobbled stone with a pronounced camber. The Australians found marching on these roads extremely difficult in their hob nailed boots, a situation that was only exacerbated by the likelihood that the boots they had been issued with did not fit properly.

Herbert reported to a Field Ambulance in November 1916 with “sore feet.’ His feet must have been a bit more than sore, as he was first transferred to a casualty clearing station and then a field hospital to have his feet seen to. Luckily he was still in hospital for Christmas 1916, whilst his battalion mates endured the coldest winter in 40 years. When Herbert rejoined his unit, they were engaged is pursuing the Germans as they withdraw to the heavily fortified Hindenburg Line. The battalion saw action at Warlencourt and Langincourt as well as regular rotations in and out of the line in France.

In August of 1917, Henry was granted 13 days leave. It would appear that he enjoyed himself as two weeks after returning from leave, he was admitted to No.2 General Hospital at Havre with VD. In total he spent 78 days on the VD ward, and in all probability was docked pay while he was away from his unit. VD posed a serious issue for the AIF. Sufferers were often out of the line for some time, and before antibiotics were available, the treatment required hospitalisation. This was at a time when the AIF Battalions were often under strength with little likelihood that sufficient reinforcements would be available to make up the shortfall. In Herbert’s defence, he was only 21 years old, and perhaps he has witnessed things that convinced him to enjoy life while he could.

By the time Herbert rejoined his unit in December 1917, the 26th were back in the Ypres sector in Flanders, resting after the 2nd Division attacks on Broodseinde Ridge and Passchendaele. The Australian divisions remained in Flanders until March of 1918.

The spring of 1918 saw the stalemate of the Western Front morph into a war of movement. It began in March when Ludendorff launched Operation Michael and German storm troopers advanced almost 50 kilometres across the old Somme battlefields of 1916 as far as Villers Bretonneux. Gough’s 5th Army was in disarray and Haig rushed the Australian Corps under Monash back to the Somme. The fighting was particularly heavy in the area around Villers Bretonneux for almost three months with the Australians practising a form of warfare they called “peaceful penetration.” During one of these actions at Monument Wood, on 14 April, the 26th Battalion captured a disabled German Tank “Mephisto”, which would eventually by shipped back to Brisbane to be housed at the Queensland Museum.

In an action on 17 July 1918, Herbert Barrie died of wounds sustained in a counter attack at Monument Farm on the outskirts of Villers Bretonneux. His death was probably swift as there is no record of him being admitted to a Field Ambulance or CCS. Herbert was buried in Adelaide Military Cemetery on the western outskirts of Villers Bretonneux.

Herbert’s mother, Laura (also listed in some documents as Lora), received his personal effects in September 1918 and medals were issued in January 1923. There is some correspondence that suggests that his mother should not have received the medals as Herbert’s father, Alexander was still living. In any event, Herbert’s father died soon afterwards as the Roll of Honour Cards for both Herbert and John were completed by Mr Charles H. Barrie (a brother) of Henson Rd, Salisbury. He advises that Alexander Barrie, was deceased and that he, the eldest surviving brother, was now the next of kin. A package addressed to Laura at Norwood Street, Paddington from the war Graves Commission was returned to sender, after being readdressed to Manly. Laura would appear to have disappeared.