Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Born on 1st October 1892 at Hawthorn, Victoria. Les was the eldest son of Alfred Edward Halsall and Elizabeth Alice McCartney.
He enlisted in the first A.I.F. on 22nd February 1916 and after a short preliminary training embarked on “Wandilla” for England via Cape of Good Hope and Cape Verde Islands. He first saw front line action on 16th November 1916 and thereafter until Armistice Day 11th November 1918, Was almost continuously in the thick of the fighting in France and Belgium. His record of battle honours includes such famous named as the Somme, Hindenburg Line, Bullecourt, Ypres, Armentieres, Messines Ridge and Flers in 1916. Then followed Bapaume in March 1917, Bullecourt in May, Menin Road in September, Broodsiende, Zonnebeke and Passchendaele in October also continuous engagement until August 1918. He was in the big battle of Villiers Bretonneux 8th August, Mont St. Quentin 1st September, Montbrehain on 4th October 1918 where three days after his26th Birthday he was awarded the Military Medal for Bravery in the field.
He was wounded at Zonnebeke on 22nd October 1917 but fortunately not seriously and after a few weeks on light duty with his battalion was soon back in the thick of the fighting.
He eventually returned to Australia on the “Ajana” via Panama Canal disembarking at Sydney on 10th October 1919, reached home the next day and was discharged on 3rd December 1919. He subsequently engaged in farming at Romsey where he married Miss Ellen Humphries on 31st March 1923.
On 15th October 198 the following notice appeared on the board at headquarters of the 2nd Pioneer Battalion in France :-
On 5th October word was received by 2nd Australian Division that British troops on our right were pushing strong patrols to capture Mannequin Hill under artillery barrage. These would have liked up our right flank but British failed to take objectives, Therefore, when 21st and 24th Australian battalions occupied Montbrehain they were subjected to a very strong enfilade shell and machine gun fire. Only the fact that the 2nd Pioneers held on to the Mannequin Hill east of Montbrehain the 21st and 24th must have been enveloped. Great credit is therefore due to all ranks of the 2nd Pioneers Battalion. Though Pioneers were seldom used as Infantry and had to be collected in a hurry the number of prisoners (1200) and machine guns taken by them branded them s soldiers of the finest quality.
Les’s diary over this period contains the following :-
Oct 5th 1918. Last night we moved into the Line and took over from the Tommies (British). We hopped over at 6.05 a.m., took Montbrehain, reached our objective and dug in. Plenty of shooting with machine gun and rifle. Relieved on night of 5th by Yanks.
6th Moved back to Templeux.
7th Moved out and entrained for Amiens arriving at 2.30 am. on 8th and marched 25 kilometres without a meal since the previous morning and got none until 7 pm that night .
Montbrehain was a small village. The 24th Australian Battalion advanced on the left and the 21st occupied the village which had been captured that morning by the 2nd Pioneers who were by now further to their right. Other British Units failed to gain their objective and the Pioneers found themselves out on the end of a line with a gap of several hundred yards to the British at their rear. Les Halsall with five other Pioneers established a machine gun post in a shell hole on the extreme right of their line. The remainder of the Pioneers fell back and linked up with the Tommies.
During the morning this small party was under heavy shell, riffle and machine gun fire but managed to escape injury. They repulsed three German counter attacks, by 4 pm they were short of both food and ammunition. The five officers in B Company were all casualties and eventually an officer from the 2nd Battalion managed to reach them and took charge.
Learning that another machine gun crew which had occupied a position about one hundred yards away had been wiped out early in the day Les volunteered to go out and endeavor to collect their papers, pay books etc. for identification. Being a key man in the crew he was restrained but one of his mates succeeded in collecting the papers and food and ammunition in the gun pit. Les made his way out, collected the food plus 700 rounds of machine gun ammunition. With this heavy load he was observed by a German sniper who pinned him down for a considerable time in a shallow shell hole. There he lay with bullets passing over his head far too close for comfort. Eventually the firing ceased and after waiting some time to avoid attracting further notice he succeeded in re-joining his mates. They held on until night fall and rejoined their Battalion under cover of darkness. For this exploit he was awarded the coveted Military Medal for Bravery in the Field.
Of the 600 Pioneer who took part in this day’s battle there were 180 casualties. They captured 1200 prisoners and a large quantity of machine guns and they received nine awards. However, this was to be their last time in the front line. The German Army was on the run and six weeks later hostilities ceased.
On October 24th after two years of almost continued action came long awaited leave. Following a trip to England and Scotland Les returned to France on 9th November and reached his Battalion the next day. The following morning at 11 am, 11th day of the 11th month Armistice was signed. Even so it was still to be over four months before he reached England. Demobilising an Army was a big job and shipping space was scarce following four years of submarine warfare. While waiting transport home he attended lectures on practical farming and visited many of the finest farms in England. He eventually reached Sydney on 10th October 1919., arriving home the following day after almost four years of active service.
This was the proud record of Leslie Arnold Halsall M.M.

Written by Alfred Vernon Halsall for the 1963 Halsall Family Re union booklet
Conributed by Vicki Worland