LUDEMANN, Herman Bruno
| Service Number: | 764 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 18 August 1914 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 7th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, 1892 |
| Home Town: | Bendigo, Greater Bendigo, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, Victoria, Australia, 18 August 1949, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: | Bendigo Great War Roll of Honor |
World War 1 Service
| 18 Aug 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 764, 7th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 19 Oct 1914: | Involvement Private, 764, 7th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '9' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Hororata embarkation_ship_number: A20 public_note: '' | |
| 19 Oct 1914: | Embarked Private, 764, 7th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Hororata, Melbourne | |
| 25 Apr 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 764, 7th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli | |
| 19 May 1915: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 764, 7th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, At Owen's Gully (during the Turkish May offensive). GSW to thigh. | |
| 9 Aug 1915: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 764, 7th Infantry Battalion, The August Offensive - Lone Pine, Suvla Bay, Sari Bair, The Nek and Hill 60 - Gallipoli, At Lone Pine. GSW to right thigh and Bomb wounds to face/loss of left eye. | |
| 19 May 1916: | Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 764, 7th Infantry Battalion, Medically unfit |
Help us honour Herman Bruno Ludemann's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Bernard Metcalfe
Name recorded as 'Ludeman' in the Vic BDM Index and Probate records, both for Herman, his brother, Albert (1st AIF, 10775, Farrier Staff Sergeant), and for their siblings.
Biography contributed by Larna Malone
Herman Ludemann was born in Sandhurst (i.e. Bendigo). He named his brother, Joseph Ludemann as his NOK. He was 22 years old, employed as a Labourer and lived at 64 Lobb-street, Bendigo. He had previously served in the Senior Cadets. He was amongst the early volunteers for the Expeditionary Force, enlisting on 18.8.14. The following day he left Bendigo for the Broadmeadows Camp. He was allotted Service no. 764 and appointed to ‘G’ Company, 7th Battalion.
Prior to Embarkation he was Presented with a sum of money from the members of the Loyal Heart of Friendship Lodge (M.U.)
The 7th Battalion left Broadmeadows Camp on 18 October, 1914, and embarked for service overseas on board HMAT ‘Hororata’. Arriving in Egypt the battalion moved into camp at Mena, at the foot of the pyramids. (6/12/14)
In January, 1915, the Australian force was re-organized. In the 7th Battalion ‘G’ and ‘H’ Companies joined to form the new ‘D’ Company. This meant that all the men from Northern Victoria were together in one Company.
The 7th Battalion was part of the force which landed at Anzac Cove on 25th April, 1915.
In an Interview, given after his return home, Ludemann said: “The first day we landed we got a hot reception. They poured shrapnel into us from the front and each side. It was just murder. There were also machine guns and rifles everywhere. The scrub was so thick that one could not see any of them, but when we did there was something doing. We went at them with fixed bayonets. They must have thought we were madmen the way we came, the row we made, and the language we used turned the air blue. . . . . We got about 2 miles in from the beach, and there we stopped. They made several attacks to shift us, but they never shifted us an inch, and the number of dead they left behind them was enormous.” [Bendigonian August 5, 1915.]
In May, Lieut.-General Sir W.R. Birdwood, in command of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, was asked to provide part of the Australian force to assist in a British offensive at Cape Helles. The 2nd Australian Brigade, which included the 7th Battalion, was one of two brigades provided. The 7th Battalion left Anzac and disembarked at ‘V’ Beach, Cape Helles, on May 6th. The battalion moved forward on May 8th in what was later known as the “2nd Battle of Krithia” (8-11 May). This battle achieved minimal gain and casualties were extremely high.
Ludemann: “Our attack on the Turks at Cape Helles was terrible while it lasted, but it only lasted about an hour, thank goodness. By that time we had dug ourselves in with trenching tools, and I can tell you we worked ‘some’ until we got a bit of cover in front of our heads. Next to your rifle the trenching tool is the best thing a soldier has. The bullets were coming so thick that it was like a hailstorm. They were ploughing the dust up all round. How I got through I don’t know. I got one through the butt of my rifle. I did not get a scratch. [Interview. Bendigonian op cit]
The battalion returned to Anzac Cove on 17th May, 1915. On 19th May Herman Ludemann was Wounded while working on the beach, sustaining a bullet wound in his thigh.
Ludemann Letter: “Before you get this you will probably know I had the bad luck to get in the way of a bursting shrapnel, and got one in the thigh. I had been through some pretty severe fighting during the first month, and had not got a scratch. We . . . . were having a well-earned spell at the back of the firing line. I was down at the beach, and had a box of biscuits on my shoulder when I thought I was hit with a sledge hammer. I discovered afterwards that a shrapnel shell had burst all round me, that some of the bullets had gone through my clothes and some into the biscuits. But I only had one in me, and that did not go in very far. I am just about all right now, and will be back in the firing line very soon. . . . . I forgot to tell you that the bullet went into my thigh. It just missed my hip-bone. [Bendigonian. August 5, 1915]
He rejoined the battalion on 6/8/15.
On August 8th the 7th Battalion moved into position at Lone Pine, preparing to participate in a Diversionary attack on the Turkish trenches on the 400 Plateau. ‘D’ Company, under Lieut. W. J. Symons, was on the left, manning the line from Wood’s Post to Goldenstedt’s Post. Heavy fighting ensued with multiple casualties.
Herman Ludemann was Wounded (2nd occasion) on 9/8/15, sustaining GSW to his right thigh and a Bomb wound to his left eye. The Bomb Wound led to a Loss of his left eye.
He RTA M.U. on 31/10/15.
“The First Lot. 7th Battalion. The first men of the Bendigo district to volunteer for service in the First World War.”: Larna Malone