Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Thomas Henry Oakman was born in August 1890 in Barrakee, Victoria and was the second son of Henry and Ellen Oakman. Like many in World War 1, he didn’t enlist immediately war broke out but shortly after the Gallipoli campaign had begun on April 25th 1915. He enlisted less than 3 months after Gallipoli when many Australians were full of national pride in being part of the empire fighting against the enemy. His enlistment date was 21st July 1915. He was 24 years and eleven months old.

He was not a tall man at only 5’ 7 1/2” tall but weighed 86 kg and as a stocky farmer was just what the army were after. He was also an excellent shot honed through years of shooting rabbits on the farm. He was placed in the 29th Battalion which was full of Victorian country boys and commenced his training at Seymour before completing it at Broadmeadows.

In November 1915, the battalion embarked upon the troopship HMAT Ascanius in Port Melbourne and departed Australian waters, disembarking at Port Suez, Egypt on 7 December 1915. The battalion arrived in the Middle East too late to take part in the fighting at Gallipoli, and as a result they were initially used to undertake defensive duties to protect the Suez Canal from Ottoman forces. They also undertook a comprehensive training program and by the time their orders arrived to transfer to Europe in June 1916, they had reached their peak. They subsequently embarked the troopship HMT Tunisian in Alexandria, bound for France on 14 June 1916.

Upon the battalion's arrival in Egypt, the 8th Brigade had been unattached at divisional level, but in early 1916, it was assigned to the 5th Division, after a re-organisation that saw the AIF expanded from two infantry divisions to five. The battalion arrived at Marseilles on 23 June and afterwards was transported by rail to Hazebrouck. On 8 July the 5th Division was called up to the front from training behind lines in order to replace the battalions of the Australian 4th Division which were being transferred to the Somme. The 29th Battalion undertook a difficult two-day 29-mile (47 km) approach march over cobbled roads with loads of up to 35 kg before arriving at the front on the night of 10 July 1916.

Taking up a position between Boutillerie and Condonerrie in the Bois Grenier, they relieved the 13th Battalion and on 19 July 1916 subsequently took part in an attack against the German positions around the "Delangre Farm" which was being held by the 21st Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment. Following the attack, the battalion held the line for another 11 days, beating off a particularly heavy German counterattack on 20 July, before they were eventually relieved. During their introduction to trench warfare, the 29th Battalion lost 52 men killed in action, and another 164 men wounded. His cousin James Ralston was one who lost his life on that day.

Thomas had survived his first major engagement but 3 months later on the 8th September 1916, he was wounded in the field. By the 4th February 1917, he was given the green light to rejoin his unit and did so on the 3rd of March 1917.

Over the following 4 months, the 29th Battalion supported other battles and were involved in trench warfare and it was here that Thomas’s ability as a marksman was noticed. He was then pulled out of the line and given two weeks training as a sniper and then back into battle.

With major battles to follow, this probably saved his life as he was able to place himself in good cover whilst picking off enemy soldiers. He managed to survive through battle after battle including Polygon Wood, Amiens and the St Quentin Canal, as well as playing a supporting role in a number of others including Bullecourt and Merlancourt. The Allied Hundred Days Offensive that was launched on 8 August 1918, meant the battalion took part in the 8th Brigade's advance up the treacherous Morcourt Valley, subsequently achieving a considerable feat by capturing the town of Vauvillers.

The battalion fought its last battle of the war in late September alongside the US 30th Infantry Division, when they breached the German defences along the Hindenburg Line as part of the final Allied offensive of the war. Aimed at the Le Catelet Line near Bellicourt, the battalion began its advance on Nauroy on 29 September, moving on the left flank beside elements of the US 117th Infantry Regiment, with the 32nd Battalion in support. The attack proved highly successful and 59 prisoners were captured along with four field guns and a quantity of German small arms. Against this the battalion lost 17 men killed and 63 wounded.

Following this, they were withdrawn from the front line. The 29th Battalion was one of those chosen to be broken up and as a result of major casualties from other divisions. On the 19th October 1918, the 29th Battalion was disbanded. The majority of the battalion's personnel—29 officers and 517 other ranks—were transferred to the 32nd Battalion as reinforcements.

During its service on the Western Front, the battalion suffered 485 men killed and another 1,399 men wounded. Thomas Oakman was awarded the Belgium Medal the Croix De Guerre. The same award was also given to another famed sniper from WW1 who was at Gallipoli. Billy Sing.

Thomas had survived the war and managed to come out of it fairly unscathed thanks to his good fortune at being selected as a sniper giving him a job that although risky as the enemy were constantly targeting snipers, good ones managed to conceal themselves well and avoid getting killed themselves. They also avoided running over no man’s land into enemy machine guns as their job was to pick off the Germans from a good vantage point. He returned to Australia on the 28th March 1919 to find both his parents had died in his absence and his brother John had sold the family farm a year earlier.

After a short period of adjustment, he took what inheritance he had and purchased land at Hampton in the SE of Melbourne and had a small farm there for the remainder of his life. He married in 1934 at the age of 44 and lived to the age of 81. He passed away in 1971. A few years after his death, his farm was purchased and developed into the sprawling suburbs of SE Melbourne. There is now a Street named after him where his farm used to be. Oakman Way in Hampton Park. Victoria.