Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

#2395 CLARKE George Mark  52nd Infantry Battalion
 
George Clarke was born to Joseph and Bridget Clarke at Barcaldine. George probably attended school in Barcaldine and then began working in the shearing sheds in the surrounding districts. His mother recorded his occupation on the Roll of Honour Circular as shearer and a witness who knew him well in the army described his posture as stooped, a likely indication that he had been shearing for some time.
 
The Clarke family moved to the Wondai district as land in the South Burnett became available. When George presented himself to the recruitment office at Adelaide Street in Brisbane on 9th May 1916, he gave his occupation as farmer. George was 24 years old at the time and named his mother, Bridget Clarke of P.O. Box 41 Wondai as his next of kin.
 
After a short time in a depot battalion at Enoggera, George was allocated to the 5th reinforcements of the 52nd Battalion. The reinforcements boarded the ‘Seang Choon’ in Brisbane on 19th September and disembarked in Plymouth on 9th December, having sailed the long way round via South Africa to avoid enemy submarines. George and his mates marched in to the depot base at Perham Downs. Three weeks after arrival in England, George was admitted to the King George Hospital at Dartford with influenza. He was discharged from hospital and reported to the 13th Training Battalion on 19th January 1917.
 
At the end of March, George reported sick once more; this time to the dermatological hospital at Bulford with a case on gonorrhoea. In total, George spent 65 days at Bulford and, as was the usual practice, received no pay for the period he was there. Once determined to be free of infection, George was posted overseas via Southampton arriving at the huge British transit base at Havre on 14th June 1917. George proceeded on to join his battalion and was taken on strength by the 52nd Battalion on 4th July 1917.
 
The 52nd Battalion was part of the 13th Brigade of the 4th Division of the AIF. The Battalion had been part of the advance at Messines Ridge in June and by July had been relieved to reorganise, rest and take on reinforcements. Following the British success at Messines, planning was put in place for a series of small battles that would be conducted according to a ‘bite and hold’ strategy along the line of the Menin Road which ran across the flat fields of Belgian Flanders from the city of Ypres towards a low ridge upon which were situated the villages of Zonnebeke and Passchendaele.
 
George had his first taste of action in the battle of Menin Road on 22nd September 1917 in which the 52ndBattalion remained in the support trenches, but was nevertheless subjected to enemy artillery fire. In October, troops from the 1st and 2nd Divisions of the AIF and the New Zealand Division attacked the Broodseinde Ridge and Zonnebeke and succeeded in establishing a new front line. The final objective, Passchendaele, was in sight; then the weather turned.
 
The Flanders country side is extremely low lying and the Flemish farmers had for centuries built a system of drainage canals and dykes. However, the Ypres salient had been disputed territory almost since the war broke out in August 1914 and consequently. An almost constant pounding by both German and British artillery had smashed the fragile landscape. Heavy rains turned the land into a sea of mud, sometimes waist deep, into which heavy guns sank after firing only a few shells and infantry moving up to the line would exhaust themselves as they struggled through the morass. Brigade and Battalion Commanders, who were close enough to the front line to see something of the appalling conditions were in favour of calling off any further attacks but General Haig, the Supreme British Commander ordered the attacks to continue in the mistaken belief that he had broken the back of the German resistance. In fact, he broke his own army and Passchendaele (as the whole campaign became to be known) has haunted Haig’s reputation to the present day.
 
The 52nd Battalion moved up to support positions on Westhoek Ridge on the 5th October where the lines were heavily shelled. The war diary records constant heavy rain and hail for the following week as the battalion moved up from supports to the front line at Broodseinde Ridge. While occupying the frontline, George’s file records that he was killed in action on 17th October 1917. Enquiries made to the Red Cross Wounded and Missing Inquiry Service reveal that George was killed by a shell explosion in a shell hole or trench. There was some difficulty at the time in determining which Private Clarke was being asked about as there were three men named Clarke or Clark in the 52nd, all of whom most probably were known as “Nobby”. The most reliable statement provided to the Red Cross records that George was killed at the same time as Sergeant Hall, both men blown up. No burial recorded.
 
George’s mother received a parcel of her son’s personal effects; a wallet, prayer book, mirror, razor and strop. The terms of George’s will left a legacy of twenty pounds to a Miss Daisy Keid of Marooka with the remainder of his estate bequeathed to his mother.
 
Like so many who fell during the Passchendaele campaign in 1917, George’s remains, even if there had been a burial, were never located. He is commemorated on the stone tablets of the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres. There are 54,000 names of British and Dominion Soldiers recorded on the Menin Gate. To commemorate this sacrifice, the citizens of Ypres each evening since 1928 (with only a brief pause during German occupation 1939 – 1944) conduct a memorial service under the arches of the Menin Gate. All traffic is stopped and a simple ceremony is held including the laying of wreaths, the recitation of the Ode, and the playing of the Last Post by the city’s bugle corps.