Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Harry Andrew Still may have a quieter war than many of his mates from Bendigo.

Perhaps two and half years as a prisoner of war in Germany was a mixed blessing as many of his battalion colleagues perished or were horribly wounded in the many battles on the Somme in the very region Harry was captured.  

Pre-war Harry was an assayer (someone testing the gold in rock) and was working in the Bendigo School of Mines. He must have studied there as well, and post war Harry went on to be quite a distinguished Metallurgist. 

He was just 18 and needed the consent of his parents when he enlisted in July 1915. He was living on Sparrowhawk Rd, a very old gold mining part of Bendigo known as Long Gully. He stated he had spent 4 years in the local 68th Militia in Bendigo and was rewarded just a month after enlisting with promotion to Corporal. He would be assigned into the 31st Battalion which arrived in Egypt in December 1915 just a week after ANZAC troops had been evacuated off the fateful cliffs of Gallipoli.

From there his battalion sailed to Marsaille in southern France and entrained to the north of France and Belgium and to the western front.

The key record tells us he was captured at Levant on July 20, 1917, at the battle of Fromelles. According to the Red Cross File on Harry on the Australian War Memorial site, Harry was a Prisoner of war in Germany which lists the prisons he was held at in Germany. 

This was the first real battle for the Australians on the Western front and the Australian troops were essentially sacrificed by incompetent English generals who viewed the battle as a training exercise against heavily fortified German positions.

Harry Still was behind barbed wire back in Germany for the next 2 and half years, which must have been a difficult and trying situation, however, compared to the trenches of the Somme in 1917 and 1918 this may not have been that bad. He always claimed he was wll treated. 

Back in Bendigo at this time the first report on Harry's whereabouts is reported in one of the local papers - the Bendigonian (which came out twice weekly) in September 1916- PRISONER OF WAR.

CORPORAL A. H. STILL.

Mrs. A. Still, of Sparrowhark-road, Long Gully, whose son, Corporal Harry Andrew Still, was wounded, and later reported missing from 28th July, has now received a card from him stating that he is in an internment camp in Germany. The card is dated 24th July, and Corporal Still states that he is quite well and he provided his address for mail. His address is at present "Corporal H. A. Still, 31st Battalion, A.I.F. 7B, Company 22, Group 7.

Corporal Still's numerous friends will be relieved by this welcome news. As the card is dated only four days after his capture, it is evident that the German restrictions on prisoners writing home are not too stringent.

The next news comes in October 1916 in the Bendigo Advertiser - 

This report informs that Harry was wounded on the morning of July 19 when the battle commenced. He spent the whole night concussed out in no man's land and then when the Germans counterattacked was taken prisoner with wounds to the hand and the head. Interestingly the Germans authorities are quite generous in allowing communication with prisoners.  

One more article on Harry appears in the other Bendigo paper, The Bendigo Independent on December 7, 1916. 

This report provides detail on who else is in the prison with Harry and he mentions another Bendigo lad with Sgt Stanley Oliver Cole. Apparently Cole attempted to escape but no mention in his records whether Harry was part of that! Stan Cole was less complimentary on his treatment. 

The final news is published in April 1917-  

As Harry's details have been published in local papers many anxious parents all over the country are sending him mail asking about their own son.

More news in July 1917 in the Bendigo Independent 

PRISONER OF WAR.                                      CORPORAL H. A. STILL.

The parents of Corporal H. A. Still, who is a prisoner of war in Minden, Germany, has received another letter from him, stating that he is well and being well treated.

He has received many letters from people inquiring about their sons. He expresses regret that he knows nothing of Privates Fletcher, Scanlon, Slender, Cooper and Clifton. He did not know the number of their battalion, as the censor had marked it out.

Corporal Still receives his Red Cross parcels regularly, and also letters from many friends. Papers are not allowed through.

The prisoners have hot and cold showers, a library, and also a gymnasium club. Corporal Still added that Sergeant Cole, of Bendigo, is there was well. 

The Red Cross form states Harry Still was interned at Dulmen, Minden, Soltau and Hameln camps in Germany. He was sent to an internment camp in Holland in June 1918 and then repatriated via the ship ‘Ripon’ arriving in England on 22/11/1918, eleven days after the Armistice.

After two extensions for leave in England Harry arrived home in Australia in April 1919.