SMITH, Charles Burston
| Service Numbers: | 1395A, 1395 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 15 December 1914 |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 15th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Charters Towers, Queensland, Australia , 22 November 1893 |
| Home Town: | Cairns, Cairns, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Charters Towers State School, Queensland, Australia |
| Occupation: | Grocer |
| Died: | Killed in action, Gueudecourt, France, 1 February 1917, aged 23 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Cairns Cenotaph, Charters Towers Boys Central School Great War Honor Board, Nambour Heroes Walk, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 15 Dec 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1395A, 15th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 13 Feb 1915: | Involvement Private, 1395A, 15th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '11' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Seang Bee embarkation_ship_number: A48 public_note: '' | |
| 13 Feb 1915: | Embarked Private, 1395A, 15th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Seang Bee, Brisbane | |
| 1 Feb 1917: | Involvement Corporal, 1395, 15th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 1395 awm_unit: 15th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Corporal awm_died_date: 1917-02-01 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Charles Burston Smith was the son of Charles Herbert and Ann Smith of Charters Towers, Queensland.
He enlisted in 1914 with the 15th Battalion and served at the Anzac landing on Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. His file states he was wounded in action on 14 May 1915 but remained at the front. He was evacuated from Gallipoli in late July 1915, sick with diarrhoea. In France he fought at Pozieres and was promoted to Corporal during October 1916.
He took part in a raid on 1 February 1917, near Gueudecourt, when the 15th Battalion attacked a section of the German front line known as Stormy Trench. The party consisted of 150 men and six officers, or one and half companies. The attack started at about 7.00 p.m. on a frontage of 500 metres. Although the enemy trenches were only 100 metres from the Australian lines, inadequate artillery support caused the attack to fail. A German counter attack at 11 p.m. was beaten off. In the face of relentless German shelling of the captured trenches, and a stronger German counter attack at 4.30 a.m. the Battalion was forced to retire. Although 52 German soldiers were captured, the 15th Battalion’s casualties were 38 men killed, over 20 captured by the Germans and over 80 wounded.
Smith was reported as seriously wounded during the raid. A number of badly wounded men were put in a German dugout when the 15th Battalion was occupying the captured German trench. When the Germans captured the trench many of those went into captivity. In Smith’s Red Cross and Wounded file one witness states, “He was very badly hit in the knee by a bomb and was caught up in the barb wire. Although he was brought in and placed in a dugout, the Australians evacuated the German trench at 4.30 a.m. and were forced to leave the wounded behind. I do not think there was any chance of his living, as he was very badly wounded.”
The Charters Towers Evening Telegraph reported on 1 March 1917, “The Mayor, Ald. D. Guthrie, on Wednesday received a telegram, from Major Darcy stating that Corporal Charles Burston Smith, of the 15th Battalion, was reported wounded and missing since February 1st. Corp. Smith is a son of Mr. and Mrs. G. H. Smith, of Ryan Street. He enlisted in Cairns at the end of November, 1914, being one of the earliest to recognise his duty, and landed with the 15th at Gallipoli immediately after the 9th. He was six months on the Peninsula, and was injured by a bomb hitting his dug-out, necessitating five months in the hospital. Afterwards he went to France, taking part in the capture of Pozieres and the advance which followed, and also in the big Somme push. He is 23 years of age, and was at one time an employee of Mr. Herbert Foxlee.”
Herbert Walter Foxlee lived and ran a successful business in Charters Towers, Queensland. Foxlee began a general produce and wine store, branching out into homewares and gifts.
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