Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Surname sometimes spelt Sargent

Son of William and Bessie Sargant of 985 Wellington Street, Perth, WA. Previously 41 Wittenoom Street, Boulder, WA

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal

Comment from the Roll of Honour Circular reads:- He volunteered to restore the line of communication under very heavy shell fire and his officer said he fast completed it when a shell burst and killed him

From François Berthout

Pte 2655 Harold Marcus Sargant 
43rd Battalion, 3rd Australian Division, AIF

In the fields of the Somme, through the poppies which grow in which I walk in silence, with respect, sometimes, in a breath, through a light breeze, are heard, like murmurs, the voices of the past, the voices of a whole generation of men who, over a hundred years ago, on these now peaceful soils, fought bravely and fell side by side and today rest in peace together, under the rows of their white graves which stand in the sun, and on which, for eternity, are engraved the names and the memory of all these young men who gave their today and their lives for our tomorrow, for a world at peace in which we stand around them, united as they were, united to honor their memory and share their stories so that they are never forgotten and that with us, through us, they never cease to live.

Today, it is with the deepest gratitude that I would like to honor the memory of one of these young men, one of my boys of the Somme, I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Private number 2655 Harold Marcus Sargant who fought in the 43rd Australian Infantry Battalion,3rd Australian Division, and who was killed in action 103 years ago, on April 18, 1918 at the age of 21 on the Somme front.

Harold Marcus Sargant was born on May 1, 1897 in Walhalla, Victoria, Australia, and was the son of William and Bessie Sargant, of 985 Wellington Street, Perth, Western Australia,Previously 41 Wittenoom Street, Boulder, Western Australia.Harold was educated at Cannington State School, Western Australia and after his studies, he worked as an engine cleaner and lived at the Royal Exchange Hotel, Katanning, Western Australia.

Enlisted on September 9, 1916 at Blackboy Hill, Western Australia, in the 43rd Australian Infantry Battalion, 5th Reinforcement, he embarked with his unit from Fremantle, Western Australia, on board HMAT A8 Argyllshire on November 9, 1916 and sailed for Devonport, England where he was disembarked on January 10, 1917 and was sent to Codford for training with the 11th Training Battalion on Salisbury Plain on February 2, 1917. Two months later, on April 26, 1917, he embarked with his battalion from Folkestone, England , and sailed for France where he arrived the same day and was disembarked in Etaples.

A month later, on May 21, 1917, Harold was admitted to the hospital suffering from septic hand then the next day, on May 22, was sent to the 9th Field Ambulance and then to the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station.Three days later, on May 25, 1917, he was evacuated by ambulance train to the 3rd Canadian General Hospital in Boulogne where he arrived the next day, on May 26.A month later, on June 18, 1917, he was admitted to a Rest Camp in Ecault and on June 27 he joined the 23rd Australian Infantry Battalion on the field in Flanders and fought with great courage at Messines then during the third battle of Ypres.

After mid-1917, and following mutinies in the over-strained French Army, the British Forces had to assume an even greater role in the war on the Western Front. For Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, the British commander-in-chief, this provided an opportunity to launch an offensive that he had long wanted. Attacking from Ypres in Belgium, he planned to drive the Germans from the surrounding dominant ridges and even hoped to reach the Belgian coast. Following on the success at Messines in June, he unleashed his great attack on 31 July 1917. Fighting went on, often in appalling weather and despite crippling losses, until November. Finally, with the army stuck in muddy fields churned up by the artillery fire, the bloody offensive came to an untidy close. Many would afterwards call this offensive, actually a series of battles, after the name of the village that had become the last objective,"Passchendaele".
The Australian infantry divisions joined the Third Battle of Ypres which had been going on since 31 July when they took part in the battle of Menin Road on 20 September 1917. Fortunately a change in the weather brought for them better fighting conditions. The side-by-side advance of the 1st and 2nd Australian Divisions took them up to the splintered remnants of Polygon Wood not far from Zonnebeke. The 4th and 5th Divisions then took over and, as part of the wider effort, they attacked on 26 September. In both cases the fighting was bloody. German concrete pillboxes often blocked the Australians' progress, and many men fell under shell and machine-gun fire. However with heavy artillery support the objectives were taken and enemy counter-attacks held off. These systematic step-by-step advances, staying within range of the supporting artillery, pushed the line forward by a few kilometres, but they were made at a heavy cost, in just over a week there were almost 11,000 Australian casualties.

The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Australian Divisions captured Broodseinde Ridge on 4 October 1917. It was a vital victory. But, then it began to rain. Five days later the 2nd Australian Division suffered heavily in a further attack in the mud.

Finally, on 12 October, another attack, involving the 3rd Division assisted by the 4th, was made against the village of Passchendaele atop the main ridge. In the face of heavy fire, the men fought in the mire while struggling to keep up with their artillery barrages. Ground was taken but it could not be held. In wretched conditions, with casualties mounting at an appalling rate, the Australians had to fall back. The troops were finally exhausted and could do no more,by 15 November they handed over to the Canadians.

After having fought in appalling conditions in the Third Battle of Ypres, Harold was admitted to the 11th Australian Field Ambulance on October 8, 1917, suffering from scabies and then, two days later, on October 11, he was sent to the 1st Australian General Hospital in Rouen suffering from an intimate infection.Two months later, on December 16, 1917, Harold joined the 43rd Australian Infantry Battalion in the Somme and fought again with great courage before being granted leave for England on February 20, 1918 and a month later he joined his battalion, again in the trenches of the Somme, in Villers Bretonneux to stop the German offensive of spring 1918.

When the German army launched its great offensive on 21 March 1918, the five Australian divisions on the Western Front were in Flanders, 100 kilometres north of the main assault. In the following days, as the British Army retreated and tried desperately to stem the tide, the Australians were rushed down to bolster the Somme front,the scene of bitter fighting for the AIF in 1916.

With General Hubert Gough’s Fifth Army in disarray, the AIF’s 3rd and 4th Divisions had seen days of heavy fighting by early April, helping thwart the German lunge westward towards Amiens. They played a key role in stabilising a new front line between Albert and the Somme River near Sailly-le-Sec. It was around this time, at the village of Heilly, that Charles Bean, the official Australian military historian, records a 3rd Division infantryman laconically telling a French villager:"Fini retreat madame,beaucoup Australiens ici".

By late April, around 100,000 Australian troops had been hurriedly dispatched from Flanders to counter the main German advance. They held key points in the line almost as far south as Villers-Bretonneux, which was then held by the much-depleted British 8th Division.

Unfortunately, it was near Villers-Bretonneux, after a final act of bravery that Harold met his fate.On April 18, 1918 he volunteered to restore the line of communication under very heavy shell fire and his officer said he fast completed it when a shell burst and killed him. He was 21 years old.

Today, Harold Marcus Sargant rests in peace with his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at the Bonnay Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription "Our ideal son, a gentle, tender brother, a steadfast friend ".

Harold, you who were in the prime of your life, so young but already so brave, it is in the trenches of Belgium and France that you gave your youth under the rain of bullets and that, with admirable bravery, with determination, that you fought and fell for Australia but also for France, for the people of France for whom you have done so much and it is here, in the Somme, that you rest in peace with your friends, under our respectful and benevolent eyes, in our greatest care, on the soil of a friendly country which will keep your memory alive and for all that you have done for us, who have the chance to live in peace without being afraid of the next day , I would like, with all my heart to say thank you and express my respect, my gratitude, by following in your footsteps, by learning from you, and through you, to learn what you have gone through and endured on the battlefields of the Somme, on these soils on which poppies grow, but also to honor your memory with the respect you deserve.Walking on the battlefields is for me a leap in the past and on the fields of the Somme today green and silent, I stop and I sit down and then, around me, time stops and I see a whole generation of men walking in the mud, their faces serious and marked by suffering, by the horrors of war, side by side, digging the trenches in a smell of gunpowder and blood, I hear the bullets whistling and the shells falling relentlessly, all is mud, ruins and desolation.I also see the courage, the bravery of these young men who suffered together but also the camaraderie with which they fought and lived on the battlefields. their heads bowed under their steel helmets, their fists closed, determined, their eyes to an uncertain future, waiting for their officers to give the signal to move forward after a final whistle I see these brave men coming out of their trenches, bayonets in front, screaming under deluges of shells falling around them and then the machine guns come into action, under a hellfire, a hail of relentless lead, I see them, many , running forward, side by side, through the barbed wire, I see them collapsing, injured, unable to move and come back towards their lines, waiting for the stretcher bearers who are going towards them with difficulty, deep in the mud that they drag under their boots, unarmed, unprotected, but showing admirable coolness through the howls and fury, they saved many lives.Around them, their comrades continue to move forward through the sharp steel and the bullets which fuse in thousands of stealthy lightning which buzz as bees, thousands fall. then in this hell, the first tanks come into action, they advance, heavy and slow, pulverizing and crushing the enemy trenches under their caterpillars, fragile metal machines, the sky shatters in thousands of lightning, the shells pierce the clouds to fall again in gigantic explosions which pulverize the men and the earth in sprays of blood. Gradually, I hear nothing more and I can see thousands of men who fell under the bullets, motionless through the poppies on which their graves stand in the light. When I walk in cemeteries and battlefields, every walk is a trip down memory lane and my tears flow along my cheeks, my heart sinks and I feel for each of these men, my boys of the Somme, my heroes, a deep respect and it is with this respect, by trying to place my eyes in theirs, that I write for them with all my heart, never without tears but always with gratitude and pride and it is with this love that without rest, I would watch over them so that their memory remains strong and alive so that they are never forgotten,an ordinary young man watching over extraordinary men for whom, I would always carry high and proud the flame of remembrance and the poppy of remembrance on my heart; none of them will ever be forgotten, in our hearts, in these lands of the Sum, they will live forever.Thank you Harold,for everything.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.