Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Leonard served in Egypt, Gallipoli, and France with the 7th Battalion A.I.F and was wounded in action at Pozieres.

Ernest Leonard was born in 1891 in Adelaide, South Australia. He worked as a tinsmith when he enlisted in the A.I.F. on 7 November 1914, aged 23.

Leonard was allocated service number 1374 and embarked from Melbourne on 2 February 1915 with the 2nd Reinforcements, 7th Infantry Battalion, aboard HMAT A46 Clan Macgillivray. He joined the 7th Battalion on 12 March 1915 in Egypt.

On 4 April 1915, the unit marched into Cairo from its camp and entrained for Alexandria. It then sailed on S.S. Galeka to Mudros Harbour on the island of Lemnos, arriving there on 11 April. On 24 April, the 7th Battalion received orders for the Gallipoli attack. Each man was given three days' rations and 200 rounds of ammunition. At 10.30 pm on the night of the 24th, the ship left the harbour and went to the Bay of Purnea on the northern shore of Lemnos Island. The 7th Battalion was part of the 2nd Brigade A.I.F, one of three Brigades comprising 1st Division A.I.F. The 7th Battalion was to land just south of Ari Burnu, then proceed over Plugge's Plateau, along Russell's Top to Baby 700 and Battleship Hill, then up the slopes of Chunuk Bair to hold a line on the seaward slope looking northward. At 4.28 am, the 3rd Brigade began landing as the first part of the attack.

Having landed the 3rd Brigade, the tows were meant to head back out to sea to rendezvous with the Galeka so the 2nd Brigade could be landed. However, the tows failed to show, and the Captain of the Galeka took the ship in closer to shore, to 1500 yards out, at which point Turkish guns began to fire shrapnel shells over the ship. The decision was then made to land the 6th and 7th Battalions by the ship's boats. The 3rd Brigade had landed 1 mile to the left of its objective, so 2nd Brigade was ordered to take over the right flank. The men of the 7th landed under heavy Turkish fire. The Battalion history presents a scenario in which the men of the 7th became scattered along various points around the beachhead at Anzac Cove and were progressively reassembled over the next four days. The Battalion was relieved from the frontline on 29 April. Leonard had come through unscathed; however, Battalion casualties had been heavy. Casualties suffered by the 7th were two officers and 68 other ranks killed, 15 officers and 229 other ranks wounded, and a further 227 other ranks missing. On 4 April, the Battalion War Diary recorded 1130 officers and men at embarkation. Four days after the landing, the Battalion had lost almost half its strength.

The 7th Battalion was withdrawn from Anzac with the rest of 2nd Brigade on 5 May 1915 and sent to Cape Helles, a two-hour journey along the peninsula aboard a deep-sea trawler. Arriving under fire, the Brigade spent two days in the damp green fields before Sedd-el-Bahr. The Brigade was part of a composite division that would be used in the attack on Krithia. On 8 May, the 2nd Brigade, formed the centre formation of a three Brigade attack. The 7th was the Brigade's right Battalion with a 500-yard frontage. The attack was just as disastrous for the 7th Battalion as the landing at Anzac. The Battalion history recorded significant casualties of 3 officers and 40 other ranks killed, 13 officers and 133 other ranks wounded, and 88 other ranks missing.

The 7th Battalion was returned to Anzac on 17 May and bivouacked on Razorback to the south of Shrapnel Gully. On 20 May, the Battalion went into the line in expectation of a continuation of the Turkish attacks that had taken place the previous day. No attack was forthcoming, and on 24 May, a temporary truce was initiated so that both sides could bury their dead. This day was Ernest Leonard's last full one on the peninsula.

His service records show that he was admitted aboard the Hospital Ship Newmarket on 25 May 1915 in the Dardanelles, then transferred to No. 1 Australian Stationary Hospital at Mudros on Lemnos on 26 May 1915. He was suffering from influenza. On 27 June 1915, he was admitted to the Australia & New Zealand Convalescent Hospital at Helouan, Egypt, to continue his recovery from influenza. On 27 June 1915, having recovered, he was transferred to duty at the Base Details at Zeitoun on 4 July 1915.

He rejoined the 7th Battalion after its return from Gallipoli on 19 January 1916. On 24 February, half the Battalion was transferred to form the nucleus of the 59th Battalion. Early March 1916 was spent integrating the reinforcements to bring the Battalion up to full strength. With his Gallipoli experience, Leonard was promoted to Lance-Corporal on 22 March 1916. The Battalion had received a movement order to prepare for embarkation to France. After a rough trip in open trucks across the desert along the Suez Canal, the Battalion and the 8th Battalion embarked aboard Megantic for Marseilles. Leonard and his comrades were fortunate that the ship was large, and every man aboard was given a cabin berth.

On 31 March, the Battalion disembarked at Marseilles, moving to the train station for the rail journey to the north. After the luxury of the Megantic, the men were now loaded into train trucks with 35 men in each. It was extremely cramped. April 1916 was spent training. The Battalion moved into the frontline at Fleurbaix on 3 May for its first tour in France. This time was a comparative period of quiet along this section of the line, and the battalion was engaged throughout the month in providing working parties to repair communication trenches.

On 19 June, the Battalion marched across the Belgian border to Neuve Eglise, bivouacking for three days on a hillside at Aldershot Camp. On 22 June 1916, while the 7th Battalion was at Neuve Eglise, Leonard was charged with the crime of Drunkenness when on Active Service and, on 28 June 1916, was convicted and reduced to the rank of Private by the Commanding Officer of the 7th Battalion.

The 7th Battalion entered the line at Ploegsteert on 23 June. Leonard was admitted to the hospital five days later, on June 28, 1916. However, the illness was slight, and he was discharged from duty a week later.

The 7th Battalion saw its first major battle in France as part of the 1st Division A.I.F's attack at Pozieres. The attack was launched on 23 July. However, the 2nd Brigade was held in reserve that day. On 25 July, the 2nd Brigade attacked two lines of German trenches. The Battalion history recorded that the ground over which the Battalion attacked was under constant artillery fire. Much like the 7th Battalion's attacks at the Landing at Anzac and the attack at Krithia, the attack did not go to plan, and the men were subjected to 24 hours of slaughter from artillery, machine-gun fire and snipers. It was during this time that Ernest Leonard's service papers record he was wounded in action and admitted to a hospital in Rouen on 26 July 1916, suffering shell shock.

It took Ernest Leonard nine months to recover from the trauma of Pozieres. On 10 April 1917, he rejoined the unit only to return to the hospital eight days later when he was admitted to the 2nd Australian General Hospital on 18 April 1917. On 28 April 1917, he left France for recuperation in England, suffering a Pulmonary issue. On 29 April 1917, he was admitted to the 4th London General Hospital suffering from Tuberculosis. He remained in the hospital for three months and, on 14 July 1917, was transferred to 1st Auxiliary Hospital.

He returned to Australia on 10 September 1917 aboard HMAT A38 Ulysses due to his Tuberculosis and was discharged in Melbourne on 17 December 1917.

Post-war, he lived at 20 University St, Carlton, in Victoria.

He died on 16 January 1958 and is buried in Ferntree Gully Cemetery.

Sources:

N.A.A.: B2455, LEONARD ERNEST 35 pages of service records

7th Battalion War Diary

Dean, Arthur, and Eric W. Gutteridge. The Seventh Battalion, A.I.F. : Resume of the Activities of the Seventh Battalion in the Great War, 1914-1918. (Melbourne: W & K. Purbrick Pty Ltd, 1933).