Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

# 3017 BARBAT Arthur                                   12th Machine Gun Company
 
Arthur Barbat was born in Sydney around 1889. His father, Felix Barbat, moved the family to Ipswich where Arthur may have attended the Christian Brothers School and Technical College. Felix Barbat bought out an engineering firm at North Ipswich and the Barbat and Sons Company won a number of contracts from engineering works with the Queensland Government Railways. Barbats also had an interest in a sawmill at Coominya and Arthur was appointed manager there.
 
Arthur Barbet attended the Brisbane Recruiting Depot on 13th August 1915. He told the officer he was 26 years old and stated his occupation as sawmill manager. Arthur named his father, Felix Edward Barbat of Ipswich as his next of kin. Arthur reported to Enoggera where he was taken into a depot battalion before being assigned to the 7th Reinforcements of the 26th Battalion. Initial training at Enoggera consisted of musketry, classes on military discipline and route marches. On 30th December 1915, the reinforcements embarked on the “Itonus” at the Pinkenba wharf for the voyage to Egypt. The embarkation roll shows Arthur Barbat had allocated 3/- of his daily pay to be retained in a bank account in Brisbane. During the voyage, Arthur was admonished for smoking between decks. The reinforcements were marched out to the 7thBrigade Training Battalion at Zeitoun when the “Itonus” docked at Suez in early February 1916.
 
The arrival of the reinforcements coincided with an expansion of the AIF from two to four divisions. New brigades and battalions were being formed and support units of pioneers, sappers, artillery, machine guns and transport were required to support the new AIF in the field when operations shifted to the Western Front. Arthur was transferred to the 12th Machine Gun Company; which technically was attached to the 12thBrigade of the 4th Division.
 
The Vickers Heavy Machine Gun had been developed just prior to the first world war and it proved to be particularly effective and robust. The Vickers was the standard weapon used by the British and Australian Armies. It fired on average 600 rounds of .303 ammunition every minute over a range of up to 4,500 yards, and could keep up that rate of fire for several hours as long as the barrel was changed out every hour. The gun was water cooled. Its main disadvantage was weight. The gun and tripod weighed 40 kgs and every 250 round canvas ammunition belt weighed 10 kgs; the water reservoir 10kgs. The gun’s weight meant that it was unsuitable for supporting an infantry advance but it was highly effective in a defensive role.
 
The Vickers only required three men to operate it; a firer, loader and loader assistant but at least another three men were required to break the gun down and transport it, often on a hand cart. If the gun had to transported over a greater distance, a horse drawn general service wagon or pack mules were often employed. The transport, set up and operation had to be practiced over and over with each person in the team having a defined role.
 
The 12th MG Company had only been established in March of 1916 and Arthur was one of the first to be taken on. The company commenced training in Egypt but due to a shortage of guns, had to train with two old maxim guns from the Boer War. During training and acting as part of the Suez Canal garrison, Arthur was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal.
 
On 2nd June, the machine gunners boarded a ship at Alexandria for the voyage across the Mediterranean; arriving in Marseilles nine days later. Once ashore, the company boarded a train for the journey across France to the northern sector of the Western Front near Hazebrouck. Once in place in the quiet areas of the front, the gunners could begin to act in support of the four infantry battalions that made up the 12th Brigade.
 
 
On 1st July 1916, General Douglas Haig, Commander of the British Forces in France and Belgium launched his big push with the opening of the Battle of the Somme. The battalions of Kitchener’s new army, suffered appalling losses; 60 000 casualties on the first day of whom 20,000 were killed. The gains of the offensive were minimal but Haig was committed to pushing on. By the middle of July, Haig ordered that three of the four Australian divisions in France and Belgium be moved south to the Somme where they would be thrust against the might of the German Armies. The primary objective was the high ridge on which nestled the village of Pozieres. The 1st Australian Division successfully took the village on the 24th July. The 2nd Division eventually took two lines of trenches and a blockhouse on the crest of the ridge above the village. The 4thDivision was to go into the line at Pozieres on 7th August. While moving up to support the 47th and 48thBattalions on 6th August, Arthur received a severe gunshot wound to his left forearm, almost certainly caused by a German machine gun.
 
Arthur proceeded via a field ambulance and casualty clearing station to the 4th Australian General Hospital at Camiers. On the 9th August, Arthur was loaded onto a hospital train which was ferried across the English Channel to Folkstone and then on to Sheffield where he was Admitted to the Wharncliffe War Hospital. There he presumably received surgical treatment before being transferred to the Australian Hospital at Harefield Hospital in Middlesex. Arthur returned to Wharncliffe for a second round of surgery before being finally discharged to furlough on 14th September 1916. Arthur returned from furlough to Perham Downs Convalescent Depot. Once fully recovered he was sent to the Australian Machine Gun Depot at Grantham. While at Grantham, Arthur reported with a case of venereal disease which caused him to spend 105 days at Bulford dermatological hospital, during which time he received no pay (VD was classed as a self-inflicted condition).
 
On 17th March 1917, Arthur began to make his way to his unit in France. In the lull in fighting of the previous winter, the Germans had constructed a 150 kilometre long defensive barrier, which they named the Seigfreid Position but the British labelled the Hindenburg Line, some distance to the east of their previous positions astride the Somme. As the German forces began a strategic withdrawal to this new position, the British forces cautiously followed, taking the towns of Bapaume and Noreuil along the way. By the first week in April, elements of the 5th British Army under General Gough, and which included two Australian divisions, came up against the Hindenburg defences at Bullecourt.
 
Gough was under orders to attack the Hindenburg Line at Bullecourt with his infantry, following which the cavalry would be put into the breech. Gough planned to use the battalions of the 4th and 12th Infantry Brigades of the AIF as his spearhead. Arthur and his gun crew made up one of 16 Vickers gun teams moving up to the assembly areas on the 8th April. On the 9th April, the gun teams were preparing to support an attack the following day when a high explosive shell landed close to company headquarters, injuring six men. Arthur Barbat was one of those wounded. He was conveyed to the 3rd Casualty Clearing Station where it was discovered he had severe wounds to his spine and arm as well a penetrating abdominal wound. Arthur died of his wounds on 16th April 1917 aged 27 years.
 
Arthur was buried in the Grevillers British Cemetery adjacent to the CCS. A wallet, tobacco pouch, two identity discs, letters and a membership certificate for the Loyal M.U.I.O.O.F. Lodge at Lowood were returned to Felix Barbat in Ipswich. Arthur Barbat in commemorated on a number of war memorials in the Brisbane Valley as well as his home town of Ipswich.