Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Private

Hermann Carl LEHMANN

30 - 8 - 1894 – 25 - 7 - 1916

Hermann Carl LEHMANN was born 30th August 1894 in WILMINGTON the second son of Frederick Hermann & Johanna Lizzette LEHMANN who lived at WILMINGTON.

Hermann had served 1 year in Senior Army Cadets and 2 years in the Citizens Military Forces by the time he enlisted. Hermann worked as a Grazier with his father on a station before enlisting at QUORN on the August 6th, 1915. As he was under 21 years of age at the time of enlistment, Hermann’s father Frank had to sign the application paperwork to show he had parental approval. (Hermann was 20 years & 11 months old at the time!) He attested (formally enlisting in the AIF) on August 7th, 1915.

He left for the Mitcham training camp immediately. He was described as a single man, 5’4 ¼ “tall, weighed 130 pounds and had a 36” chest. He had light brown hair, a fresh complexion and brown eyes, and as being “of a bright and cheerful disposition, highly esteemed in the community”.

Hermann completed camp training and embarked from Adelaide with the 12th Reinforcements on December 2, 1915. Hermann joined his battalion, the 10th, on the Western Front in France, on 2nd June 1916. They had arrived from Gallipoli shortly before and had not yet fought any major actions in France.

On the 23rd July 1916 the Battle at Pozieres began, the men of the Australian 1st (which included the 10th battalion), 2nd and 4th Divisions suffered what is said to have been the most concentrated artillery barrage of all time. With German Forces on three sides, and their own artillery firing from the rear, these men lived and fought in a constant rain of shells.

The intensity of the barrage can be noted from the Rolls of Honour, with over 4,000 of the 7.000 killed being listed as missing and commemorated at the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial. There were terrible casualties and losses at Pozieres, which the Australian War Memorial records as being in the vicinity of 23,000 men killed, wounded or missing over a six week period from 23rd July to 9th September 1916. It has become known as the BATTLE OF POZIERES RIDGE and incorporates both Pozières and nearly Mouquet Farm.

Private Hermann Carl LEHMANN was killed in the intense action at Pozieres on 25 July, 1916. At first posted “Missing in Action” along with so many others, two months later he was later declared “Killed In Action” after Red Cross enquiries found one of his mates who gave a statement advising that he had seen Hermann killed in the fierce battle of that day.

The LEHMANNs were devastated. Frank later received Hermann’s 1914-1915 Star Medal, British War Medal, Victory Medal, Memorial Scroll and Plaque along with a copy of the ‘Kings Message’. Hermann LEHMANNs body was never recovered and his name is now one of the over 4,000 on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.

Hermann is also commemorated on the Australian War Memorial on the Roll of Honour and on the Wilmington and Hammond Honour Roll at The WILMINGTON Soldiers Memorial Hall.

LEST WE FORGET