Benjamin RICHARDSON

RICHARDSON, Benjamin

Service Number: 4581
Enlisted: 3 August 1915
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 13th Infantry Battalion
Born: Blaxhall Suffolk England, 1895
Home Town: Kangaroo Valley, Shoalhaven Shire, New South Wales
Schooling: National School, Blaxhall, Tunstall, Suffolk, England
Occupation: Farm labourer
Died: Killed in Action, Fromelles France, 20 July 1916
Cemetery: VC Corner Cemetery and Memorial, Fromelles, France
VC Corner Australian Cemetery and Memorial, Fromelles, Lille, Nord Pas de Calais, France
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, V.C. Corner Australian Cemetery Memorial
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World War 1 Service

3 Aug 1915: Enlisted AIF WW1, 4581
20 Jul 1916: Involvement Private, 4581, 54th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 4581 awm_unit: 54th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1916-07-20
16 Dec 1916: Involvement Private, 4581, 13th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '11' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Ballarat embarkation_ship_number: A70 public_note: ''
16 Dec 1916: Embarked Private, 4581, 13th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ballarat, Sydney

Lost at the disaster of Fromelles

Benjamin (Ben) Richardson had come from the "old country" in search of a new life. He migrated at the age of 21 years from Blaxhall, Suffolk England, landing in Sydney on the P&O ship Geelong on 5 February 1914. The son of Benjamin and Emma Richardson he had been a horseman on their family property. On arrival in Australia he went looking for farm work and in time found his way to Kangaroo Valley NSW.
He was working there as a farm labourer when he fronted Sgt Poidevin on 3 August 1915 to enlist. He was in good company that day as a large contingent of Valley men joined up, including half the local rugby league team. The exploits of the Australians at Gallipoli had inspired a surge in recruitment numbers nationwide.
He embarked for Europe on the HMAT Ballarat landing in Egypt on 22 March 1916 for training at the Australian Camp there.
Originally with the 13th Battalion 4581 Pte. Benjamin Richardson was re-assigned to the 54th Battalion while in camp along with 178 other re-enforcements that brought the battalion to full strength by mid-April 1916. The battalion took up defensive positions along the Suez Canal in anticipation of a Turkish attack.
The boredom of garrison duty was broken on 19 June when they received their movement orders, arriving in Marseilles France on 29 June. Everything then happened in a hurry as the dismal failure of the British Somme campaign that had started 1 July now hastened many untried Australians into the field. The 54th was less than three weeks on the Western Front and their raw courage and enthusiasm were no substitute for experience, proper planning and thorough preparation.
The British hastily threw the 53rd, 54th and 55th AIF Battalions into Fromelles on the night of 19-20 July as a diversion to stop the Germans from moving reserves into the Somme. The strength of the enemy's defences was underestimated and the attack was to take place across 400 yards of open ground into the afternoon sun. The Germans also appeared to have had prior warning thanks to poor security and civilian informants. Even the Germans thought the attack to be:
" … operationally and tactically senseless."
While units of the 54th reached and occupied the German trenches for a short time they were devoid of flanking support as the British units failed to advance. The Germans were then able to re-occupy the trenches behind the Australians, isolating them.
The order to withdraw was given at 5.40am on 20 July and by 9am the remnants of the Australian battalions had returned to their original lines. The 54th Battalion losses were staggering. 73 Officers and men killed, 288 wounded, 173 missing. The 54th had lost 62% of its fighting strength and had been rendered ineffective as a fighting unit.
Fromelles was an unmitigated disaster and the worst tragedy in the history of Australia, then and now. 5333 men were lost in one night.
Ben Richardson fell during this attack but no-one witnessed or reported his passing and he became one of the missing. All of the officers were either killed or wounded.
In one of the many contradictions of this war Richardson's name appeared on a German Death Voucher later forwarded to the British. The Germans included his identification disc as verification.
After the war and some two years after the battle the ground was surveyed and found to be littered with the bones and uniforms of hundreds of Australians.
AWM records indicate that Benjamin Richardson's remains are amongst the 400 men that were then interred in a mass grave created at the VC Corner Cemetery Fromelles France. There are no individual epitaphs, just the names of the 1229 Australians who died in the battle and have no known grave. He had given his life for his new country.
Ben's father received the identity disc on 11 May 1917. He had written on 8 March 1917 seeking details of his son's "missing" status. None was forthcoming until Ben was declared "Killed" the next month.
The Memorial Plaque followed in August 1922. Known as the "Dead Man's Penny" this brass plaque bearing Benjamin Richardson's name was found in the garden shed of a home in Suffolk England in the 1980's.
Note:
One of the Germans facing Benjamin Richardson that day was Corporal Adolf Hitler.

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