Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

# 2777 ADERMANN Robert (Bob)      9th Battalion
 
Bob Adermann was born in Toowoomba to parents Charles and Emily Adermann. By the time that Bob was old enough to attend school, the family was living at Lowood but some time after that, moved to Wooroolin.
 
Bob presented himself for enlistment in Brisbane on 8th June 1915. This was around the time that the reports from Gallipoli featured prominently in newspapers which caused an increase in enlistments. Bob reported that he was 27 years old and gave his occupation as labourer although his father said he was a farmer.
 
After a period of time at camp at Enoggera, Bob and the other recruits who formed the 4th reinforcements of the 9th Battalion travelled to Sydney by train where they boarded the “Ayrshire” and sailed for Egypt on 1stSeptember 1915. The 9th Battalion, part of the 3rd Brigade of the Australian Division had been engaged at Gallipoli from the first day of the battle; in fact, men from the 9th were among the first ashore at Anzac Cove at 4:30am on 25th April 1915. By the time that Bob arrived in camp at Tel el Kabir on the Suez Canal, the situation at Gallipoli had changed considerably.
 
The approach of winter on the peninsula created untold difficulties for the Anzac troops who were still clinging to the cliffs above a narrow beachhead. Snow and heavy rain made the trenches uninhabitable. In spite of repeated attempts to take the heights, the front line at Anzac had hardly progressed from that held on the first day and after a visit by Lord Kitchener, the Minster for War in the British Government, the decision was made to abandon the campaign.
 
The AIF reinforcements arriving in Egypt were no longer needed for Gallipoli. Instead, men remained in camp awaiting the arrival of the bulk of the Anzac force, once the evacuation was completed. The Gallipoli veterans arrived back in Egypt during January of 1916 and plans were put in place to expand the AIF from the two divisions that had been at Gallipoli to four. This expansion was achieved by splitting a number of original battalions to provide a core of experienced officers, NCOs and ordinary ranks which could then be brought up to battalion strength with an injection of reinforcements from the camps.
 
The Gallipoli veterans of the 9th Battalion were split to create the nucleus of a new 9th Battalion and a “sister” battalion; the 49th. Bob was posted to the 9th Battalion as a reinforcement on 19th January 1916. The new recruits, led by the old hands, began training in preparation for their deployment to the “real war”; the Western Front.
 
The full strength 9th Battalion, still part of the 3rd brigade but now a part of the 1st Division AIF, sailed from Alexandria on 27th March and arrived in the French port of Marseilles on 3rd April. The battalion then marched to the railway station, cheered on the city’s population where they were placed in railway trucks marked “horses 6, men 20.” The battalion war diary made much of the conditions on the train across France, particularly the lack of toilet facilities. Men were forced to leave the train when it stopped to relieve themselves and some were left behind. The billets at Strazeele when they arrived at their final destination were described as filthy.
 
The companies of the 9th Battalion were gradually introduced into the system of trench warfare that had evolved after 18 months of stalemate. For the Gallipoli veterans, it was a complete contrast to that which they had experienced at the Dardanelles. Trenches or earthworks were well constructed and fresh water was piped into the front line. Battalion cookers were positioned some distance behind the front and delivered a hot meal every day to the troops. Perhaps the most popular was the fact that only a few miles behind the front, life in the French villages went on as normal. Soldiers on leave could enjoy a meal of egg and chips, and there was an abundance of beer and wine. Life in the northern sector of the front was rather quiet, due to the unsuitability of the ground for full scale operations. During May, the men of the 9th took part in a number of small trench raids which were conducted at night; and which inevitably resulted in a return barrage of artillery.
 
On 1st July 1916, the Field Commander of the British Expeditionary Force, Gen Douglas Haig, launched a great summer offensive in the valley of the Somme River. Just as the Australians had been building up their forces in 1915 and early 1916, the British had also been raising a new army, often referred to as Kitchener’s Army. Those new battalions of “pals” rose up out of the jump off trenches and walked doggedly towards the German machine guns. Those fresh faced young men were cut down in their thousands; 60,000 casualties on the first day (20,000 of whom were killed).
 
Haig was committed to the battle and in spite of spiralling losses, continued to throw his divisions into the hail of bullets. By the middle of July, and with very little to show for the efforts of the British infantry, Haig was forced to commit his reserves, including the four divisions of the AIF that were in France. As part of diversion to draw troops away from the battle at Verdun, the 5th Division of the AIF was put into the line to attack with scarcely any preparation. The attack at Fromelles was a disaster and the 5th Division was so badly damaged that it was not fit for front line duty for the next 12 months.
 
The 1st Division of the AIF was ordered into the Somme campaign to capture the village of Pozieres which occupied a strategic position on the Albert to Bapaume Road. The 9th Battalion occupied the right flank, as they had done at Gallipoli, during an assault on the 22nd July. During this action, it was reported that Bob Adermann, who was part of a Lewis Gun crew, was reported missing. Subsequent inquiries revealed that he had been killed.
 
A number of witnesses stated that Bob had come across a wounded man, John Swaysland, in a shell crater. Bob began to carry the wounded man back to a dressing station when both were cut down by machine gun fire, killing them both. The battle for Pozieres would rage for another six weeks and see two more divisions of the AIF committed to the fight and by the time that burial parties could begin to scour the battlefield, all trace of Bob and John was lost.
 
Bob’s family finally received a parcel of Bob’s personal effects which included 2 hair brushes, a New Testament Gospel, keys, coins and an identity disc. Pozieres was a shocking baptism for the AIF. In total, those six weeks cost the AIF 23,000 casualties, many of whom like Bob Adermann have no known grave.
 
At the end of the war, the Australian Government resolved to construct a permanent memorial to the missing in France. The Australian National Memorial to the Missing is located within the grounds of the Villers Bretonneux Cemetery. There are 10,000 names on the stone tablets commemorating those who lost their lives in the defence of France, but have no known grave. Bob Adermann and John Swaysland are listed there, Killed in Action 23rd July 1916.
 
On the site of a ruined blockhouse on the outskirts of Pozieres there is a stone tablet inscribed with the words of the official war historian, Charles Bean which reads:
 
“The ruin of the Pozieres windmill which lies here was the centre of the struggle on this part of the Somme Battlefield in July and August 1916. It was captured by Australian troops who fell more thickly on this ridge than on any other battlefields of the war.”