Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Harry William Burghardt

Private 3704

1.

Harry experienced the war in France and Belgium. More is known about his time on the Western Front. The conditions and environment on all battlefronts would have been very frightening for everyone on and off the battlefield. Stories from troops at the first Gallipoli landing started to filter back and were very detailed about the conditions. With bullets, bombs and grenades flying everywhere it would have been terrifying. Being surrounded by death and pain, blood and gore, plague and sickness. The conditions were daunting in the least and probably the most devastating vision anyone would expect to see. It must have haunted him for many years after.

The conditions met by the first troops landing at Gallipoli had been massively underestimated. The battle was longer and casualty numbers much higher than expected and planned for. In summer the heat was intense and conditions deteriorated even more quickly. It took several hours for injured soldiers to be transported to the ‘Casualty Clearing Stations’ before they could be treated. Medical facilities were poor and often being bombed. Poor sanitation meant diseases increased especially diarrhoea, dysentery and fever. Lice were common and a lack of food meant morale was very low.

2.

Harry William Burghardt was born on the February 27th in the year 1892 in Arnhem, Gelderland, Holland, in the Netherlands. At an unknown time of his life Harry was orphaned and later adopted by the Burghardt family, members of the Protestant Church. Harry’s father, Charles William Burghardt, was a farmer. By 1915 Harry had left his parents and moved to Australia. He settled in the Mount Barker region of South Australia and worked as a gardener. Before arriving in Australia he had already served 8 months in the Dutch Navy.

3.

As a young single man aged 23 and a half years, Harry joined the Australian Army on the 26th August 1915. He was attached to the 10th Infantry Battalion as Private Burghardt 3704. In December of the same year Harry boarded RMS Malwa, one of over a hundred ships leased by The Commonwealth Government to transport both troops and supplies in various formations to areas of Britain and France. They arrived in Marseilles on the 6th April 1916 where Harry would join his fellow troops at the Western Front as part of the 9-12 reinforcements.

By the time Harry arrived at the Western Front many lessons had been learned from Gallipoli and conditions were better but still very tough. The troops had billets where they slept within 2 kilometres from the fighting front and they had canteens where they could buy food, tobacco and clothing.

Though there had been improvements in conditions more than 80 percent of the casualties during World War 1 occurred on the Western Front. Evacuating the thousands of injured soldiers could still take hours and was often done under fire. Sometimes there were too many injured to cope with. Private Roger Morgan from the 2nd Battalion described the scene in July 1916.

"dead and dying heroes lie one on top of the other, many groan in agony, others just lie still unconscious of all pain … for some time we have been unable to get room inside and have had to dress wounds out in the open on the roadside … Many of them were blown to pieces lying there in the open unable to move."

Conditions got worse in winter when France was hit by its worst weather for 36 years. The ground got waterlogged from heavy rain and then frost and snow came. “Trench foot” became a common problem as troops struggled in the wet conditions to keep their feet dry. Many men were evacuated from the frontline for the treatment of boils and sores that lead to fungal infection, gangrene and sometimes amputation.

Harry was admitted to hospital many times during his service in France. One of the most common causes that needed hospital treatment among all service personnel were sexually transmitted diseases (STD). On 20th August 1916 Private Burghardt was wounded in action in Calais, he had been fighting for five months. A week later he was transferred on HS Newhaven to a military hospital in England with a severe shrapnel wound to his left leg. It took a month to inform his next of kin about his injuries and hospitalisation. It must have been as difficult for family and friends back home with the constant worry about if they would see their loved ones again.

As many young servicemen and women did during times of war Harry met and married Emma Turner on 26th October 1917 during his recuperation.

In between medical treatments Harry also served with the 70th Battalion but was returned to the 10th Battalion in October 1917 after a short period of leave. He was sent back to the Base Depot at Le Havre before re-joining the battlefront. After fighting for another nine months he was again seriously wounded in action. Following a long hospital stay in France Harry was returned to England in April 1919 and reunited with his new wife On the 3rd July 1919 they boarded the S.S Zealandic for Australia. They settled in Kilkenny, Adelaide.

Harry was medically discharged from the service in October 1919 after four hard fought years and later received the Victory Medal, British War Medal and the 1914/15 Star for his heroic efforts. In the St. Marie Cemetery in Le Havre there are 138 Australians buried alongside many hundreds of other Commonwealth troops that did not return home.