Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of Alfred and Deborah HUGHES

Step son of Mrs Margaret Hughes, Mount Gravatt near Brisbane, Queensland

The attestation papers for Cliff Hughes indicate that he was a 32-year-old farmer, single of Mount Gravatt. He listed his stepmother, Margaret Hughes as his next of kin and his marriage certificate names his father as Alfred Hughes, a horse dealer.

Cliff enlisted in Brisbane on 22nd January 1916 and after a short period of training embarked on the “Seang Choon” in Brisbane with the 13th reinforcements of the 25th Battalion. The reinforcements landed in Alexandria in June 1916. The 25th Battalion had already left Egypt for the Western Front and so the reinforcements were diverted to England.

After the battles of Pozieres in July and August 1916, the 25th battalion was in need of fresh replacements. Cliff joined the battalion in a rest camp in Flanders in October 1916. The battalion would soon go into the line at Flers, the final battle that would conclude Haig’s Somme campaign.

The attack at Flers was an attempt to move the front line forward out of the mud onto some high ground around Bapaume. The attack failed; by some accounts because the 25th and 26th Battalions were delayed waiting for rations to come up, and recriminations were swift. Both the commanding officers were dismissed. The worsening conditions in the line led to Cliff being sent to hospital with “trench feet.” He spent some time in hospital in England before going to a training depot at Perham Downs on Salisbury Plain. Cliff did not rejoin his unit until late July 1917.

The 25th battalion was now in Flanders, resting and preparing for their next major offensive, Menin Road outside Ypres. Cliff received a minor shrapnel wound to his hand and shoulder which kept him in a casualty clearing station for a few days. On 25th September 1917, Cliff rejoined his unit in time for the attack on Broodseinde Ridge (better known for the name of a village on the ridge, Passchendaele). On 10th October, Cliff reported to a casualty clearing station sick. His records do not record the type of illness but the battalion history states that large quantities of mustard gas were employed during the battle and it is possible that Cliff was suffering from the effects of gas poisoning.

On 15th October Cliff was posted to a convalescent depot behind the lines. Two weeks later he must have been feeling a lot better as he was caught in the town without a leave pass and received 4 days confined to barracks.

Cliff rejoined his unit as they spent the winter behind the line at Messines, just south of Ypres. During this period, he was hospitalised with trench fever but perhaps as an indication of the need to keep the Australian Divisions up to strength, he was posted back to his unit 10 days later.

In March 1918 the Australian Divisions, now united in a single corps under Monash, moved back to the Somme to meet the German spring offensive. Cliff was wounded for the second time at Morlancourt, but he was again lucky as the wound was not serious and he was back with his unit on 20th June.

Cliff took part in the battle of Hamel on 4th July (Monash’s famous set piece that took 93 minutes to achieve the objective) and the Battle of Amiens on 8th August. These two actions spelt the beginning of the end for the German Army. Haig urged Monash to keep up the pressure as the Germans withdrew back to the Hindenburg Line.

This period also spelt the end of 25th Battalion as a fighting force. In spite of being reinforced 21 times, the battalion was down to a half of its original size. Throughout the AIF, under strength battalions were disbanded with the survivors absorbed into the remaining three battalions in each brigade. While this administrative exercise was taking place, Clifford received two weeks leave in England. Upon his return to France on 12th October, he found the 25th Battalion was no more. He was now in the 26th Battalion; although former 25th Battalion men continued to wear their old battalion colour patches. The brigade would take no further part in hostilities.

After the Armistice, Cliff returned to England to await transport back to Australia, but his departure was delayed. On 25th March 1919, Cliff married Florence Carr in London. He may well have met her on his previous leave in October 1918. Cliff was 35 years old and Florence was 25. It would seem that Cliff lived with Florence at her address before finally being returned to Australia in November 1919. Cliff was discharged from the Army on 22nd January 1920, exactly four years to the day since his enlistment. Cliff applied for repatriation benefits in 1935. A notation in file records that he died in the same year. He would have been 49 years old.

Member of the Shaftsbury Lodge G.U.O.O.F.