Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Harold Thomas Bostock #1888 25th Battalion

The Roll of Honour card completed by Harold’s father, Joseph Bostock of Derby Street, Coorparoo indicates that Harold emigrated to Australia with his family at age 12, and then completed his schooling at Coorparoo State School.

One month after Harold’s eighteenth birthday, he presented himself to the recruiting depot in Adelaide Street to enlist on 10th June 1915. He gave his occupation as labourer. Harold was drafted into the 3rd reinforcements for the 25th Battalion. The 25th Battalion had been raised at Enoggera earlier that year as part of the second division of the AIF, and was comprised almost exclusively of Queenslanders.

Whilst in training at Enoggera, Harold went AWOL for one day and was docked one day’s pay. The original battalion departed Brisbane on 29th of June, but Harold along with the other reinforcements would not depart until 16th August on HMAT “Kyara” from Pinkenba. The sea voyage was quite swift and barely two months later, Harold had joined the 25th at Gallipoli.

After the failed August offensives at Suvla Bay and The Nek and the heroic battle of Lone Pine, the ANZAC front settled into a quiet stalemate. When the 25th arrived at ANZAC on 12 September, they performed a mainly defensive role at Courtney’s Post and Steele’s Post. The 25th was evacuated from Gallipoli on 18th December 1915 and arrived back in Alexandria on 9th January 1916. This interlude in Egypt gave the battalion time to regroup, make up equipment that had been abandoned on the peninsula and train reinforcements.

The newly expanded AIF would now to be deployed on the Western Front. The 25th Battalion disembarked in Marseilles from Egypt on 14 March 1916 and proceeded by train north to Armentieres near the Belgian border. They were the first Australian battalion in France. This was a fairly quiet sector on the western front and the British commanders used this sector to initiate new battalions into the business of trench warfare.

General Haig, Supreme British commander on the Western Front was planning a big push in the south of the British sector through the Somme River valley. It was to be the largest battle of the war so far, and was timed to commence on the 1st of July 1916. The attack was a disaster, with the British suffering 60,000 casualties on the first day. In spite of this, Haig was determined to push on and the1st, 2nd and 4th Australian Divisions were moved south from the Armentieres sector to Albert to take part in the Somme offensive.

On the 23rd July, the 1st Division AIF was tasked with capturing the village of Pozieres. The 1st Division took the village but were unable to take the two lines of trenches beyond. The 1st Division were withdrawn and the 2nd Division tasked with taking the enemy trenches. The attack, the first major offensive by the 25th Battalion since arriving in France, was to begin just after midnight on the 29th July. Prior to going into the line, each man was issued with a tin triangle which was to be sown on to the back of the tunic as an aid to artillery spotters. This idea, according to the Unit History; Black over Blue, was extremely unpopular as it was thought the triangles presented a good aiming point for the enemy. In Harold’s case, this may well have been true. The attack with the 25th Battalion in the centre of the line was a failure, with the 25th Battalion suffering 343 casualties, 131 of whom were killed (from a strength of a little less than 1000 men). One of those killed was Harold Bostock. He had just turned 19.

His father later reported that he had received a letter from one of Harold’s mates who reported that Harold “…went in under heavy fire to bring in a wounded comrade and both were killed.” A Red Cross Report states that the witness saw Private Bostock “…hit in the back.” His body was in no man’s land along with two others but could not be recovered. The ground around Pozieres was subjected to so much artillery fire that any trace of those who fell in no man’s land there was obliterated. Harold Bostock would eventually be commemorated, along with 11,000 other Australians with no known grave in France, on the memorial tablets at the Australian National Memorial at Villers Bretonneux.

Today just outside the village of Pozieres, half way between Albert and Bapaume are the remains of a windmill and German blockhouse. The windmill; occupying a position on the highest part of the ridge just behind the two lines of trenches which the 25th failed to take on 29th July, provides a panoramic view of the surrounding countryside. On the site of the windmill is a commemorative stone 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.”

The story of Harold Bostock is in many ways typical of the loss that the nation would endure during the years of the Great War. A young man, just 18 who enlisted to serve an empire, and gave his life in the senseless slaughter that was the Somme in 1916.