Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

"..4741 Private Henry (Harry) Burrows [Heinrich Burow], 9th Battalion, of Memerambi, Qld. A labourer prior to enlistment, he embarked with the 15th Reinforcements on HMAT Commonwealth on 28 March 1915. Private Burrows died of wounds on 31 March 1918 and is buried in the Codewaersvelde British Cemetery, France. He was aged 25 years." - SOURCE (www.awm.gov.au)

#474 BURROWS Henry                       9th Battalion
 
Henry Burrows was born at Beenleigh, south of Brisbane, in April 1892. His parents, Frederikke and Fredrich Burow were German immigrants who arrived in Brisbane in 1888 and probably took up farming on the banks of the Logan River. Henry was christened Heinrich but like so many German immigrant families, the Burow family chose to anglicise their names. At some stage, the family moved into the South Burnett and took up farming at Memerambi just north of Kingaroy.
 
Henry travelled to Brisbane to walk in to the Adelaide Street Recruiting Depot on 14th September 1915. He stated his age as 23 and occupation as labourer. Henry named his father of Memerambi as his next of kin. He spent six months in camp at Enoggera where he was drafted into the 15th reinforcements of the 9thBattalion. On 28th March 1916, Henry and the other reinforcements boarded the “Commonwealth” in Brisbane and proceeded to Egypt where the AIF was being reorganised and expanded prior to being sent to the Western Front. The reinforcements spent some time in the camps in Egypt but there being no immediate need for reinforcements in the 9th Battalion, Henry sailed on from Alexandria to England. He was taken on by the 3rd brigade Training Battalion at Perham Downs.
 
While Henry was in England, the 9th Battalion as part of the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Division of the AIF was called into the line as part of the British Somme offensive. The campaign began disastrously with 60,000 British casualties on the first day. By the middle of July, the 9th Battalion was committed to the battle at the village of Pozieres. Once relieved at Pozieres, the battalion moved north into Belgium where Henry joined them on 7th September 1916. In October, the 9th was back on the Somme at Fricourt and then put into the battle at Flers before the severe winter closed down the front.
 
In the spring of 1917, the 9th was involved in the 2nd Battle of Bullecourt; an attempt to break into the Hindenburg Line, in May. Following the failure of Bullecourt, all of the Australian forces were withdrawn to Belgian Flanders where preparations were under way for the 3rd Battle of Ypres, often called the Battle of Passchendaele. The men of the 9th had a relatively long spell out of the line, in which time they were able to take on reinforcements, repair or replace equipment, and engage in sport and recreation. As part of this rest period, Henry was granted 14 days leave to England. He arrived back to his battalion in time to be included in attacks at Polygon Wood and Broodseinde Ridge in October.
 
The Ypres campaign which had begun with such promise in the late summer of 1917 ground to a halt with the arrival of unseasonal rains which turned the earth, already churned up by constant artillery bombardment, into a sea of cloying mud which swallowed men, animals and equipment. The 9th was relieved from the last attempt to capture Passchendaele in November and went into winter quarters in Nissen huts around the village of Poperinghe.
 
The latter part of 1917 produced a change in the strategic situation on the Western Front as far as the German command was concerned. The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia brought about the end to fighting on the Eastern Front. A peace treaty between Germany and Russia released up to sixty German divisions which, once re-equipped and re-trained, could be used to press home a distinct advantage on the Western Front in the spring of 1918. British intelligence predicted that the main thrust of the Spring Offensive would be directed at the Ypres salient. To meet this expected threat, the British Commander Douglas Haig kept his best troops, which included all five divisions of the AIF, in Belgium.
 
The Spring Offensive began on 21st March 1918 along a front that reached from the Belgian coast all the way down to the Somme and beyond. The battalions of the 3rd brigade of the AIF were holding the line just south of Ypres around Hollebeke.
 
On the 24th March, Henry Burrows, while occupying a forward observation post, received a severe shrapnel wound which fractured his skull. He was carried by stretcher bearers to the 1st Field Ambulance and from there was transferred to the 11th Casualty Clearing Station near the village of Godewaersvelde, south west of Ypres. Henry died of his wound on 31st March and was buried in the nearby British cemetery. He was just short of his 26th birthday.
 
A parcel of Henry’s personal belongings, which included a gold ring, a cigarette case, knife, scissors and two keys, was despatched to Memerambi in July 1918. Unfortunately, the ship carrying the parcel, as well as personal effects of another 5,000 fallen soldiers was sunk by a torpedo from a German submarine. Remarkably an identity disc was not included in this parcel and the disc was sent by a separate ship which arrived safely, the only memento that the family received.  Henry’s mother received a pension of one pound per fortnight
 
Henry left all of his estate to F. Burrows. It is unclear if that is his father who sometimes used the name Frederick or his brother. The family chose the following inscription for Henry’s headstone at Godewaersvelde: HE LEFT US IN SORROW, HE MAY REJOICE.