Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Roy William McLeary #2281 52nd Battalion

Roy McLeary was born at Peak Crossing on the Ipswich to Boonah railway line. His parents, Samuel and Isabella, appear to have lived for some time in Beaudesert.

Roy enlisted on 4th January 1916 in Brisbane where he apparently was employed as a telephonist with the Postmaster General’s Department. He advised his recruiter that in spite of his relatively young age (18 years) he had 4 years service with the Australian Light Horse; a part time citizens force.

Roy spent 7 months in camp in Brisbane before embarking on the “Boorora” in Brisbane as part of the 4th reinforcements for the 52nd Battalion on 16th August 1916. By December of 1916, Roy had been taken on strength by the 52nd Battalion in France. The 52nd Battalion would form part of the 13th brigade of the 4th Division AIF. The battalion was rotating in and out of the line near Flers on the Albert / Bapaume Road engaged in fatigue work during January 1917. On 14th January a party of men were engaged in repairing the parapet of a trench when an artillery shell landed amongst the party killing one man and wounding 7; one of the wounded was Roy McLeary.

Roy had sustained a severe shrapnel wound to his upper thigh and buttock and required evacuation by hospital ship to England. He was admitted into the 3rd London General Hospital at Wandsworth on 20th January. Roy would spend the next three months convalescing before being transferred to a different battalion; the 69th.

During the latter half of 1916 and throughout 1917, the Australian government was under a great deal of pressure from the British Government to increase the size of troop commitments on the Western Front. In spite of the fact that there were already five full Australian divisions deployed, and in anticipation that the second conscription plebiscite would be passed, the Australian government resolved to create a sixth division, which would be raised in England. The 69th Battalion was to be part of the this new division and Roy was transferred to the camp at Perham Downs. The idea of a sixth division died very quickly as the existing divisions could not sustain full compliments of men, let alone having the capacity to sustain an additional 30,000 or so for a fresh division.
Roy was transferred to the Overseas Training Battalion at Perham Downs and the 69th Battalion was disbanded by October 1917. Roy was promoted to corporal and placed on permanent duty in a training role at Tidworth barracks.

The spring of 1918 offered the German commander on the Western Front, Ludendorff, a brief window in which he could take advantage of a superiority in numbers. The window would close as soon as General Pershing’s American regiments, which at full strength would be over one million men under arms, were sufficiently trained to be put into the fight. In anticipation of a German attack, all available men in England were sent to France. Roy found himself posted back to the 52nd Battalion on 6th March 1918.

Two weeks later Operation Michael was launched in the valley of the Somme. The German advance retook all the ground that had been lost to the British in 1916 and 1917. The British 5th Army which was holding the line on the Somme fell back in total disarray. The German advance was only a few miles from Amiens, a vital transport hub. If the advance continued the French and British armies would be split and Germany could advance to the channel ports and win the war!

In a desperate move to halt the advance, General Haig, the British Commander ordered the 4th Division AIF south from Belgium to take up a blocking position in front of Amiens. The 13th Brigade marched through the night and arrived at a defensive position at Dernacourt on 3rd April, Easter Sunday.

The position was dominated by a railway embankment and units of two brigades took up defensive positions on the embankment. They were facing three German divisions of storm troopers. The position was occupied so quickly that no serious earthworks could be carried out to provide cover for the Australian defenders. The 52nd Battalion was arranged along the railway embankment. On their left was the 47th Battalion, with the division between the two battalions marked by a railway underpass.

On 5th April, the Germans began a sustained attack. The railway underpass proved to be a weak point and as the enemy pressed through. The positions occupied by two companies of the 47th were over-run and only won back late in the day after a counterattack by the 48th and 49th Battalions. The advance had been halted but at great cost. The 52nd did not sustain as heavy a casualty toll as the other battalions manning the embankment but nevertheless the losses were considerable with 32 men killed and 119 wounded.

One of those listed as killed was Roy McLeary. During the confusion of the battle, Roy’s remains were lost. He is commemorated on the memorial tablets on the Australian National Memorial at Villers Brettoneux in the company of over 10,000 Australians who died in France and have no known grave.