Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Lance Corporal William Stokes    SN 4603

William Stokes enlisted on July 17, 1915. His older brother P. J (James) Stokes had enlisted in the January of that year and was with the 7th Battalion fighting on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Six weeks after William’s enlistment, James would die of wounds at the treacherous Lone Pine Battle. 

The Stoke’s brothers were both born in Bendigo however, their parents were both deceased when they signed on to the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF). William was a Labourer, twenty three years of age and stated he lived in Ashley st, Ironbark in Bendigo.  He listed his Nearest of Kin (NOK) as Myrtle Jones, his Fiancée who lived in Barnard street.

Obviously keen to join his brother James, William gets himself assigned to the 7th battalion joining the 14th Reinforcements. Training commences at the Bendigo Camp known as the 16th Depot Battalion camp. Sometime in September, William would be transferred to Seymour Camp. It is here, that he would learn the news of his older brother’s death at Gallipoli in early August.

William’s time in Seymour is confirmed by a newspaper report on his brother’s death and a photo in the Bendigoian newspaper with other Bendigo soldiers in training at the Seymour Camp (see photo).Both appear in the newpapers in September, 1915.  

He would embark on January 28, 1916 from the Port of Melbourne on HMAT Themistocles for the long journey to the Middle East where the surviving Australian troops were recuperating and rebuilding after the disastrous Gallipoli campaign.

On this long voyage there would be five other White Hills lads on board.  George Every, Charles Fasham, Harold Hood and Fred Tuckerman and Oliver Roberts, all Reinforcements for the severely depleted 6th battalion who had suffered greatly at Gallipoli. The 7th battalion would be no better position and the AIF had already commenced a major re-organisation of battalions in order to spread the experienced troops from the Dardanelles campaign with the raw recruits arriving daily from Australia. 

The Themistocles would stop at Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to refuel and provision then cross the Indian Ocean to the Suez Canal. After a full month at sea they would reach the main port at Alexandria in ancient Egypt. William and fellow recruits would have known little of the truth of what happened on the cliffs of the Dardanelles Peninsula, however they would soon witness the aftermath on arriving in Egypt.

In Egypt at this time, a comprehensive expansion of the AIF was ordered and new reinforcements were landing from Australia constantly. Unhappily, established Battalions were divided in order to spread the experienced soldiers among the raw recruits.

Lt Colonel Pompey Elliot who was the Commander of the 7th Battalion would be promoted to command a brigade which meant he was now responsible for four battalions.William would be transferred to the newly established 57th battalion one of the four in Battalions in Pompey Elliot’s Brigade.

The 7th battalion friends William would have made on the voyage leave the searing sands of Egypt in late March whilst the 57th would stay in Egypt to undertake duties defending the Suez Canal. He would be admitted to Hospital at a location known as Ferry Post East  near Ismailia on April 11.  He would spend six days in hospital with his condition not recorded.

In June, 1916 the 15th Brigade including the 57th would finally get their chance to sail for Europe. Leaving Alexandria on June 23, William would sail to the southern French port of Marseilles no doubt welcoming the cooler climate of the Mediterranean. Their vessel would be the troop ship Transylvania.

From Marseilles it would be 600 miles of train journeys through the heart of lush, green France arriving in Northern France at the British and Dominion base in Estaples.

Having only arrived in France in late June, the 57th became embroiled in its first major battle on the Western Front on 19 July.The battle of Fromelles was a disaster. Fortunately for the 57th it was allocated a supporting role and suffered relatively light casualties compared to its sister battalions. This, however, meant that 57th carried the burden of holding the line in ensuing days for the brigade. Despite its grievous losses, the 5th Division continued to man the front in the Fromelles sector for a further two months. (Source - https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U51497  )

William survives Fromelles, and in mid December, 1916 be admitted to Hospital in the 5th Division Depot at Estaples in Northern France. After a month in treatment he would rejoin his unit in mid January 1917.

Early in 1917 the battalion participated in the advance that followed the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line, but it was spared having to assault it. It did, however, defend gains made during the second battle of Bullecourt.

William would again have short bouts in Hospital in March and April, not unusual for an infantry soldier enduring the dreadful trenches of the western front. In July (12) he is appointed Lance Corporal. 

Later in the year, the AIF's focus of operations switched to the Ypres sector in Belgium. The 57th's major battle here was at Polygon Wood on 26 September. 

William would again survive in the field and some horrific fighting, being admitted to hospital in Rouen in early October (3) and then again in December 1917.

William would rejoin the 57th Battalion again in mid winter on January 27, 1918. He would serve with the 57th throughout the tumultuous victories of 1918 in which his 57th and the 15th Brigade played a major hand.

Led by Brigadier General ‘Pompey‘Elliot  the 15th Brigade along with the 13th Brigade would save the day at the crucial battle of Villers-Bretonneux (V-B) in Northern France.

Earlier in April, 1918, the Germans had launched major offences utilising additional divisions that that had been freed up by Russia's exit from the war. The German forces had taken the crucial town of V-B which gave them a clear vantage point to shell the main railway city of Northern France, Amiens. Taking Amiens would finally split the French and Commonwealth forces and bring victory for the Germans. 

Realising the importance of V-B, Pompey Elliot devised a plan to retake the town. Eventually at 10:00 p.m on April 24, they were given the green light to launch the opeartion. The operation began with German machine gun crews causing many Australian casualties. A number of charges against machine-gun posts helped the Australian advance; The two brigades swept around Villers-Bretonneux and the Germans retreated, for a while escaping the pocket along a railway cutting. The Australians eventually captured the German positions and pushed the German line back, leaving the German troops in Villers-Bretonneux surrounded. The British units eventually attacked frontally and suffered many casualties. By 25 April, the town had been recaptured and handed back to the villagers. The battle was a great success for the Australian troops, who had defeated the German attempt to capture Amiens and recaptured Villers-Bretonneux while outnumbered; the village remained in Allied hands to the end of the war. Fighting continued in Villers-Bretonneux and the vicinity for months after the counter-attack. ( Source -  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Villers-Bretonneux )

Unless you were wounded or killed, individual battles were never recorded on AIF personnel Service Records, however, it is most likely, William as a member of the 57th battalion would have taken part in this heroic battle.

The British High Command never fully acknowledged the Australian forces achievement at V-B issuing congratulations to British division & officers who largely stayed in their reserve positions during the whole battle.

The 57th Battalion would take part in nearly all of the main victories by Commonwealth throughout 1918. There are no entries in William’s service record until December 14, following the Armistice on November 11, 1918.

He is given two weeks leave to England from December 17 till New Years Eve and then it is back to his battalion in France. In January (27), he is promoted to Temporary Corporal which he holds until he leaves England for Australia. In March, 1919 he is granted a passage to England landing at Weymouth for ‘Return to Australia’.

He would wait at the AIF camp at Sutton Veney on the Salisbury Plain until the passage home becomes available.

On October (8), 1919, William would finally leave England. He would return on the HT Devon, disembarking in Melbourne on November 27, 1919. William would not be discharged from the Army until March (28) 1920.

Lance Corporal William Stokes of the AIF 57th Battalion is remembered by the people of White Hills. The names of the local lads who sacrificed their lives and those that were fortunate to return from the Great War are shown on the embossed copper plaques on the White Hills Arch of Triumph, at the entrance to the White Hills Botanic Gardens.