Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

# 4357 ANDREWS James Martin                   25th Battalion
Jim Andrews, one of three brothers born to David and Fleurine Andrews was born at Gatton in the Lockyer Valley and grew up on the family farm at Ma Ma Creek where Jim and brothers George and Bertie all attended School. As was common at that time in farming communities, Jim probably left school to work on the farm at a young age. At this time, he also became a member of the Ma Ma Creek Rifle Club and served in the Citizens Military Forces. It is possible that Jim may have been working in the Nanango district prior to enlistment but apart from the fact that his name is listed on the Nanango Memorial, there is no other record which supports this conjecture. He is the only one of the three brothers listed on the Nanango Memorial.
Jim and his younger brother Bertie attended the Brisbane Recruitment Depot on 29th October 1915. Jim was 25 years old and Bertie had just turned 18. Both were taken in directly into the 11th reinforcements of the 25th Battalion. They named their mother, Fleurine Elise Andrews of Ma Ma Creek as next of kin. Jim and Bertie began initial training at Fraser’s Paddock at the Enoggera Camp. On the 31st March 1916, the 11threinforcements journeyed to Sydney to embark on the “Star of Victoria.” The embarkation roll shows that Jim and Bertie had successive regimental numbers and both had allocated three shillings of their daily pay to their mother. At the same time that the brothers were sailing for overseas, their eldest brother George enlisted in Townsville.
The 25th Battalion, part of the 7th brigade of the 2nd Division of the AIF had been raised in Brisbane in March 1915 before seeing action in the final months of the Gallipoli campaign. During early 1916, the entire AIF was assembled in Egypt where a huge expansion of the force was undertaken. As units were brought up to strength, they were sent across the Mediterranean to eventually be absorbed by the British Army fighting on the Western Front. The 25th was one of the first units to arrive in France and by the time that Jim and Bertie arrived in Egypt, the battalion was in Northern France.
The reinforcements were not immediately required and the 10th and 11th reinforcements were sent to the large British depot at Etaples in May 1916 where they continued to train in readiness for being called up
 
General Haig, Supreme British Commander on the Western Front planned a big push in the south of the British sector through the Somme River valley for the summer of 1916. It was to be the largest battle of the war so far, and was timed to commence on the 1st of July. The attack was a disaster, with the British suffering 60,000 casualties on the first day, 20,000 of whom were killed. Very few gains were made, save for a small salient in the line near Thiepval. Haig was determined to take advantage of this small gain and ordered the 1st, 2nd and 4th Australian Divisions to proceed south from the Armentieres sector to Albert to take part in the Somme offensive. 
 
The village of Pozieres half way between Albert and Bapaume, sat on the highest point of that part of the battlefield just south of Thiepval. Pozieres was taken by the 1st Division on 20th July, after which the division was withdrawn. The second division’s objective was to take a blockhouse which had been built on the site of a windmill in the village of Pozieres. The windmill was behind two lines of trenches, and provided a panoramic view of the surrounding countryside. The attack, the first major offensive by the 25th Battalion since arriving in France, was to begin just after midnight on the 29th July. The attack was a failure, with the 25th Battalion suffering 343 casualties (from a strength of a little less than 1000 men).
Not willing to yield to such a setback, Haig ordered the 2nd Division to be reinforced for another assault. Jim and Bertie were hastily called up and joined the 25th in the rear areas on 2nd August, just in time for a further assault. A series of charges were made by the men of the 7th Brigade over the next few days. During one such action, Bertie sustained a gunshot wound to his foot. He was transported to a casualty clearing station and ultimately to England.
On 5th August, Jim was listed as missing. He had not been with the battalion long enough for anyone to know who he was, he simply just disappeared; probably blown to pieces by the murderous artillery barrage that the Germans brought down.
When the 25th was finally relieved from Pozieres on 7th August 1916, the casualty list of killed, wounded and missing amounted to over 700; from a nominal battalion strength of 1000. It would take a further 12 months before the military authorities determined in a court of inquiry that James Martin Andrews had been killed in action on 5th August 1916.
Jim’s mother, by that time a widow, was granted a pension of 2 pounds per fortnight.
Jim’s remains were never recovered. In 1938, some 20 years after the end of the First World War, the Australian Government constructed the Australian National Memorial at Villers Bretonneux. The memorial was dedicated by the newly crowned King George VI. The memorial records the names of over 10,000 Australian soldiers who lost their lives in France and have no known grave; James Martin Andrews among them.
 
On the site of the Pozieres windmill today 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.”
 
Fleurine Andrews would endure more heartache before the war ended. Eldest son George was killed at Messines and like his brother Jim has no known Grave. Bertie recovered from his wound sustained at Pozieres and returned to the 25th. He was killed in action at Morlancourt in June 1918, aged 20.
 
To commemorate the loss of the three brothers, a memorial was erected in the grounds of the Anglican Cemetery at Ma Ma Creek.