Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

1986 T/CPL J. LYALL 2 BN. A.I.F.

John Lyall attested for the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on 13 January 1915. He was sent to Gallipoli with the 5th Reinforcements 2nd Battalion AIF and was present with the battalion when the attack was made at Lone Pine on 6 August 1915. Surviving that engagement, he went with the battalion to France.

John Lyall was born in Scotland on 8 February 1893. His father was John Nicholas Lyall (1871-1942), and his mother was Agnes Mathieson Shepherd (1869-1927). At the age of 19, John arrived in Sydney. His parents and siblings accompanied him aboard the Commonwealth arriving on 23 January 1912.

John enlisted on 13 January 1915 and soon commenced training at Liverpool in Sydney. Upon enlisting, he stated that his occupation was a farm hand, with his address as the Arrawatta Estate in Inverell, NSW. For his next of kin, he listed his mother, Agnes, who was also living at the Arrawatta Estate. At the time, Arrawatta Estate was a dairy farm owned by Tow Bowling. The Estate employed approximately 60 people. When entering Australia two years before, he'd listed his occupation as a farmer, as was his father, so given the family history of farming, it was natural that as new migrants to NSW, the family would drift towards agriculture as a source of employment.

The Liverpool Military Camp was the main training centre in New South Wales. Here the men learned the basics of military operations through drills—which involved hours of route marches and rifle practice at the Long Bay rifle range. A typical breakfast for the recruits was chops or steak. Plenty of bread, butter and jam was washed down with tea. The men generally had a stew or roast with onions, cabbage, and potatoes for dinner. When John Lyall first arrived at Liverpool, the camp's facilities were inadequate for the number of men living there. Justice Rich's Further Interim Report into conditions at the camp provides evidence of this inadequacy when it was presented to the Commonwealth Parliament on 27 July 1915. Reading the report gives the impression that the camp suffered from issues with drainage of water, poor sanitation, inadequate warmth and a lack of lighting. There is a photo of the camp taken in 1913 with young men (presumably cadets) standing in water above their ankles, highlighting the issues with drainage; however, given that riots broke out over conditions at the camp in November 1915, it is unlikely that conditions had improved when John Lyall passed through in March 1915. In fact, on 14 February 1916, thousands of soldiers took strike action and left the camp. They marched on Central Railway Station, where a skirmish resulted in police shooting one soldier dead with six others injured. The cause was the ongoing problems at the Liverpool military camp.

Completing preliminary training, he embarked for Egypt aboard HMAT Kyarra on 13 April 1915, being sent as part of the 5th reinforcements for 2nd Battalion AIF. He arrived at Abbasia, Egypt, on 15 June 1915.

Abbasia

Trains were used to convey the troops from the ship's side in Suez to Abbasia camp, situated on the north-eastern outskirts of Cairo. Part of the railway ran parallel with and in sight of the Suez Canal. Near Ismailia, it turned west and cut across the northern part of the desert to Zagazig, where it turned to the southwest. Oases were visible from the train, and palm trees or crops of a vivid green colour marked the irrigation areas. The ground around the Abbasia camp was flat. On the west side were the cavalry and infantry barracks. To the east of Abbasia was the hospital at Heliopolis, the base of the No.1 Australian General Hospital. This hospital would treat many Anzacs from Gallipoli.

Gallipoli

When John Lyall was sent to Gallipoli on 22 June 1915, the AIF and 2nd Battalion had been fighting for eight weeks. 2nd Battalion, was part of 1st Brigade AIF, one of three brigades that comprised 1st Division AIF.

What was it like landing as a reinforcement at Gallipoli? There was no safe place at Gallipoli. Unlike the Western Front, where units could rotate out of the line and rest and refit in a village several kilometres back from the front lines, away from artillery fire, this was not possible at Gallipoli. Conditions were cramped, and even aboard the ship, before landing, spent bullets could still find their way out to sea. To avoid Turkish gunfire, landings of reinforcements and supplies occurred at night, the ships having used Lemnos as a waypoint before the short run into Anzac. Large pinnaces would come alongside the boat, pick up the men and supplies and tow them to small piers built from the beach. The men would need to be clear of the beach by daylight as the Turkish shelling would begin at that stage. Standing on the beach, John would have looked up at a steep hill rising from the beach. On the side of the hill were several dugouts and small huts, partly dug out and partly built up with sandbags. Many stores in boxes would have been piled up all along the beach. Looking out to sea, John would have seen the wrecks of pinnaces stranded at the water's edge and a couple more sunk some distance out. To get off the beach, the reinforcements walked up some rough steps cut into the hillside and then into a sap. Demonstrating that there were very few safe places at Gallipoli, bullets would fly past overhead as the men made their way down the sap. John Lyall and the other 2nd Battalion reinforcements were now in the war.

The War Diary records the total strength of the battalion at 9 am that day, just before John's arrival, as 21 officers and 678 Other Ranks. The day was recorded as fine. The battalion was in the front line on the Right Section of 1st Brigade. The next day the War Diary recorded the battalion's strength as 26 officers and 760 Other Ranks. Consequently, it can be assumed that John Lyall and the other reinforcements were put into the line shortly after arrival. On that day, the battalion was subjected to some Turkish artillery fire in which shrapnel was used, although no one was wounded. This shelling occurred at 7 pm, and at 10 pm, there was a "little bomb-throwing" from the Ottomans, causing one man to be wounded.

On 26 June, the 2nd's trenches were visited by General Hamilton, General Birdwood and General Braithwaite. John Lyall had only been in the trenches for four days and had already seen the Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (MEF) and the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps commander. On 27 June, the Battalion War Diary recorded the nine-week anniversary of its arrival at Gallipoli.

The morning of 1 July was another fine day. The battalion expended 3,200 rounds in the direction of the Turkish trenches. This was a normal day's ammunition expense although it grew to 6,120 on 12 July and 12,000 rounds on 13 July, when the battalion made a demonstration to draw Turkish attention whilst an attack was made at Cape Helles. To prevent cholera, the battalion was inoculated on 13 July. On 16 July, the Battalion War Diary recorded that an experiment was performed in front of Brigade Commander, Brigadier General Walker in which an arrow was fired at the Turkish trenches with a stick of gelignite. "It exploded well." On 18 July, ten men were wounded from enemy shelling. Seven more were wounded on the 20th. The risk of wounding or death was a daily occurrence at Gallipoli.

On the morning of 5 August, the battalion commanders of 1st Brigade were called together to learn about the attack on Lone Pine. The Brigade had been tasked with the first feint of the August Offensive. The operation would give ANZAC control of the heights dominating their beachhead. Feints would be made at Helles to prevent the Ottomans from moving troops north and in the southern sector of Anzac at Lone Pine to distract them. This plan was to distract the enemy and keep them occupied elsewhere whilst the decisive attack was made in the northern sector. A third operation, the landing at Suvla Bay, was proposed as necessary to secure a base to support future operations once ANZAC had captured Sari Bair.

The preliminary bombardment focused on locations including Lone Pine, German Officers' Trench, and the Nek in the Anzac sector of Gallipoli. As required by the Field Service Regulations (FSR), various kinds of artillery were used for a defined special role. 18-pounder field guns fired shrapnel to destroy the barbed wire, while 4.5-inch and 5-inch howitzers fired high explosives on Ottoman trenches. At Lone Pine, the initial bombardment on the Ottoman trenches was ineffective, and the artillery was increased in keeping with the FSR requirement that it was the artillery's duty "to assist the infantry in every way in establishing a superiority of fire over the enemy". The FSR recommended Howitzers be used on enemy entrenchments because of the "steep angle of descent" of their shells and because they could continue firing until the infantry had almost reached the objective. The fire support from the Howitzers and their ability to maintain fire on the Ottoman positions until shortly before the attacking 1st Brigade AIF reached the first line of trenches meant that the enemy was caught in their dugouts.

Three battalions were to make the attack. 2nd Battalion would be on the right or southern flank, 3rd Battalion AIF in the centre and 4th Battalion on the left. 1st Battalion was in reserve. 7th and 12th Battalions were the Divisional reserve. In keeping with doctrine, the attack was to be made with overwhelming force. Three lines would attack simultaneously with the first line leaving from secret underground lines that had pushed out 27 metres from the Australian trenches. The men were lying in wait with just a thin layer of dirt between them and daylight. All bayonets had been sharpened in anticipation of close fighting. This was a prescient order. John and the other men were ordered to carry 200 rounds of ammunition as well as iron rations for 24 hours plus two sandbags. Doctrine stipulated that once an objective was achieved, the position was to be immediately consolidated. Three sharp whistle blasts signalled that the attack was to go in. This commenced at 4.30pm.

Although the Ottomans had remained in their trenches, the first wave arriving at the enemy front line trenches found them covered in timber that was too heavy to move. Other members of the battalion moved on to the communication trenches. Severe hand to hand fighting ensued and 1st Brigade, including 2nd Battalion suffered significant casualties. However, they held on and the next day, on 7 August, withstood several Ottoman counterattacks. The fighting was so severe that by 4.30pm, 2nd Battalion had been reduced to only 200 unwounded men. To replace the losses 1st Battalion, as immediate reserve, had been called upon and was completely committed by 6 pm. Reinforcements were gradually filtered in from 12th Battalion too. On 5 August the battalion War Diary had recorded a strength of 22 Officers and 569 Other Ranks having received two officers and 126 men as reinforcements that day. Therefore, the battalion had suffered approximately 66% casualties 48 hours later. At 5.30pm the battalion sent back a desperate message to Brigade HQ "We are still holding the enemy; bomb attacks continue." The battalion position had been under bomb attack for four hours.

At 9.20 am on the 8th, the battalion was informed that it was to be relieved by 7th Battalion. It had borne the brunt of the fighting and was the first battalion to be relieved. This occurred at 3pm and when mustered had only 152 men, a loss of 21 Officers and 409 Other Ranks or over 70% of the men engaged. John Lyall was fortunate to have come through it. The hand-to-hand fighting at Lone Pine by 1st Brigade AIF was considered the severest fighting since Inkerman in the Crimean War.

The FSR made it clear that commanders of smaller units, such as those of brigade or battalion size, must lead their units from positions where they could fully appreciate their command's situation and respond rapidly to changes.

'Subordinate commanders should take up positions where they can obtain a good view in which their commands are operating, and which admit of easy communication with their immediate superior and the units under their command.'

The artillery's fire support ensured that the 1st Brigade could enter the Ottoman entrenchments before the enemy could respond. Once hand-to-hand fighting developed in the trenches, because of their close proximity to their men, the Battalion commanders could personally supervise the attack. This leadership style was required by the FSR. The presence of battalion commanders alongside their men positively impacted morale and enabled them to make decisions quickly. The position at Lone Pine was captured and held due to the tenacious battalion commanders and their ability to inspire their men to hold their ground under significant adversity. When applying the principles of the FSR, the Australian COs' ability to stay in touch with their men and maintain easy communication with the units under their command, coupled with effective fire support, was a primary cause of the success at Lone Pine.

The trenches were plagued by flies. These would land on the bodies of the dead and then land on the men's food. Consequently, dysentery impacted many of the men at Anzac. On 5 September, a weekly evacuation rate of 7.5% was recorded at Anzac, higher than than the 5.1% at Helles and 1.7% at Suvla. One week earlier, on 23 August 1915, John Lyall was sent to the Casualty Clearing Station suffering from Diarrhoea. He was then transferred to Mudros. He moved to the Convalescence Camp there on 6 September 1915. At the same time, the remainder of the battalion was also sent to Lemnos for some rest. Relief had been made possible by expediting the arrival from Egypt of 2 Division AIF, and between 7 and 21 September, the 1st and 2nd Brigades (now totalling 3,400) the 4th Australian and both New Zealand Brigades (numbering, with reinforcements, just over 5,000) were sent to Lemnos, where a rest camp was formed at Sarpi, West Mudros. At the camp, the men enjoyed grapes and figs and gorged themselves on fruit and eggs which were plentiful.

A photo held in the collection of the Australian War Memorial, shows Sarpi Camp in Lemnos where 2nd Battalion rested after being relieved at Gallipoli. It doesn't look like much, however given the alternative it was considerably better than the constant shelling, sniping and flies of Anzac. Here the battalion enjoyed the hot springs and improved food after Gallipoli.
On 15 September 1915 John Lyall moved to the Lowland Casualty Clearing Station and then on to the Australia & New Zealand Base at Mudros before being discharged to his unit which he re-joined on 16 September at Sarpi Camp. On 27 October, numbering 16 officers and 238 men, the battalion was sent back to Gallipoli aboard Osmanieh. Even after seven weeks away from Gallipoli men fell out during the march to the ship. Some had still not recovered from their ordeal at Gallipoli.

Mudros was two hours sailing from Gallipoli. Unfortunately, it was too rough to land the men, so they were forced to wait aboard ship for two days in Mudros harbour until returning to Gallipoli on 29 October. The War Diary stated that "the men seem quite contented to be on the way back to the firing line". Did they really? By 8 pm on 29 October, the Osmanieh was off Anzac. 2nd Battalion were offloaded in the second load after 1st Battalion. The battalion now moved into bivouac at the bottom of Clark Gully. The battalion was joined by 77 men, either returning from hospital or as new reinforcements. On 30 October the battalion relieved 9th Battalion at the northern end of Leane's trench. The battalion strength was 17 officers and 314 Other Ranks.

The War Diary welcomed in the new month with the following, "Very quiet. Fortunately, the battalion has so far escaped casualties since its return. As soon as the enemy starts to shell us the casualties will start to mount up."
On 2 November, the battalion received the 7th and 8th reinforcements. They'd spent eleven weeks training in Egypt. This brought the Battalion strength up to 18 officers and 506 Other Ranks as recorded on the morning of 5 November. On 14 November, the battalion moved to the Black Hand position to relieve 9th Battalion. Whereas Leane's had a gully separating no man's land from the Turkish trenches and was considered a relatively safe part of the line, Black Hand was far closer to the enemy. By the middle of November, the weather had started to deteriorate and become so cold that the men were wearing jerseys, cardigans, and jackets. Sentries only spent an hour on duty given the cold. On 22 November, the War Diary reported that the "days are cold and the nights worse." On 24 November, the War Diary reported that all sniping was to cease and if aircraft fly over the trenches, the men were to hide. The reason given was to lull the Turks into attacking, however in fact the decision had been made to withdraw and so the ruse was to lull the enemy into thinking nothing of long periods of inactivity. On 27 November, snow began to fall. The next day cardigans were issued to all the men. The trenches remained quiet. On 29 November the men were issued with waterproofs to protect them from the elements when on sentry duty. These met with universal approval.

The battalion strength at the beginning of December was 23 officers and 500 men. On 4 December, a third blanket was issued to each man, demonstrating the considerable cold they were facing. A further 32 men would join from hospital on 6 December, taking the battalion to 24 officers and 526 other ranks. On 8 December, the battalion received word that it was to be relieved by 4th Battalion and then go into reserve for the next month. As a demonstration of the constant escalation in ways to increase the killing, on 9 December it was reported that a German Taube appeared overhead and dropped steel darts. Thankfully no casualties were recorded. However, on 11 December, the battalion recorded its first death since returning from Lemnos when 2706 Private Melvyn Welch was hit by a stick bomb and killed instantly. Later that night the battalion lost another man when 2658 Pte William Osborne was shot in the forehead whilst on sentry duty. Both had joined the battalion as part of the November reinforcements.

On 15 December, the War Diary recorded the following phrase. "It has now been made known that Anzac is to be evacuated by our troops." The evacuation of Gallipoli commenced on 18 December and the battalion was evacuated to Lemnos. On 22 December the men received their Christmas billies that had been sent from caring people in Australia. On the outside of the billy can was a kangaroo with his feet on Gallipoli and the words "this bit of the world belongs to us". The irony of this wording, given the evacuation would not have been lost on John Lyall and his mates in the battalion. From here the battalion sailed on S.S. Huntsgreen to Alexandria where it arrived on 27 December, moving into camp at Tel-el-Kebir, where it saw in the new year.

On 13 February, the Battalion was divided with half the men transferring to form 54th Battalion AIF. The move to divide the battalion had been rumoured since January and naturally this caused consternation among the Gallipoli veterans. For the veterans who had survived the ordeal at Lone Pine, this was particularly distressing. However, the AIF was undergoing an expansion and the splitting of the battalions was occurring across the Divisions. Men also left to join the Imperial Camel Corps. At this time, the Vickers machine guns were replaced by the lighter Lewis Guns which were more mobile. John Lyall remained with the battalion and as part of the reorganisation of the battalion and as a Gallipoli veteran was promoted to Lance Corporal on 15 February 1916 on a three-month probation. Training was undertaken as the reinforcements were integrated into the battalion. Rifles were replaced to fire the new Mark VII ammunition.

At the end of the month, the battalion moved to Ferry Post. They marched across the Suez Canal over a swaying barrel bridge and then to Serapeum. Here they swam in the canal every day. After the terrible experiences of Gallipoli and the sadness at the splitting up of the battalion, John Lyall more than likely enjoyed this interlude from the rigours of war. Soon enough the battalion would be heading to the Western Front. On 8 March, the battalion recorded a strength of 20 officers and 1,020 Other Ranks. It was back to full strength.

France

On 19 March, the battalion received a visit from HRH the Prince of Wales who would later become King George V. On 21 March, the battalion moved to Alexandria. The men marched off through heavy sand to the railway with a band in front. They were to board the S.S. Ivernia bound for Marseilles and transfer to the Western Front. The battalion recorded 31 officers and 964 Other Ranks at embarkation. The 2nd disembarked at Marseilles on 28 March and travelled by train to Belgium. The scenery experienced on the three-day train journey, particularly for the Gallipoli veterans like John Lyall, was a significant contrast from their previous theatre. The green countryside was so different to the brown scrub and gullies of the peninsula and the sands of Egypt. As they neared Paris the men could see the Eiffel Tower, however they didn't stop, continuing on to Eblingham where they arrived on 31 March, moving into billets at the nearby village of Renescure.

They stayed in Renescure until 10 April at which time they moved via a 15-mile march to Oudersteene. The march would have been back breaking for John, despite being used to hard work as a farm hand. The men were required to carry a full pack, one blanket and 120 rounds of ammunition. Not everyone could make it with stragglers coming in after the bulk of the battalion. The battalion spent nine days in Oudersteene, before moving into the frontline for their first tour in the trenches in France on 20 April. The battalion left Oudersteene at 12pm the day before stopping in the little village of Croix-du-Bac, near Estaires. At 9am on the 20th, the troops marched out of Crix-du-Bac, across the Lys River and then into the firing line in the vicinity of Fleurbaix. This was in the Petillon Sector near Armentieres.

The battalions of 1st Division AIF would rotate in brigades through the front, support and reserve lines. At first, one brigade went into the line, followed by a second, with the third in reserve. In this way the 1st was gradually exposed to the rigours of trench warfare. The first, or front line, was the fire trench. Behind that line was the support trench, which was up to 100 metres further back. The third line was the reserve trench, which was between 200 and 400 metres behind the fire trench. These trenches were interconnected by communications trenches, with one every 100 to 150 metres along the line. The 1st Division would have two brigades in the frontline at any one time and one in reserve. Behind the forward brigades, generally four to five kilometres behind the line, were the billets of the reserve brigade, the Field Ambulance, Divisional HQ, and the Divisional Artillery Column as well as Divisional supplies. Each battalion had all four companies in the front trench; but each company retained one platoon in close support. The supporting platoon would form the company reserve.

Artillery fire was one of the demoralising constants of trench life. It was often deadly. On 27 April the Germans fired a barrage of Heavy Explosive destroying trench works. This was meant to be a quiet sector although the battalion recorded 26 casualties, all wounded. On 3 May, the battalion moved back to the reserve trench. Despite the distance from the front line this was still within range of the German artillery.

Whilst in the reserve line, the men from the battalion were free to use the divisional bath at Bac St. Maux [Bac St-Maur]. After the mud of the frontline, this was popular. The men would bathe in big round tubs that had formerly been part of the working plant of an old, disused tannery. These tubs were filled with hot water. Meanwhile, their uniforms would be put through a fumigator to remove the lice that had built up whilst in the trenches. They would get this experience about every six weeks. The early weeks of June were particularly wet. On 2 June, the battalion performed a march past Prime Minister Billy Hughes. Months later, copies of Australian illustrated weekly papers reached 2 Battalion showing an artist’s impression of the Prime Minister reviewing the battalion and the rest of 1st Brigade “under fire”. This caused great amusement in the battalion as the brigade was miles from the trenches at the time.

On 5 June 1916 John was sent to bomb school for a week. Here he learnt how to use hand grenades. These newly acquired bombing skills may well have come in handy as the battalion relieved 4th Battalion AIF in the Fleurbaix Sector on 10 June. To get into the trenches the men entered a winding communication trench through to the frontline. Once in the front line, when on sentry duty, standing on the fire-step and looking through his periscope, John Lyall would have been presented with a barrier of barbed-wire entanglements, a metre high and over 10 metres wide, running along the entire front not far out from the foot of the parapet of the Australian lines. Sally ports, which were winding paths extending from the trenches, were left here and there for the convenience of patrols or working parties going out and returning from No-Man’s Land. Showing the folly of sticking your head above the parapet, on the morning of 13 June, Lieutenant Hunter was killed instantly by a sniper’s bullet through his temple. He’d been in the habit of doing this each morning. Fatigue parties arrived around sunrise with a hot breakfast which had been carried down the communication trench in special thermos containers from the battalion’s cooks’ quarters located near Fleurbaix. Each morning and evening a hot meal was carried to the front line. The carriers were supplied by units in reserve behind the battalion. The midday meal consisted of dry rations, bully beef, bread or biscuits and some cheese. The country around Fleurbaix was low lying with poor drainage so flooding was a constant issue.
Water banked up in every depression in the surface of the ground. To overcome this problem, ramparts of sandbags filled with earth were erected. This gave the men holding the front line greater protection and comfort. 2 Battalion’s front line at Fleurbaix consisted of a huge pile of sandbags, almost five metres wide at the base, tapering upwards to a height of over two metres6 above ground level, and almost two metres wide at the top, constructed in a series of long and short bays, connected by short traverses.

Pay-day was 17 June and it was done in the trenches. This was despite the fact that in the frontline there was nothing for the men to spend their money on. The paying officer selected a spot near the mouth of the communication trench and the men were instructed to go there, two or three at a time, to collect their pay and return immediately to their posts. All this money and nothing to spend it on, proved overwhelming, and consequently a two-up school formed. The Germans somehow observed this congregation of men, or could see the coins being tossed in the air and sent in a barrage of shells, wounding six men. After that, two-up in the frontline was forbidden.

2nd Battalion's tour in Fleurbaix ended on 3 July when it was relieved from the frontline, moving into billets at Croix-du-Bac where they stayed for six days before moving on to Oudersteene. Although 1st Division AIF was at first directed to move north to Plumer's Messines sector, where it was planned that I ANZAC would engage in a Second Army subsidiary offensive, these orders were cancelled and the division was ordered south.

On 10 July the battalion left Oudersteene for Bailleul. At Bailleul the battalion experienced its first aerial bombing when a German dropped two bombs. The battalion then travelled by train to Frevillers, 45 men to a carriage. The men then undertook a series of marches travelling through Domart-en-Ponthieu, Vignacourt, Allonville and Warloy arriving at Albert on 19 July. All the main roads were lined with trees on both sides and were paved in the centre with stones of various sizes. The paved strip was from three to five metres wide. The hard stones used for paving were of uneven shapes and sizes and were laid in a convex, arched fashion, sloping slightly from the centre of the road to the outside edges. These hard, uneven surfaces made marching difficult for John Lyall and the rest of the battalion. Boots slipped constantly and by the end of the march there were significant numbers of blistered feet.

The village of Albert, 30 kilometres east–north-east of Amiens, had been battered by the war. Heaps of brick dust marked the spot where houses once stood. They moved on to Tara Hill where they rested before moving into the line at Pozieres on 19 July. As they moved into the line, they were subjected to a gas attack as they passed Casualty Corner and Sausage Valley. Neither of these names would have filled John Lyall with confidence as to what he was about to experience. Did he feel a certain fatalism after Gallipoli? 2nd Battalion moved into the line in darkness. Daylight revealed the remnants of a wood in front of the men and the ruined village of Pozieres beyond it. Dead men, British and German, lay thick in No-Man’s Land, evidence of the fierce fighting in recent weeks for the high ground around Pozières. In one place about a dozen British soldiers lay dead in a line, a few feet apart from each other. These men had been killed by enfilade fire from a German machine-gun which had caught them in the open as they advanced. It was too dangerous to bring in their bodies for burial.

On 19 July, divisional headquarters was established at Chateau Lamont at Albert. As the division took over the line, 1st Brigade relieved British 34th Division, and 1st Division came under direct command of Lieutenant General Sir Hubert Gough's recently formed Reserve Army. Gough ordered the 1st Division, along with the 48th (South Midland) Division on its left, to capture the village of Pozieres, which had so far resisted several attempts to take it. 2nd Battalion was to experience its first battle on the Western Front at Pozieres. Pozieres stood in the path of any further British advance towards Bapaume. Three things made Bapaume important. First, it anchored the German second line on that part of the front. Second, the ground to the immediate rear of the village stood on the summit of the Thiepval–Ginchy Ridge, so possession of this ground would secure the flank for British Fourth Army to the south. Third, possession of this high ground, and especially that around neighbouring Mouquet Farm to the immediate north–north-west, would allow observation of the German positions around Thiepval. Unlike the desultory support on Gallipoli, the bombardment at Pozieres began on 19 July and included, in addition to the divisional artillery, support by the guns of the British 25th Division and the bulk of British X Corps medium and heavy guns.

The attack was launched at 12.30am on 23 July. 1st Division AIF attacked on a two-brigade frontage with 1st Brigade on the left and 3rd Brigade on the right. Each brigade advanced with two battalions in front. 2nd Battalion made up the first two left-side waves of 1st Brigade’s attack. 2nd Battalion followed in a creeping barrage. C and D companies had moved into No-Man’s-Land during the barrage and rushed the German first line trench, 20 minutes after the attack began. In keeping with doctrine, consolidation of the lines began. When the bombardment opened, the noise was overwhelming and the ground trembled under the deluge of shells. 1st Brigade quickly took the German front line and then pushed on in two further stages at half-hour intervals to reach the main road through the village. The fighting had been intense and the battalion War Diary records that by this stage casualties amounted to over 200 from the battalion. Due to ongoing German bombardment, the Field Ambulance could not get the wounded away and numbers built up at the dressing station which was described as a shambles.

One of the wounded was John Lyall who suffered a gunshot wound to the back. He was evacuated to England aboard the Hospital Ship St. George and admitted to King George Hospital in London where his condition was listed as “Dangerous”. The war was over for John Lyall at this point and he was repatriated to Australia aboard H.M.AT. Benalla on 13 February 1917 which arrived in Australia on 13 April 1917. He was discharged from the AIF due to medical unfitness on 19 September 1917.

In 1918 he married Emily Alice Calvert (1890-1956) and they went on to have two children, John Angua Lyall (1920-1961) and Nena Emily Lyall (1921-1985).
John Lyall died in North Sydney on 4 April 1944.