Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

William Edwin THOMPSON #2913 49th Battalion

William Thompson was born in the Brisbane suburb of Annerley to William and Sarah Thompson. He attended Junction Park State School until his family moved to Moore where he completed his schooling.
When William attended the Brisbane recruiting depot on 8th June 1915 he was 21 years old and stood 5’10” tall. He gave his occupation as teamster. William was allocated as a reinforcement for the 9th Battalion, a Queensland battalion that had been first ashore at Gallipoli. William may well have been moved to enlist as the stories of the landing began to appear in the press.

On 1st September 1915, William and other reinforcements boarded the “Ayrshire” in Sydney. The embarkation roll records that William had allocated 4/- of his 5/- daily pay to his mother in Moore. By the time that William and the other recruits arrived at Tel el Kabir in Egypt, the decision had already been made to evacuate Gallipoli. He remained in camp engaged in light training until 19th January when the veterans of the 9th Battalion arrived at Tel el Kabir from Mudros.

With the closing of the Gallipoli campaign, the Australian military authorities, operating under British orders, began to expand the size of the AIF. It was decided that the Light Horse would remain in Egypt to defend the Suez Canal but that the infantry divisions would be doubled from two to four, with a further division to be raised entirely in England, To achieve this doubling, original battalions would be halved. The 9th Battalion was split to make the 9th and the 49th Battalions. Each reconstituted battalion would be made up of veterans and reinforcements such as William. On 25th February 1916, William was transferred to the 49th Battalion, part of the 13th Brigade of the 4th Division AIF.

The 49th battalion boarded ship in Alexandria on 5th June and disembarked in Marseilles on 12th June. The men marched from the dock directly to the railway station where they boarded trains for the Armentieres sector of the Western Front, so that they could be familiarised with trench warfare.

When the Battle of the Somme began on the 1st July 1916, it became evident that the newly arrived Australians (all four divisions) would eventually be put into the battle. For the 49th, this came at Mouquet Farm near Pozieres in August and September. The western front was closed down by both sides for the winter and the Australians who had been accustomed to the heat of Egypt had to endure the coldest winter in 50 years. In the spring of 1917, the 49th was again in the line at Noreuil on the Albert Bapaume Road.

After the less than successful campaign on the Somme in France the British switched the point of attack to Belgian Flanders. This campaign began with the blowing of 19 underground mines under the Messines Ridge on 7th June 1917. The 4th Division had an important role at Messines consolidating the gains made by the 3rd Division. After Messines, William was sent off to the 4th Division Bombing School to learn the art of bomb (grenade) throwing. Upon his return to his unit, the 49th was engaged in the battles of Menin Road and Polygon Wood on the road to Passchendaele.

When the Flanders front was closed down for the winter, the Australian divisions were withdrawn from the line and housed in comfortable billets around Poperinghe near Ypres.
In February 1918, William enjoyed three weeks leave in England. Two weeks after he arrived back with the battalion, the Germans launched their much awaited spring offensive along the old battlefields of the Somme in France.
The German advance was so aggressive that the British 5th Army that was holding the line in that part of the front collapsed. Thousands of men were retreating and the German onslaught threatened to capture the vital city of Amiens and split the British and French armies; and perhaps win the war. In a desperate attempt to halt the German advance, the British Commander, Douglas Haig, ordered brigades from the 3rd and 4th Divisions of the AIF to be rushed south from Belgium to meet the German advance.

Upon arrival at the assigned position at Dernacourt, the 49th were ordered to take up positions on a ridge facing the gathering Germans on the other side of a railway embankment. There were no trenches and the men had to dig shallow pits while under enemy artillery fire. Over the next four days, the men of the 12th and 13th Brigades established a forward defensive line on the railway embankment.

On 5th April, two entire divisions of German stormtroopers equipped with automatic weapons attacked the Australian positions. Initially, the Australians holding the railway embankment were overrun and many men were killed or captured. Later in the day, the 49th and 48th Battalions were ordered to counterattack to push the Germans back across the embankment. At some point during the hectic action on the 5th April, William Thompson was killed. There are no records to indicate how or where he died and his body was never located. The most likely scenario is that William was killed in a counterattack late in the day.

William Thompson has no known grave. He is commemorated on tablets of the Australian National Memorial at Villers Bretonneux. Two other young men from Moore died at Dernacourt that day; John Barnes and Eddie Bishop. They were also members of the 49th Battalion.