Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

"...4594 Private George Dedman, 16th Battalion, of Narrogin, WA. A clerk prior to enlistment, Pte Dedman embarked with the 14th Reinforcements from Fremantle on HMAT Militiades on 12th February 1916. After transferring to the 48th Battalion he was killed in action on 3rd April 1918, aged 21, and was buried in the Ribemont Communal Cemetery Extension, France." - SOURCE (www.awm.gov.au)

From Francois Berthout

Pte 4594 George Dedman
48th Australian Infantry Battalion,
12th Brigade, 4th Division 
 
Through the poppies of the Somme which rise in silence under the first gleams of a spring sun, rest in peace under their immaculate graves, thousands of young men who, together, for their country and for France, responded to the call of duty and fought in the same sufferings, in the mud of the trenches and the battlefields which were for them hell on earth but united in the most beautiful spirit of camaraderie, they stood tall and proud in the name of the freedom to make a new light prevail in the heart of this darkness and in the blood they shed side by side, sow the hopes of a peace in which we live thanks to them who gave their youth and their today in the prime of their lives told to us in the sacred epitaphs of their final resting places on these sacred grounds of northern France for which they did so much and which will be forever grateful to them. Young forever, they will not grow old, the weight of years will never fade their memory and I will always watch over them with the deepest love and will forever be, through my eyes and in my heart, my sons, my heroes, my boys of the Somme whose names will live forever.

Today, it is with the utmost respect and with the deepest gratitude that I would like to honor the memory of one of these young men, one of my boys of the Somme who gave his today for our tomorrow.I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Private number 4594 George Dedman who fought in the 48th Australian Infantry Battalion, 12th Brigade, 4th Division, and who was killed in action 105 years ago,on April 3, 1918 at the age of 21 on the Somme front.

George Dedman was born on November 7, 1897 in Plumstead, London, England, and was the son of George and Alice Maud Dedman. He was educated at London County Council School then at the age of 15, with his parents, emigrated in Australia and settled in Forrest Street, Narrogin, Western Australia, where he worked as a clerk before the outbreak of the war.
George enlisted on November 8, 1915 at Blackboy Hill, as a Private in the 16th Australian Infantry Battalion, 14th Reinforcement, under the command of Colonel John Monash and after a training period of just over three months, he embarked with his unit from Fremantle, Western Australia, on board HMAT A28 Miltiades on February 12, 1916 and sailed for Egypt.

On March 11, 1916, George arrived in Egypt and was disembarked at Port Suez then marched to join the 4th Training Battalion at Zeitoun but shortly after fell ill and was admitted to the 3rd Auxiliary Hospital in Abbassia on March 24 and was discharged from duty on 1 April then the following day, was transferred and taken on strength to the 48th Australian Infantry Battalion at Serapeum under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Ray Leane. Two months later, on 1 June, he was alloted to the 12th Training Battalion and proceeded overseas for France on June 7 from Alexandria on board "Huntspill".

On June 14, 1916, after a week on the Mediterranean Sea, George finally arrived in France and was disembarked in Marseilles where he joined the 4th Australian Divisional Base Depot then the following month, on July 17, proceeded to join the 48th Australian Infantry Battalion and taken on strength the day after in the Somme, at Berteaucourt-Les-Dames where they were billeted until July 27th then marched through Toutencourt, Harponville, Albert, and on August 4th were dragged into the fury of the terrible battle of Pozieres which was the first and deadliest major engagement of the 48th and the entire Australian Imperial Force in the Somme.

Here, the 48th Battalion was tasked with defending ground captured in earlier attacks by the 2nd Division and entered the firing line on two separate occasions,5 to 7 and 12 to 15 August. During the former period the battalion endured what was said to be heaviest artillery barrage ever experienced by Australian troops and suffered 598 casualties.Before it had recovered from the trials of Pozieres, the 48th was also required to defend ground captured during the battle of Mouquet Farm.

On August 6, 1916, two days after the men of the 48th Battalion joined the Pozieres trenches and supported the 2nd Australian Division in a successful attack to capture the Windmill and trenches OG1 and OG2 on August 4, George received a gun shot wound in the knee and was admitted two days later to the 4th General Hospital of Camiers then transferred to England on August 15 on board the hospital ship "Dieppe". On August 16, he was admitted to the Military Hospital of Herne Bay, Kent, where he remained until October 29.

On October 30, 1916, George was transferred to the 3rd Auxiliary Hospital, Dartford and after a period of convalescence, was granted a furlough on November 3 and was sent to Perham Down where, after being declared fit for active service on November 20, marched for the 4th Command Depot then for the 1st Command Depot in Wareham where on December 22, for having been absent from a tattoo, was awarded two days in prison and a forfeiture of 50 days pay.

On April 7, 1917, George was transferred and taken on strength to the 70th Australian Infantry Battalion at Wareham where a few days later, April 11, for being absent from a tattoo without a leave from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., was awarded of six days in field prison and on April 28, proceeded overseas for France from Folkestone and arrived in Etaples on April 30 where he joined the 4th Australian Division then was again transferred to the 48th Australian Infantry Battalion in which he was taken on strength on May 30 in the Ypres Salient and on June 7, were involved in a supporting role during the Battle of Messines which began on June 7.

In preparation for the allied summer offensive in Flanders, the Messines salient had to be eliminated. For years, tunnellers had dug mines beneath German trenches in the area and packed them with explosives. Before dawn on 7 June 1917, 19 mines were blown, obliterating the German positions. The explosions, heard across the English Channel, were the largest planned detonations until the advent of the atomic bomb. It is thought that 10,000 Germans were killed in the initial blasts.

British, New Zealand and Australian troops advanced to take the devastated ridge. Regarded a triumph, Messines also marked the first major battle for the 3rd Australian Division under Major General John Monash. Two of his men, Private John Carroll and Captain Robert Grieve, won the Victoria Cross during the fighting. Despite the success, the battle cost 6,000 Australian casualties.

After having fought at Messines, George and the men of the 48th Battalion marched for Clairmarais (Pas-De-Calais) on June 17 then for Doulieu on June 23 and remained here in rest until June 26 then the next day, moved back for the salient from Ypres and relieved the New Zealand Brigade at Ploegsteert where they fought bravely until July 17 then moved back to Doulieu on July 18 for reorganization and followed a period of training until August 5.

On August 6, 1917, George and his unit moved back to Belgium, and fought in very difficult conditions in the Kemmel sector, but it was nothing compared to a new hell in which they were dragged two months later, on October 12, 1917 and which marked the beginning of the terrible battle of Passchendaele.

Officially known as the Third Battle of Ypres, Passchendaele became infamous not only for the scale of casualties, but also for the mud.

Ypres was the principal town within a salient in the British lines and the site of two previous battles: First Ypres (October-November 1914) and Second Ypres (April-May 1915). Haig had long wanted a British offensive in Flanders and, following a warning that the German blockade would soon cripple the British war effort, wanted to reach the Belgian coast to destroy the German submarine bases there. On top of this, the possibility of a Russian withdrawal from the war threatened German redeployment from the Eastern front to increase their reserve strength dramatically.
The British were further encouraged by the success of the attack on Messines Ridge on 7 June 1917. Nineteen huge mines were exploded simultaneously after they had been placed at the end of long tunnels under the German front lines. The capture of the ridge inflated Haig's confidence and preparations began. Yet the flatness of the plain made stealth impossible: as with the Somme, the Germans knew an attack was imminent and the initial bombardment served as final warning. It lasted two weeks, with 4.5 million shells fired from 3,000 guns, but again failed to destroy the heavily fortified German positions.

The infantry attack began on 31 July. Constant shelling had churned the clay soil and smashed the drainage systems. The left wing of the attack achieved its objectives but the right wing failed completely. Within a few days, the heaviest rain for 30 years had turned the soil into a quagmire, producing thick mud that clogged up rifles and immobilised tanks. It eventually became so deep that men and horses drowned in it.

On 16 August the attack was resumed, to little effect. Stalemate reigned for another month until an improvement in the weather prompted another attack on 20 September. The Battle of Menin Road Ridge, along with the Battle of Polygon Wood on 26 September and the Battle of Broodseinde on 4 October, established British possession of the ridge east of Ypres.

Further attacks in October failed to make much progress. The eventual capture of what little remained of Passchendaele village by British and Canadian forces on 6 November finally gave Haig an excuse to call off the offensive and claim success.

However, Passchendaele village lay barely five miles beyond the starting point of his offensive. Having prophesied a decisive success, it had taken over three months, 325,000 Allied and 260,000 German casualties to do little more than make the bump of the Ypres salient somewhat larger. In Haig's defence, the rationale for an offensive was clear and many agreed that the Germans could afford the casualties less than the Allies, who were being reinforced by America's entry into the war. Yet Haig's decision to continue into November remains deeply controversial.

On October 15, 1917, only after three days of furious fighting and catastrophic losses at Passchendaele, the 48th Battalion marched through Ypres, Zonnebeke, the Ypres Canal and arrived at Halifax Camp, Brandhoek on October 25, where they received reinforcements and after a short period of reorganization and rest, moved to Cuhem (Pas-De-Calais) on October 27 and followed here, in this very calm sector, a period of training including shooting exercises, bayonet fights and football matches were also organized between the companies of the 48th Battalion, moments that reinforced the cohesion and good humor of these young men who had suffered terribly a few days earlier in the mud of the battlefields.

On November 17, 1917, the 48th Battalion left Cuhem and marched for Maintenay then for Friancourt where new physical and tactical exercises were followed then on December 6, moved to Peronne, in the Somme, where they were billeted in good conditions and continued a intensive training including trench attacks, hand-to-hand combat and musketry exercises and remained here until early January 1918.

On January 11, 1918, with apprehension and terribly scarred by the horrors and catastrophic losses they suffered at Passchendaele, the men of the 48th Battalion received the order to move back to the battlefields of the Ypres Salient and entered the trenches of the Hollebeke sector but it was actually a very quiet sector of the front line, so much so that the commanding officer of the battalion wrote "What has happened that the 4th Division should get such a quiet sector. It certainly is unusual. "Despite inaction from the enemy, the men of the 48th took advantage of the calm and the time given to them to fortify their positions, built new lines of extremely well protected trenches and new defended strong points by machine guns.These positions were so fortified that it was written in the battalion's war diary, "It is impossible for the enemy to surprise our posts and break through them without suffering catastrophic losses. "Fortunately, no enemy attack came to try to take the trenches held by the 48th which on January 21, marched for La Clytte until February 5.

On February 11, 1918, George was granted a leave and proceeded to England where he remained until February 26 and the next day joined the 48th Battalion at La Clytte. On February 28, they marched for Meteren, in the north of France where they were billeted until March 25 but four days earlier, the German army, in a last attempt to break through the Allied lines, launched Operation Michael, the Kaiser's last offensive which had, among one of its main objects, to take and hold the city of Amiens and on March 26, the 48th was sent to the Somme to stop them.

On March 28, 1918, George and the men of the 48th Battalion arrived in the Somme, in the town of Albert, marched for Millencourt then took up position at Dernancourt.

Dernancourt, a village on the River Ancre in France, was the scene of much desperate fighting during the German offensive of March and April 1918. The 12th and 13th Brigades first occupied positions around Dernancourt on 27 March. Elements of the 50th (Prussian) Reserve Division launched an attack on the morning of the 28th that was repulsed by the 12th Brigade, using the embankment of the Albert-Amiens railway line as a defensive barrier. This action, however, was only a precursor to a larger, more determined effort by the Division later in the day, mounted right along the Australians' thinly held front. Fighting continued until the early evening, but the Germans were eventually defeated, with approximately 550 casualties, and at a cost of 137 to the Australians.

The Germans launched a new attack in the vicinity of Dernancourt on the morning of 5 April 1918. On this occasion, they were able to breach the railway embankment by forcing their way under a bridge, outflank the Australian posts along it, and penetrate between the 12th and 13th Brigades. The forward battalions of both brigades were forced to retire upon their support positions and for a time even their supporting artillery was threatened. A counter-attack, however, was launched from the support positions with the brigades' reserve battalions just after 5 pm, which halted the German advance and pushed it back toward the railway embankment. The embankment was regained on the Australians' right, but in the centre and on the left they were forced to ground about 1,300 metres short of it. Exhausted, the 12th and 13th Brigades could do little more.

This second engagement at Dernancourt was the strongest attack met by Australian troops during the war. The two Australian brigades had faced two and a half German divisions. They inflicted up to 1,600 casualties, but suffered almost as grievously with 1,230 casualties. The brigades could no longer sustain such losses, and in May one battalion from each was disbanded in order to reinforce the other three.

Unfortunately, it was at Dernancourt that George met his fate and was killed in action by a shell on April 3, 1918, he was 20 years old.

Today, George dedman rests in peace alongside his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at the Ribemont Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription: "In memory of our dear son George at rest. Mum and dad."

George, more than a hundred years ago, a page of history and of the young and strong Australian nation was written by the courage and loyalty, by the camaraderie and the determination shown by the young Diggers on the battlefields and with the finest spirit of patriotism, you took a step forward to answer the call of duty and the call of your adopted country which, with a heavy heart, saw its sons go away without knowing if they would return but, with pride and honor they sailed the oceans and walked together with a deep desire in their hearts to fight for what was right, not to kill their enemies, young men who were as young as they were, but for causes who united them to preserve our humanity and side by side, in mud and fury, gave their today for peace and freedom and their hearts full of hopes and dreams of a better world, they joined the trenches of Belgium and France where so much blood was shed on the scarified but sacred fields of Passchendaele and Dernancourt where the bravery and heroism of the young Diggers was seen who fought tirelessly with the most beautiful spirit of brotherhood who, in these dark hours, in those moments of doubt filled with fear, gave them the strength and the courage to hold the front line and together, their eyes turned towards the horizon line streaked with lightning, climbed the wooden ladders and went over the top to face the bullets and the death that awaited them in the shadow of the shell holes but with conviction, through the poppies and the fields of wheat turned gray, charged together in the face of the machine guns which mowed them down at a relentless pace in the furnace of rains of lead spat out with brutality which led so many men who were in the prime of their lives to death and appalling bloodbaths in which friends and foes killed each other with a rage that was heard beyond the first lines of trenches under the helpless eyes of their comrades who saw their friends who fell one after the other, riddled with bullets, reduced to pieces by the artillery and who, with their steel helmets, with their trench shovels, fought until to their last breaths in attacks as deadly as they were courageous and which, in torrents of tears and blood, under clouds filled with darkness and poisonous gases, repeated themselves again and again in a long agony which led the world and men in the madness of a war which shattered their innocence but which never shattered their dreams and their hopes.At the gates of this hell, they saw so many of their comrades who died and saw so many others, mutilated, disfigured, injured and who were changed forever. Among them, many of them were lucky enough to return from the battlefields but were haunted forever by what they endured and lived in the quagmires and open-air slaughterhouses of the Somme and each night, had to live with nightmares and saw again and again their best friends being killed through the barbed wire, stopped too early in a life full of promises that they gave for their comrades, for their children and future generations and today, it is with honor and respect, with love and gratitude that I stand in front of them and that I will always watch over them in the serene cemeteries of the Somme to keep their memories strong and alive, so that the courage and sacrifices of these heroes will never be forgotten, so that the names of these young boys will live forever in the light of the remembrance.Thank you so much George, for all you and Australia have done for my country and for all of us.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.