Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

# 5334 BONEHAM  James                                          9th Battalion
 
James Boneham was born around 1888 at Mount Beppo, a small farming community near Toogoolawah. By the time James was old enough to go to school, the Boneham family had moved to another farming community in the Toogoolawah district at Gregor’s Creek. Like many children in rural communities at that time, James probably had only a rudimentary education before working on the family farm.
 
James took the train from Toogoolawah to Ipswich and then on to Brisbane to enlist on 29th September 1915. He stated his age as 27 and occupation labourer. James named his mother, Mrs Kate Boneham of Gregor’s Creek, Yimbin as his next of kin. One month later, James’ younger brother Robert also enlisted.
 
James reported to Enoggera where he was placed in the 9th Depot Battalion before being assigned to the 17th reinforcements of the 9th Battalion. The reinforcements continued their training at Enoggera before travelling by train to Sydney where they embarked on the “Hawkes Bay” on 20th April 1916. The embarkation roll shows that James had allocated 4/- of his daily pay of 5/-to his mother. Upon arrival in Egypt, the reinforcements were not immediately required by the 9th Battalion which was already in France on the Western Front.
 
On 28th May, the 17th reinforcements sailed across the Mediterranean from Alexandria to the French port of Marseilles. Once in France, the reinforcements proceeded to the large British and Australian base at Etaples where they continued to train under the control of British drill sergeants. Etaples earned the name of the “bull ring” due to the discipline meted out to the “new colonials.” While the later reinforcements began to assemble at Etaples, four divisions of the AIF had been acclimatising to the routines of trench warfare on the Western Front in relatively quieter sectors around Armentieres.
 
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, 22,000 of whom were killed. In spite of this, Haig was determined to push on and the 1st, 2nd and 4th Australian Divisions were moved 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 and as a consequence was of great strategic importance. Haig ordered his generals to bring up the Australians to take Pozieres. The 1st Division AIF, which included the 9th Battalion went into the attack on Pozieres village on 23rd July 1916. The assault was generally successful and a number of German trenches were in Australian hands by the 24th July. On 26th July, the various battalions of the 1st Division that had been involved in the capture of Pozieres village began to withdraw to the rear areas as British troops relieved them. Pozieres was the first major battle fought by the Australians in France. The three days the 9th Battalion had been involved resulted in a casualty list of 58 killed outright, 63 missing presumed dead and 270 wounded. Reinforcements from Etaples arrived to make up for the losses incurred. James was taken on strength by the 9th Battalion on 26th July, in time for the battalion to be put back into the fight for the heights of Pozieres, and a fortified farm one and a half kilometres along the Pozieres Ridge; Mouquet Farm. The AIF fought through July, August and into September at a cost of 23,000 casualties. Exhausted, the four divisions went into camps in Belgian Flanders to rest, reinforce and prepare for the next stunt.
 
While in camp at Poperinghe on 8th November, James reported to the 38th Casualty Clearing Station complaining of deafness. He was sent to the 10th Australian General Hospital at Rouen where he remained until the end of the month. In all likelihood, James’ deafness was caused by exposure to constant artillery barrages in the front-line trenches. He probably returned to his unit with a permanent hearing loss. When James rejoined the 9th, the battalion was back on the Somme floundering in the mud and suffering from the harshest winter in forty years. Very little fighting was possible and the men battled the cold and freezing conditions while manning trenches with little shelter.
 
During the lull in fighting of that winter, the Germans had constructed a 150 kilometre long defensive barrier, which they named the Seigfreid Position but the British labelled the Hindenburg Line, some distance to the east of their positions astride the Somme. As the German forces began a strategic withdrawal in the Spring of 1917 to this new position, the British forces cautiously followed, taking the towns of Bapaume, Lagnicourt and Noreuil along the way. By the first week in April, elements of the 5th British Army which included two Australian divisions, came up against the Hindenburg defences at Bullecourt.
 
The 9th Battalion, as part of the 1st Division AIF was ordered into the attack at Bullecourt on 11th April. Many of the attacking infantry were hung up on the bands of wire which remained intact where they were cut down with enfilading machine gun fire. Remarkably, sufficient numbers of men got through to take two lines of the German trenches which they managed to hold for seven and a half hours until ammunition was exhausted. Their retreat across the snowy ground made them easy targets for the defenders on the flanks.
 
The battle, which became known as 1st Bullecourt was a complete disaster. Writing soon after the battle, the Australian War Historian Charles Bean said the plan to take Bullecourt had as much chance of success as a plan to capture the moon. James was fortunate to have come through his second major battle. The failure to take the Hindenburg Line marked the end of the Somme Campaign. All of the Australian Forces, which with the arrival of Monash’s 3rd Division from England was then five divisions strong, moved north into the region of the French / Belgian border in preparation for the major offensive of 1917, the 3rd Battle of Ypres.
 
The first stage of the Flanders campaign was an attack against the Messines Ridge on 7th June. Only the 3rd and 4th Divisions were involved at Messines. The other three divisions continued to train for the next phase of the campaign, a series of attacks with limited objectives which provided stepping stones from the Ypres ramparts to Passchendaele.
Preparations were well advanced for the 9th Battalion’s part in the Battle of Menin Road but curiously, James was granted leave in England ten days before Menin Road was to start. He did not return to his battalion until 26th September.
 
The Battle of Menin Road was, by the terms of the time, a great success. The battalions of the two AIF divisions that had taken part at Menin Road were relieved and two other divisions took advantage of the result to push the line even further eastwards into Polygon Wood and the approaches to the high ground of Broodseinde Ridge and the villages of Zonnebeke and Passchendaele.
 
On 4th October, twelve British Divisions (which included three AIF Divisions and the NZ Division) attacked Broodseinde Ridge along a thirteen-kilometre front. As the 9th Battalion men rose up to follow the creeping barrage up the slope towards Zonnebeke, they encountered German infantry advancing up the reverse slope. Both the British and the Germans had made plans to attack on the same day, and at the same time. The Australians got the better of the encounter.
 
The attack against Broodseinde on 4th October 1917 was to be the last success of the Flanders Campaign. Heavy and relentless rain flooded the approach tracks and roads which were churned into a sea of mud which trapped men, animals and machines. The approach to the front was so difficult that men burdened down with over fifty pounds of equipment in sodden uniforms and greatcoats took several hours to reach the firing line, by which time they were exhausted and thoroughly fed up. They could do nothing but stand in knee deep mud, soaking wet and endure. Enemy artillery, firing from drier and stable high ground harassed the trenches in which the Australians sheltered miserably with high explosive and gas. The 9th Battalion held the front-line position occupied on 4th October for the next seven days before being withdrawn. Several attempts were made to take Passchendaele but the village remained in German hands until the middle of November when the Canadians, at great cost, took possession of a pile of rubble.
 
The Flanders Campaign, which had begun with such high hopes of a final breakthrough had bogged down in the mud. Troops were exhausted, dejected and facing the prospect of being exposed to another winter. The Campaign in Belgium had demonstrated to the British Command that the AIF were the best assault troops and that the Germans feared coming up against them. It would have been sheer folly to have kept such an asset in the front line to “chew barbed wire.”
 
The five AIF divisions went into rest camps around Poperinghe. Many of the camps were equipped with Nissen huts, which were quick to erect and could keep the occupants warm and dry. Battalion and brigade sports were organised, as well as frequent visits to the divisional bath houses where uniforms could be cleaned and fresh underwear issued. In the new year, a routine began in which four divisions would remain in the rear areas of the front whilst the fifth division would be shipped to a French seaside town for a period of leave and relaxation. Every few weeks, the duties of each division changed.
 
At the beginning of March 1918, it was the turn of the 3rd brigade of the 1st Division to take up garrison duties at the front. The 9th Battalion moved into the support lines near Hollebeke and began a relief of another battalion. The battalion war diary records that on the 6th March the enemy launched a gas shell attack against the support and reserve lines which lasted four hours, The following morning eight officers and 150 ordinary ranks were evacuated suffering the effects of gas. Private James Boneham was one of those evacuated.
 
James was initially taken to a Field Ambulance before being sent on to the 2nd Casualty Clearing Station. When his condition did not improve, James was loaded onto an ambulance train and taken to the 56thGeneral Hospital at Etaples on 11th March. Unfortunately, he succumbed to the effects of gas on 16th March and was buried in the nearby Military Cemetery. Although the cause of death was gas poisoning, James’ death was classified as Died of Wounds.
 
A parcel of James’ personal belongings was packaged up to send to Kate Boneham at Gregor’s Creek. The parcel contained 2 identity discs, a fountain pen, wristwatch, cigarette lighter and a magnifying glass. There was also a leather belt upon which James had mounted a variety of badges and numerals that he had collected, some no doubt having come from German prisoners or English and Canadian soldiers. Unfortunately, the parcel was included in the cargo of the S.S. Barunga which soon after leaving port at Plymouth in July 1918 was torpedoed by a German submarine with the total loss of all cargo.
 
It is likely that James’ mother was not capable of completing details for her son’s grave and as a consequence, his headstone contains no personal inscription and the grave registration entry records complied by the Imperial War Graves Commission list only his name, rank, number and battalion. His hometown or his parents’ names are not included.