COLES, Leith Carlyle
| Service Number: | 2347 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 19 March 1915, Keswick, South Australia |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 10th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Solomontown, Port Pirie, South Australia, 18 June 1898 |
| Home Town: | Adelaide, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Alberton Public School |
| Occupation: | Junior Porter |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 23 July 1916, aged 18 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Adelaide National War Memorial, Adelaide South Australian Railways WW1 & WW2 Honour Boards, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Queenstown Alberton Public School Great War Honor Roll, Rosewater War Memorial, Rosewater Womens Memorial Roll of Honour WW1, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 19 Mar 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Keswick, South Australia | |
|---|---|---|
| 23 Jun 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 2347, 10th Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Kanowna embarkation_ship_number: A61 public_note: '' | |
| 23 Jun 1915: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 2347, 10th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Kanowna, Adelaide |
Help us honour Leith Carlyle Coles's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Elizabeth Allen
Leith Carlyle COLES was born on 18th June, 1898 at Solomontown, Port Pirie, South Australia
His parents were Alfred William COLES and Emma Grace MERN
Biography contributed by Woodville High School
Leith Carlyle COLES was born on 18th June, 1898 at Solomontown, in Port Pirie, South Australia. His parents were Alfred William COLES and Emma Grace MERN and he was the second son of the household. Cole's hometown was in Adelaide and he spent most of his childhood in Port Pirie. When he was young, he studied at Alberton Public School, and after school, he worked at South Australian Railways as a Junior Porter. Cole enlisted on 19 March 1915 in Keswick, South Australia, aged 17 but claimed to be 19 on his Attestation Papers. Coles had written permission from his mother - A.W Coles - to enlist.
According to his Attestation Papers, Leith Carlyle Cole was 5’6” tall and weighed 123 lbs of which was light for an average WWI soldier weight (141,5 lb). He was a fair skinned individual with grey eyes and brown hair. After enlisting, Cole’s was assigned to the 10th Infantry Battalion unit of which he served until his death. He embarked from Adelaide on the 23rd of June in 1915 on the ship HMAT A61 Kanowna to the Middle East where he served in Egypt, Gallipoli and France.
Coles was taken on strength at Gallipoli 17th September 1915. Gallipoli has difficult terrain as it is a desert landscape with cliffs and gorges. The 10th Battalion was heavily involved in establishing and defending the front line of the ANZAC position, and served there until the evacuation in December 1915. The climate was hot and there were putrefying bodies and unsanitary conditions. His unit was allocated to the 3rd Brigade in the First Division together with the 9th (Queensland), 11th (Western Australia) and 12th (Tasmania) Battalions respectively.
The 10th Battalion distinguished itself at the landing and throughout the remainder of the Gallipoli campaign. It played a key role in repelling a major Turkish counter attack on the 19th May. In August, the 3rd Brigade was the Division Reserve for the attack at Lone Pine mounted by the First Brigade.
On the 8th of August, Cole was punished for disobedience of orders while on active duty. On the 23rd of October in 1915, he was sick and was sent to a hospital because he had diarrhoea, and on the 29th, he was diagnosed with gastritis. He was diagnosed with Enteritis and Gastro on 30th October 1915.
The Battalion evacuated Gallipoli on the 21st November, part of the draw down prior to the main evacuation which took place on 19 December 1915. It returned to Egypt where on 26th February the 10th Battalion and the other then sixteen Battalions of the 1st Division were split in two to seed the newly raised Fourth Division with combat experienced men. Coles after he recovered from his illness rejoined his unit 23rd February 1916.
Coles proceeded to join the British Expeditionary Force, embarking from Alexandria in Egypt and arriving at Marseilles in France on 3rd April 1916.
After an initial period in "The Nursery" sector in Flanders, the 10th Battalion went on to serve with distinction at Pozieres, where it was engaged in sustained and unrelenting combat between 22-25 July, at a cost of 350 casualties. Unfortunately, Cole was one of those casualties killed in action on 23rd July of 1916, when he was 18 years old. Sadly, his body was never found but his name is inscribed on the D23 Villers-Bretonneux, Villers-Bretonneux, Département de la Somme - Picardie, in France. In Australia, his name is located at panel 58 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial.
Bibliography
TROVE (2014). BIOGRAPHICAL PARTICULARS - THE LATE PRIVATE W. G. CRISP. - Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954) - 26 Aug 1916. [online] Trove. Available at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/87311079?searchTerm=Leith%20Carlyle%20Cole [Accessed 5 Dec. 2024].
Virtual War Memorial (2024). Leith Carlyle COLES. [online] Vwma.org.au. Available at: https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/315073 [Accessed 5 Dec. 2024].
Terrace, V. (2024). Digital Item Page Gallery. [online] Naa.gov.au. Available at: https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Gallery151/dist/JGalleryViewer.aspx?B=3269454&S=1&N=35&R=0#/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=3269454&T=P&S=5 [Accessed 5 Dec. 2024].
Australian War Memorial (2024). Leith Carlyle Coles. [online] Awm.gov.au. Available at: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1713595 [Accessed 5 Dec. 2024].
CWGC (2021). Private Leith Carlyle Coles | War Casualty Details 1459297 | CWGC. [online] CWGC. Available at: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1459297/leith-carlyle-coles/ [Accessed 5 Dec. 2024].
British, R. (2024). I’ve remembered Private Leith carlyle Coles. [online] Every One Remembered. Available at: https://www.everyoneremembered.org/profiles/soldier/1459297/ [Accessed 5 Dec. 2024].
Virtual War Memorial (2017). 10th Infantry Battalion. [online] Vwma.org.au. Available at: https://vwma.org.au/explore/units/1.
birtwistlewiki.com.au. (n.d.). 10th Battalion - Our Contribution. [online] Available at: https://birtwistlewiki.com.au/wiki/10th_Battalion.
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