Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

#4581 David William PUTMAN  31st Infantry Battalion

David Putman was born in Howard, the son of Walter and Lizzie Putman. David had at least two brothers, Walter jnr, John and a sister Violet. The nominal roll for the AIF shows only six enlistments with the name Putman, and three of these give an address of Howard.

David attended school at Howard and served in the Senior Cadets. Like many young men from that district at the time, David went into the mines as a miner. He enlisted in Maryborough on 30th September 1916; in the midst of the national debate over conscription. David’s attestation papers record his age as 21 years and 5 months. He nominated his father, Walter Putnam of Burrum as his next of kin. David was given a travel warrant to take a train to Enoggera where he entered the Rifle Range Camp the following day. Between the 18th and 22 November, David travelled by train home to Howard for a period of pre-embarkation leave.

On 23rd December1916, David and a group of reinforcements for the 31st Battalion boarded the “Demosthenes” in Sydney and sailed directly to England. The 31st Battalion, part of the 8th Brigade of the 5th Division had been raised in Egypt and despatched to the Western Front in June of 1916. In July of that year, having only three days experience of front line fighting, the 5th Division was sent in to attack a heavily defended section of the front near the village of Fromelles. The attack resulted in appalling casualties and virtually finished the 5th Division as a fighting force for the next 14 months. As David and his mates crossed the ocean, the remnants of the 31st Battalion were resting in the rear areas going through a long process of rebuilding and strengthening morale.

When the Demosthenes reached Plymouth on 3rd March 1917, the reinforcements marched out to the 8th Training Battalion at Hurdcott. David would spend the next three months at Hurdcott before leaving for the front, via Southampton. He was finally taken on strength by the 31st Battalion on 1st August 1917. The battalion was at that time in the rear areas around Racquinghem in Belgium engaged in brigade training for a possible call up to the front. In early September, the 31st moved up into the support lines at Steenvoorde and went into action in the battle of Polygon Wood on 24th September. This was the first time that units from the 5th Division had been in a major assault since the debacle at Fromelles 14 months previously.

The offensive to take Polygon Wood was a success and the battalion was withdrawn to Wippenhoek in early October. There was no more fighting for the 31st for the remainder of the year. The Australians spent the winter of 1917/18 in camps around Poperinghe in Belgium. Each division took a turn in manning the front interspersed with sports, physical training and periods of leave. David was granted leave on 12th March 1918 and he no doubt spent the time in England visiting family as the Putnam family had close relatives there. While David was on leave, the long awaited German Spring Offensive began on 21st March. The British command had kept the five Australian divisions in Belgium in anticipation that the German offensive would occur there. In fact the main thrust of Operation Michael was along the valley of the Somme River in France, which had seen major battles in 1916.

David no doubt received a recall notice while on leave but at the same time he was attempting to rejoin his battalion, the battalion was moving south. David finally caught up with his battalion on 4th April. Elements of the 3rd and 4th Divisions were the first to meet the German threat to the vital city of Amiens. The 5th Division was kept as Corps reserve as more and more brigades arrived throughout April. On 25th April two Australian infantry brigades counterattacked in a daring encirclement at Villers Bretonneux which effectively halted the German advance.

For the next three months, the Australians under the command of their new corps commander; Lieutenant General John Monash held the line across the Ancre and Somme Rivers. The 31st battalion war diary records almost constant patrolling in no man’s land by small parties od men armed with Mills bombs (hand grenades) and Lewis guns. Occasionally prisoners and equipment were captured.

After a small but brilliantly planned operation at Hamel on 4th July, Monash was charged with planning a much larger and ambitious operation which would involve five divisions of Australian infantry, three divisions of Canadian infantry, two British divisions and the British tank corps. The battle of Amiens began at 4:20 am on 8th August 1918 with a coordinated artillery barrage behind which the troops, including the 31st Battalion, walked out of the mist. The battalion war diary records in great detail the movement of the 8th brigade with the 31st at the centre of the line. By the end of the day, the results were quite astounding. Many miles of territory had been taken, thousands of prisoners and pieces of equipment were captured (many of which were brought back to Australia as war trophies and found their way into parks across the nation). The 31st Battalion, in its first action since Polygon Wood almost 10 months before had performed incredibly well and casualties were comparatively light with three killed and 42 wounded.

A continuation of the advance was ordered for the following day but with only 12 hours of preparation time, the plan for the 9th August was bound to run into difficulties. After being surprised by the speed of the advance on the 8th, the Germans were better prepared.

The 31st Battalion set off from the jumping off tapes on the morning of the 9th August and encountered heavy machine gun and 77mm canon fire. Casualties for the 9th August were 4 killed and 24 wounded. Unfortunately, one of those killed was David Putnam aged 24. David was buried on the battlefield by a Pioneer battalion that had the task of following up the infantry assault. He remained buried until Graves Registration Teams began to consolidate isolated graves at the end of the war. David’s remains were exhumed and he was permanently laid to rest in the Heath Cemetery near Harbonnieres. His headstone bears the inscription: DUTY NOBLY DONE.