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Australia

John Johnson McCLELLAND was born in 1894 in Berry, NSW

His parents were John Johnson McCLELLAND and Kate Maude HANCOCK

# 1521 McCLELLAND John (Jack) Johnson                             26th Battalion
 
Jack McClelland was born at Berry in the Shoalhaven District NSW to John and Kate McClelland in September 1894. As a boy he attended Berry Public School. Berry was quite a small township and Jack may well have decided to find work as a painter by travelling further afield. There is no direct documentary evidence that Jack spent time in the Esk district but given there is only one soldier with his initials on the nominal roll and the fact that Jack enlisted in Brisbane, as many other young men from Esk did, it is reasonable to assume that the J. J. McClelland listed on the Esk Memorial is John (Jack) Johnson McClelland.
 
Jack attended the Brisbane Recruiting Depot on 19th May 1915. He informed the recruiting officer he was 20 years and 9 months old and worked as a painter. Jack named his father of “Tower Hill” Berry as his next of kin. Once Jack had passed the medical exam he was sent to Enoggera Camp where he was placed into the 1st Reinforcements of the 26thBattalion. The 26th Battalion was one of two Queensland battalions in the 7th Infantry Brigade. The 26th also had a number of Tasmanians in its ranks who had made the sea voyage from Hobart to Brisbane to join the brigade. After just over a month of training, the 1st Reinforcements of the 26th Battalion entrained at Alderley station for the short trip to Pinkenba wharf where the troops embarked on the “Aeneas”. The embarkation roll shows that Jack had allocated 4/- of his daily pay of 5/- to be deposited into a Commonwealth Bank account. The “Aeneas” was crammed with two full battalions, 25th and 26th, as well as drafts of reinforcements for the 7th brigade and Light Horse. The ship docked in Sydney for six days and the troops disembarked to be billeted in the showgrounds. On 6th July, the troops re-embarked and sailed directly to Egypt, arriving at Suez on 4th August 1915.
 
While in camp at Abbassia, Jack was taken on strength by the 26th Battalion proper and placed in A Company. Training continued for the next few weeks before the 25th and 26th Battalions embarked on the “Minnewaska” at Alexandria bound for Mudros Harbour at Lemnos before being transhipped to a smaller vessel for the 4 hour voyage to Anzac Cove. The 26th battalion landed at Gallipoli at night on 4th September 1915.
 
During the three months that the 26th spent at Gallipoli, most of the time the men were detached for various fatigue duties, particularly shifting supplies from the dumps on the beach. There was a steady stream of casualties caused by stray bullets, Turkish snipers and premature explosions from a nearby 18 pounder battery. In November the battalion went into the firing line at Courtney’s Post and Steele’s Post before being sent to Russell’s Top to engage in tunnelling. The weather changed in November bringing flooding rain and snow. Following a visit by Lord Kitchener, British Minister for War, the decision was made to abandon Gallipoli. On 12th December 1915, the 26th Battalion marched down to the embarkation pier to betaken off by lighters for the voyage back to Lemnos. The 26th stayed in camp on the island until the new year, arriving back in Egypt on 9th January 1916.
 
The battalions of the 7th brigade joined other units returning from Gallipoli in camps along the Suez Canal. A reorganisation of infantry forces was planned, effectively doubling in size the AIF from two Divisions to four (with another division to be raised in England). Some Gallipoli Battalions were split to create a core of experienced soldiers for two new battalions. The Battalions of the 7th Brigade however had returned from Gallipoli relatively unscathed and kept their original compliment. These battalions were among the first of the newly formed AIF to proceed to France and the “real war” on the Western Front.
 
On 13th March, the battalion was visited by General Birdwood who informed the men that they would be going to France and he urged them to “play the game.” The 26th Battalion proceeded to the docks at Alexandria where they boarded a ship for the six day crossing of the Mediterranean. Upon arrival in Marseilles on 21st March 1916, the Battalion was transported by train north to the Armentieres sector of the front. This part of the frontline was considered to be suitable for educating newly arrived troops into the routines of trench warfare, even though there were not actually any trenches as the ground was too boggy. Instead, earthen breastworks had been constructed with timber walls and duckboard floors; and even piped running water; a far cry from the conditions on Gallipoli. The battalion spent several months rotating in and out of the line before being called south to the Somme in July.
 
General Haig, Supreme British commander on the Western Front planned a big offensive 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. In spite of this, Haig was determined to push on and three 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. Pozieres was taken by the 1st Division on 20th July. The second division’s objective was to take a blockhouse which had been built on the site of a windmill on the crest of a ridge outside the village of Pozieres. The windmill was behind two lines of trenches, and provided a panoramic view of the surrounding countryside. The attack, the first major offensive by the 26th Battalion since arriving in France, was to begin just after midnight on the 29th July.
 
The 26th moved up into the jumping off trenches and awaited the artillery bombardment that would cut the wire in front of the enemy positions. The 26th was in the centre of the assembled battalions as they charged uphill to their objective but the wire remained uncut and after severe losses the battalion withdrew.
 
Five days later, with a slightly better plan, the 7th brigade of the 2nd Division made another attempt and by the 5thAugust had taken the two lines of trenches and the blockhouse, but at tremendous cost. In the two attacks against the German lines, the 26th which had a nominal roll of about 900 suffered 650 casualties; of which 250 were killed. Another 70 would subsequently die of their wounds. Jack McClelland was among those wounded.
 
Jack had sustained a gun shot wound to the head on 5th August. He was taken to the 44th Casualty Clearing Station and from there loaded on to an ambulance train on the 7th August, arriving at the 13th General Hospital at Boulogne the next day. Jack probably never regained consciousness and died of his wounds on 20th August 1916, aged 21. He was buried in the Boulogne Eastern Cemetery.
 
Under the conditions of his will, Jack’s mother was bequeathed the money in the Commonwealth Bank account and she was also granted a pension of £2/-/- a fortnight. When permanent headstones were being erected, the McClelland family chose the following: HIS DUTY NOBLY DONE.
 
On the site of the Pozieres windmill today is a commemorative stone which reads:
“The ruin of the Pozieres windmill which lies here was the centre of the struggle on this part of the Somme Battlefield in July and August 1916. It was captured by Australian troops who fell more thickly on this ridge than on any other battlefields of the war.”