SMITH, Robert Ernest
| Service Number: | 5833 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 31 January 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 15th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Sandgate, Queensland, Australia , date not yet discovered |
| Home Town: | Spring Hill, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Meat worker |
| Died: | Killed in action, Gueudecourt, France, 1 February 1917, age not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 31 Jan 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 5833, 15th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 4 May 1916: | Involvement Private, 5833, 15th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '11' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Seang Choon embarkation_ship_number: A49 public_note: '' | |
| 4 May 1916: | Embarked Private, 5833, 15th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Seang Choon, Brisbane |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Robert Ernest Smith was the son of William Dawson and Margaret Smith of Spring Hill, Queensland.
His younger brother, 3433 Pte. James Dawson Smith 4th Light Trench Mortar Battery was killed in action at Bullecourt, several months after Robert had died.
Another brother, 969 Pte. William Sydney Smith 11th Trench Mortar Battery, was twice wounded in 1918 and returned to Australia in 1919.
Robert joined the 15th Battalion in France during December 1916 and was reported as missing after a raid on 1 February 1917, near Gueudecourt, when the 15th Battalion attacked a section of the German front line known as Stormy Trench. The party consisted of 150 men and six officers, or one and half companies. The attack started at about 7.00 p.m. on a frontage of 500 metres. Although the enemy trenches were only 100 metres from the Australian lines, inadequate artillery support caused the attack to fail. A German counter attack at 11 p.m. was beaten off. In the face of relentless German shelling of the captured trenches, and a stronger German counter attack at 4.30 a.m. the Battalion was forced to retire. Although 52 German soldiers were captured, the 15th Battalion’s casualties were 38 men killed, over 20 captured by the Germans and over 80 wounded.
Little is known of his death and his body has no known grave. His parents were most concerned that they could not discover any particulars of how he died, or even the place he died.