HOGAN, Harold Michael
| Service Number: | 2030 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Trooper |
| Last Unit: | 3 Battalion Imperial Camel Corps |
| Born: | St George, Queensland, Australia, date not yet discovered |
| Home Town: | Goombungee, Toowoomba, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Palestine, 19 April 1917, age not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Jerusalem Memorial, Jerusalem War Cemetery, Israel |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Goombungee War Memorial, Jerusalem Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 31 Jan 1916: | Involvement Private, 2030, 5th Light Horse Regiment, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '2' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Wandilla embarkation_ship_number: A62 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 31 Jan 1916: | Embarked Private, 2030, 5th Light Horse Regiment, HMAT Wandilla, Brisbane | |
| 19 Apr 1917: | Involvement Trooper, 2030, 3 Battalion Imperial Camel Corps, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 2030 awm_unit: 3 Battalion Imperial Camel Corps awm_rank: Trooper awm_died_date: 1917-04-19 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Ian Lang
# 2030 HOGAN George (Mick) Michael 3rd Battalion Imperial Camel Brigade
Mick Hogan was born at St George, Queensland. It is likely that his father died when he and his younger brother Matthew were young. Luanda Hogan married a Mr Yonge and moved to Bergen Station outside Goombungee. When Mick presented himself for enlistment in Brisbane on 19th August 1915, he gave his address as Bergen Station via Toowoomba.
Mick also advised the recruiting officer that he was 18 years and 9 months old, which would have required his mother to provide written permission. He stated his occupation as labourer and also stated he had served four years in the Senior Cadets.
Mick was accepted into the Light Horse and after initial training in musketry and horsemanship was assigned to the 14th reinforcements for the 5th Light Horse Regiment. In January 1916, the reinforcements travelled to Sydney by train where they embarked on the “Wandilla” on 31st January. Mick and the other reinforcements landed at Suez and made their way to the Light Horse Depot where he was assigned initially to the Anzac Mounted Division.
As the bulk of the AIF in Egypt began to prepare for a move to the Western Front in France and Belgium, the Light Horse Regiments and New Zealand Mounted Rifles were combined to form the Anzac Mounted Division under General Harry Chauvel. The Mounted Force was assigned in April 1916 to meeting a Turkish threat from Palestine across the Sinai towards the Suez Canal. Mick and his comrades meanwhile languished in a camp at Serapeum.
Elements of the Anzac Division fought an important battle against a Turk and German force at Romani in August 1916 which halted the Turkish advance. The Egyptian Expeditionary Force, of which the Anzac Mounted Division was part, began an advance along the narrow strip of land between the Mediterranean and the Sinai Desert. As the lines of communication grew longer, horse transport caused a number of problems. Horses need to be watered and fed every day. Their relatively narrow hooves sank in the soft sand tiring the animals. The solution was camels. Initially used to transport supplies, it was soon determined that a camel mounted infantry force would add a flexibility to the desert campaign.
For Mick Hogan who had been cooling his heels in various camps for over a year, a transfer to the 4thAustralian Camel Regiment, Imperial Camel Corps on 2nd November 1916 finally presented an opportunity for an escape of the tedium of camp life. The Camel Corps began a slow journey from the base at Abbassia eastwards along the Mediterranean shore to El Arish while ahead of the camels, the Anzac Mounted Division continued to engage with the Turks, reaching the town of Rafah on the Palestinian Border in January 1917.
In the early months of 1917, the military advantage rested with the Turks who had constructed, with the assistance of German engineers, a strong defensive line in Palestine which ran from Gaza southeast towards the garrison town of Beersheba. The British General in charge planned a frontal assault on Gaza on 26th March, which resulted in many casualties. A second assault was planned but regiments needed to be reinforced and extra forces deployed. In April, Mick Hogan was posted to the 3rd Battalion of the Imperial Camel Brigade and on 13th April was taken on by the 11th Company of the ICB as they prepared for the second assault on Gaza on 19th April.
In the three weeks between the first and second assault on Gaza, the Turks had time to reinforce their line and bring up extra troops. For Mick Hogan, the 19th April was his first action and perhaps being unfamiliar with the lethal power of rifles and machine guns, he fell with a fatal bullet wound to the head in front of a Turkish redoubt. The men of his company buried him where he fell but had to retire before a marker could be erected over the grave. Luanda Yonge received her son’s personal effects; a sheepskin jacket, a wristwatch with a leather cover common amongst rural workers, a diary and letters.
Trooper Harold Hogan has no known grave. He is commemorated on the memorial tablets of the Jerusalem War Cemetery.