Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Herbert Leslie Rodgers (Reg. #3875A) enlisted in the AIF on the 15th August 1915 at Armidale. He registered himself as being 21yrs and 4 mths of age, was working as a ‘Grazier’, and gave his address as West Avenue, Glenn Innes. He was 5’ 9” tall, and only 11 stone, 4lb (72kg), grey eyes, dark complexion with brown hair, was a C of E, and his next of kin was listed as John William Rodgers (father), and was a great grandson of the Hann pioneers of Grafton, NSW.

He was assigned to the 20th Bn, embarked with the 9th Reinforcements from Sydney on 20 January 1916. The 20th Battalion was raised at Liverpool in New South Wales in March 1915 as part of the 5th Brigade. A sprinkling of the 20th’s original recruits had already served with the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) in the operations to capture German New Guinea in 1914. The 20th left Australia in late June, trained in Egypt from late July until mid-August, and on 22 August landed at ANZAC Cove, Gallipoli just as the August offensive petered out, the 20th’s role there was purely defensive. From 26 August, until its withdrawal from the peninsula on 20 December, the 20th Battalion was responsible for the defence of Russell’s Top.

With the reinforcements the 20th Battalion was sent to France, arriving there on 22 March 1916. From there it proceeded to a position near Pozieres, where it took up position in the trenches in April and, a month later, had the dubious honour of being the first Australian battalion to be raided by the Germans. Later, in July and August the 20th took part in the Battle of Pozières, during which time it served in the line twice before moving to a quieter sector in Belgium for a period of rest. In October, however, the entire 2nd Division was moved to the south again and put back into the line in France once again and in November they launched an attack at Flers, in conditions that were so muddy that they were described by the official historian, Charles Bean, as “the worst ever encountered by the AIF.”

Throughout 1917 the 20th Battalion was involved in three major battles as the German Army was forced back towards the Hindenburg Line, seeing action at Bullecourt in May, Menin Road in September and Poelcappelle in October. At Lagnicourt, on 15 April, along with other units from the 5th Brigade, they took part in a defensive action along with four other battalions, where they managed to defeat a counter-attack by a German force almost five times its size. In 1918, the battalion was involved in repelling the German Spring Offensive, when the 20th was one of many Australian battalions that were hurried in to the line to stop it, and on 7 April 1918, they took part in a very sharp engagement at Hangard Wood. Once the German offensive was defeated the Allies launched their own, known as the Hundred Days Offensive which eventually brought about an end to the war. During this time the 20th were involved in the battles at Amiens and Mont St Quentin in August, before participating in the attack on the “Beaurevoir Line” at Montbrehain in October.

This would be the battalion’s last contribution to the war, as it was training out of the line when the Armistice was declared in November 1918. It was disbanded on 20 April 1919 while at Montigny-le-Tilluel, Belgium, when most of its personnel, including the commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Forbes, were marched out for repatriation to Australia as part of the demobilisation process. During the war, the 20th Battalion lost 848 men killed and 3,143 men wounded. Herbert Leslie Rodgers was promoted to Lance Corporal and like most soldiers was in and out of hospital, but after being transferred back to his unit in May 1918, he was sadly ‘Killed in Action’ near Lamotte-Warfusee, France on the 11th August 1918. He was posthumously awarded the British War Medal (#30595) and the Victory Medal (#30413) on the 21 November 1921.