BLACK, George
| Service Number: | 572 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 23 September 1914, An original member of D Company 15th Bn. |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 17th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, 15 November 1892 |
| Home Town: | Brisbane, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Wormit Public School, Scotland |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Pulmonary tuberculosis, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 14 January 1945, aged 52 years |
| Cemetery: |
Mount Thompson Memorial Gardens & Crematorium, Queensland Plot Wall 11 Row A |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, East Brisbane War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 23 Sep 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 572, 15th Infantry Battalion, An original member of D Company 15th Bn. | |
|---|---|---|
| 22 Dec 1914: | Involvement Private, 572, 17th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '11' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Ceramic embarkation_ship_number: A40 public_note: '' | |
| 22 Dec 1914: | Embarked Private, 572, 17th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ceramic, Melbourne |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
George Black was born in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, where his parents remained when he emigrated to Australia in 1913. He wasn’t in Brisbane long before he enlisted in 1914 in the original 15th Battalion.
His younger brother, 6744 Private Peter Black, 1st/7th Bn. Black Watch (Royal Highlanders), was one of the unfortunate men executed by the British Army for desertion on 18 September 1916. Peter Black had only just turned 21 years of age.
George Black took part 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 about 500 yards. Although the enemy trenches were only 100 yards 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 and bombing 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 33 men killed, 11 died of wounds over the next few weeks, many of those as prisoners, and over 20 others were captured by the Germans, without counting the wounded.
George Black passed away in Brisbane during 1945, from tuberculosis, and his death at 53 years of age was attributed to his war service.
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