Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of Annie Barnby CORTIS, of Haig St., Clayfield, Brisbane, Queensland, and the late William CORTIS.

# 3023 CORTIS Willaim (Will) Henry                          9th/ 49th Battalion
 
Will Cortis was born at Hull, Yorkshire around 1881 to parents William and Annie. In 1888, the Cortis family embarked on the Royal Mail Steamer “Quetta” at Tilbury Docks in London for a voyage via the Suez Canal to Northern Australia. The immigration records from the time show that William, accompanied by his youngest son George, were fee paying passengers in the saloon whilst Annie, daughters Mary and Lilly and seven year old Will were second class accommodation. The family landed in Brisbane in December 1888 and Will began attending the Brisbane Central School (also referred to as the Normal School).
 
It appears that Will had a number of occupations during his life. His mother stated Will had worked as a draper. A friend providing details for the Red Cross said that Will worked at the T.C. Beirne &Co department store in Fortitude Valley as a storeman. Information relating to the Avenue of Memorial Trees at Woodford states that Will was a storeman for Queensland Railways at Woodford. Will’s fiancé, Rose Raabe of Nanango writing to a friend of Will’s from Kingaroy reminded him that he and Will received a community send off in Kingaroy before enlisting. It is likely that Will was working in Kingaroy as a railway storeman. His friend, Hugh Fortune, was a railway engine cleaner.
 
Will and Hugh travelled together to Brisbane to enlist on 12th June 1915. Will stated his age as 34 years and even though he was working in Kingaroy or Nanango gave his address as that of his parents; Bismarck Street, Clayfield. Will’s attestation papers list his occupation as storekeeper but given other evidence, this is probably an error. He was a storeman. Will named his mother as his next of kin. Will was drafted into the 10th reinforcements of the 9th Battalion and on 5th October 1915 boarded the “Warilda” in Brisbane for overseas. Will requested that 3/- of his daily pay of 5/- be deposited into a bank account in Brisbane.
 
The reinforcements disembarked at Suez and took a train north along the west bank of the Suez Canal to the AIF depot at Tel el Kabir. Will was formally taken on by the 9th Battalion on 21st January 1916. A month later, he was transferred to the newly formed 49th Battalion, made up of Gallipoli veterans and new recruits like Will. It would take some time for the battalion to be trained as a cohesive unit.
 
The 49th Battalion departed Egypt from Alexandria on 6th June and arrived at the French port of Marseilles six days later. As part of the 13th Brigade of the 4th Division AIF, the 49th Battalion moved into the “nursery” trenches around Armentieres in northern France to learn the routines of trench warfare. On 1st July, the British Commander in France, Douglas Haig, launched the Somme offensive. The British armies were made up of either newly recruited “pals” battalions or conscripts. The offensive was a catastrophic disaster with 60,000 casualties on the first day; 20,000 of whom were killed. Now committed to the attack, Haig was determined to push on. The battle became a war of attrition.
 
Progress was slow, measured in yards rather than miles and with his reserve forces already committed, Haig turned to the four newly arrived divisions of the AIF to progress the advance. The highest point of the battlefield, and from which the occupiers had a commanding view, was a ridge which ran almost north/ south from Thiepval to the village of Pozieres. During the last days of July and early August, the 1st and 2ndDivisions of the AIF secured Pozieres, albeit at great cost. The 4th Division’s brigades were initially brought up to the front to hold the Pozieres position which allowed the focus of the battle to move less than a mile along the ridge to a ruined farm house shown on the maps as Ferm de Mouquet.
 
The 4th Division battalions would fight their first major engagement at Mouquet Farm. Will Cortis sustained a gunshot wound to the face on 16th August while taking part in one of a number of failed attempts to remove the enemy from the cellars and dugouts. He was taken to the 2nd Field Ambulance and then loaded onto a hospital train, arriving at the 24th General Hospital at Etaples the next day.
 
Will returned to duty on 24th September. The 49th Battalion spent the last three months of 1916 moving from camp to camp, training and re-equipping, performing fatigue work and occasional rest. On 10th January 1917, Will was attached on secondment to the 27th Company of the Australian Army Service Corps, part of the 4th Division Train. This unit was responsible for the transport and distribution of all of the requirements of an army in the field, with the exception of ammunition which was the responsibility of the ordnance corps. Supplies of food, tools, building materials, uniforms etc were transported from depots in the rear by train to regional centres. The goods were then moved by horse or mule drawn wagons to dumps closer to the infantry and artillery units in the field. Will could have no doubt drawn on his experience in handling stores in Woodford and Kingaroy.
 
Will’s company followed the brigades of the 4th Division into Belgium during the latter half of 1917 as the 3rdBattle of Ypres (usually referred to as Passchendaele) progressed to an unsatisfactory end. The muddy conditions associated with this campaign, so vividly portrayed in the photographs of Hubert Wikins and Frank Hurley, would have proved particularly trying for the supply wagons and drivers. Fighting on the Western Front was reduced to a holding pattern during the winter of 1917/18 and most of the Australian battalions enjoyed a period of rest and recovery around Poperinghe west of Ypres. In spite of the fact there was little military activity, soldiers still needed to be fed, clothed, housed, equipped and entertained; all of which kept the AASC companies busy.
 
On 16th February 1918, Will was granted two week’s leave in England. When he returned to his unit, there was much speculation about the likelihood of a German Spring offensive. British commanders thought the most likely target would be Belgian Flanders and as a consequence the AIF, which had proven to be the most reliable force within the British order of battle, were kept in reserve close to the French Belgian border. Belgium. When Operation Michael began on 21st March 1918, the main assault was aimed along the line of the Somme River in France, the scene of so much fighting and hard won victories in 1916.
The British 5th Army, which was holding the line astride the Somme was unable to hold the German onslaught which in some places amounted to a five-times numerical advantage. As the British retreated, often in disarray, the German Stormtroopers retook all of the gains made by the British in the Somme campaign of 1916 and were within a few days of capturing the vital communication city of Amiens. If Amiens fell, Haig might well have lost the war; the situation was deadly serious.
 
Haig ordered four of the five divisions of the AIF in Belgium to race south to establish a defensive line in front of Amiens. On 26th March, the 4th Division, which included Will in the Divisional Train began a journey south. At first, the division travelled by train and then motor buses but for the final part of the trek, the men marched through the night with the encroaching enemy somewhere out on their left.
 
A defensive line was established between Amiens and Albert on the north bank of the Somme. By the first days of April, the 4th Divisional Train had caught up to the infantry and the 27th Company AASC had established a bivouac site in an orchard near Bavelincourt. Red Cross Wounded and Missing reports state that Will and two other loaders were asleep in a tent when a barrage of shrapnel shells rained down on the encampment, killing all three men in their beds.
 
Will was buried in a small cemetery nearby with an army chaplain in attendance. A varnished wooden cross inscribed with Will’s details was erected. His fiancé wrote to Will’s friend Hugh Fortune seeking details of his death and she was also responsible for making enquiries with the Red Cross Wounded and Missing Service. Will’s personal effects were packaged up to be sent to his mother. Unfortunately, the ship, which was carrying a large number of such packages, the SS Barunga, was torpedoed off the Scilly Isles south of Land’s End. All crew and passengers were rescued but the cargo was lost.
 
Will had named his mother as the sole beneficiary of his will. She also accepted her sons war medals in 1922 as her husband was by that time deceased. William Cortis is commemorated on the Honour Roll at St Matthias Church in Woodford. A memorial tree was planted in the Memorial Avenue in Archer Street, Woodford but sadly that tree and plaque have not survived.