Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Sydney Bruce was born in Yongala South Australia. Later he moved to Solomontown, Port Pirie with his family. Before Sydney enlisted he had 3 years of senior cadets training, and he also had a 5-year apprenticeship as a painter for 5 years in Port Pirie.  Sydney enlisted to the war on the 5th of August 1915.       

Sydney then started training camp at Mitcham on the 11/8/15 and the training camp went for around 12 weeks. Sydney completed this training on the 15/11/15 and then departed Australia from Victoria on the HMAT A19 Afric on the 5th of January 1916.

When he enlisted he was assigned to the 13 reinforcements, 9th light house. Sydney Bruce Earle arrived at Heliopolis in Egypt on 6/3/16 and he was taken on strength to the 3rd Reserve Regiment. Later on the 1/4/16 he was transferred to the 13th Field Artillery Brigade part of the 5th Division Artillery for the rest of training. He was finally transferred to the 51st Infanty Battalion on the 25/7/16 In France and stayed there to fight with them for the rest of the war.

The battles that Sydney was in include the Retreat to the Hindenburg Line: March 14 – April 5, 1917, Bullecourt (First Battle): April 11, 1917, Bullecourt (Second Battle): May 3–17, 1917, Menin Road: September 20–26, 1917, Polygon Wood: September 26, 1917, Passchendaele: October 12, 1917 (part of the larger Third Battle of Ypres campaign), Villers Bretonneux: April 24–25, 1918,and  the battle of Amiens: August 8–11, 1918.

The battle of the Hindenburg line was between March 14th and April 5, 1917. During this battle the Germans started to retreat to their new defensive system. The units in the 5th division artillery were firing their mortars in the direction of the German trenches, but due to the poor visibility they didn’t realise the Germans were retreating until a few days later because the enemy activity was minimal. This was Sydney’s first major battle with the unit.

Sydney was also involved in the first and second battle of Bullecourt, both of which ended with a large number of casualties. This was because the artillery support was not set up properly and poor visibility in the wet weather made it impossible to attack the enemy forces.

Sydney Bruce Earle then fell sick and went to hospital twice after the battles of Bullecourt, the first time he fell sick was on the 25/5/17 and he returned to the unit on the 16/6/17. The second time he went to hospital he had contracted scabies which is a skin condition, and it was very common in the trenches. He was out for over a month from the 5/7/17 to the 15/8/17 when he rejoined his unit.

He then participated in the battle of Menin Road from the 20/9/17 to the 26/9/17 and the Polygon Wood battle, which was a small part of the Menin road battle and it was the final push on the 26th. This battle was a very successful because of a new military strategy from the British. These battles conditions were hot and sunny, which made the visibility very clear. The artillery provided aerial support during this battle, making it more successful.

After this battle Sydney was granted a few days of leave between 26/9/17 to the 4/10/17.

Sydney fought at Passchendaele which was a major attack as part of the Third Battle of Ypres on the 12/10/17 were the goal was to take over the village of Passchendaele where Germany had a strong defence. This battle was very hard for Sydney and the Australians as poor visibility and heavy rain made it near impossible to coordinate attacks. This battle failed tremendously as there were many casualties.

Sydney was present at Villers Bretonneux. This battle took place on the 24th of April to the 25th of April 1918 on the 3 year anniversary of the Gallipoli landing. Sydney was congratulated for acting as a lineman, maintaining communications under heavy shell fire from the enemy. 

He then went to signalling school on the 5/5/18 and returned the next day on the 6/5/18. Sydney was sick to hospital once more before the last battle that he participated in on the 29/6/18 and he returned a month later on the 20/7/18.

The final battle that Sydney Bruce Earle participated in was the battle of Amiens from August 8-11, 1918. This was a major battle, leading up to the end of the war. The 51st Infantry Battalion was extremely useful during this battle, pushing the Germans onto flat open land .

After the War ended, Sydney Bruce Earle returned home on the 15th of May 1919. He married Jessie Dolly and he returned to his job as a painter. Sydney died on the 7th of May 1960 aged 63 and he is buried with his wife at the Centennial Park Cemetery.

Reference list

Adfa.edu.au. (2016). The AIF Project. [online] Available at: https://aif.adfa.edu.au/aif/.

Australian Government (2024). First World War The Western Front. [online] Department of Veterans’ Affairs. Available at: https://www.dva.gov.au/media/media-backgrounders/first-world-war-western-front.

Australian War Memorial (2007). Battle of Passchendaele (Third Ypres) | The Australian War Memorial. [online] Awm.gov.au. Available at: https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/blog/battle-of-passchendaele-third-ypres.

corporateName =Department of Veterans’ Affairs; address=21 Genge St, C.C. (n.d.). Battle of Arras 9 April to 16 May 1917 | Anzac Portal. [online] anzacportal.dva.gov.au. Available at: https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/wars-and-missions/ww1/where-australians-served/western-front/battle-of-arras.

Familysearch.org. (2015). FamilySearch.org. [online] Available at: https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/discovery/results?results=12&page=1&q.surname=Earle&q.givenName=Sydney%20Bruce [Accessed 12 Sep. 2025].

Findagrave.com. (2015). Sydney Bruce Earle (unknown-1960) - Find a Grave... [online] Available at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/151396180/sydney_bruce-earle#view-photo=233633749 [Accessed 12 Sep. 2025].

recordsearch.naa.gov.au. (n.d.). Session Manager. [online] Available at: https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/.

www.awm.gov.au. (n.d.). | The Australian War Memorial. [online] Available at: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1338583.

www.awm.gov.au. (n.d.). Advanced Search | Australian War Memorial. [online] Available at: https://www.awm.gov.au/people/roll-search.