
MENDELSOHN, Berrol Lazar
Service Number: | Officer |
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Enlisted: | 22 July 1915, Sydney, New South Wales |
Last Rank: | Lieutenant |
Last Unit: | 55th Infantry Battalion |
Born: | Esk, Queensland, Australia, 15 May 1891 |
Home Town: | Bondi, Waverley, New South Wales |
Schooling: | All Saints College Bathurst, Fort Street Boys High School, New South Wales, Australia |
Occupation: | Clerk |
Died: | Killed In Action, Fromelles, France, 20 July 1916, aged 25 years |
Cemetery: |
Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery Plot II. Row F. Grave 2. Inscription: GREATLY LOVED SON OF SALI AND ABIGAIL BELOVED BROTHER OF ZILLAH ARTHUR ESTELLE FELIX OSCAR |
Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Nanango War Memorial, Petersham Fort Street High School Great War Honour Roll |
World War 1 Service
22 Jul 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, Officer, 17th Infantry Battalion, Sydney, New South Wales | |
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28 Jul 1915: | Embarked AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, Officer, 17th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Suffolk, Sydney | |
28 Jul 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, Officer, 17th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Suffolk embarkation_ship_number: A23 public_note: '' | |
17 Sep 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, Officer, 17th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, Taken on Ration Strength of Unit | |
3 Apr 1916: | Transferred AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, 55th Infantry Battalion, T.O.S. from 17th Infantry Battalion | |
30 May 1916: | Promoted AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 55th Infantry Battalion | |
19 Jun 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Lieutenant, Officer, 55th Infantry Battalion, Embarked Alexandria for B.E.F per H.M.T. "Caledonian" | |
29 Jun 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Lieutenant, Officer, 55th Infantry Battalion, Disembarked Marseilles, France | |
19 Jul 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Lieutenant, Officer, 55th Infantry Battalion, Fromelles (Fleurbaix) | |
20 Jul 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Lieutenant, Officer, 55th Infantry Battalion, Fromelles (Fleurbaix), Killed In Action |
Help us honour Berrol Lazar Mendelsohn's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Evan Evans
Lieutenant MENDELSOHN, BERROL LAZAR
The Western Front Association (Posted on March 11, 2012) has this story about a Jewish Australian soldier who was killed at Fromelles, found with 249 other soldiers in 2007 and laid to rest in 2010 in the Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery. At that time, Lt. Berrol Lazar Mendelsohn was the only Jewish soldier who had been identified, though others were known to have been killed there.
The 1916 battle, which had little military importance, was the worst 24 hours in Australia’s military history, says the Guardian newspaper. In one night, 5,533 men from the Australian 5th Division were killed, wounded or reported missing. Here’s a link to the Guardian article, written nearly a year before the cemetery was finished. There are interesting details about recovering the remains.
Lieut. Berrol Mendelsohn, whose death in action occurred somewhere in France on July 20, was a native of Esk, 25 years of age, and second son of the late Mr S. Mendelsohn, of Queensland, and of Mrs Mendelsohn, Ullenbar, 67 Raglan street, Mosman. He was attached to the Naval Brigade from a lad, and when compulsory training was inaugurated he obtained a commission in the 19th Infantry, in charge of the machine-gun section, and quickly mastered the details. He earned special commendation at Liverpool encampment, 1913, for the smart manner his men performed their work, taking less than half British Army standard time to bring their gun into and out of action. He was well known in swimming circles, having been a member of the Bondi Club for many years, and won many prizes, including the right to hold the Kelly Challenge Cup for a year. He left for Egypt as lieutenant in charge of reinforcements on July 28, 1915, and was immediately sent to Gallipoli, and stationed at Quinn's Post, remaining at his post until the evacuation. He was transferred to one of the newly-formed battalions training in the desert. He left for the battlefields of France, where his first engagement has proved his last. He joined the Pardrian Rubber Co. shortly alter leaving school, and remained with the firm for nine years, until be enlisted. Lieutenant Mendelsohn's youngest brother, Oscar, left recently with artillery for the Front.
- The Queenslander, Saturday 2 September 1916
Killed overnight in the German trenches, Battle of Fromelles.
Buried in the mass grave established by the German Army for Australian and British dead at Pheasant Wood, his identity disc returned to the British War Office.
One of the men positively identified when the mass grave was found in 2007, and interred 2010 in the newly built Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery.
From Marie Victorine, Australia and NZ in WWI
Biography contributed by Daryl Jones
LIEUTENANT BERROL MENDELSOHN.—Well known to all Fortians and especially to swimmers, was Lieutenant Bernd Mendelsohn, son of Mrs. Mendelsohn, of Mosman who was killed in action in France
on 20th July last. Apparently his death must have occurred within a day or two of his reaching the firing line, as a cable had just been received from him from Egypt a week or two before his death. While in Sydney he was very well known as a swimmer, being the champion of the Bondi Club and frequently competed in our Old Boys’ races at the annual carnival. He had been long connected with naval and military affairs, while in civil life he has been since boyhood on the staff of Perdrian and Company.
Biography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon
Lieutenant Mendelsohn was from Bondi NSW. He is the only Jewish buried in the Fromelles Pheasant Wood Cemetery. He is the great, great uncle of Australian actor, Ben Mendelsohn.