Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

 
STORR  Arthur William          #4891 9th/26th Battalion
 
Arthur Storr was one of three brothers who enlisted in the Great War. Arthur, like his two brothers, was born at Laidley and attended school there. When he presented himself for enlistment in Brisbane on 14thSeptember 1915, Arthur stated his occupation as surveyor’s assistant. He was 26 years old and single. Arthur’s younger brother, Charles, enlisted two days later. Both Arthur and Charles named their mother, Elizabeth Storr of Bribie View via Caboolture as their next of kin.
 
Arthur and Charles spent the next 6 months in a depot battalion at Enoggera before being allocated as reinforcements for the 9th Battalion. The brothers boarded the “Commonwealth” in Brisbane on 28th March 1916. Arthur and Charles are listed beside each other on the embarkation roll with consecutive service numbers. Each had allocated 3/- to their mother.
 
By the time the reinforcements arrived in Egypt in May, the bulk of the reconstituted AIF had already been sent to the western front. Arthur and Charles along with the rest of the reinforcements were sent on to England where they spent time in the training battalions at Perham Downs. Arthur was reallocated to the 26th Battalion on 25th November; his brother Charles joined him in the 26th two days later.
 
The brothers were taken on strength by the 26th in the midst of the coldest winter that part of France had experienced in a generation. Unsurprisingly Arthur spent some time in Field Ambulance and Convalescent depots with swollen feet caused by immersion in mud for days at a time. He was finally passed fit in February and rejoined the 26th.
 
As the winter thawed into spring on the western front, the Germans began a strategic withdrawal to a series of heavily defended positions (the Hindenburg Line) which had been constructed during the winter. As the Germans withdrew, the British and Australians carefully followed. Occasionally there would be a short sharp counter attack by the enemy and towns and villages along the route were often fought for fiercely. One such village was Lagnicourt; just north of the Bapaume Cambrai Road.
 
The 26th Battalion were tasked with attacking the village of Lagnicourt on 26th March 1917. The attack was initially successful and forward posts were established in front of the new front line; however, when the Germans counterattacked, these forward posts were overrun. The war diary of the 26th describes the frantic efforts of the men in the forward posts as Lewis gun barrels became red hot and the German attackers were met with bayonets. Arthur Storr was listed as missing; perhaps POW on 26th March and he could well have been one of the men holding the forward posts.
 
When lists of POWs were made available, a search failed to locate Arthur Storr and his file was amended to then read Killed in Action. The Lagnicourt battlefield would be fought over another two times during the course of the war and any trace of Arthur’s remains was obliterated. Charles Storr who had enlisted with Arthur and elder brother Harold who enlisted in 1914 both survived the war and returned to Australia.
 
In 1922 the Reverend Evans of Laidley wrote to Base Records in Melbourne requesting any information regarding the grave of Arthur Storr as his two sisters were planning to travel to England, and perhaps France to visit their brother’s grave. Their quest would have been in vain. Arthur Storr is commemorated on the tablets of the Australian National Memorial at Villers Brettoneux in company with 10,000 other Australians who died in France and have no known grave.