Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

FALLEN IN BLUE

Hasten the Dawn – Lest We Forget

Constable John Stewart 5699

West Melbourne Police Station

Sharing the farming district by Bullarook Creek, 8 km south of Creswick, Dean, as his birthplace with his five siblings, John Stewart, born on 2 May 1890, became widely known as ‘Jack’.

Situated 95 km north-west of Melbourne, in a basin formed by the Bullarook and Adekate Creeks, Dean is east of the Creswick State Forest.

Following his Dean State School attendance, Jack Stewart gained labouring employment before being appointed to the Victoria Police Force on 28 September 1911. A single man of respectable appearance, light grey eyes, fair hair, fair complexion; a follower of the Presbyterian faith, being recorded on his police personnel record, Constable Jack Stewart was sent to Russell Street police station for foot duty on 28 December 1911. Remaining for two months, Jack transferred to Collingwood for 18 months before returning to Russell Street.

Requesting a transfer to West Melbourne, Jack Stewart, being so transferred on 14 February 1915, brought himself closer to the family 14 Eades Place, West Melbourne home. His parents having moved there from Dean.

Joining, on 6 July 1915, the AIF, 25 years 2 months of age, 177.8 cm [5’10”], 82.5 kg [13 stone], Private Jack Stewart performed, between 14 July – 16 December 1915, recruit training depot duties.

Performing duties, between 17 December 1915 – 31 January 1916, Jack Stewart achieved promotion to Corporal at the Officer’s Training School, Broadmeadows. Two months following, on 27 March 1916, Corporal Jack Stewart, until 11 April 1916, was attached to 39th Battalion, Ballarat then transferred to 46th Battalion, Castlemaine.

Embarking, 8 July 1916, from Melbourne aboard HMAT A31 Ajanaon, being marched into 15th Training Battalion, England, on 31 August 1916. Numerous training duties followed, between 23 September 1916 at 13th Training Battalion No 43 Camp, Larkhill, until 13 January 1917, when Jack was made acting sergeant.

Proceeding, on 20 March 1917, overseas to France, Jack was reverted to Private on joining 5th Australian Divisional Base Depot [ADBD]. Taken on strength, on 26 March 1917, Jack Stewart was, on 17 April 1917, appointed Lance Corporal with the 58th Battalion.

During early 1917, in an effort to shorten their lines of communication, the Germans withdrew to prepared positions of the Hindenburg Line; a brief advance followed as the Allies followed them up. During this phase of the war, the 58th Battalion was not committed to any major attacks, playing a defensive role at the end of the Second Battle of Bullecourt in May, holding earlier gained ground.

Achieving, on 20 June 1917, promotion to sergeant, prior to involvement in the Battle of Passchendaele [31 July – 10 November 1917], also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, Jack Stewart participated in the commencing day.

Following the failure of a major Allied offensive the previous May, British commander in chief, Sir Douglas Haig, determined that his troops should launch another. Proceeding according to his mistaken belief of the German army was on the verge of collapse, capable of being broken completely by a major Allied victory.

As the site for the offensive, Haig chose the much-contested Ypres Salient, in the Flanders region of Belgium, the scene of two previous German-led offensives. Ostensibly aimed at destroying German submarine bases on the north coast of Belgium, Haig’s Third Battle of Ypres began with significant Allied gains, however, soon bogged down due to heavy rains and thickening mud.

By the end of September, the British were able to establish control over a ridge of land east of the town of Ypres. From there, Haig pushed his commanders to continue the attacks towards the Passchendaele ridge, some 10 km distant.

As the battle stretched into its third month, the Allied attackers reached near-exhaustion, while the Germans were able to reinforce their positions with reserve troops released from the Eastern Front, where Russia’s army was in chaos.

The British Army never made it to the coast, with the goal of the first phase of the offensive, to capture the ruins of Passchendaele, becoming the final objective of the entire assignment

During this final stage, on 25 October 1917, Sergeant Jack Stewart made the ultimate sacrifice. His body never being recovered. Without a grave – ‘Known Unto God’, Constable/Sergeant John ‘Jack’ Stewart is commemorated on the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Menin Gate Memorial [Commonwealth Memorial to the Missing of the Ypres Salient].

On 30 October, Canadian troops under British command were finally able to fight their way into the village; they were driven back almost immediately, the bloodshed enormous. “The sights up there are beyond all description,” one officer wrote weeks later of the fighting at Passchendaele, “it is a blessing to a certain extent that one becomes callous to it all and that one’s mind is not able to take it all in.”

Still Haig pushed his men, and on 6 November, the British and Canadian troops finally captured Passchendaele, allowing the general to call off the attacks, claiming victory. In fact, Allied forces were exhausted and downtrodden after the long, grinding offensive.

The heaviest rains in 30 years combined with relentless shellfire turned the battlefield into a deadly muddy quagmire. Hundreds of thousands of troops from opposing sides, attacked and counter-attacked, across an open desolate boggy landscape, void of any buildings or natural protection, all while under constant bombardment.

Across the globe, the name Passchendaele acquired mythical properties, becoming Passion-dale, the valley of suffering.

In the 100 days of the battle, the Allies gained eight kilometres at a cost of 275,000 casualties [including 38,000 Australians, 15,600 Canadians and 5,300 New Zealanders]. The German army suffered 220,000 casualties. Five months later the German army took back the ground in three days.

To this day, The Battle of Passchendaele remains an international symbol of the worst horrors and senseless slaughter of the First World War. [1]

John Stewart

Killed in action, 25 October 1917, Sergeant. Jack Stewart, 58th Battalion, late of West Melbourne Police Station, loving fiancé of Marie Nelson.

Oh for the touch of a vanished hand.

And the sound of a voice that is still.

Killed in action, 25 October 1917, Sergeant John Stewart, aged 27, beloved eldest son of Charles and Mary Ann Stewart, and loving brother of Florence, Elsie, May, William, and Jessie Stewart, West Melbourne Sadly missed.[2]

[1] www.ancresommeassociation.co.uk
[2] https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1662267 10 November 1917