Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

#5359  CURTIS Reginald.  15th Infantry Battalion
 
Reg Curtis was born in Bath, UK, to parents John and Mary Curtis. When Reg was 20, his family emigrated to Queensland. His father, when completing the Roll of Honour Circular stated that Reg had previously worked as a locomotive fireman, but it unclear whether this was before coming to Queensland. John Curtis also stated his son was working at scrub clearing, and this was most probably in the Murgon District.
 
When Reg attended the recruiting depot in Adelaide Street on 24th January 1916, he gave his age as 23 and occupation as labourer. Reg gave his address as G.P.O. Brisbane and named his father John as next of kin also of the G.P.O. Brisbane. Reg was posted to a depot battalion at Enoggera before being allocated to the 17th reinforcements of the 15th Battalion on 7th March. On the 20th April, Reg and the other reinforcements travelled to Sydney by train to board the “Hawkes Bay” for the voyage to Egypt, disembarking on 24th May.
 
By the time that the reinforcements marched into camp in Egypt, the bulk of the AIF which had been assembling in camps along the Suez Canal since January, had already departed for the western front in France. Seven days after disembarking at Alexandria, the reinforcements re-embarked for the crossing of the Mediterranean to Marseilles, arriving there on 8th June.
 
Reg and the rest of the reinforcements probably were posted to the Australian Base Depot at Etaples while waiting for movement orders to join their battalion. The 15th Battalion was an original ANZAC Battalion which had been redesignated to the newly created 4th Division. While Reg and his mates spent time drilling at Etaples, the 15th Battalion was getting its first taste of western front warfare in the quiet area of the front near the French city of Armentieres. Reg’s file contains no information regarding when he was taken on strength by the 15th so it can only be assumed that by the time the 4th Division arrived on the Somme in late July, he was already in the ranks.
 
The arrival of the Australians in France was part of a much larger build up of British and Dominion troops which the British Commander planned to use in a summer offensive in the Somme region. The Battle of the Somme began on the 1st July 1916. Casualties among the fresh battalions of Kitchener’s New Army were appalling with 60,000 on the first day alone; 20,000 of whom were killed. Committed to his plan, Haig urged his corps commanders to push on, but with only limited gains in territory.
 
By the middle of July, Haig called the untried divisions of the AIF south from the “nursery sector.” The main obstacle to the British forces was a series of heavy defences along a ridge which stretched across the Albert / Bapaume Road. The 1st and then the 2nd Australian Divisions were sent in to take the strategic village of Pozieres; which was accomplished but at significant cost. The 4th Division, including the 15th battalion, relieved the shattered 2nd Division. To counter the Australian gains, the German artillery pounded their former front line. The war diary of the 15th records that on the 7th August there was “heavy continuous shelling.” Additionally, some of the Australian artillery was falling short, landing in the newly won trenches. Reg’s file states that on the 7th August he was wounded. There are no further details so it can only be assumed that he received a shell wound. The file contains no further information as to the severity of the wound, whether he was treated at a casualty clearing station of hospital.
 
The next entry in Reg’s file simply states 3rd October 1916, Killed in Action. At that time the 15th had been withdrawn from the Somme and was in rotation in and out of the line in the Ypres sector in Belgium. Reg was buried in the Dickebusch New Military Cemetery near Ypres by which time it appears that Reg’s father had returned to live in the UK.