Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

SOLDIER BIOGRAPHY:

In 1914-18 the population of Australia was four million, and 416 809 of our men signed up for war, representing 38.7% of the total male population aged between 18 to 44. The outcome was 58,961 dead, 166,811 wounded, 4,098 considered missing or prisoners of war, and 87,865 suffered from sickness. 57,705 Queenslanders enlisted to fight in World War One. At almost 65%, the Australian casualty rate (proportionate to total embarkations) was the highest of the war (Australian War Memorial, 2016). Thomas Windle, shipping clerk and soldier, was born around February, 1877. His enlistment certificate does not specify his date of birth, but it can be deduced that on 26/08/1914 he was halfway through his 36th year of life. He was natural born British subject, and his parents were Thomas and Elizabeth Windle. Their son was an only child, and never married, making his mother his next of kin. Windle worked as a shipping clerk at the time of his enlistment in the Australian Imperial Force at the capital city of Queensland on 26 August, 1914, and his place of association was 32 Rogers Street, Spring Hill, Brisbane, Queensland.
The 9th Battalion was among the first infantry units raised for the AIF during the First World War. It was the first battalion recruited in Queensland, and with the 10th, 11th and 12th Battalions it formed the 3rd Brigade. After preliminary training, Windle embarked from Brisbane on the 24 September, 1914 on board Transport A5 Omrah with the 9th battalion (UNSW Canberra, 2016).
The 9th battalion sailed to Egypt prior to the attack on Gallipoli, arriving in early December. The first Australians to land on the shores of Gallipoli were the 9th, 10th and 11th Divisions, made up of 1,500 men, including Thomas Windle. His battalion was heavily involved in establishing and defending the front line of the ANZAC beachhead, therefore this landing took place in the early hours before dawn on 25 April 1915. The 12th division followed at the break of dawn. The objective was to capture the heights of the Sari Bair Range, press inward and cut off the Turkish forces moving down toward Cape Helles. Allied troops came to shore at Anzac Cove and were faced with treacherous terrain, cliffs and Turkish machine gun and artillery fire. Small groups of soldiers pushed up and found protection amongst the cliffs, however by nightfall none of the objectives had been reached. 2,300 Australians were killed in this initial landing phase.
The Anzacs' first official involvement was a small force in the 2nd and 3rd battles for the town of Krithia on the 6th to 8th of May and then the 4th of June (Jamie Parsons, 2011). It can be concluded that this is most likely the final resting place of Thomas Windle. These three battles for the tiny Turkish village of Krithia some 24km south of Anzac Cove on the tip of Gallipoli determined the destiny of the overall campaign and cost more Allied casualties than the famous other landing. Many Anzacs that survived the perilous April 25 cove landings were redeployed to the Krithia frontline, only to be cut down among the olive groves in a series of failed charges. That part of the peninsula and naval battles never attract the attention they deserve and have largely been forgotten (news.com.au, 2017). The initial objective -- the capture of the height of Achi Baba behind the village of Krithia (modern Alcitepe) -- was nowhere near reached. A determined push at the so-called First Battle of Krithia on 28 April gained little. Sir Ian Hamilton then ordered that two brigades -- the 2nd Australian Brigade (5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Battalions, from Victoria) and the New Zealand Infantry Brigade -- be sent to assist British and French troops in a second attempt to capture Achi Baba.
The Second Battle of Krithia commenced on 6 May, and after two days of fighting little progress had been made. The goal of seizing Achi Baba could not be reached; the Turkish defenders successfully repulsed every assault.
On the morning of 8 May, the New Zealanders tried to advance towards Krithia, but were soon pinned down by Turkish fire and took heavy casualties. In general, nobody was really clear where the Turkish positions were, and this situation still prevailed in mid-afternoon when Thomas Windle and his battalion were suddenly ordered to attack. They were camping and cooking a meal when the order came for the advance across ‘wide, dry, level grassland’. They advanced on Turkish trenches and soon ran into violently intense enemy fire for which they were not prepared for, but still they rushed onward. Charles Bean (Australian World War 1 war correspondent and historian) wrote: ‘The heavily loaded brigade hurried straight on, heads down, as if into fierce rain, some men holding their shovels before their faces like umbrellas in a thunderstorm’. During one, horrendously brutal and courageous hour they advanced approximately 900 metres, but had nowhere reached the Turkish front line, and the village of Krithia was still far off (DVA and BOSTES NSW, 2016). In this tragic advance, which gained next to no ground, 1056 men from the AIF fell. Thomas Windle was also most likely killed during that battle.
The 9th battalion served at ANZAC until the evacuation in December 1915, but sadly Thomas Windle had been killed in action 7 months earlier and never returned home.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Australian War Memorial
Gallipoli
www.awm.gov.au/gallipoli
20 August 2012

UNSW Australia
The AIF Project
https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=329163
Accessed on 20/03/17

National Archives of Australia
WINDLE, Thomas
http://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/records/424688/3
Accessed on 10/03/17

Australian War Memorial
Roll of Honour: Thomas Windle
https://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1680176/
Accessed on 11/03/17

News.com.au
The toll of the bloody battle of Krithia was greater than the Anzac Cove landing but is recalled by few
http://www.news.com.au/national/anzac-day/the-toll-of-the-bloody-battle-of-krithia-was-greater-than-the-anzac-cove-landing-but-is-recalled-by-few/news-story/3480feb4e9adb67fe42ca2fc77c792d5
Accessed on 01/04/17

National Archives of Australia
WINDLE, Thomas
http://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/records/424688
Accessed on 18/03/17

Gallipoli and the ANZACS
The second Battle of Krithia, 8 May 1915
http://www.gallipoli.gov.au/digging-in-fighting-back/second-battle-of-krithia.php
Accessed on 01/04/17

The ANZACS of Gallipoli
What was their involvement?http://www.anzacsofgallipoli.com/what-was-their-involvement.html
Accessed on 02/04/17

Australian War Memorial
Enlistment statistics, First World War
https://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/enlistment/ww1/
Accessed on 03/04/17