GOMBERT, France
| Service Numbers: | Not yet discovered |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 30 April 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Second Lieutenant |
| Last Unit: | 17th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Waterloo, New South Wales, Australia, 29 April 1887 |
| Home Town: | Haberfield, City of Sydney, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Superior Public School, Leichhardt Central, Leichhardt, & University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Licensed Surveyor for Lands Dept, Sydney, Forbes District |
| Died: | Killed In Action, Hill 60, Gallipoli, 28 August 1915, aged 28 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Lone Pine Memorial, Panel 58. Cenotaph: Rookwood Catholic Cemeteries and Crematoria Old Catholic Cemetery, sect M. |
| Memorials: | Lone Pine Memorial to the Missing |
World War 1 Service
| 30 Apr 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, 17th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 12 May 1915: | Involvement 17th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Themistocles embarkation_ship_number: A32 public_note: '' | |
| 12 May 1915: | Embarked 17th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Themistocles, Sydney | |
| 28 Aug 1915: | Involvement Second Lieutenant, 17th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: awm_unit: 17th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Second Lieutenant awm_died_date: 1915-08-28 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Michael Silver
Marie France Leon Gombert was one of nine children of Frenchman Marie Eugene Gombert and his Mauritian wife, Alice Dubois. The couple migrated to Australia separately in the early 1880s before marrying and raising their family in Sydney.
Born in 1887, France Gombert was educated at Leichhardt Superior Public School and later at the University of Sydney, graduating Bachelor of Arts in 1908.
In 1903, at 15 years of age he was appointed as a Pupil Teacher at Birchgrove Public School before moving back to his old school at Leichhardt. France continued in teaching until 1906 when he secured a cadetship as a draftsman with the Department of Lands.
He was subsequently assigned to Hay in western NSW and then Armidale as a Field Assistant, before obtaining his surveyor's licence in 1911 and taking up the role of Staff Surveyor at Forbes in early 1912 - a position he held until enlisting in April 1915.
Granted a commission, he sailed with the 17th Battalion in the S.S. Themistocles for war on 12 May 1915.
After training in Egypt, the 17th Battalion landed at Gallipoli on 20 August 1915. As Second Lieutenant in charge of No 4 platoon of A Company, France Gombert was responsible for overseeing the garrison duty that the Battalion was initially assigned at Gallipoli. However, a week later the Battalion was pitched into its first major battle as part of an assault to take the summit of Hill 60.
Second Lieutenant France Gombert lead one of the two attack platoons of the Seventeenth. The men of these platoons had been given only a brief description of their part, whilst their officers had little opportunity to reconnoitre the position.
After the initial three waves (14th, 15th & 16th Battalions) had suffered heavy casualties, it was the Seventeenth's turn to go over the top. But the trench was so deep and narrow men found it difficult to extricate themselves from the trench, with many shot as they attempted to crawl onto the parapet.
The history of the Seventeenth Battalion records that 'eagerly the men of A Company scrambled or were "legged" up to the parapet and mingled with surviving elements of the preceeding lines. Gombert, a promising young officer, was killed almost immediately".
The attack was over in a few minutes, it never got properly going due to the ill-prepared nature of the assault, in the face of point-blank fire, which made the task almost hopeless from the start. A Company paid a heavy price, with four killed including Gombert, 25 wounded and 37 missing.
Second Lieutenant France Gombert has no known grave and is commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial - Panel 58.
References: The Story of the Seventeenth Battalion A.I.F. - Lt-Col K.W. McKenzie MC
https://heuristplus.sydney.edu.au/heurist/?db=ExpertNation&ll=Beyond1914#
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