Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Two brothers James Donald Sutherland Munro who was killed in a flying accident in 1917 and Edward Charles Munro who was awarded the MM.

Births Mar 1898   
Munro Christian Gustave G Fulham 1a 255
   
Munro Christian Gustave G Fulham 1a 256

MUNRO Christian (Chris)  #3181   41st Battalion
 
Chris Munro was the youngest of three sons to enlist in the AIF. The family of Charles and Jane Munro had its roots in Scotland however Chris and his elder brother Edward were born and educated in London. By the time of Chris’s enlistment, the family was living on a farm, “Dunbeath”, at Burpengary and Chris stated his occupation as farmer.
 
Chris presented himself for enlistment on 1st August 1916. He was only 18 years old at the time but there is no record of his parents providing written permission. It is most likely that Chris’ father Charles accompanied him to the Adelaide Street Recruiting Depot.
 
Chris was allocated as part of the 7th reinforcements of the 41st Battalion. He embarked for overseas on the “Wiltshire” in Sydney on 7th February 1917. He had set aside 3/- of his daily pay to his mother. The reinforcements landed in Devonport on 11th April and were marched out to the 11th Training Battalion Camp at Larkhill. In July 1917, just as the battle of Messines was ramping up, Chris began the journey across the Channel to join his battalion which he reached on 18th August.
 
The 41st Battalion was called into the line for the attacks on the Broodseinde Ridge and Passchendaele in October 1917. On 12th October, Chris Munro who had only been with his unit for two months, received a shrapnel wound to his neck and left ear. He was transported via a casualty clearing station to the Australian General Hospital at Boulogne and then via hospital ship to the Queen Mary Hospital in London.
 
Once his wound was healed sufficiently, Chris was given a 14 day furlough after which he reported to Sutton Veney for assessment by a medical board. Passed fit for active service he was posted back to his battalion in the rear areas behind Ypres in Belgium. The 3rd Division was to spend the winter months in labouring and trench maintenance with some time off for sports and rest.
 
 
With the coming of spring in 1918, the German commander Ludendorff took advantage of a numerical superiority of troops to launch a surprise offensive against the British on the Somme. So successful was this offensive that in a few days the Germans had retaken all of the ground surrendered earlier in the war during 1916 and 1917; and were even threatening the vital communication hub of Amiens. In response, Haig ordered the 3rd and 4th Australian Divisions to be rushed south to hold up the German onslaught.
 
Two Brigades from the 3rd Division, including the 11th Brigade, were ordered to take up position astride the old Roman road in the vicinity of Villers Brettonneux. The village of Villers Bretonneux had strategic value as artillery positioned on the heights nearby could shell Amiens. The village needed to be held at all costs.
 
The 41st Battalion war diary for the month of April 1918 records frequent movement of the battalion’s four companies to meet threats as they emerged. The battalion was shelled daily, often with a mixture of high explosive and gas. The Australian trenches were quite shallow because unlike those parts of the western front where the line had not moved for almost three years and significant earthworks had evolved, the situation in the Amiens defences was so fluid that the infantry had little more than shallow gun pits (which they had dug themselves under fire) in which to shelter.
 
On 24th April 1918, Chris Munro was acting as a stretcher bearer bringing in wounded from the front line to the reserve positions when he was struck by a large shell fragment, fracturing his skull. He died of his wounds at the Field Ambulance and was buried in the Franvillers Communal Cemetery Extension near Sailly-le-Sec.
 
The Red Cross Wounded and Missing report in Chris’ file describes him as a “Fine stamp of a lad, fine big chap, quite boyish”. He had just turned 20.
When the news of Chris’ death reached his mother at Burpengary, she wrote to the authorities requesting that her surviving son, Edward who was serving in France with a Field Ambulance be sent home to help with the running of the farm.
 
Jane’s husband, Charles, was in Rabaul as part of the military administration in the former German colony. Another son, James, had been killed in a flying accident while training for the Royal Flying Corps. Jane’s request was granted and Edward was discharged to help his mother.
 
The contribution of the Munro family to the Burpengary District is commemorated in the name of Dunbeath Drive and Charles Munro Reserve in Burpengary near the location of the Munro farm.