Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Thomas William Epps was a Private who served in WW1 (1915-1918). Thomas Epps was born in Dartford, Kent, England on the 16th of September 1897. He was born to his parents, his mother only listed as his next of kin as F. Epps, and his father Henry Epps. He attended his early schooling at Cooling Board School, Kent, England. Later Thomas and his family migrated to Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. Upon enlistment, Thomas worked a job as a compositor under apprenticeship.  His father was Private Henry Branch Epps 3809, serving under the Anzac Cyclist Battalion, only returning in 1918. Both father and son served the Australian Imperial Forces at the same time. 

Thomas was enlisted to the Australian Armed Forces on 20 February 1915 at the age of 18 years and 7 months old. As Thomas was only 18 years of age at the time of enlistment there was a letter of permission that needed to be signed by his parents in order to join the armed forces. After parental and medical approval Thomas was selected with the regimental number 553.

Thomas joined the training camps with over 4,000 enlistees. He was trained as part of a gruelling and labour-intensive training at both Adelaide camps. Thomas trained at the Mitcham and Ascott Park camps from 20 February-31 May 1915. Each enlistee was trained on skills needed out on the battlefield and basic survival in enemy territory. In these training camps, training regimens included Field patrols, bayonet fighting, bomb-throwing, and trench digging. These regimens were gruelling and demoralisinog as training was simulated to best prepare for the battlefield. Thomas was stationed with the 27th Battalion which embarked on the HMAT A2 Geelong from Adelaide, SA on 31 May 1915

The 27th Battalion served in Egypt from 15 July - 3 September of the same year. They arrived in Egypt to undergo an extensive and specialised training that prepared them for their contributions in Gallipoli. Thomas engaged in the battle in Gallipoli as part of the 27th Battalion as a Private, he served in Gallipoli arriving on the Ottoman shore on 10 September and concluding on 15 December 1915. In the cover of the night the 27th Battalions’ A, B, C, D companies independently traversed through Cheshire Ridge. This was where they were stationed at Cheshire Ridge, providing reinforcements in the trenches for the British soldiers. The trench warfare in Gallipoli was extremely challenging hygiene became a very serious issue as there were many casualties due to the poor hygiene of the battalion, including the death of their commanding officer. Pte. Thomas was lightly wounded by shrapnel within the British trenches serving as a rifleman along the frontlines around November 1915. After a couple of days, he returned back to the trenches. Thomas’ role as part of an AIF Infantry Battalion in the war in Gallipoli was to be at the front lines of the battles, holding and capturing enemy territory. He stayed in Gallipoli fighting within the same trench systems until the Allied forces allowed the extraction of all Allied forces from the losing battle in Gallipoli. 

Pte. Thomas was still attached to the 27th Battalion during their deployment to France and Belgium, 21 March 1916 - December 1918. Thomas at this time was the batman to the commanding officer General Jeffery at the 2nd division ANZAC Base on Lemnos Island, after gaining the role earlier that month on 4 March. As part of the 27th Infantry Battalions’ second division, he was part of the reinforcements sent to Marseilles and eventually to the borders of France and Belgium around the Armentieres sector; April 1916. In this sector, soldiers of the 27th Infantry Battalion second division that were new to the Western Front were acclimatised to the style of Trench warfare. Later in April, Thomas partook in the battle of Somme. After returning from leave and back with the unit he was immediately deployed to an emerging battle at Pozieres where the Second Division AIF had been stationed. The planned offensive against the German forces took place on 4 August 1916. The battalion was stationed at the left flank of the attack to aid in capturing the high ground at Pozieres. Thomas engaged in the first wave of Allied forces in the area to take the high ground at the ruins of the Windmill at Pozieres. As a private in this battle, Thomas would have engaged in the most brutal fighting, the close-ranged nature of the fighting resorted to hand-to-hand combat and became the toughest ever fought by Thomas. He partook in one of the most violent battles in the WW1 as soldiers at Pozieres with extremely high casualties for the allied forces. Accounts state that those in the 27th and other battalions stated that there were no surviving soldiers in forward positions.

20 October 1916, Thomas was taken on strength by the ANZAC Cyclist Corps under the 27th Infantry battalion and the same unit that his father served for during his service during the start of conflicts. Under his new corps Thomas partook in roles like cavalry as the AIF launched the new corps of cyclist to cheapen the cost of sending information from one trench to another. These cyclists would either work behind the frontlines and trenches sending logistical information from various locations throughout the battlefield. Soldiers part of this new unit did not always engage in direct fighting in the frontline rather in semi-open combat on smaller battlefields. This role became a vital line of communication between the allied forces becoming a primary form of communication. For the remainder of Thomas’ service, he remained part of the 27th Battalion serving around the borders of France and Belgium. A notable battle he engaged in was the first battle of Bullecourt. This battle resulted in annihilation for Australian men as the snowy conditions slowed Australian artillery. These unprotected soldiers in no man's land were gunned down. Thomas survived this battle as he was most likely behind the front trenches where the bloodshed occurred. He was then discharged and returned to Australia per ‘Kashmir’, on 25 June 1919 after conflict ceased at the western front.

Thomas was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, and Victory Medal for his service in WW1 in Gallipoli and the Western Front. He then married his wife Ava Matilda Stone on the 25 September 1923, at St Augustine's Church, Unley, SA. He had 5 children, one of whom Charles Thomas Epps RAAF was killed in an aircraft accident in Sale Victoria on 5 June 1943. Pte. Thomas William Epps passed away of natural causes, on 26 February 1997, at 99 years of age. He is buried at Centennial Park Cemetery, South Australia; West, Rose Bed W14, Position 61

Bibliography

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“Trove.” Trove.nla.gov.au, trove.nla.gov.au/?q&adv=y.