Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Charles WASHINGTON (1891-1917)

Charles was one of four Washinton brothers to enlist in the AIF during the Great War.  The family came from Colton, a small farming settlement about half way between Streaky Bay and Port Lincoln, just north of Elliston on the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula.  

He enlisted into the 32nd Battalion on 28 February 1916,  and Embarked with their 6th Reinforcements on 11 April 1916, aged 25 years old.  Shortly after arriving in Egypt Charles went AWL for 24 hours like many AIF soldiers who thought it would be an opportunity to enjoy the sights and sounds of a new and exciting foreign city. For his absence he was given a forfiet of two days pay. Shortly before leaving Egypt he was transferred from the 32nd battlion to the 50th Battalion.

According to his Red Cross record Charles was a member of a bombing party that was raiding German trenches on April 2nd 1917 in the region of Noreuil, France.

The 2024 book by Andrew Faulkner, 'Guts, Glory and Blunder - Noreuil - The Forgotten Fight' examines the battle in detail.  It was a Brigade Plan involving the 50th, 51st and 52nd Battalions in the capture of the defended village of Noreuil.  The 50th was in the centre of the attack formation.  Its A Company was on the left and tasked with clearing the village itself while the bulk of the Battalion attempted to bypass the village in a complex (overly so as it transpired) manouevre to attack German positions on a rising slope overlooking the village.   

From the Red Cross records it appears Charles was part of a team of bombers in A Company, tasked with bombing German defended posts to either kill or neutralise the defenders, as part of the plan to clear the village.. However, intelligence had grossly underestimated the strength of the enemy in the village and while the rest of the Battalion moved on towards its objectives, defenders poured out of defended posts and overwhelmed the A Company attackers, killing many and captruing others.  Those captured as PoW were marched off but many were inadverterntly killed by 'friendly' machine gun fire mistaking them for Germans.

The attack proved to be a costly one for the 50th Battalion, suffering its worst losses of the war in a single engagement.  This was in part due the complexity of the Brigade's plan and an underestimation of the strength of the enemy in the village itself combined with the mistaken belief that the enemy would withdraw if put under significant pressure.  On the contrary they were under orders to exact as heavy a toll as they could.  There was also an assumption that the 52nd Battalion would clear the right flank further than it did, leaving several key German Machine Gun posts unmolested which later exacted a heavy toll of the 50th. 

During the course of the battle, Private Jorgen Jensen of the 50th Battalion was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions whilst particpating in the attack.

Things were looking grim indeed until Major Noel Loutit, the Battalion 2IC who had come forward at the CO's request, to get a better idea of what was happening, assembled a scratch force from the remnants of A Company, and other small groups and managed to outflank and decimate a large German grouping that was threatening the Battalion's right flank.  That action turned the fight, and the Germans did indeed begin withdrawing, making for an unlikely Australian victory.

It was likely Charles died in or near the village, in the early phase of the battle.  His body was recovered and buried in the Noreuil cemetery, but his grave was one of 8 that were subsequently destroyed by shellfire in fighting the following year, so he is commemorated on a 'Special Memorial' in the cemetery.

Of the brothers unfortunately Charles was to lose his life due to sustaining multiple machine gun wounds to his body. He was buried in the Noreuil Military cemetery. The other three brothers served and each was to receive wounds in battle and in some cases multiple wounds, but returned to Australia at the end of the conflict.