Charles Chisholm DIXON MM

DIXON, Charles Chisholm

Service Number: 1532
Enlisted: 19 July 1915, Brisbane, Queensland
Last Rank: Corporal
Last Unit: 5th Medium Trench Mortar Battery
Born: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 1891
Home Town: Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland
Schooling: Toowoomba Grammar School
Occupation: Warehouse Assistant
Died: Influenza, France, 23 December 1918
Cemetery: City of Paris Cemetery, Pantin
Plot 6, Row 21, Grave 12, City of Paris Cemetery, Pantin, France
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Toowoomba Grammar School WW1 Bravery Deeds, Toowoomba Grammar School WW1 Honour Board, Toowoomba Grammar School WW1 In Memoriam Honour Board, Toowoomba Roll of Honour WW1, Toowoomba St Luke's Church WW1 Honour Roll, Toowoomba War Memorial (Mothers' Memorial)
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World War 1 Service

19 Jul 1915: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1532, 15th Light Horse Regiment, Brisbane, Queensland
30 Nov 1915: Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 1532, Embarked on HMAT 'A23' Suffolk from Sydney on 3oth November 1915, disembarking Egypt.
7 Jan 1916: Transferred AIF WW1, Private, 15th Light Horse Regiment, On 1st March 1916 Private Dixon was posted to 2nd Reserve Regiment of the Light Horse Brigade.
27 Mar 1916: Transferred AIF WW1, Gunner, 4th Field Artillery Brigade
20 Jun 1916: Embarked AIF WW1, Gunner, 1532, 4th Field Artillery Brigade, Embarked on HMT Huntsend from Alexandria, Egypt, disembarking Marseilles, France on 30th June 1916 to join the British Expeditionary Force.
15 Jul 1916: Transferred AIF WW1, Gunner, 5th Medium Trench Mortar Battery
13 Oct 1917: Promoted AIF WW1, Bombardier, 5th Medium Trench Mortar Battery, Prior to Gunner Dixon's promotion he had been admitted to hospital with severe debility in January 1917. He remained in hospital for some time and only rejoined his unit in June 1917. Following his return in September 1917 he attended the 5th Army Trench Mortar School.
2 Nov 1917: Honoured Military Medal, Gunner (temp. Bombardier) Charles Chishom DIXON
"On the night of 19th. October 1917, on the BROODSEINDE Ridge a party of the 5th Aust. Divisional Trench Mortar Brigade came suddenly under an intensely heavy hostile Barrage.
A number of the party having taken shelter in a dugout became buried and were in danger of suffocation on account of a large shell having struck the roof.
No. 1532 Gunner (T/Bdr) Charles Chishom DIXON realising their precarious condition immediately went to their assistance and single handed was successful, in spite of the heavy and continuous fire, in extricating four of his comrades.
This man's gallant action saved his comrades lives and is deserving of special recognition."

Brig-General C.R.A. 5th. Australian Division
10 Nov 1917: Transferred AIF WW1, Gunner, 13th Field Artillery Brigade
19 Nov 1917: Transferred AIF WW1, Gunner, 5th Medium Trench Mortar Battery
8 May 1918: Wounded AIF WW1, Bombardier, 1532, 5th Medium Trench Mortar Battery, Wounded in action but remained on duty.
9 Aug 1918: Promoted AIF WW1, Corporal, 5th Medium Trench Mortar Battery, Had been made Temporary Corporal on 29th July 1918.
23 Dec 1918: Involvement AIF WW1, Corporal, 1532, 5th Medium Trench Mortar Battery, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 1532 awm_unit: 5th Australian Division Trench Mortars awm_rank: Corporal awm_died_date: 1918-12-23

Help us honour Charles Chisholm Dixon's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Daryl Jones

Son of Lionel Chisholm and Edith Jessie DIXON, of Toowoomba, Queensland. Born at Brisbane.

Information of Battle of Broodseinde where Gunner (Temporary Bombardier) earned his Military Medal

The Battle of Broodseinde was fought on 4 October 1917 near Ypres in Belgium, at the east end of the Gheluvelt plateau, by the British Second and Fifth armies against the German 4th Army. The battle was the most successful Allied attack of the Third Battle of Ypres. Using bite-and-hold tactics, with objectives limited to what could be held against German counter-attacks, the British devastated the German defence, which prompted a crisis among the German commanders and caused a severe loss of morale in the 4th Army. Preparations were made by the Germans for local withdrawals and planning began for a greater withdrawal, which would entail the abandonment by the Germans of the Belgian coast, one of the strategic aims of the Flanders offensive.

After the period of unsettled but drier weather in September, heavy rain began again on 4 October and affected the remainder of the campaign, working more to the advantage of the German defenders, being pushed back on to far less damaged ground. The British had to move their artillery forward into the area devastated by shellfire and soaked by the autumn rains, restricting the routes on which guns and ammunition could be moved, presenting German artillery with easier targets. At the Battle of Poelcappelle on 9 October, after several more days of rain, the German defence achieved a costly success, holding the approaches to Passchendaele village, the most tactically vital ground on the battlefield.

(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Broodseinde)

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Biography contributed by Faithe Jones

Mrs. L.C. Dixon, of Lindsay Street, Toowoomba, has received word that her son, Corporal Charles Chisholm Dixon, M.M., died of influenza on December 23 last, in France, after three years and two months of active service.  Corporal Dixon was attached to the 9th Australian Medium Trench Mortar Battery, ans was one of the first men to volunteer having offered his services the day after war was declared.  Before leaving he was in the employ of Messrs. Johnson and Sons, boot merchants, Brisbane.

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