Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Christopher George CRANDELL was born in Majors Creek, NSW on 1st December, 1897

His parents were Charles Henry CRANDELL & Agnes Elizabeth COWAN who married in NSW in 1887 (Registered in Braidwood)

# 3788A  CRANDELL Christopher George                  49th Battalion
 
Christopher Crandell was born at Major’s Creek on the NSW South Coast. There is no evidence available about his early life before Chris, his father, Charles Henry and elder brother, Charles William took up farming around Toogoolawah.
 
Chris enlisted in Brisbane on 7th September 1915. He reported his age as 18 years and 9 months. As he was under age, Chris had a note signed by his father and brother to the effect that they gave their permission for him to enlist. Chris stated his occupation as horse driver which could be interpreted to mean he was working in the Toogoolawah area driving a horse and dray or wagonette doing general carrying work. He had also served for a time in the citizens forces. Chris reported to Enoggera and was placed in the 3rdDepot Battalion for initial training before being allocated as a reinforcement for the 25th Battalion.
 
On 31st January 1916, Chris and his fellow reinforcements embarked on the “Wandilla” in Brisbane and by March were in the AIF camp in Egypt awaiting posting to their battalion. At that time, the AIF was undergoing a doubling in size and two new divisions were created. Chris was transferred to the 49th Battalion, part of the 13th brigade of the 4th Division AIF, on 3rd April 1916. The 49th remained in Egypt for further training while other units were gradually deployed to France for duty on the Western Front.
 
While still in Egypt, Chris spent eleven days in hospital with pleurisy. He was discharged in time to join the rest of the 49th when the battalion was shipped out on 5th June; landing at the French port of Marseilles on 12th June. The 49th was posted to the Armentieres sector of the Western Front. This was standard practice for newly arrived units to France as this sector of the front was relatively quiet, allowing for new troops to become accustomed to the routines of trench warfare.
 
General Haig, Supreme British Commander on the Western Front was planning a big push in the south of the British sector through the Somme River valley for the summer of 1916. It was to be the largest battle of the war thus far, and was timed to commence on the 1st of July. The attack was a disaster, with the British suffering 60,000 casualties on the first day, 20,000 of whom were killed. In spite of this, Haig was determined to push on and the 1st, 2nd and 4th Australian Divisions were moved south from the Armentieres sector to Albert to take part in the Somme offensive. 
 
The village of Pozieres half way between Albert and Bapaume, sat on the highest point of that part of the battlefield. The 1st and 2nd Divisions AIF were thrust into the struggle for Pozieres during late July and early August, and had secured the village and the important blockhouse on the site of a windmill above the village. It was then the turn of the 4th Division to continue the offensive towards a ruined farm, one and a half kilometres away, which the Germans had heavily fortified by extending the cellars and creating a line of three defensive trenches. The farm was depicted on the maps as “La Ferme du Mouquet” but the Australians referred to it as “Moo Cow Farm” or “Mucky Farm.”
The assault on the farm on 3rd September 1916 was the first major action by the 49th Battalion. The battle was conducted on an ever-narrowing front that was enfiladed by German artillery and machine guns on three sides. The ground was so churned up by high explosive shells that advancing troops could not recognise a trench line when they reached it. Attempts to dig new trenches were unsuccessful due to the loose ground caving in. The 49th was finally withdrawn from the battle for Mouquet Farm without the objective being reached at considerable cost. The 4th Division sustained 4650 casualties. Chris Crandell was fortunate to have come through the ordeal unscathed.
 
Once relieved at Mouquet Farm, the 49th remained in the support lines engaged in training, labouring and rotations in and out of the front line. As winter approached, any hope of a breakthrough disappeared as the roads became blocked with mud and snow, hampering troop movements. The winter of 1916/17 was particularly harsh and the Australians who came from a warmer climate, and an Egyptian summer suffered considerably. Trenches filled with freezing mud and slush in which men were expected to stand for days at a time. Incidents of trench feet, bronchial ailments and influenza climbed. In a desperate effort to ease the suffering, the Australian command arranged for tens of thousands of roughly made sheep skin waistcoats to be manufactured for distribution to the troops.
 
On 16th February 1917, Chris reported sick to the 45th Casualty Clearing Station. He was transferred to the 5th Australian General Hospital at Rouen suffering from influenza. When his condition did not improve, Chris was loaded onto a hospital ship for England, being admitted to the 1st London General Hospital at Camberwell on 8th March. Chris spent two months in hospital before being discharged to a 14 day furlough. For a young man from rural Australia, a spring fortnight in London during which he could visit all the well-known landmarks would have been something special. Chris reported back after his holiday to the #1 Convalescent Depot at Perham Downs on 23rd May where he would spend the next three and a half months before being passed fit for return to duty. On 5th September, Chris was posted to the overseas training brigade and three weeks later was on a ship from Southampton bound for France.
 
While Chris had been in England, the British Campaign in Belgian Flanders concentrated in the Ypres salient had made a number of successful attacks which advanced the front line along the Menin Road to Polygon Wood and then on to Broodseinde Ridge; in sight of the village of Passchendaele. Chris rejoined his battalion as they were moving up from Steenvoorde through the ruins of Ypres and along the Menin Road to Broodseinde Ridge where the battalion relieved another AIF battalion in the frontline. The battalion war diary records that the 49th spent four days holding the line. On 12th October, Chris Crandell was reported killed. There is no record of a battlefield burial. It is not unusual that no details of his death were recorded as he had only been back with the 49th for a week and during the eight months of his absence, the 49th had suffered many casualties at Messines and more than half of the ranks were new recruits. Few would have known him.
 
When the authorities wrote to Chris’ father regarding his death and distribution of medals etc he advised them he wanted to receive no more correspondence as he found it too distressing. The Roll of Honour Circular which was sent to NOK after the war to ascertain details of a soldier’s early life such as schooling and occupational training was never completed by Charles Crandell snr who moved to Mourya NSW. Chris’ brother continued to live in the Toogoolawah district until his death. There have been a number of members of the Crandell family associated with the Toogoolawah district for some time, the most notable being “Poll” Crandell after whom a park in Toogoolawah is named.
 
Christopher Crandell’s remains were never located. He is one of 56,000 men, including 6,178 Australians, who served in the Ypres campaign and who have no known grave. Their names are inscribed on the Portland Stone Tablets under the arches of the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in the city of Ypres.
Since the 1930s, with only a brief interval during the German occupation in the Second World War, the City of Ypres has conducted a ceremony at the Memorial at dusk each evening to commemorate those who died in the Ypres campaign. The ceremony concludes with the laying of wreaths, the recitation of the ode, and the playing of the Last Post by the city’s bugle corps
The commemoration of the Menin Gate Memorial on 24 July 1927 so moved the Australian war artist Will Longstaff that he painted 'The Menin Gate at Midnight', which portrays a ghostly army of the dead marching past the Menin Gate. The painting, which now hangs in the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, toured Australia during the 1920s and 30s and drew huge crowds.