Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

BARRY Robert George. #2333 26th/12th Battalion
 
The name Barry appears four times on the Gracemere Memorial. Certainly three of them, James, William and Thomas were brothers. It is difficult to determine the connection with Robert. It is most likely he was a cousin to the other three and his name was added to the Gracemere Roll by the mother of James, William and Thomas; who lived at Gracemere.
 
Robert reported that he was born in Rockhampton. He attended Central Boys State School and then began a career in the Queensland Railways. By the time of his enlistment on 9th August 1915, Robert had just turned 22. He stated his occupation as railway fireman and gave his religion as Baptist. At the time he was still living with his parents, Thomas and Eliza in Murray Street, Rockhampton.
 
After enlistment and a short period of home leave, Robert travelled to Enoggera Camp in Brisbane where he was first placed in a depot battalion and then allocated as a reinforcement for the 26th Battalion. His period at Enoggera was short and Robert embarked for overseas in Brisbane on 5th October. He had allocated 4 shillings of his daily pay of 5 shillings to his mother. (Actual pay rate was 6 shillings a day but 1 shilling of that was deferred until discharge, or death)
 
By the time that Robert arrived in Egypt in January 1916, the camps were full of men evacuated from Gallipoli and new reinforcements. The Australian Government was reorganising and expanding the AIF to create four divisions out of the current two in Egypt before the entire AIF was relocated to the Western Front. Robert spent time with his unit, the 26thBattalion, before being transferred to the 12th Battalion. This was an unusual move as battalions in the AIF were state based and men from a particular state would ordinarily remain in their state’s battalions. The 26th Battalion was comprised of three companies of Queenslanders and one company of Tasmanians. Robert found himself transferred to the 12th Battalion on 1st March 1916, a battalion made up of Tasmanians, South Australians and West Australians. The 12th left Alexandria on 29th March and arrived in Marseilles on 5th April. From Marseilles, the battalion travelled through France to a sector of the Western Front near Armentieres.
 
This part of the front was considered to be relatively quiet as the ground was so boggy that frontal assaults on a large scale were impossible. The 12th, part of the 3rd brigade of the 1st Division AIF, settled into the routine of trench warfare. For those veterans of Gallipoli in the battalion, this period of the war was seen as almost a holiday. Battalions routinely rotated in and out of the line with comfortable billets in the rear areas. Hot food from the battalion cook wagons was delivered to the frontline daily and there was even fresh water delivered via a system of pipes. There was time for recreation when not in the line with sports and games organised as well as the ability to frequent the numerous cafes in the villages where “Vin Rouge” (Red wine) eggs and chips could be had for a few francs. At the front, contact with the enemy was limited to trench raids and artillery barrages. The situation would not last.
 
On 1st July 1916, General Haig, supreme British commander of the western front, launched what he hoped would be the grand offensive to end the war. He chose as his battleground the area which separated the British and French armies, the valley of the River Somme. Haig was trusting in the sheer weight of numbers of his army. History records that the British suffered 60,000 casualties on the first day. It was apparent that barbed wire and machine guns were more than a match for straight lines of soldiers marching with bayonets fixed towards heavily defended positions.
In spite of the enormous cost in manpower, Haig had no choice but to push on.
 
The three brigades of the 1st Division were brought south to the assembly areas outside of Albert in preparation for the first major offensive by the Australians in France. The objective was the village of Pozieres, which occupied the highest point on the Somme along the Albert – Bapaume Road. On the night of the 24th/25th July the 1st Division, including the 12th Battalion attacked and took the village. The battle of Pozieres, the Windmill above the village and the nearby Mouquet Farm would rage for the next six weeks. Brigades from the 1st, 2nd and 4th Divisions AIF were rotated in and out of the line throughout this period. Pozieres would claim 23,000 Australian casualties. Robert came through unscathed.
 
After Pozieres, the 12th Battalion was posted to the Ypres salient in Belgium before returning to the Somme for the winter. That winter was particularly harsh and many diggers were hospitalised as a result of exposure. Among them was Robert Barry. He was hospitalised on 20th November. His records states “Pyrexia of unknown origin”. It was probably trench fever. He then developed influenza and did not return to his unit until 27th January 1917.
 
During that harsh winter, the Germans on the Western Front were busy constructing a heavy defensive wall some thirty miles to their rear. It became known as the Hindenburg Line. Once spring arrived, the Germans began an ordered retreat back to the heavily defended line. The British and the Australians under British command followed until they came upon the new defences at Bullecourt. The 12th Battalion had been doggedly following the retreat and were tasked with an attack against the line at Lagnicourt, just south of Bullecourt. The attack began on the evening of 14th April 1917 against enfilading heavy machine gun fire. The battalion was pushed back by counterattack but then were able to consolidate their trench line. During this action, Capt J. Newland and Sgt John Whittle both were awarded a VC; the only VCs awarded to the 12th for the entire war. Casualties for the battalion amounted to 29 killed, 55 wounded and 37 missing.
 
Robert’s file records that he was wounded on 14th April but a subsequent entry dated the following day states “now reported killed in action”. There was obviously some confusion. Acting on the first entry, the military authorities telegrammed Robert’s mother on 4th May to advise that he was wounded. The error was not corrected until 15th May when she was advised he had been killed in action.
 
There seems to have been no doubt that Robert had been killed but no body was ever found. Normally the military authorities would list such a person as Missing in Action while enquiries were made through the Red Cross to determine if the soldier was a prisoner of war. Witnesses would also be sought and a Court of Enquiry convened to establish a soldier’s fate. The official records contain no such evidence that either of these occurred.
 
Robert’s mother received a parcel of his personal effects; identity disc, wallet, photos and a cigarette case. Requests were made to Base Records in Melbourne for a death certificate by the Protestant Alliance Friendly Society and Mutual Life Assurance Ltd so that death benefits could be paid.
 
In the early 1920’s, Roberts parents moved to Yeppoon. The 1914/15 Star, Empire and Victory medals and a bronze plaque were all sent to Thomas Barry of Yeppoon.
 
The Australian Government pledged to erect a permanent memorial to those who had fallen in France but had no known grave. Due to a lack of funds and disputes over the design, the Australian National Memorial at Villers Bretonneux was not completed until 1938. It was dedicated by the newly crowned King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mother).
The memorial records the names of over 10,000 Australians who lost their lives in France during the Great War and who have no known grave.