Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Acknowledgement and Dedication of this content is made to the late Colonel Doctor Roger Freeman, OAM, RFD, author of "Second to None". Roger Freeman passed away on the 10th November 2013. He gave the people of South Australia a wonderful legacy in two works that are unequalled.  

The 50th Battalion in "Hurcombe's Hungry Half Hundred", Peacock Publications 1990, and the 32nd Battalion in "Second to None" Peacock Publications 2006 are anthologies of letters home, written by the soldiers of the two Battalions.  Together with photographs of what seems to be just about every soldier in each of the two Battalions, Roger connected their identities, experiences, aspirations, fears and in many cases the ultimate fate of these men, in a unique and compelling way.

Their stories provide a unique and priceless insight into the lives of men who are otherwise just names on a memorial or on a nominal roll somewhere, or in the words of songwriter Eric Bogle "fading to yellow in an old leather frame".

Vale Roger Freeman   Steve Larkins November 15 2013

Image AWM Negative E02832 showing officers and NCO of the 8th Brigade engaged in Map reading training 20 July 1918.

The 32nd Battalion was raised at Mitcham, on the outskirts of Adelaide, on 9 August 1915. A and B companies were raised from South Australian enlistees - another two, C and D companies, were formed in Western Australia and joined the battalion at the end of September at Cheltenahm Camp (another metropolitan racecourse), having transited from Perth on the HMS Indarra on the 25th September. Numbers of men were subsequently transferred to the 14th Field Artillery Brigade in Egypt.

The inaugural Commanding Officer (CO) was Lieutenant Colonel D.M.R. Coghill, (/explore/people/364195) a citizen soldier without any combat experience who was formerly the Headmaster of Woodville High School. His Second in Command (2IC) was Major J.J. Hughes (/explore/people/205800).

The battalion underwent further training and received another draft of Western Australian reinforcements. The 2nd through 12th reinforcements were all from South Australia and they all embarked from Outer Harbour on 18 November 1915 aboard the HMS Indarra, bound for Egypt.

The men of the battalion came from all different walks of life. Most came from urban areas but there were many 'from the bush' and, in the case of the Western Australians, from the mining and forestry areas of that State. There were men of British origin, Nordics, Russians and two Indigenous men, Willy Karpany (/explore/people/795841) and Everett Sumner. (/explore/people/284465)

There were some with prior military experience. Walter Banning began his service in India and served in the relief force that raised the siege of Chitral in 1895 and then in the Boer War. Many others had Boer War service. There was even a Rhodes Scholar, in Frank Williams. (/explore/people/611022)

The 8th Brigade (/explore/units/60) was formed in Egypt in early 1916 under the command of Brigadier Edwin Tivey. (/explore/people/277614) The 32nd Battalion was assigned to it, as part of the newly raised 5th Australian Division in Egypt. It then proceeded to France, destined for the Western Front, in June 1916.

The 32nd Battalion fought its first major battle at Fromelles  (warmemorial.erato.vm.e2.com.au)on 19 July 1916, having only entered the front-line trenches 3 days previously in what was known as 'The Nursery' because it was a quiet sector. Notwithstanding that, the Battalion sustained its first fatal casualties from enemy action through shelling and trench raids in the days prior to 19/20 July. The 32nd Battalion was to make history for all of the wrong reasons, when a major attack was planned to fix the German defenders in position and prevent their being used to reinforce the Somme front further south.

The attack was a disastrous introduction to battle for the 32nd - it suffered 718 casualties, almost 75 per cent of the battalion’s total strength, but closer to 90 per cent of its actual fighting strength. The Battalion was part of the 8th Brigade on the left of the Australian line and managed to penetrate the German position to a greater extent than their comrades in the 14th and 15th Brigades. Unfortunately this meant that they became 'enfiladed' by German machine guns making their position untenable. They were cut off and a great many were killed behind enemy lines, or taken prisoner. Many of those who died behind enemy lines were among those soldiers whose remains were discovered in a mass grave near Pheasant Wood in 2008, and who are now interred in the new Commonwealth cemetery (/explore/cemeteries/17) on the outskirts of Fromelles.

The 5th Division was rendered non-effective by their losses at Fromelles and underwent a period of reinforcement, re-consolidation and retraining afterwards. Although it still spent periods in the front line, the 32nd played no major offensive role for the rest of 1916.

LtCol Coghill was succeeded after Fromelles by LtCols Purser (/explore/people/61683) and Beardsmore (/explore/people/169143) in quick succession and then LtCol Charles Davies, (/explore/people/263126) a New Zealander who was to command the battalion for most of the rest of the war.  

In early 1917, the German Army withdrew to the Hindenburg Line allowing the British front to be advanced and the 32nd Battalion participated in the follow-up operations. The battalion subsequently missed the heavy fighting to breach the Hindenburg Line during the second battle of Bullecourt as the 8th Brigade was deployed to protect the division’s flank. The major battle in 1917 in which the 32nd Battalion played a major role was Polygon Wood, (/explore/campaigns/19) fought as part of the Third Ypres (warmemorial.erato.vm.e2.com.au) campaign, near the city of the same name in Belgium on 26 September.

Unlike some AIF battalions, the 32nd had a relatively quiet time during the German Spring Offensive of 1918 as the 5th Division was largely kept in reserve. The Allies launched their own offensive with the battle of Amiens (/explore/campaigns/14) on 8 August, in which the 32nd Battalion participated. It was subsequently involved in the operations that continued to press the retreating Germans through August and into September. The 32nd fought its last major action of the war between 29 September and 1 October when the 5th and 3rd Australian Divisions and two American divisions attacked the Hindenburg Line (/explore/campaigns/81) across the top of the 6-kilometre-long St Quentin Canal tunnel; the canal was a major obstacle in the German defensive scheme.  In late 1918, the charismatic Major Blair Wark (/explore/people/366974) was acting commander for the final stages of the war, for which he was awarded a Victoria Cross.

The battalion orders detailed in the War Diary provide a very good insight to the nature (see link) of combined arms tactics that the Australians had developed under Monash and mastered by this stage of the war.

The 32nd was resting and retraining out of the line when the war ended on 11 November 1918. On 8 March 1919, after the gradual repatriation of men to Australia, the remnants of the 32nd Battalion were merged with the 30th Battalion. In a subsequent post-war re-organisation of the militia, the 32nd was moved under Victorian jurisdiction.

Adapted from the introduction by Roger Freeman in "Second to None".

Compiled by Steve Larkins 2013

Unit History

• Freeman, Roger (2006). Second to none: a memorial history of the 32nd Battalion A.I.F. 1915-1919. Norwood: Peacock Publications. NLA LINK (trove.nla.gov.au)

Battle / Campaign / Involvement

• Fromelles (Fleurbaix) (19 July 1916 to 20 July 1916) (/explore/campaigns/2)
• German Withdrawal to Hindenburg Line and Outpost Villages (15 February 1917 to 3 April 1917) (/explore/campaigns/21)
• Polygon Wood (26 September 1917 to 3 October 1917) (/explore/campaigns/19)
• Dernancourt/Ancre (27 March 1918 to 30 April 1918) (/explore/campaigns/35)
• Villers Bretonneux (5 April 1918 to 25 April 1918) (/explore/campaigns/23)
• Amiens (8 August 1918 to 11 August 1918) (/explore/campaigns/14)
• St Quentin Canal/Hindenburg Line (28 September 1918 to 5 October 1918) (/explore/campaigns/81)

Reinforcement Groups

• 1st Reinforcement: Left Adelaide on board HMAT A2 Geelong, 18 November 1915

• 2nd Reinforcement: Left Adelaide on board HMAT A30 Borda, 11 January 1916
• 3rd Reinforcement: Left Adelaide on board HMAT A28 Miltiades, 7 February 1916
• 4th Reinforcement: Left Adelaide on board RMS Mongolia, 9 March 1916
• 4th Reinforcement: Left Adelaide on board HMAT A68 Anchises, 16 March 1916
• 4th Reinforcement: Left Adelaide on board RMS Mongolia, 9 March 1916
• 5th Reinforcement: Left Adelaide on board HMAT A9 Shropshire, 25 March 1916
• 6th Reinforcement: Left Adelaide on board HMAT A60 Aeneas, 11 April 1916
• 7th Reinforcement: Left Adelaide on board HMAT A57 Malakuta, 27 June 1916
• 8th Reinforcement: Left Adelaide on board HMAT A70 Ballarat, 12 August 1916
• 9th Reinforcement: Left Adelaide on board HMAT A73 Commonwealth, 21 September 1916
• 10th Reinforcement: Left Fremantle on board HMAT A16 Port Melbourne, 28 October 1916
• 11th Reinforcement: Left Adelaide on board HMAT A19 Afric, 7 November 1916
• 12th Reinforcement: Left Adelaide on board HMAT A35 Berrima, 16 December 1916
• 13th Reinforcement: Left Adelaide on board HMAT A30 Borda, 23 June 1917
• 14th Reinforcement: Left Melbourne on board HMAT A38 Ulysses, 22 December 1917

Victoria Cross winners

• Blair Wark (/explore/people/366974)

If you have specialised knowledge of the unit and would to contribute more detail to the story on this site we would like to hear from you. We are particularly keen to hear from unit associations and keepers of unit heritage and traditions. Contact [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])  to find out how.