Volunteers of Essendon and Flemington, 1914-1918
Manderson W Pte 5626 Wilfred 24 Inf Bn 18 Printer Single Pres
Address: Northcote, Bridge St, 38
Next of Kin: Manderson, Wilfred, father, 186 Cardigan St, Carlton
Enlisted: 25 Mar 1916
Embarked: A9 Shropshire 25 Sep 1916
Relatives on Active Service:
Doig C G Pte 993 cousin DOW
Doig R G Pte 7472 cousin
Harvey A E Pte 2261 cousin KIA
Harvey J D Pte 2160 cousin
Lukey A N Pte 4542 cousin
Manderson E J A Pte 3826 cousin
Manderson A L G Pte 3360 cousin
Manderson R R B Pte 5376 cousin
Manderson H Pte 5627 brother
Wilson F T Pte 5434 cousin
Date of Death: 05/05/1917
QUEANT ROAD CEMETERY, BUISSY
Private Wilfred Manderson
by Rod Martin
Young Wilfred (‘Will”) Manderson was only eighteen years old when he enlisted with his parents’ consent in March 1916. A small youth in stature, 168 centimetres tall and sixty kilos in weight, he probably still had some growing to do. However, what this lad lacked in physicality was probably more than made up for by his keenness to fight and, if necessary, die for his country and the empire. He could have stayed working as a printer for over two more years before he would have been able to legally enlist as an adult. Along with many other young men, however, he chose to persuade his parents if necessary and sign up early, even though the casualty lists from the recently terminated Gallipoli campaign and the Western Front had been horrendous. Will became a ‘Fair Dinkum’ – a man who enlisted even though the odds were against his survival.
Will was assigned to 15 Reinforcements of 24 Battalion. He trained at Broadmeadows, and then embarked for Europe on A9 HMAT Shropshire at Port Melbourne on 26 September 1916.
Members of 15 Reinforcements, 24 Battalion, about to board HMAT Shropshire
at Port Melbourne, 25 September 1916 http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/PB0982 (AWM PB 0982)
Will sailed for Europe via the Cape of Good Hope, arriving in Plymouth on 11 November – a date that would become significant two years later. He did some further training in Wiltshire and then sailed for Etaples in France on 14 December. His stay at Etaples (a training camp) was short, and he and his compatriots joined 24 Battalion on 27 January 1917.
At the time, the battalion was training at Ribemont in the Somme area of France. In the previous year, it had participated in the Battle of the Somme, gaining honours – and losing lots of men – in the associated Battle of Mouquet Farm. The major attack on the Somme finally petered out late in 1916, a small amount of territory having been taken but to absolutely no effect as far as the strategic situation was concerned. Both sides were wintering in the area in January, and preparing for new operations when the spring appeared on the scene. With temperatures twenty degrees below freezing point when Will arrived, no one would have been in the mood for concerted action!
The battalion relieved another and moved into the nearby trenches in February. This was part of the routine. Combat was sporadic and usually came in the form of sniping, enemy bombardments and, when the weather allowed it, machine-gunning and bombing from enemy aeroplanes. After two weeks in the trenches, the battalion was rostered out and then resumed training and regular duties. We must always remember, however, that even when they were in training mode, the troops were still very near to the front and frequently subjected to bombardments, aerial attack and sniper fire. Nowhere was safe.
This situation continued through March. Will and his compatriots did have some feelings of success during February and March when the Germans made a strategic retreat from their more flimsy front line trenches to the heavily fortified Hindenburg Line. 24 Battalion and others were able to move forward across no man’s land and occupy the abandoned territory.
Early April found the men based at Rencourt, and they were there when the Battle of Bullecourt began on the eleventh of that month. British command had planned a couple of early offensives aimed at the Hindenburg Line, one at Arras and the other at Bullecourt. Led by British Fifth Army commander Sir Hubert Gough, the Allied forces planned to use a combined tank/infantry attack to achieve surprise at Bullecourt. Instead of the usual preliminary barrage to ‘soften’ the Germans up, twelve of the recently introduced ‘tank’ weapons would strike across no man’s land, destroying the barbed wire barricades. Infantry would then rush through the gaps created and storm the German trenches.
That was the plan, anyway. The battle was delayed for a day because only three of the tanks had arrived on time. Others had either broken down, had ‘accidents’ or been delayed by muddy conditions, shell-damaged roads or an inconveniently timed blizzard. The ones that did arrive made a hideous noise in doing so, removing any chance the Allies may have had of surprising the Germans with them. Despite the fact that no further tanks arrived at the jumping off point, the impetuous Gough insisted on the attack going ahead the next morning. He was anxious to please his boss Sir Douglas Haig, who wanted a quick action to coincide with the offensive at Arras.
So the men went over the top at 4.30 am on 11 April. The tanks were soon out of the action and the fact that some of the troops made it to the first German trenches was an achievement in itself. However, those men were stranded because they were not given artillery support once they got there. The British believed that they would quickly progress to the next line of trenches, and the commanders didn’t want to take the risk of bombarding their own forces. The men in the German trenches had no choice but to either retreat or be captured. To attack further trenches without any kind of artillery support would have been suicidal.
As with so many other Allied offensives in the war, what became known as the First Battle of Bullecourt cost a large number of casualties. Seventy-nine Australian officers and 2260 other ranks were killed or injured, and 1300 taken into captivity. Les Carlyon describes the whole affair as a ‘bloody fiasco’.
One of the three British Mark Two tanks used at the First Battle of Bullecourt. As you
can see, it is in German hands! http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/G01534J (AWM G01534J)
24 Battalion was not actively involved in the First Battle of Bullecourt. It was nearby, however and, as part of 2 Australian Division, then experienced a German counter-attack on 15 April, designed to keep the Allied troops in the area and thus unable to assist with the more effective attack at Arras. Fighting defensively, they were able to repel the Germans.
Undeterred by the failure of the first offensive, Gough decided on a second go at Bullecourt, this time using a preliminary artillery barrage. The attack, which began on 3 May, was partly successful, and close to 600 metres of territory had been seized by 6 May. Fighting took place in the trenches of the Hindenburg Line and Richard Travers tells us that combat raged backwards and forwards between the trench line and a sunken road half across no man’s land. Bill Gammage describes it as some of the most savage close-quarter fighting of the war. He quotes an Australian wounded early in the battle as saying that a day later:
The reaction set in and I cried for hours. My Mate’s arm was Blown into my chest and Pieces of P________ were splashed over more than a dozen. (p. 187)
Gammage goes on to write that this man’s comrades bombed and stabbed and bashed their enemy unceasingly, the dead piling up thickly. Relieving troops quailed as they approached what he describes as a holocaust. Eventually, on 15 May, a final German counter-attack was repelled by the successful Australians. The Germans then withdrew from Bullecourt.
The victory was on a small scale and came at a high cost, however. Australia suffered 7000 casualties. Will Manderson was one of them. Red Cross reports indicate that he was involved in digging a communication trench around midnight on 4 May when the Germans staged a sudden attack on his position. He was hit in the groin by a shell fragment and carried to an advanced dressing station at the rear. He was probably transported to a field hospital and died there and, for some reason, the initial report of his death did not reach the proper authorities. As a result, he was reported as missing for a while. His death was confirmed a short time later.
The battlefield of ‘Second Bullecourt’, 6 May 1917. Will was mortally wounded
in this area the previous day. http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/P02321.065 (AWM P02321.065)
At first, Will was buried in the cemetery of Noreuil, not far from Arras. Later, however, his body was disinterred and removed to the Queant Road Cemetery at Buissy. There he lies today. He was only nineteen.
Will Manderson's grave at the Queant Road Cemetery.
(Courtesy of Greg Manderson, 2011).
Queant Road War Cemetery, Buissy. (Commonwealth War Graves Commission)
Sources
Australian War Memorial: war history, unit diaries, Red Cross reports of the wounded and missing, collection
Carlyon, Les: The Great War, Sydney, Macmillan, 2006
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Gammage, Bill: The broken years: Australian soldiers in the Great War, Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 2010
National Archives of Australia
Travers, Richard: Diggers in France: Australian soldiers on the Western Front, Sydney, ABC Books, 2008
War Service Commemorated
Ascot Vale School Honour Roll
In Memoriam
MANDERSON-DOIG. - In affectionate remem
brance of Pte. Will Manderson, killed in action,
5th May, 1917; also Gnr Gordon Doig, died of
wounds, 27th September, 1917; dear cousins of
Gnr. Norm. Lukey, Floss, and Vic., Moonee
Ponds.
There is a link death cannot sever,
love and remembrance last for ever.
Cousins united.
The Argus 4 May 1918
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1657017
MANDERSON-DOIG. -In sad and everlasting me-
mory of my darling Willie, late of 24th Batt., who
was killed in action at Bullecourt on the 5th May
1917: also Gordon, cousin of the above, who
died of wounds on 25th September, 1917 (dear
old Fess).
Cousins united.
Dear Willie, when I sit and cry,
I think I hear you say.
Break not your heart, dear mother,
We will meet on the eternal day.
Dear Willie, how I long for you.
-(Inserted by his loving mother, father, brothers and
sister, and sister-in-law.)
MANDERSON. -In fond memory of Pte. Will Man-
derson, killed in action at Bullecourt on 5th May,
1917, loving cousin of Gordon Doig (Fess),
who died of wounds, September 25th. 1917.
(In serted by his uncle, aunt, and cousins, 142
The Parade, Ascotvale.)
MANDERSON. -In affectionate remembrance of
Pte Will Manderson, killed in action 5th May, 1917,
dear cousin of Gnr Norm. Lukey (O.A.S.),
Floss, and Vic, Moonee Ponds.
One of the many unreturning brave.
5 The Argus 5 May 1919
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1464204
DOIG, MANDERSON.-In fond remembrance of
Gunner Gordon Doig, died of wounds 25th Sep-
tember, 1917; also Private Will Manderson, killed
in action, 5th May, 1917, cousins of Gunner Norm
Lukey (O.A.S.), Floss, and Vic.
They knew that honour was at stake,
And so for King and country's sake,
They sacrificed their lives.
DOIG-MANDERSON. - In loving memory of dear
Gordon, who died of wounds on 25th September,
1917; also my darling Willie, who was killed in
action on 5th May, 1917.
They were too dearly loved to ever forget,
(Inserted by a loving aunt and broken-hearted
mother.)
The Argus 25 September 1919
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4683115
MANDERSON-DOIG.-In sad and everlasting
memory of my darling Willie, who was killed in
action on the 5th May, 1917, at Bullecourt; also
dear Gordon, cousin of the above, who died of
wounds on 25th September, 1917.
0 Dove of Peace, give back the link that was
taken from our chain;
Give back my boy who went away to his broken-
hearted mother again.
Dear Willie, how I long for you.
-(His loving mother, father, brothers, and sister.)
MANDERSON.-In loving memory of Pte. Will
Manderson, killed in action 5th May, 1917, dear
cousin of Norm, Floss, and Vic Lukey, Moonee
Ponds.
This day recalls sad memories of loved
ones gone to rest.
The Argus 5 May 1920
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1698365
MANDERSON.-In loving memory of Private Will
Manderson, killed in action 5th May, 1917, aged
19 years.
Gone, but never to be forgotten.
To memory ever dear,
-(Aunt Flo. and family, 45 Athol street, Moonee
Ponds.)
The Argus 5 May 1921
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1753641
MANDERSON-DOIG. -ln sad and loving memory
of our dear son and brother, Wilfred, who was killed
in action on 6th May, 1917; also our dear nephew
and cousin, Gordon, who died of wounds, 25th
September, 1917.
Dear Willie, still longing for you.
-(Father, mother, sister, brothers, and sisters- in-law,
2 Greeves street, Fitzroy.)
MANDERSON-DOIG-HARVEY - In loving
memory of our dear nephews and cousins, Will,
killed In action 5th May, 1917, Gordon, died of
wounds, 25th September, 19I7; also Bert Harvey,
killed in action 23rd August, 1916
Ever remembered
-(Inserted by Aunt Flo and cousins, Norm, Floss
and Vic, Moonee Ponds.)
The Argus 5 May 1922
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4653328
No further years checked.
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