Driver: 1204 William Herbert ORCHARD

35th BATTALION AIF

Driver: 1204 William Herbert ORCHARD

Born: 22nd October 1893. Clifton via Bulli, New South Wales, Australia. Birth Cert:39872/1893.

Married: 27th November 1920. Mission, Kurri Kurri, New South Wales, Australia. Marriage Cert:19112/1920 .

Wife: Vera Orchard. nee: Street. (1896-1976)

Died: 20th December 1947. Kurri Kurri, New South Wales, Australia. Death Cert:3334/1948.

Father: George Orchard. (1853-1902)

Mother: Phoebe Orchard. nee: Ross. (1861-1947)

INORMATION

No.1204 William Herbert ORCHARD was a 22 year old Wheeler from Kurri-Kurri in NSW when he enlisted in the AIF at Newcastle on the 7th of December 1915. He was allocated to the 35th Battalion when the Unit was formed at Broadmeadow, NSW in February of 1916.

• Offence - On the 11th of June 1916 he was charged with “overstaying leave” and as punishment was awarded 14 days of fatigues.

He embarked from Australia as a member of “D” Company of the 35th BATTALION AIF (Newcastle’s Own) on board the HMAT (A24) ‘Benalla’, which sailed from Sydney on the 1st of May 1916, sailing via Columbo, Capetown, and Dakar, before disembarking at Plymouth in England on the 9th of July. On arrival in England the Battalion travelled by train, via Exeter, to the village of Amesbury in Wiltshire, where they unloaded and then marched the several miles to the Australian Camps at Lark Hill. On arrival they were allocated to the No.3 Camp and were then given four days Disembarkation-Leave prior to commencing training.

The Battalion was part of the 9th Infantry Brigade (33rd, 34th, 35th, and 36th Infantry Battalions, 9th Machine-Gun Company, 9th Field-Company Engineers, and the 9th Light Trench Mortar Battery), of the 3rd Australian Division (9th, 10th, and 11th Infantry Brigades). It would spend the next couple of months training hard on Salisbury Plain to learn all the methods of fighting Trench-Warfare.

They trained and practiced in Musketry, bayonet fighting, the digging of trenches, received their weapons, equipment and field-kitchens, attended various courses, practiced route-marching, improving their fitness, practised trench raids and attacks while coordinating with aircraft and Artillery , culminating in a week in October spent in trenches under active service conditions. They voted in the ‘Conscription Referendum’, were reviewed by the King on Salisbury Plain, and then completed a final Divisional Route-March of 18 miles. Selected personnel had attended various Promotion and Officer Training Courses, in preparation for the Casualties that were inevitably to occur.

The 3rd Australian Division finally received their full allocation of rifles in early November and was then finally ready to proceed to the Western-Front. The delay in receiving their weapons had ensured that the 3rd Division was the most highly trained Australian Division to leave England.

On the 21st of November 1916 the 35th Battalion deployed across from England to France, as part of the 9th Infantry Brigade’s entry onto the Western Front. The 9th Brigade soon moved into the trenches near the village of Armentieres.

He was with the 35th Battalion for the attack on ‘MESSINES RIDGE’ in Belgium on the 7th of June 1917. At 3:10 a.m. the Battle commenced with the detonation of 19 ‘mines’ that had been dug under key German positions along the Messines Ridge.

On the 23rd of August 1917 he was appointed a ‘Driver’ in the Battalion. This meant that he was one of the operators of the Battalions horses and mules. This would have kept him out of the frontline firing trenches, but meant transporting rations and ammunition from the rear area up to the front; a job that was just as hazardous.

On the 12th of October 1917 he was with the 35th Battalion for the unsuccessful and horrific attack on ‘PASSCHENDAELE’ in Belgium. The failure of the attack on the 9th of October had only just been confirmed and the amended objectives for the attack had only been transmitted to the Battalions at 6 p.m. on the 11th, which was only hours before the 9th Brigade actually had to set off on the march to the form-up point.

The battlefield was described as a morass and a quagmire – a continuous mass of interconnecting shell-holes filled by liquid mud - with the only semi-dry or partially firm surface being the high ground where the shell-holes connected together. To go over the high ground meant being exposed to enemy fire, while to take cover meant risking becoming stuck in the liquid mud.

The attack on Passchendaele commenced at 5.25 a.m. on the 12th and by the end of the day the 3rd Australian Division had sustained approximately 2,935 casualties (of which 299 were killed) and after being forced to withdraw from the 2nd Objective, finally held a line only just in front of that mornings starting point. The 9th Brigade was the only formation to actually hold a piece of the 2nd objective (the blue line) and had been continually receiving enemy fire from the front, both flanks, and even the rear.

It was reported that men had sunk into the liquid mud in the shell holes under the weight of their own equipment and drowned. If a man became stuck it took several of his comrades to extricate him, and it needed a team of stretcher-bearers just to bring a single man back to the dressing-Stations. The Battlefield could not be held and many men had to be left behind and their bodies were never found again.

He was granted Leave to the UK from the 16th of March 1918 until he rejoined the Battalion Rear Area in the Bois l’Abbe, near Villers-Bretonneux on the 5th of April. On that day the Battalion was with the Brigade in the village itself, fighting for its life defending the village, in what later became known as the ‘1st BATTLE OF VILLERS-BRETONNEUX’. Counter-Attacks by both the 35th and 36th Battalion stopped the German attack to the east of the village.

On the 6th of July 1918 he reported sick with an unknown fever and was admitted to the 6th Australian Field-Ambulance. He was then admitted to the 47th Casualty Clearing Station before being transferred to the 20th Casualty Clearing Station. He was discharged to duty on the 14th of August.

He was then with the Battalion for the remainder of the ‘AUGUST OFFENSIVE OF 1918’; the ‘ADVANCE TO THE HINDENBURG LINE’; and the signing of the ARMISTICE on the 11th of November 1918.

He began his return voyage to Australia on the 11th of May 1919, arriving back on the 28th of June. He was discharged from the AIF on the 12th of August 1919.