A History of the 31st Battalion, AIF from Fromelles to Nauroy. Signed First Edition.
The 31st Battalion, AIF, was raised in 1915 — two companies from Queensland and two from Victoria, concentrated at Broadmeadows before departing in October 1915. After garrisoning the Suez Canal against the Turks in Egypt, was assigned to the newly-formed 8th Brigade, 5th Division in early 1916; it arrived in France in July 1916 and suffered its baptism of fire at the disastrous Battle of Fromelles, taking over 500 casualties and leaving it too badly mauled to undertake further offensive action for the rest of the year. After rebuilding, the battalion served through the trenches of Houplines, Flers, Bapaume and Lagnicourt in 1916–17, then moved to Belgium for the Third Battle of Ypres, where it fought with distinction at Polygon Wood in September 1917 — an action in which Private Patrick "Paddy" Bugden earned a posthumous Victoria Cross — before enduring the bitter winter of 1917–18 in trenches opposite Warneton. Recalled to France during the German Spring Offensive of 1918, the 31st helped defend the Somme sector, then took part in the Allied Hundred Days Offensive, fighting at Amiens, the recapture of Villers-Bretonneux and Bullecourt, Villers-Carbonnel, and finally the assault on the Hindenburg Line at St Quentin Canal in September 1918, its last major action before the Armistice; the battalion was disbanded in March 1919 while awaiting repatriation, and was later re-raised in the postwar militia as the Kennedy Regiment.
Published: 2013
Format: Hardcover with Dust Jacket
Pages: 464
Indexed
Illustrations: Black & White
Condition: Used, Very Good |
