George Gottfried Henry Bartsh

 George Bartsh/Bartsch was a first cousin of my Mum's grandmother Ada May Morgan nee Hulme.

Ada's mother, Anna Dorothea Bartsh, married Joseph Hulme at Beechworth in 1875.

Anna was born at sea in 1854 onboard the ship Acmel, en route to Australia, when the Bartsh, Nebel and Schulze families emigrated from Prussia.

They settled at Westgarthtown, a dairy farming settlement sixteen kilometres north of Melbourne that was established in 1850 by German and Wendish immigrants.  Westgarthtown is now part of Thomastown.

Many of the Bartsh family later moved to Beechworth and any of their descendants still reside in the Beechworth area.

The friends of Westgarthtown  are a group of people interested in German/Australian history, its architecture, culture and lifestyle; descendants of the original German and Wendish settlers; local residents; German-born Australians; and all those who recognise Westgarthtown's heritage significance. A newsletter is published twice a year and distributed to over 300 members and supporters.

Recently Lachlan, a Bartsh cousin, very kindly pointed me to this article about George Gottfried Henry Bartsh and his WW1 service on the Friends of Westgarthtown website.

George Gottfried Henry Bartsh (1894-1964) was born at Beechworth, the son of John Henry and Charlotte Alice (née Hargreaves) Bartsh. His father, a miner, was born in 1858 at Spring Creek and married Alice in 1879. They had five children, the fourth being George Gottfried Henry Bartsh.

George was a great-grandson of Georg and Dorothea Nebel who arrived in Australia on the Acmel in January 1855. Three children travelled with them – Georg Jr. and his wife Friedericke; Gottfried and his wife Sophie; and Dorothea and her husband Heinrich Bartsch - along with five grandchildren. 

The Nebel family came from ............... CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING

REMEMBERING OUR ANZACS TODAY

 

Collage collection

Top Row Left to Right

ADAMS, Morgan - Private - 7th Battalion, 5th Reinforcements A.I.F - - SERN 1903: Born Melbourne VIC, 4 March 1895 - Died 22 August 1923: enlisted Melbourne VIC: Next of Kin (Mother) M Adams.
Returned home 1919 

FORSYTH, John WW1- Born 10 May 1879 Rhodes Swamp, Christchurch, New Zealand  - Serial No.17561 - First Known Rank Corporal - Embarkation Unit 20th Reinforcements Mounted Rifles Brigade, Mounted Machinegun Section. Returned home to New Zealand - Boer War -  returned home to NZ - Trooper - Service No. 3836, enlisted in the 6th New Zealand Contingent, known as the "Silent Sixth", on the 18th of January 1901 at Wellington.

BREACH, James Carey - SERVICE NUMBER NZ 11201. Navy, Regular Military Service, Korean War, 1950-1953 Born 23 February 1930 - Died 2006 Next of kin on embarkation  Esther Breach nee Musson mother. Returned home.

MORGAN, James George Henry Edward - Stoker in the Royal Australian Navy 16th August 1926  Official number 17819.  Navy records physical description 5 foot 6 inches, Auburn hair, Hazel eyes, Fresh complexion. Returned home.

Bottom Row Left to Right

FORSYTH, William - enlisted as Private 15 June 1916 - 2nd Battalion Otago Regiment New Zealand - Serial No.13/2189 - First Known Rank Trooper - Embarkation Unit Auckland Mounted Rifles. Discharged a corporal. Returned home to New Zealand

MORGAN,  William John Pike  Private 14th Battalion A.I.F - SERN - 893: POB - Euroa VIC: POE Broadmeadows VIC: NOK - (Mother) MORGAN S A.†- Killed Lone Pine 8 Aug 1915 - Lest we forget 

CROWL, Bertie Leslie - Private - 7th Battalion, 12th reinforcements AIF - SERN 3712 - Enlisted 8th July 1915. Returned home 5th April 1919. (Brother in law of above Morgan ADAMS.)

FLEMING, Albert Henry Percival - Sergeant Major- 5th Battalion, A Company A.I.F  -  SERN 24: POB Melbourne VIC: POE Melbourne VIC: NOK (Wife) Fleming Marjory. Returned home.

From

http://ancestorchaser.blogspot.com/p/our-familys-brave-lest-we-forget-as-i.html

ANZAC Memorial Numurkah

I've been in nearby Numurkah quite a lot lately and I am always drawn to the "Saluting Their Service" Mural along the side wall of the IGA building at the corner of Melville and Saxton Streets.

Unfortunately, I forgot to get a full-length image but will remedy that and add one later.

It is certainly impressive.

Done in separate sections for each theatre of war it commemorates those from Numurkah who served.

Facing Memorial Park the mural includes over 151 individual and 34 background images, and a list of the names of Boer War soldiers.

World War 1 - Gallipoli

Portraits - Left to Right

W Williams, W Lineham, W Little, J Lineham

World War 1 - Middle East

M Bourchier, A Devine, A Price, A Waser, W Cumming, W Lynch, T Lineham

World War 1 - Western Front

Portraits - Left to Right

Top - W Sharp, J Miller, L Reynoldson, E Reynoldson, J Cope

Middle 1 - T Lumsden, S Betts, J Cumming, C McKenzie, W Sutton, L Caygill, 

D Henderson, T Lynch, V Nelson

Middle 2 - D Bristol, H Tyers, G Burkitt, E Holmes, A Cumming.

Bottom - E Eddy, W Sutcliffe, E Suttcliffe, H Green, W Stratton, A Cope, G Cope

World War 2 - Australia

Portraits - Left to Right

Top - G Patterson, G Saxton, A Gribben, J Gribben, I Gribben, W Crozier, K Phillips.

Middle  - G Heard, W Learmonth, I Powell, R Thomson, E Patrick, K Harris

Bottom - W Webb, W McCaskill, J Henderson, E Morris

World War 2 - Europe

Portraits - Left to Right

W Hunkin, D Mann, H Dyson, E Visser, F Green, A Vickerman

I Learmonth, G Hunkin, K Moss

World War 2 - Middle East & North Africa

Top - B Beverley, R Mackay, J Laidlaw, H Gray, B Saxton, F Brown, H Hill, J Christie

Bottom - J Thornton, A Staggard, H Gribben, R Robinson

World War 2 - Pacific - New Guinea

Portraits - Left to Right

Top - V Lee,  A Browne, E Curtis, C Newman, R Ladgrove, T Rose, A Wellington

Middle - C Flack, R Harris, B Betts, R Kennedy, K Laidlaw

J Wearne, R Laidlaw, A Aldridge, J Lumsden

Bottom - C Sharp, W Sharp, E Cowan, W Saxton, C Tweddle, A Campbell

F Rowe,  D Wilkinson

World War 2 - Pacific - South East Asia

Portraits - Left to Right

Top - L Stewart, J Gray, K Tyers, J Sharp, C McPherson

Middle - R Cowan, G Shannon, L Venables

Bottom - G Dickie, S Gainey, R Haynes, C Moss, F Christie, A Miller

World War 2 - Pacific 

Portraits - Left to Right

Top - V Love, B Morris, W Dudley, K Jenkins

Middle - S Thomas, R Monk, C Heard, G Campbell, A Boase.

Bottom - G McArthur, L Reynoldson, G O'Brien, K Paternoster

Korea, Far East, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan

Portraits - Left to Right

Top - B Tremellen, L Bristol

Middle 1 - P Dealy, R Bensley.  Middle 2 - G Monk, J Campbell

Bottom - R Hayllar, J Stanyer

Top Far Right - B Swann & Afghan Boy.  Middle Far Right - T Learmonth

Bottom Far Right - R Learmonth

Across the road, the memorial park is also impressive.

THE NUMURKAH MOB REMEMBERED

Brimming with youthful enthusiasm, the images of the 15 local soldiers who adorn this memorial were largely captured on their enlistment day in Melbourne on June 28, 1940, immediately following their respective wheat crops being sown.

Mostly the sons of district farmers, an inseparable bond of friendship had earlier been forged, when they and their magnificent horses were the first to join the Numurkah troop of the 20th Light Horse Field Regiment in 1938.

Following the outbreak of World War 2 in 1939 and news that mounted regiments were being disbanded, the decision was made to enlist in the Australian Army as a group.  In full Light Horse uniform, 14 members of the 20th made the train journey to Melbourne, arriving at the Town Hall recruiting depot where Lady Mayoress Cole was waiting to meet them.  Later pictured marching side by side up Bourke Street, their story was featured in the Herald that afternoon and The Sun the following morning.

After their initial training at Royal Park, Melbourne and Benalla, where "The Numurkah Mob" name was appropriately coined, Jack Thornton and Jack Laidlaw were sent to Officer Training School, and Jim Sharp, on request, joined his father in the Field Ambulance Corps.  Completing infantry training at Wangaratta, the balance of  "The Mob" went to Puckapunyal for artillery training, joining the 4th Anti-Tank Regiment on February 4, 1941.  On parade, one member was ordered to volunteer for this regiment and with the call, "One in, all in" the other 10 stepped forward in unison.  Col McPherson, of the Numurkah Platoon of the 59th Infantry Militia Battalion, enlisted on August 18, 1940 and transferred to the 4th Anti-Tank Regiment on April 10, 1941 becoming the final member of "The Numurkah Mob".

On June 9, 1941, all 12 disembarked from the SS Zealandia in Singapore and were soon dispatched inland onto the Malay Peninsula.  Intensive training on their two-pounder anti-tank guns was soon put to the test following the massive Japanese invasion on December 8, 1941.  Facing overwhelming odds they fought bravely, retreating with the allied forces to Singapore Island, prior to the surrender to Japan on February 15, 1942.

Mob members Frank Christie, Reg Cowan, George Dickie, Stan Gainey, Johnny Gray, Ron Haynes, Col McPherson, Allan Miller, Cliff Moss, Barry Shannon, Keith Tyres, and Les Venables had remained intact, immediately becoming prisoners of war where separation was soon to become inevitable.

For the next three and a half years their bond of mateship and resolve to survive would be tested to the extreme.  During this period they were forced to endure cruel brutality, near starvation, tropical diseases, and horrendous conditions in Changi Prison at camps along the construction of the Thailand-Burma Railway and in the docks and coal mines of Japan.  Sadly, Keith Tyres died on Borneo's infamous Sandakan death march, Johnny Gray succumbed to beri-beri at Hell-Fire Pass, and Jim Sharp was killed in action as an Ambulance Driver during the bombing of Singapore.

Captain Jack Thornton fought Rommel's forces at Tobruk and El Alamein, returning to fight the Japanese in New Guinea and Borneo.  Lieutenant Jack Laidlaw served in the Middle East and was promoted to Temporary Captain for the New Guinea campaign.

The dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 led to Japan's official signed surrender on September 2, 1945.  This ultimately saved the lives of the 10 remaining Numurkah Mob prisoners of war, who after years of torment, finally returned home to their families and loved ones.

To a man, all of these gallant soldiers went on to be outstanding community-minded citizens, supporting each other and their fellow soldiers by holding annual POW reunions in the town for 50 years from 1940.

In Dedicating this memorial to "The Numurkah Mob" the families of the soldiers honoured, together with the entire Numurkah district, salute their service and sacrifice proudly remembering the unbreakable bond of mateship they shared.  September 7, 2014

LEST WE FORGET

Private William Robert Musson WW2

My grandfather's older brother William Robert "Bill" Musson was born on the 27th of November 1903 at Belfast, Canterbury, New Zealand.  His birth was registered early in 1904.

Bill was the eldest son of James Christopher Musson (1873-1950) and Margaret Ann Hay Forsyth (1877-1928) of Belfast, Canterbury, New Zealand.

He had 2 older sisters, Jessie Catherine (1899-1969) and Mary Margaret "Molly" (1902-1970) and 6 younger siblings, James Richard (my grandfather 1906-1976), Walter Phillip (1908-1919), Esther Helen (1911-1966), Eric Mark "Mac" (1913-1991), Ian Alexander "Fat" (1915-1989) and Ivor Forsyth "Hip" (1918-1993).

Bill enlisted in the New Zealand Military Forces on the 14th of February, 1940.  He gave his birthdate as 28th of November 1905.  Perhaps he thought 1903 was getting a bit close to the cut off age for enlistment, perhaps a recording error was made.  He gave his address as Rangiora, his occupation as a tractor driver and next of kin  E. M. Musson (his brother Eric Mark)

Bill joined the 21st Battalion 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force and trained at Papakura Military camp South of Auckland.

This photo, from the family collection courtesy of Nola Bennett nee Musson, would have been taken around the time of Bill's enlistment.  Bill is the one in uniform. 
Nola, the baby in the photo, is Bill's god-daughter and niece, daughter of  Eric Mark Musson.

Bill served 38 months and 12 days Overseas service from the 1st of May 1940 until the 12th of July 1943 and had a total of 176 days leave.  

photo courtesy of Bill's daughter Judy and grandson Levi Simpson-Musson.
Bill 3rd from right back row

On the 29th of June 1940 after arriving in England Bill was transferred from E Company to H.Q. Company.

For a more detailed account of the Battalion's movements, I referred to Wikipedia:-

From Wikipedia - "By April 1940, training had been completed and 21st Battalion was preparing to depart overseas. It duly embarked aboard the Empress of Japan on 2 May 1940 and travelled in convoy with other troopships to Scotland^[8] with its first port call at Perth.^[9] The next stop would have been at Ceylon as the convoy travelled on towards its planned destination of the Middle East, but the invasion of Holland and France, followed by the entry of Italy into the war on the side of the Germans, forced a diversion. The convoy was now to make for England^[10] and thus it stopped at Cape Town, and then Freetown,^[11] arriving at Gourock, in Scotland, on 16 June."

Greece

The British Government anticipated an invasion of Greece by the Germans in 1941 and decided to send troops to support the Greeks, who were already engaged against the Italians in Albania. The 2nd New Zealand Division was one of a number of Allied units dispatched to Greece in early March.^[13] By late March, 21st Battalion had arrived in Athens where it was to carry out guard duty of vital installations around the city while the rest of the division proceeded to the north of the country to garrison the Aliakmon line.^[14] On 6 April, the day after Germany declared war on Greece, elements of the battalion guarding docks near Athens experienced a bombing raid which caused minor wounds to a couple of men.^[15] On 8 April, the battalion began moving to the front to rejoin 5th Infantry Brigade, which was now stationed at Olympus Pass.^[16] However, en route, the battalion was diverted to the Platamon Tunnel, which was 15 miles from the town of Larisa. The defences here had been prepared by D Company, of 26th Battalion.^[17] Orders were to hold the position and should any part of it be lost, a counterattack was to be immediately made. The battalion, which arrived on 9 April, set to work further improving the defences, assisted for three days by the company from 26th Battalion until its departure.^[18]

Casualties during the 21st Battalion's campaign in Greece amounted to 40 killed and wounded with 230 personnel captured and made prisoners of war.^[19]

Crete

The Glengyle arrived at Crete on 25 April and 21st Battalion were unloaded at Suda Bay. Initially, it was believed that Crete was to simply be a staging point for the New Zealanders as they returned to Egypt. However, as military intelligence indicated a likely attack by the Germans, it was necessary to defend the island.^[20] The 5th Brigade was assigned the defence of Maleme airfield, with 21st Battalion positioned to the east, guarding the beach and river mouth. It was also tasked with supporting 22nd Battalion if required. At this time, the battalion numbered 237 personnel, and two companies of New Zealand Engineers were attached to boost its numbers.^[21] In early May several parties of men, including Macky, began arriving, having made their way to Crete from Greece by various means. However Macky was ill with dysentery and was soon taken to hospital, leaving Harding still as acting commander.^[22]

On 20 May 1941, German paratroopers began landing on Crete. After the initial drop, during which several Germans were killed as they descended, the day passed relatively uneventfully for the battalion. Lieutenant Colonel John Allen had taken command just a few days previously.^[23] After the Maleme airfield, defended by 22nd Battalion, was lost to the Germans, the entire 5th Brigade was withdrawn from its positions.^[24]

It was evacuated from Crete on the night of 31 May aboard the light cruiser HMS Phoebe and reached Alexandria the following day. Total casualties during the Battle of Crete were 33 killed in action, 33 wounded, and 80 men were captured.^[25]

North Africa

After a period of leave, the battalion's personnel reassembled at Helwan in Egypt. Reduced to about 270 men after the campaigns in Greece and Crete, it was brought back up to strength with over 500 reinforcements.^[26] By August, the battalion, along with the rest of 5th Brigade, was involved in training in desert warfare and by the end of the month construction, of defensive positions, known as the Kaponga Box, commenced. It remained here for a month^[27] before shifting further west to the Baggush Box.^[28]

Its training was in preparation for the 2nd New Zealand Division's role in the upcoming Operation Crusader, which was planned to lift the siege of Tobruk.^[29] The New Zealanders were to be one of the 8th Army's infantry divisions that were to surround and capture the main strong points along the front while the armoured divisions were to seek out and engage Generalleutnant (Lieutenant General) Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps. At the same time, the Tobruk garrison was to attempt a breakout.^[30]

Bill was recorded as safe in Crete May 1941, Egypt June 1941 and safe in December 1941 and September 1942 but no placenames were given for the last two dates.  

Much of the record is written in military abbreviations that I can't understand.

NZETC (New Zealand Electronic Text Collection) has a wonderfully detailed account of the 21st Battalion in a digitised electronic version HERE

Bill wasn't in all the battles written about as he had intermittent furloughs and hospital stays.
He was discharged in June 1944.

courtesy of Levi and his mum Judy

courtesy of Levi and  Judy.

Bill married Veronica "Vicki" Whittle.  Vicki had a daughter from a previous marriage.  Bill and Vicki went on to have another daughter, Judy.

Bill passed away in November 1979 at Rotorua and Vicki in 1980.
Burial is at Block 16 section B plot 11, Kauae cemetery, Ngongotaha Road

Tribute page for our Servicemen

Maurice Harrison 14 Battalion A.l.F.

This post is dedicated to Maurice Harrison.

It comes courtesy of his great grand nephew, Gary Patton and fellow Harrison family researchers.

Thanks Gary for allowing me to share this information. Maurice’s relationship to me is first cousin 3 x removed.

He was born at Euroa, Victoria on the 5th of August 1882 the third son of George Harrison and Ann Ansell, the fifth of their 12 children.

 

Lance Corporal Maurice Richard “Mod” HARRISON – No. 1952 14th Battalion A.I.F. Awarded the Military Medal for conspicuous bravery & devotion to duty.

Birth 5 Aug 1882 in Euroa, Victoria, Australia

Death 22 Oct 1918 in Le Havre, Manche, Basse-Normandie, France

Hopefully, the following will give you an insight into what Maurice and his mates went through.  Remember he received the Military Medal for his actions throughout all this.

The following notation is courtesy of the Australians on the Western Front 1914–1918 An Australian journey across the First World War battlefields of France and Belgium

http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/zonnebeke/battle-of-polygon-wood.html

During the night of 25–26 September the men of the assaulting battalions reached taped lines laid across the southwestern third of the blasted tree stumps of Polygon Wood. At this point it was vital not to alert the watching Germans by unusual noise or the lighting of cigarettes which would bring down an enemy artillery barrage. At 5.50 am on 26 September the guns opened up in front of the Australian infantry who immediately moved forward behind its protecting wall of shells. If one had been on the Butte, where the Fifth Division Memorial now stands, the sound of battle would have been overpowering. Captain Alexander Ellis, wrote a vivid description of the scene:

Our artillery opened in a single magnificent crash and thousands of shells screamed through the air and burst in a long, straight line of flame and destruction about 200 yards [180 metres] ahead of the waiting infantry … the 4,000 men of the six attacking battalions dashed forward at a run. Somewhere behind the line of destruction lay their victims, shuddering in their pill–boxes, staggered by the sudden commotion, dazed by the concussion of the shells … then, slowly, very slowly it [the barrage] crept forward. A long line of skirmishers disengaged itself from the dense mass of men and followed the advancing screen of shells … Above their heads thousands of machine gun bullets cut the air as they whistled shrilly past on their destined way, and the strident din of many Vickers guns throbbed through the troubled morning air. But these were but the tinkling wood–wind notes in the hell’s orchestra that played about them. For the deafening crash of the rapid firing 18–pounders, the hoarser roar of the scores of heavy guns behind them and the stupefying concussion of shrapnel and high explosive shells in the barrage in front were by now all mingled in the hideous rhythmical clamour of the perfect drum–fire barrage. Thus, at 5.50 a.m. on the 26 September 1917, was the Division launched into the Battle of Polygon Wood.

Captain Alexander Ellis, The Story of the Fifth Australian Division, London, 1919, pp.244–5

Tribute page for our Servicemen

William Arthur Edmonds

Private William Edmonds, my second cousin once removed,  was born in 1898 at Barwo (Kotupna/Nathalia), Victoria and was 18 years and 1 month old when he enlisted in the 38th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Forces on the 1st of March 1916.

Plaque in remembrance of all who served and those who paid the supreme sacrifice between 1916 -1968.
Photo taken by Nancy Alford for http://monumentaustralia.org.au/australian_monument/display/100982

The 38th Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army. It was raised in 1916 as part of the First Australian Imperial Force for service during World War I and formed part of the 10th Brigade, attached to the 3rd Division. It fought during the Western Front before being disbanded in 1919.[1] The 38th Battalion was reraised in 1921 as the 38th Battalion (The Bendigo Regiment) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/38th_Battalion_(Australia)

William enlisted at Bendigo and his occupation was given as Mill Hand.  His application was submitted on the 23rd of February 1916.  He was given regimental no. 4803.

He was 5 foot 5 and a half inches tall, weighed 120 pounds and hard a dark complexion, brown eyes and black hair.  Religion was Church of England.

Consent of parents was needed for anyone under 21 years to enlist.

It is interesting that in his records it said he was not to be embarked until 19 years of age.

His date of embarkation from Australia was the 21st of June 1917 on HMAT Suevic A29.  Disembarkation was at Liverpool England on the 26th of August 1917.

On the 2nd of September 1917, he marched into the 8th Training Battalion based at Hurdcott Camp near Fovant in Wiltshire.  From the 28th of August until the 18th of September 1917 he was in hospital with mumps and later for Laryngitis.

In December 1917 he proceeded to France with the 38th Battalion where he saw action at the front at Rouelles.

Private William Arthur Edmonds was killed in action on the 29th of September 1918 at Bony, France.

Some differing reports from mates were given to the Red Cross.

It seems his parents had separated as William’s father, William Henry Edmonds, was living at Picola West, Victoria and his mother’s address was 4 Vale Street, North Melbourne.   A letter was sent to his father c/-  Mrs E. C Edmonds (aunt?) at Picola Post Office regarding William’s medals but this letter was never answered and not returned unclaimed.  As Williams mother, Blanche Edmonds was sole beneficiary of his Will the medals were then sent to her.  Later a letter was written to the Base Records by Blanche that “the father” had deserted his family more than once.

William’s mother, received contradictory information as to where her son was buried.  In 1922 the Returned Soldiers League wrote a letter to Victoria Barracks on her behalf.

Eventually it was sorted.  He was buried in France.

We will remember them

Tribute page for our Servicemen