Military History

Theatre of War	Medals	Commonwealth War Grave or Memorial
France and Flanders	British War & Victory Medals
Arrived in Theatre	Medal Citation (if app)	SWFHS Area Memorials
9 May 1916 (France)	~	Radway
Action, Battle or Other Reason Killed	Date and Place Enlisted Date	Other War Memorials
Battle of Pozieres (Somme)	26 Jul 1915 at Melbourne, Australia
Place of Death	Previous Regiments or Units
Pozieres	58th Battalion, Australian Infantry	Previously Served in Eygpt from Feb 1916

Circumstances Leading to Death (Normally from War Diary)       

The village was captured initially by the Australian 1st Division on 23 July 1916. The division clung to its gains despite almost continuous artillery fire and repeated German counter-attacks but suffered heavily. By the time it was relieved on 27 July it had suffered 5,285 casualties.

The 2nd Division took over from the 1st Division and mounted two further attacks - the first, on 29 July, was a costly failure; the second, on 2 August, resulted in the seizure of further German positions beyond the village. Again, the Australians suffered heavily from retaliatory bombardments. They were relieved on 6 August, having suffered 6,848 casualties.

The 4th Division was next into the line at Pozieres. It too endured a massive artillery bombardment, and defeated a German counter-attack on 7 August; this was the last attempt by the Germans to retake Pozieres. Robert was killed during the defeat of the counter-attack.   

Robert was originally buried near Pozieres and his remains were later exhumed and moved to Serre Road No 2 Cemetery