- Author
- Wright, Ken
- Subjects
- Biographies and personal histories, History - WW1, WWI operations
- Tags
-
- RAN Ships
- None noted.
- Publication
- December 2009 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
At nightfall on 12 September, the Berrima landed the AN&MEF infantry battalion at Rabaul. The following afternoon, despite the fact that the German governor had not surrendered the territory, a ceremony was carried out to signal the British (Australian) occupation of New Britain. The German administration had withdrawn inland to Toma and at dawn the next day, HMAS Encounter bombarded a ridge near the town, while half a battalion advanced towards the town supported by an artillery piece.
German surrender
The Germans wisely decided to start surrender negotiations and the two sides came to a mutual gentleman’s agreement on 21 September. All German military resistance in New Guinea would cease and the colony’s governor, Dr Haber, could return to Germany. In addition, all German civilians could remain as long as they swore an oath of neutrality. Those who refused would be transported to Australia where they could freely travel back to Germany. The remaining German outposts were occupied by the Australian forces over the next two months. Australia’s first submarines, the AE1 and AE2 also took part in the operation but AE1 mysteriously disappeared while on patrol. ((Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918 Vol. X. The Australians at Rabaul, S.S. Mackenzie, 1927.))To date it is not known where or why the submarine was lost.
The initial AN&MEF force was to be augmented by 3 Battalion Tropical Force. The call for volunteers in the various states for service in the tropics was answered in a few days by four or five times the number required. Many had served in the 1899-1902 Boer War in South Africa and wore their campaign ribbons. One volunteer was Joseph Read. He had come to Australia from London to start a new life and took on the trade of plasterer after his arrival in South Australia. He successfully enlisted on 31 October 1914 in the AN&MEF and became Private Joseph Read, Number 118, D Company, 3 Battalion. He was one of those who had served with the British Army in the Boer War with the 2nd Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment between 1901-1902.
By 13 November, the full quotas from the states had been assembled and sent to Liverpool Army Camp outside Sydney with Major F. W. Toll as their Commanding Officer. With the barest of training, the members of 3 Battalion embarked from Sydney on 28 November aboard HMAT SS Eastern bound for Rabaul. The other German possessions named by the British Government were gradually occupied by the Australian forces. New Ireland, the Admiralty Islands, Western Islands, Bougainville, New Guinea, Nauru and the German Solomon Islands were all brought under Australian administration until their future could be decided after the war. ((The League of Nations placed the territory together with the rest of German New Guinea under Australian mandate in 1920.))
Private Read was a member of the occupying forces, possibly stationed on Bougainville as his location is not mentioned in his service record. He died on 11 February 1915, not from the effects of a German bullet or an unfortunate accident but from the bite of a mosquito. He had contracted blackwater fever, which was a very dangerous complication of malignant malaria. He was buried in the Kieta Cemetery, Bougainville, having served his country for a little over three months and leaving his brother Arthur in Australia as the only one to mourn his passing.
The second man, John Thomas Holdroyd, left York in England also for a new life in Australia. He worked as a miner, living with his wife Lara in Hicksborough, in Victoria. He enlisted in the Australian Army on 1 February 1916 and became Private Holdroyd, Number 5370, 14 Reinforcements, 22 Infantry Battalion Australian Imperial Forces. After basic training he and his battalion sailed for Plymouth, England aboard HMAT Themistocles from Melbourne on 28 July 1916, and then on to France and the terrible battles on the Western Front.
Unwinnable campaign
The 22nd Battalion had been originally formed in March 1915 at Broadmeadows, an outer suburb of Melbourne, and became part of the 6th Brigade, 2nd Division. The men of the battalion embarked for Egypt early in May and first saw action in the beginning of September during the disastrous Gallipoli campaign on the Turkish coast. They were evacuated along with the rest of the British forces in December when it was decided the campaign was unwinnable. The battalion embarked for France in March 1916. On their arrival at the Western Front they became part of the 1st Anzac Corps and experienced action in the reserve breastwork trenches near Fleurbaix. The battalion fought again at Pozieres as part of the massive British offensive on the Somme.