The following entry is from They Answered The Call. Click here for the contents page.
Service
number: 653. Age:
21 years. Enlisted: 11 Nov 1914.
Occupation: Plumber. Next of kin: (mother) Mrs. E. Storr.
Address
on enlistment:
Bribie View.
Military
band of the 15 Battalion, 4 Infantry Brigade at Enoggera Camp, 1914.[1]
H.F. Storr, standing, sixth from the right.
Service
Summary:
11 Nov 1914: 15 Battalion.
22 Dec 1914: Embarked from Melbourne on
HMAT A40 Ceramic for Egypt.
25 Apr 1915: 15 Battalion landed at
Gallipoli in the afternoon.
7 May 1915: Wounded in action Gallipoli.
GSW right leg.
2 Oct 1915: Returned to Gallipoli which was
evacuated in Dec 1915.
1 Jun 1916: 15 Battalion proceeded to
France and Western Front.
“The 15th Battalion AIF was raised from
late September 1914, six weeks after the outbreak of the First World War.
Three-quarters of the battalion were recruited as volunteers from Queensland,
and the rest from Tasmania. With the 13th, 14th and 16th Battalions it formed
the 4th Brigade, commanded by Colonel John Monash.
The Queensland and Tasmanian recruits were
united when the battalion trained together in Victoria. They embarked for
overseas just before Christmas. After a brief stop in Albany, Western
Australia, the battalion proceeded to Egypt, arriving in early February 1915.
Australia already had an AIF division there, the 1st. When the 4th Brigade
arrived in Egypt, it became part of the New Zealand and Australian Division.
The 4th Brigade landed at ANZAC late in the afternoon of 25 April 1915.
From May to August, the battalion was
heavily involved in establishing and defending the front line of the ANZAC beachhead.
In August, the 4th Brigade attacked Hill 971. The hill was taken at great cost
although Turkish reinforcements forced the Australians to withdraw. At the end
of the month, a detachment from A Company reinforced the 14th Battalion's
unsuccessful attack on Hill 60. The 15th Battalion served at ANZAC until the
evacuation in December.
After the withdrawal from Gallipoli, the
battalion returned to Egypt. While there, the AIF was expanded and was
reorganised. The 15th Battalion was split and provided experienced soldiers for
the 47th Battalion. The 4th Brigade was combined with the 12th and 13th
Brigades to form the 4th Australian Division.
In June 1916 they sailed for France and the
Western Front. From then until 1918, the battalion took part in bloody trench
warfare. Its first major action in France was at Pozieres in August 1916. Along
with most of the 4th Brigade, the battalion suffered heavy losses at Bullecourt
in April 1917 when the brigade attacked strong German positions without the
promised tank support. It spent much of the remainder of 1917 in Belgium,
advancing to the Hindenburg Line.
In March and April 1918, the battalion
helped stop the German spring offensive. In July 1918, as a result of his
valorous actions during the fighting near Hamel, Private Henry Dalziel was
awarded the battalion's only Victoria Cross. The battalion participated in the
great allied offensive of 1918, fighting near Amiens on 8 August 1918. This
advance by British and empire troops was the greatest success in a single day
on the Western Front, one that German General Erich Ludendorff described as ‘…the
black day of the German Army in this war...’.
The battalion continued operations until
late September 1918. At 11 am on 11 November 1918, the guns fell silent. In November
1918, members of the AIF began to return to Australia for demobilisation and
discharge.” [2]
8 Oct 1918: Returned
to Australia on Taranto.
3 Feb 1919: Discharged.
Life
Summary:
Harold Francis Storr (1893-1975) was the son of John Storr
(1856-1942) and Elizabeth Jones (1857-1948) who resided at Bribie View (also
known as Donnybrook) on Pumicestone Passage. After his military service, he returned
to Bribie View where he became a grazier. By 1949 the family had relocated to
Laidley. Harold Francis Storr, aged 81, died in 1975.
Harold Francis Storr is remembered on a memorial plaque in the
Peachester Cemetery, together with his brothers Arthur William Storr and Charles Allan Storr.
[1] Photo
and caption: State Library of Queensland image 6163-0001-0001 http://hdl.handle.net/10462/eadarc/5136
[2] Australian
War Memorial 15th Australian Infantry Battalion https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U51455
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