Walter John SMITH (678)

Walter was born about 1893 in Sydney, NSW, Australia, the eldest child of Walter SMITH (1858-1927) and Elizabeth Frazer SCOTT (1870-1948). Walter enlisted with the AIF in March 1915 and his brother William would follow later the same year.

At the time he enlisted, Walter gave his occupation as cellarman and he was aged 21 years and 4 months. He is described in his service papers as being 5ft 5 1/2 inches tall with blue eyes and brown hair.

Assigned to the newly formed 20th Battalion (B Company) in the 5th Brigade, Walter left Australia aboard the 'Berrima' in June 1915. The battalion trained in Egypt and landed at ANZAC Cove (Gallipoli) on 22 August. Their role at Gallipoli was purely defensive, responsible for the defence of Russell's Top until their withdrawal on 20 December.

The battalion was then sent back to Egypt for further training and then on to France. They entered the trenches of the Western Front in April 1916 and in May had the dubious honour of being the first Australian battalion to be raided by the Germans. The Official History by C E W Bean (available online - see references below) describes the events of early May:

"The events which had happened in the Bridoux Salient after the German bombardment had cut it off from the rest of the force were being painfully pieced together by officers of the 20th Battalion. The truth was eventually discovered to be as follows. The bombardment had descended so suddenly that there was little opportunity for taking pre-cautionary measures, even if a local defence scheme had been clearly laid down and understood, which it was not. The local scheme, however, was clear on at least one main point - it repeated the general principle laid down in the corps scheme, that the front line was to be held at all costs; it made no mention of provision for withdrawing the garrison temporarily to the flanks during bombardment. Captain Ferguson and his officers undoubtedly believed that it was their duty to keep the men at their usual posts. When the bombardment descended, some of the men crouched close beneath the parapet ; others sheltered in the “dugouts” beneath or behind it; in the northern half, which was the more shattered, most of those who were not killed began at an early stage to withdraw to the flank on their own initiative. In the southern half the breastwork was without parados, entirely open to the rear, and the men’s backs were thus unprotected from the side-slash of the shells which were pouring in chiefly from the flanks. ... The 20th Battalion, on the other hand, lost 4 officers and 91 men killed or wounded, in addition to 11 prisoners; in neighbouring units, 25 inen were killed or wounded."

Walter was one of the wounded from this attack, receiving injuries which would eventually see him sent home. He was admitted to the 14th General Hospital on 6 May with gunshot wounds to his arm and leg. He was then invalided to England per 'HS Stad Antwerpen' on 23 May 1916 and returned to Australia at the end of that year. He was discharged on medical grounds in April 1917.

In 1921, Walter married Eleanor Lily Crouch at Randwick and they had three children. Walter passed away at La Perouse in October 1953.

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