Understanding an Australian service record

[RWTaylor]

I am researching my Great Uncle, William Taylor, 4904 16th Battalion, AIF, and am trying to make sense of his service record. In particular, I'm trying to identify where he was killed - I see from the record and from the Battalion War Diary that he was involved in the attack on 26 September 1917 at Passchendaele, but I wondered if I could pin down more precisely where he was killed. In various places I have read "Hellfire Corner" and "Polygon Wood" so I'd like to understand if either of these is likely. (He was recorded as "wounded" on 26th and subsequently amended to "Killed in action" on the 28th. They did not find a body and he has no known grave.)

The Service Record has a final column which is quite cryptic and I wondered if that would help:

26/9/17     D9/29    VL489   D/056/5445

28/9/17    D9/43     VL517
                D/0      61/5982

I may be barking up the wrong tree, but any help in understanding the military hieroglyphics would be gratefully received.

RWT

[majm]

I am researching my Great Uncle, William Taylor, 4904 16th Battalion, AIF, and am trying to make sense of his service record. In particular, I'm trying to identify where he was killed - I see from the record and from the Battalion War Diary that he was involved in the attack on 26 September 1917 at Passchendaele, but I wondered if I could pin down more precisely where he was killed. In various places I have read "Hellfire Corner" and "Polygon Wood" so I'd like to understand if either of these is likely. (He was recorded as "wounded" on 26th and subsequently amended to "Killed in action" on the 28th. They did not find a body and he has no known grave.)

The Service Record has a final column which is quite cryptic and I wondered if that would help:

26/9/17     D9/29    VL489   D/056/5445

28/9/17    D9/43     VL517
                D/0      61/5982

I may be barking up the wrong tree, but any help in understanding the military hieroglyphics would be gratefully received.

RWT

Hi,

There is info about the burial at page 28 or 29  of 58 of his service file available online from the National Archives of Australia,  naa.gov.au   Record Search.

JM.

[RWTaylor]

Thanks for that - I suppose I'm not sure how someone could be injured then recorded killed in action, but they could not locate the body or its burial place. Of course,  recognise the chaos of war will lead to such things.

RWT

[wivenhoe]

This from Roll of Honour  Australian War Memorial website. Might be of use to you.

https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/awm-media/collection/RCDIG1068840/document/5540600.PDF

And a photo -
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1672994

[RWTaylor]

Thanks - I knew I'd seen hell-Fire Corner somewhere but couldn't locate it. So, that gives me what I need, I think.
I guess the remarks in the service record are not going to be of any significance.

RWT

[jim1]

Awarded for participation in the operations to secure strongly defended German positions in the vicinity of Polygon Wood and to consolidate positions on the Menin Road Ridge. Characterised by bitter fighting and fierce German counter-attacks.
Hellfire corner-square I.10.
https://maps.nls.uk/view/101464903
Polygon Wood-square J.9.
https://maps.nls.uk/view/101464636

[Nanna52]

RWT I had a New Zealand cousin killed at Passchendaele on October 12th, 1917.  It says he was buried and gave a reference, but he was registered as having no known grave.  It was a very important piece of land fought over for months.  It would be easy to lose reference points in land that was repeatedly churned up by explosions.

[RWTaylor]

Jim1 - Thanks. Those maps are excellent

Nanna52 - Thanks for this information. My next task is to research another Great Uncle, this time serving in the NZ Army. Luckily, he survived the war and lived out his life in Invercargill. Unfortunately, the regimental War Diaries in his case are not as comprehensive and the copies I have seen are almost illegible, they are so faint.

RWT

[jim1]

Just to give an insight this is the tactical map used by 1/Div. AIF
during the advance.
Their boundary was the blue dotted line & the solid blue line.
The light blue line was the Btn. boundary.
The red dotted line was the point they started from having taken this during
the Battle of Menin Rd. (ridge) earlier.
Their route was Nonne Bosschen & Polygon Wood.