Edward Charles Tobias Hurter [ 1888 - 1917 ]

Edward Charles Tobias Hurter was born in Coburg - a suburb of Melbourne - on 26th November 1888.  His parents were Charles Edward Hurter and Jeannett Le Brun.

He attended the Blackburn Primary School and later went on to the Hawthorn College where he studied accountancy. Prior to his enlistment in the AIF he held the Office of Collector in the Electric Light Department in the Nunawading Shire Council.

In January 1916 he enlisted in the AIF and was assigned to the 22nd Battalion, 11th Reinforcements. His service number being 4465.

Just prior to sailing, Edward married Rae Leonore Dowel who was the daughter of Henry Dowel and Flora McKenzie. Rae was born in Ascot Vale in 1891.

On 29 March 1916 Edward Hurter embarked from Melbourne on board the HMAT ORONTES.

image is of the HMAT ORONTES departing Port Melbourne in August 1916.

on 10 September 1916 Edward proceeded to France from England. In October he was promoted to Lance Corporal and in November to Temporary Sergeant.

At this time the 22nd Battalion were moved to the Ypres sector then back to Somme for the winter.

During January 1917 there had been much snow around Martinpuich and by the 1st February the weather was considered 'fine'.

Edward was killed whilst in "William Alley" - a trench near Martinpuich - and according to the diary of James Irwin:

We were now taken off the railway fatigue, and were at the disposal of head-quarters to be sent on any sector as carrying parties. We were working on two sectors, each of which was entered by a different route. On one of the routes, after we had travelled about a mile from our dugout in the mud, we would enter a trench called "William Alley".


This trench was built perfectly by the British, and it was about 2 miles long in zigzag formation, reaching up to the front line. The walls were riveted with wire mesh and the duckboards were supported on "A" frames; the water running 2 feet below in the bottom of the trench, and parts of the trench were camouflaged with the ordinary material which was used for the same purpose in the artillery.


The camouflaged material is made up of wire netting with an artificial covering of leaves and boughs. When we were on our way back to our dugout after being up to the line, we would call into the soup kitchen and have a short rest and some soup, after which we would feel quite repaired. We used to travel on the upper side of a dark gully on the way out, and in the dark hollow we would hear men pushing trucks, on the light railway up to the front line, laden with timber and ammunition, and the trucks returning would have wounded on them. When a shell would come hissing over into the dark valley, we would stop with a feeling of awe, and listen with expectation of hearing someone call "Stretcher bearers".
One night in the vicinity of this valley, a shell landed about 4 feet from the duckboards on which we were travelling, and blew myself and four others off the duckboards into the mud. On account of the mud being so soft as to allow the shell to penetrate deeply into the ground, we were fortunate enough to escape being killed or wounded, as the fragments of the shell could not escape above the surface of the ground.


and from the diary of Lt. Col. A. Wiltshire:
Pushed on through the village noticing some guns blocked out and then along what has been a pleasant country road. The snow has caused green grass to sprout everywhere and the country is looking very well. Much shelled is this road and by no means a health resort. When we got to William Alley we hopped in and had a grand run right up and then pushed across country to the Battalion H.Q. Very muddy and dirty and the dugout one of the most villianous [sic] ever imaginable. Concentrated smell of cooking, foul breaths & stagnation smote one on entering.

Skirting the village of Martinpuich for a while we at last plunged boldly through it and wondered by the lights there that they do not strafe it thoroughly and well. Once out of the village we got on to uneven boards with treacherous gaps in them and met many tired and muddy men coming out of the line, some cheerful, some depressed and nearly sobbing with fatigue. Soon we struck William Alley and had to pass nearly a whole Battalion coming out. Squeezing past was most awkward especially for the M.O.

The memorial for Edward Charles Tobias Hurter is located at the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial in France. There is no known grave.

 The personal effects of Edward Hurter were returned to his wife.

 The personal effects of Edward Hurter were returned to his wife.

when next you see a headstone or memorial for an 'unknown soldier' think of
Edward Charles Tobias Hurter

Newspaper article from Saturday 17th March 1917

May you rest in peace Edward Hurter

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as an added note, I have the following family that were also in the 22nd Battalion:

Donald William McTavish
KIA 27 July 1916 at The Battle of Pozieres

Harold Dimongoes McTavish
WIA at the Battle of Pozieres and RTA. died 13 April 1962

James John Roberts
WIA at The Battle of Menin Road and RTA. died 28 July 1968

William Gordon Tucker
KIA at The Battle of Beaurevoir on 3rd October 1918




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Arnold Roy BARTRAM [1895 - 1917]

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Arnold Roy BARTRAM

was born in Richmond,  Victoria, Australia

in 1895 to
 George Andrew BARTRAM and Isabella SHANDS
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George and Isabella were married on 27 August 1878 in Richmond, Victoria, Australia and had seven children. 

As a young boy, Arnold attended the Yarra Park State School in East Melbourne.

Yarra Park State School.
Date(s) of creation: [ca. 1900]
State Library of Victoria

He was a 21 year old Shipping Clerk and living with his parents at 9 Hull St, Richmond when he enlisted in the AIF on 6 June 1916. Private Bartram at that time was assigned to the 58th Battalion.

Both Arnold and his brother Cyril, were in the 58th Battalion, 4th Reinforcement.

He embarked from Melbourne for Plymouth per the H.M.A.T. "Orsova," on the 1st of August 1916 with the 4th reinforcements and then proceeded to France per the "Princess Henrietta," on the 6th of December 1916.

H. M. A. T. "Orsova,"

O5 January 1917 Arnold was "taken on strength" to the 60th Battalion in the field at Fribourt, France.

According to the unit diary - on the 14th January they left Ribmount at 8:30am and marched through Buire to Fricourt Camp where they could shower and enjoy a hot meal ... after all, it was not the best of days to be out 'walking'. The day was quite cold and snow had been falling for at least three hours.

winter of 1917 (thanks to the AWM)

By the 24th January the 60th Bn was at Needle Trench (near Lesboeufs) in France. The morning seemed to be 'quiet' but by the afternoon Needle Trench was being heavily shelled. The 60th Battalion asked for retaliation which was successful in stopping the enemy's shelling.

The 60th Battalion were around Longueval for the first couple of weeks of February, when they then moved on to the Flers area. Longueval is near where the Battle of Delville Wood took place in late 1916.

Enemy artillery was active throughout the cold and frosty night of 4th March, where they were still in the Flers area.  Arnold was admitted to hospital for gastroenteritis on the 13th of March, but back with his Battalion the following week. By the 18th the 60th Bn had evacuated and moved onto Fremicourt where they stayed until 25th March.

During the month of April, the Battalion moved from Beaulencourt, St Aubin, then back to Beaulencourt and onto Mametz where they arrived at 5:00pm on 20th April.  The complete Battalion was engaged in camp cleaning & cleansing of persons and stayed at Mametz for the duration of April.

the above map will guide you as to the 60th Battalion movements 
during the first half of 1917
which also shows the movement of Arnold Bartram during this time, where he was KIA and where buried.

A - Lesboeufs - January 1917

B - Mametz - April 1917

C - Fricourt - January 1917

D - Longueval - January 1917

E - Haplincourt - March 1917

F - Beulencourt - April 1917

G - Noreuil - May 1917 - KIA at the second Battle of Bullecourt.

H - Grevillers Cemetery - where buried.

With the month of May came the first touch of Spring. The unit diary even makes note of the weather: 

02 May 1917 - Fine clear spring day......
03 May 1917 - weather fine, though rather overcast with strong NE winds......
04 May 1917 - fine, warm & clear day with little wind......
05 May 1917 - fine, warm and overcast. ...
06 May 1917 - fine, warm & windy.

On the 10th May the 60th Battalion were at Noreuil and at 10:00am the diary notes that the men were improving their dugouts & clearing up the area they were occupying.

By 9:00pm D Company - who were located in a sunken road on the opposite  side of the village were subjected to some heavy shelling. One killed and four wounded... and the following day the forward area was still under constant shell fire.

At 12:30am on the morning of 12th May 1917, B & C Company (Arnold was in C Company)  marched forward and took over front and support line trenches from 58th Battalion. At 2.30am the enemy was shelling the support line heavily. According to the diary, the stretcher bearers "did a splendid job" in carrying out the wounded. Total: 13 Killed in Action and 71 Wounded.
 

This is when Arnold received a gun shot wound to the abdomen - in the Second Battle of Bullecourt - on the 12th of May 1917.

He died of his wounds on the 13th of May 1917 aged 21 years. 

He was first buried in the soldiers grave between Noreuil & Vaulx. Later buried at Greveillers British Cemetery (actual date NK)

Inscription:
Australian Infantry, A.I.F.

Grevillers British Cemetery
Grevillers
Nord-Pas-de-Calais Region, France
Plot: II. E. 2.

The Bartram Brothers at war

Informal outdoors portrait of three Bartram brothers who have met up whilst on active service, from Richmond, Vic. 

Identified left to right: 6955 Private (Pte) Reginald Percy Bartram, 37th Battalion; 2304 Pte Arnold Roy Bartram, 60th Battalion; and probably 2682 Sergeant (Sgt) Raymond Everard Bartram, 46th Battalion. Pte Reginald Bartram was killed in action in Belgium on 4 October 1917 aged 36 years. Pte Arnold Bartram died of gun shot wounds in France on 13 May 1917 aged 21 years. Sgt Raymond Bartram enlisted as a private on 3 July 1915 and embarked from Melbourne with 8th Reinforcements, 14th Battalion, aboard SS Makarini on 15 September 1915. From October 1915 until 26 December 1915 he was dangerously ill with an appendicitis. In March 1916 he transferred to the 46th Battalion and on 8 December 1916 he was promoted to corporal. On 26 May 1917 he was promoted to sergeant. He was killed in action in Belgium on 7 June 1917 aged 23 years. Another brother 2126 Private (Pte) Cyril George Bartram, 58th Battalion, returned to Australia on 27 July 1917 due to constant illness.

Blog post on Raymond Everard Bartram has been updated  and can be found here.

Reginald Percy Bartram is located here.

and the cousin of "The Bartram Brothers" Leslie Norman Krause  also has a blog post here.

Arnold Roy Bartram's name will be projected onto the exterior of the Hall of Memory at the AWM in Canberra on:

• Fri 5 September, 2014 at 2:57 am
• Thu 23 October, 2014 at 3:09 am
• Tue 16 December, 2014 at 2:48 am
• Mon 9 February, 2015 at 1:02 am
• Tue 31 March, 2015 at 10:57 pm
• Tue 12 May, 2015 at 8:37 pm
• Sun 21 June, 2015 at 3:34 am
• Tue 28 July, 2015 at 8:31 pm

These dates and times are estimates.
The actual time of projection could change as a result of weather and other factors, so it is advisable to check closer to the date.
In the rare event of a temporary loss of electrical power, the names scheduled for display in that period will not appear until the next time listed.

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remembering the DALITZ brothers of Dimboola ....

we have heard these words so many times, over and over again .... and will even more so over the coming months.

But it IS important to remember them ... and by "them" I mean all of the soldiers, sailors and airmen that fought in all wars. It IS important to pass on what we know to the next generation as well.

How else will they know that their ancestors fought and died so that they can enjoy the freedom they have today?

In my family pedigree I have over 80 family members that fought in World War one and two. I am trying to capture as much information as possible on each of those men and women and to document what is available for future generations.

So while thinking about 'family' this week, I paid particular attention to the four DALITZ brothers of Dimboola (Victoria, Australia) that went off to war in 1915 and in 1916.

But to step back a few years, Heinrich DALITZ and Maria WUTTKE married on 13 August 1885 in South Australia. They had fourteen children, four daughters and ten sons.

Unfortunately in 1897 one of the daughters died due to her clothes catching fire, she was just 7 years of age.

Heinrich and Maria were farmers so to have ten sons able to work on the family farm was certainly a 'bonus'.  Then in 1915 - the day the AIF first landed in Gallipoli on the 25th April -  Maria died at just 53 years of age.

Heinrich - or Henry as he was known - continued on with the family farm with the help of the children. But soon after the death of their mother, two of the sons enlisted in the AIF.  They were Alwin Clarence DALITZ and Friedrich Wilhelm DALITZ who both enlisted on the 12 June 1915 and by the 15 September 1915 - had embarked Melbourne aboard the SS MAKARINI bound for Egypt. 

The next one to enlist was Carl Walter DALITZ who signed up on 19 February 1916 and then it was Heinrich Charles DALITZ's turn.  He enlisted on 3rd April 1916. Both Carl and Henry (as he was known) embarked Melbourne on 4th May 1916 aboard the HMAT PORT LINCOLN bound for Egypt.

So here we have the four brothers enlisting in the AIF to fight in the war!

I have added a short summary of each of them at the end of this blog post and will concentrate on the eighth child of the family: Carl Walter DALITZ. 

Carl was born in Dimboola, Victoria, Australia on 23 October 1896, (twin to Gustav Edwin DALITZ) their parents being Heinrich DALITZ and Maria Elisabeth WUTTKE.

When he was just 19 years of age, he enlisted in the AIF at Horsham on 19 February 1916 and was immediately assigned to the 6th Machine Gun Company. 3rd Reinforcements. His occupation at the time was that of a grocer.  Six weeks later his brother Heinrich enlisted in the AIF and was also assigned to the 6th MGC.

Three months later - on 4th May 1916 - he embarked from Melbourne on board the HMAT A17 PORT LINCOLN with his brother Heinrich Charles DALITZ.

He was in France by March 1917 and just two months later Carl was killed in action at the second Battle of Bullecourt on 3rd May 1917. One day short of 12 mths since he departed Melbourne.

"A minute to go; forms rise up from the shell holes in readiness … 30 seconds to go; we glance back to the dark stillness of the western horizon, so silent, but we know packed with artillery batteries with gunners standing tense and ready … a vicious boom – the French artillery open up. Still the rear horizon is silent and menacing – then a terrific ripping flash! A thousand guns speak as one; such awe–inspiring roar and rend and flash and crash as surely man never saw or heard before; we’re off!"

Corporal Frank Fitzpatrick, quoted in Lieutenant W A Crane, In Good Company: An Account of the 6th Machine Gun Company AIF in Search of Peace, 1915–1919, Melbourne, 1937, p.329

*above Framed Print of Second Battle of Bullecourt 1917 from Mary Evans

Australian soldiers loading an 18 pounder gun at the second Battle of Bullecourt (Battle of Arras) on the Western Front in France during World War I in May 1917.

Carl Walter Dalitz

is remembered with honour 

at the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial in France.

There is no known grave.

Carl Walter Daltiz is remembered with honour on the WWI Honour Roll at Dimboola Memorial High School - seen below with wreaths laid on Anzac Day, 2008 (by David Thompson)

Carl Walter Daltiz is also remembered on the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

Carl Walter Dalitz's name will be projected onto the exterior of the Hall of Memory at the AWM in Canberra on:

• Mon 15 September, 2014 at 12:54 am
• Tue 4 November, 2014 at 1:55 am
• Sun 28 December, 2014 at 5:34 am
• Fri 20 February, 2015 at 3:53 am
• Fri 10 April, 2015 at 2:25 am
• Fri 22 May, 2015 at 12:10 am
• Mon 29 June, 2015 at 6:21 pm

These dates and times are estimates. The actual time of projection could change as a result of weather and other factors, so it is advisable to check closer to the date. In the rare event of a temporary loss of electrical power, the names scheduled for display in that period will not appear until the next time listed


let us remember, while we are having dinner tonight smiling and laughing, that in another house somewhere in Australia .....

......there is an empty chair where a hero should be sitting. They gave up their life so that we can sit with our family. So take a moment to think about those heroes who did not make it home and those who are still serving around the world ....


The DALITZ brothers - in summary:
____________________________________________________________________

Carl Walter DALITZ

[23 Oct 1896 - 03 May 1917]

Carl was born in Dimboola, Victoria, Australia on 23 October 1896, (twin of Gustav Edwin DALITZ)

Their parents being Heinrich DALITZ and Maria Elisabeth WUTTKE. Carl was the eighth of their 14 children.

When he was just 19 years of age, he enlisted in the AIF at Horsham on 19 February 1916 and was immediately assigned to the 6th Machine Gun Company. 3rd Reinforcements. His occupation at the time was that of a grocer.

Three months later - on 4th May 1916 - he embarked from Melbourne on board the HMAT A17 PORT LINCOLN with his brother Heinrich Charles DALITZ, also in the 6th MGC.

He was in France by March 1917 and was killed in action at the second Battle of Bullecourt on 3rd May 1917. One day short of 12 mths since he departed Melbourne.

He is remembered with honour at the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial in France. There is no known grave.

_________________________________________________________________

Heinrich Charles DALITZ

[1891 - 1972]

03 April 1916 - enlisted in the AIF  6th MGC (Machine Gun Company).

04 May 1916 - embarked Melbourne - with his brother Carl Walter DALITZ -  aboard the HMAT PORT LINCOLN bound for Egypt.  His occupation at that time was as a brick layer.

17 October 1917 - admitted to hospital with Trench Fever and kidney trouble.

10 April 1918 - again admitted to hospital, this time with scabies.

08 August 1918 - GSW to the right forearm (and gassed)  in the Battle of Amiens.

20 October 1918 - RTA medically unfit due to GSW

07 September 1920 - married Alice Mabel Ruby HIRTH

24 November 1972 - died aged 81 at Dimboola, Victoria, Australia

_______________________________________________________________

Friedrich Wilhelm DALITZ

[1887 - 1959]

12 June 1915 - enlisted in the AIF 14th Bn

15 September 1915 - embarked Melbourne aboard the SS MAKARINI bound for Egypt.

19 October 1915 - dangerously ill in hospital with dysentery.

11 April 1917 - Rec'd the Military Cross

17 May 1918 - WIA - gassed in France

07 April 1919 - RTA HMAT TRASAS MONTES - arrived in Australia 22 May 1919

1924 - married Hazel Blanche DRUMMOND

14 Nov 1959 - Died at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital aged 72.

____________________________________________________________

Alwin Clarence DALITZ

[1894 - 1969]

12 June 1915 - enlisted in the AIF 14th Bn.

15 September 1915 - embarked Melbourne aboard the SS MAKARINI bound for Egypt.

28 August 1916 - WIA. (Wounded in Action) GSW to the groin & pelvic area.

16 January 1917 - returned to duty in France after being wounded.

11 April 1917 - POW - became a Prisoner of War at the First Battle of Bullecourt and was interred at Limburg.

31 March 1919 - RTA - repatriated back to Australia arriving on 12 May 1919.

29 Jan 1969 - died at Nhill, Victoria, Australia at the age of 74.
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                                                            LEST WE FORGET

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