Don Roulston Buzzard

Appendix 1.0
First World War

Introduction

The outbreak of the war in Europe was seeded from The Concert of Europe which was a general consensus among the Great Powers of 19th century Europe to maintain the European balance of power, political boundaries, and spheres of influence.

This was followed by “The Treaty of London of 1839”, which was signed on 19th April 1839 between Austria, Belgium, France, the German Confederation, the Netherlands, Russia and the United Kingdom. Under the treaty, the European powers recognised and guaranteed the independence and neutrality of Belgium and established the full independence of the German-speaking part of Luxembourg. Article VII required Belgium to remain perpetually neutral. However, Belgium formally abandoned its policy of neutrality after its experiences in both world wars when it was invaded by Germany. [69]

On 2nd August 1914, the German government demanded, of Belgium, that German armies be given free passage through Belgian territory in an attempt to capture Paris quickly, by catching the French off guard. The demand was refused by the Belgian government on 3rd August 1914. Next day Germany invaded Belgium and the United Kingdom declared war on Germany.

And so it was that Australia was at War [Appendix 2.0].

1st Australian Imperial Force

The population of Australia was around five million people in 1914, and many of its young men had served or were serving in volunteer militia groups operating all over the country. The small number of the regular army was composed of mainly artillerymen and engineers, concerned with coastal defences.

As the Defence Act of 1903 precluded sending conscripts overseas, a totally separate volunteer force would need to be raised to honour the initial commitment of 20,000 men made to the British Government on the out-break of war. The name chosen for this force, and subsequent forces of WW1, was the 1st Australian Imperial Force (1st A.I.F.). The name “imperial” was chosen to reflect the duty of Australians to both nation and empire. [70]

Conscription and Enlistments Statistics 1st A.I.F. WW1 [Appendix 3.0] details the hotly debated subject of conscription and the men that joined the 1stA.I.F. [71]

Less than two months after the first Australian Imperial Force convoy left Albany’s shores with 20,000 troops on board, the second fleet of Anzacs weighed anchor and left the same harbour on 31st December 1914. John Corrie was on His Majesty’s Australian Troopship (HMAT) “Ceramic”. [72]

Such was the success of the troop recruitment, there were a further 11,000 troops on board the second convoy of 17 ships bound for the Middle East.

Their journey would take them via Colombo, in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka); Aden, in Yemen; and the Suez Canal and Port Said, in Egypt, before they reached their resting point of Alexandria on 3rd February and completed their disembarkation four days later. This second mass departure of Australian and New Zealand troopships was notable in part because it was the last formed convoy to leave Australian shores until 1917.

With German cruisers such as the Emden, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau having been destroyed in the few weeks prior to departure, it was considered there was little threat to the transports making their way to war, and the second convoy was accompanied only by the submarine AE2, which was being towed by HMAT Berrima.

The second Anzac convoy also included five vessels that had been captured from the Germans and renamed: the Boorara, Barambah, Barunga, Boonah and Bakara. The Bakara and Barunga were supposed to leave with the convoy on 31st December, but a fire in Bakara’s coal bunker and engine problems for the Barunga meant both were delayed in their departure and they had to catch up with the rest of the fleet.

The journey was largely uneventful, except for an unidentified vessel that appeared on 21st January and did not reply to signals, causing the AE2 crew to trigger their emergency preparations in case. In the nick of time, the crew of the Indian vessel Dufferin signaled back - they too were on their way to the port of Aden.

When the convoy got to Colombo, about 500 soldiers broke ship. All but 22 had come back by the time the convoy sailed again a couple of days later, but the remaining ones were picked up by the Bakara when it came through a bit later.

Ships of the second Anzac convoy were:

Australian transports: A29 Suevic; A30 Borda; A32 Themistocles; A33 Ayrshire; A34 Persic; A35 Berrima; A36 Boonah; A37 Barambah; A38 Ulysses; A39 Port Macquarie; A40 Ceramic; A42 Boorara; A43 Barunga; A44 Vestalia.

New Zealand transports: HMNZT Knight of the Garter; HMNZT Willochra; HMNZT Verdala.

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[69] Wikipedia - Treaty of London (1839)
[70] - [71] Australian War Museum
[72] Courier Mail – Congley 31-12-2014