- 28th Battalion AIF
(Western Australia) [7th Infantry Brigade]
Formed Western Australia April 1915. Departed Fremantle Ascanius
29 June 1915 and Thirty-Six, 12 July 1915.
- 1st Reinforcements departed
Fremantle Geelong
7 June 1915,
- 2nd Reinforcements departed Fremantle Demosthenes
23 July 1915,
- 3rd Reinforcements departed Fremantle Anchises
2 September 1915,
- 4th Reinforcements departed Fremantle Hororata
1 October 1915,
- 5th Reinforcements departed Fremantle Themistocles
13 October 1915,
- 6th Reinforcements departed Fremantle Ulysses
2 November 1915,
- 7th Reinforcements departed Fremantle Medic
18 January 1916,
- 8th Reinforcements departed Fremantle Borda
17 January 1916,
- 9th Reinforcements departed Fremantle Miltiades
2 February 1917,
- 10th Reinforcements departed Fremantle Ulysses
1 April 1916,
- 11th Reinforcements departed Fremantle Shropshire
31 March 1916,
- 12th Reinforcements departed Fremantle Aeneas
17 April 1916,
- 13th Reinforcements departed Fremantle Seang
Bee 18 July 1916,
- 14th Reinforcements departed Fremantle Miltiades
7 August 1916,
- 15th Reinforcements departed Fremantle Surada
26 September 1916,
- 16th Reinforcements departed Fremantle Suffolk
10 October 1916,
- 17th Reinforcements departed Fremantle Argyllshire
9 November 1916,
- 18th Reinforcements departed Fremantle Persic
29 December 1916,
- 19th Reinforcements departed Fremantle Miltiades
29 January 1917,
- 20th Reinforcements departed Fremantle Borda
29 June 1917,
- 21st Reinforcements departed Albany Port
Melbourne 24 July 1917,
- 22nd Reinforcements departed Fremantle Ormonde
13 March 1918.
Battle Honours: Suvla, Gallipoli 1915,
Egypt 1915-16, Somme 1916-18, Pozieres, Bapaume 1917, Bullecourt, Ypres
1917, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodeseinde, Poelcappelle,
Passchendaele, Ancre 1918, Amiens, Albert 1918, Mont St Quentin,
Hindenburg Line, Beaurevoir, France and Flanders 1916-18
Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front
by
Ross Mallett (ADFA)
History of 28th Battalion
The 28 Australian Infantry Battalion was raised
in April 1915 at Black Boy Hill Camp for service overseas. The unit
served in Gallipoli, and in both France and Belgium. The current Other
Ranks Mess is named after a member of the 28th Battalion, Lieutenant A.E
Gaby, who won a Victoria Cross at Villers-Bretonneux, in France on 8
August 1918. The unit served until the end of WWI and was disbanded on
20 May 1919.
The Militia unit, the 2/28 Bn was not raised
until 1918. In 1920 the unit became the custodian of the Kings Colours
awarded to the 28 Bn AIF for service during WWI.
28th Battalion
The 28th Battalion was raised at
Blackboy Camp in Western Australia on 16 April 1915 from recruits
previously earmarked for the 24th Battalion, which was instead being
raised in Victoria. The battalion left Australia in June, and, after
two months spent training in Egypt, landed at Gallipoli on 10
September.
At Gallipoli, the 7th Brigade,
which included the 28th Battalion, reinforced the weary New Zealand
and Australian Division. The 28th had a relatively quiet time at
Gallipoli and the battalion departed the peninsula in December,
having suffered only light casualties.
After another stint in Egypt, the
7th Brigade proceeded to France and the Western Front, as part of
the 2nd Australian Division. The 28th Battalion took part in its
first major battle at Pozières between 28 July and 6 August 1916.
After a spell in a quieter sector of the front in Belgium, the 2nd
Division returned to the south in October, where the 28th Battalion
took part in confused and costly fighting to the east of Flers, in
the Somme Valley.
For many of the major battles of
1917 the 28th found itself in supporting roles. At the second battle
of Bullecourt, the 28th provided reinforcements who were nonetheless
involved in heavy fighting. The 28th went on to attack as part of
the third phase at the battle of Menin Road, capturing its
objectives in seven minutes, and was in reserve during the capture
of Broodseinde Ridge. The battalion was also in reserve for the
battle of Poelcappelle on 9 October, but, with the attack
floundering in the mud, it soon became embroiled in the fighting.
In April 1918, the 28th fought to
turn back the German spring offensive and, from 8 August
participated in the joint British and French offensive that marked
the beginning of Germany’s defeat. The Battalion was prominent in
the fighting to secure crossing points over the Somme River around
Peronne, and in the advance beyond Mont St Quentin. The 28th’s
last actions of the war were fought as part of the effort to break
through the Beaurevoir Line in the first week of October 1918. The
first members of the battalion began returning to Australia in
January, and the 28th was disbanded in March 1919. Text from AWM
- 787 killed, 2241 wounded
(including gassed)
-
Decorations
- 1 VC
- 2 CMG
- 5 DSO
- 1 OBE
- 29 MC, 2 bars
- 17 DCM, 1 bar
- 70 MM, 1 bar
- 5 MSM
- 37 MID
- 11 foreign awards
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