The 9th Battalion was among the first infantry units raised for the AIF during the First World War. It was the first battalion recruuted in Queensland during World War I and had a nominal strength of 1000 men.
The Battalion was raised within weeks of the declaration of war on 4 August 1914. After preliminary training, the battalion sailed to Egypt just two months later, arriving in early December.
The 3rd Brigade was the covering force for the Anzac landing on 25 April 1915 and so was the first unit ashore at around 4.30am. The battalion was heavily involved in establishing and defending the front line of the Anzac beachhead and served at Anzac until the evacuation on 19 December 1915.
After the withdrawal from Gallipoli, the battalion returned to Egypt. It was split in half to form the new 49th battalion and brought up to strength with reinforcements. In March 1916 the 9th Battalion sailed for France and the Western Front.
From then until 1918 the battalion took part in many operations against the German army. The battalion’s first major action in France was at Pozieres in the Somme Valley. The 9th Battalion attacked on the extreme right of the allied line.
Later the battalion fought at Ypres, in Flanders, before returning to the Somme Valley in Franch for the winter. In 1917 the battalion moved back to Belgium for the advance to the Hindenburg Line and in March and April 1918 helped stop the German spring offensive.
The battalion participated in the great allied offensive of 1918 and fought near Amiens on 8 August. This advance by British and empire troops was the greatest success in a single day on the Western Front, one that German General Erich Ludendorff described as “the black day of the German Army”.
The battalion continued operations in France until late September 1918. At 11am on 11 November 1918 the armistice was signed, the guns fell silent and the fighting finished, followed by the Treaty of Versailles, signed on 28 June 1919.
During the war the 9th Battalion suffered 1049 men killed and 2422 wounded.
We shall remember them.
This account was submitted by staff from the office of the Member for Woodridge, Cameron Dick.
