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LANCE SERGEANT HERBERT GLENMORE ATFIELD #2551

Born on the New South Wales south coast at Bega, Herbert Glenmore Atfield spent a large portion of his childhood in the Nowra district before moving to Thornleigh on the upper north shore in Sydney. In 1903, Herbert Atfield wrote his first letter to The Watchman and in doing so captured the essence of his time in the Shoalhaven. “…I am nine years of age, and live in Terrara, near Nowra. I go to the Terrara public school, and I am in second class. I went up the Cambewarra Mountain for three weeks, and I saw some very pretty sights. I have four pets—a black dog named Royal, a white cat, a parrot, and a chicken.”

Snippets from The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, provide glimpses of Herbert’s youth and paint a picture of an athletic young man who was well known and liked. An active member of the Thornleigh Methodist Church, his deep singing voice resonated in the bass ranges of hymns. Herbert was however no stranger to tragedy as in January 1908, aged 14 years, he lost his mother and three years later his older brother was killed by the morning mail train at neighbouring Pennant Hills.

On the 18th July 1915, Herbert’s ‘Application for Enrolment for Active Service’ was processed. He was initially earmarked for the A.M.C. and granted leave until the 4th August when his enlistment was formalised. In the September, Herbert was one of “a party of recruits from the Hornsby Pennant Hills district…given an enthusiastic send-off in the Thornleigh School of Arts...” and where each of the soldiers was presented with a wristlet watch. By October, Herbert had been appointed to the 6th Reinforcements of the 18th Australian Infantry Battalion and was preparing to embark. It was also around this time that the name Bert Atfield appeared on the ‘Shoalhaven Boys Who Have Enlisted’ list published in The Nowra Leader newspaper.    

Arriving in Egypt, it would be February 1916 before Herbert finally joined his battalion. Six weeks later they were proceeding to France. Herbert participated in the battalions’ first major battle at Pozieres after which he was hospitalised for neuritis of the right arm. He rejoined his unit in the December and endured one of the coldest winters on record while manning the front.

Promoted to Temporary Corporal on the 28th January 1917, Herbert was confirmed in rank a month later after heavy fighting around Walencourt. During the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line, the 18th Battalions’ casualties mounted and in April, Herbert was promoted to Lance Sergeant.

On the 3rd May 1917, the 18th Battalion participated in its first major battle of the year, the Second Battle of Bullecourt. At 3.45 am, Lance Sergeant Hebert Glenmore Atfield and his men from A Company, 2nd Platoon, waited as the first waves of the 5th Brigade hopped over the parapet and quickly moved forward. By the time Herbert lead his men onto the battlefield, the lead waves were faltering due to the enemy barbed-wire remaining largely intact. Casualties from artillery and machinegun fire were high, particularly among officers and NCOs. It is little wonder then, that as Herbert advanced through no man’s land he was reportedly shot through the head, 20 metres from the German lines.

Buried where he fell, Herbert Atfield was 24 years old. He is one of almost 11000 men commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial. In Australia his name appears on numerous Memorials and Honour Rolls. Those identified to date are:—Australian War Memorial; Nowra Soldiers Memorial; Thornleigh Methodist Church Great War 1914-1918 Honor Roll; Pennant Hills and Thornleigh District 1914-1919 Roll of Honour; Pennant Hills-Thornleigh-Normanhurst District The Great War 1914-1918; and Shoalhaven District Roll of Honor, European War 1914- (photograph only/physical whereabouts unknown).

Karen Standen 2022.