Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Percy William Brittain

Percy, William Brittain was born on the 24th of November 1892, in Magill, South Australia. Before the war, Percy was a grocer, married to Emily Margret Brittain and lived in North Norwood. This all changed on the 10th of October 1916 when at the age of 24 Percy decided to enlist for World War One, he was given the rank of a Private and the service number 4507. Upon enlistment Percy was 5 feet and 6 inches, weighed 140lbs (63.5 kg) had brown eyes and light brown hair. So, on the 16th of December, Percy joined the rest of the brave men on board the HMAT A35 from Adelaide to Egypt, where they would be trained and prepared for the battles to come. Percy was assigned to fight with the 32nd Battalion but was then reassigned to the 48th Infantry Battalion.

Life in the trenches was pretty horrible, the weather was mostly cold and wet which resulted in the trenches being in terrible condition. Throughout the war a huge amount of shells would have been fired from both sides and not a lot of hot food was provided. During the year of 1916 the 48th battalion fought and trained in Egypt.

In November of 1916 in France, where the weather was quite good. The battalions went to Vaux, but it wasn’t big enough to hold all the battalions so two were moved to Fremont instead. The roads were in a terrible condition and football games were played to entertain the soldiers. They were then moved from Fleselles to Dernancourt where the trenches were full of mud and water. No hot food of any kind was provided to those in the firing line or support

Pozieres was a battle fought in France in 1916, the battle consisted of active artillery from both sides throughout the fighting. The soldiers used whale oil to cover their feet in order to prevent trench foot, which was a terrible disease caught by spending too much time in damp, unsanitary conditions. Any cooking that was done was done so in the safety of the trenches and soldiers were served Bovril and soup at 5am and 3pm. Shells and gas bombs were fired throughout the course of the battle and once again wire prevented plenty of attacks. The Australian Comfort Fund oversaw the supplying materials to the soldiers.

From the 7th of June to the 14th 1917 the 48th Battalion was fighting in Messines, a battle which aimed to capture the Wytschaete Ridge from the Germans. The attack was successful with little casualties as only 36 men were wounded, 2 went missing, 4 were terribly gassed and 4 left with shell shock. It took a lot of planning and preparation to pull off the attack and in the end the men were proud with their efforts. For the first part the 48th was on reserve and later during a counter attack they were led by Captain Cummings to the green line. The Germans counter attack failed and their front line was devastated.

The 48th then withdrew to cover, later coming in to relieve the 45th at the front line. Machine guns, Lewis guns and plenty of shells were used during the battle, the Germans held on until the 14th of June but lost. A special commendation was given to the stretcher bearers who were very brave in the battle.

The First Battle of Passchendaele was part of the Third Battle of Ypres, it was fought by Australian, British and New Zealand troops on the 12th of October 1917. The weather was cold and it rained most of the time making it extremely difficult to cover any more ground. The aim was to capture Passchendaele Ridge from the Germans, though this was never achieved and was the last time Australia took part in the Battle of Ypres. The 48th Battalion gained their objective as ordered but as the 9th battalion never did they lost the counter attack and had to withdraw with plenty of casualties.

On the 5th of April 1918, the 48th battalion took part in a battle at Ancre, where the weather was particularly misty. It was the heaviest barrage of Germans they had seen since the battle at Pozières and there was plenty of gas shelling meaning all the men needed to have a gas mask ready. When the Germans attacked, the allies had already been informed of it and had men ready to attack at either side. Eventually the enemy broke through on the right side and an attack by the platoons was never made, the 47th battalion withdrew from the battle completely. When they were advancing to Dernancourt, Lieutenant Sheppardson was shot in the chest but continued to lead his men onwards and Private F. Trengoweth ran through a hail of bullets just to deliver a message to the English. The allies didn’t like tanks because in this battle the tanks failed the allies greatly. A battle honour was awarded to the men who fought defensively against the Germans but especially any fighting along the river Ancre slowing the Germans advance to Amiens.

The last main battle fought by Percy William Brittain was the Battle of Hamel on the 4th and 5th of July 1918 and it didn’t take long for the allies to claim victory. All units reached their objective within 2 hours and the tanks worked well for this battle. The enemy found it hard to concentrate and deal with the situation at hand. Any S.O.S. signals fired were replied to by artillery. The men received 3 hot meals daily and some much-deserved rest as well as some clean under clothes. The battle resulted in 1 killed and 8 wounded from the 48th battalion.

Percy was injured several times during the war. On the 12th of October 1917, he was wounded in action. He returned to his unit on the 30th.  Percy was wounded again on the 28th of March and later diagnosed with shell shock on the 2nd of April 1918 and he was returned to Australia.

Percy, William Brittain served for a total of 2 years and 151 days receiving two medals for his efforts. He returned home from the war on the 24th of August 1918 and went on to live until the 3rd of October 1977. His was cremated and has a plaque in the South Australian Garden of Remembrance.