The 56th Battalion was raised in Egypt
on 14 February 1916 as part of the “doubling” of the AIF. Half of
its recruits were Gallipoli veterans from the 4th Battalion, and the
other half, fresh reinforcements from Australia. Reflecting the
composition of the 4th, the 56th was predominantly composed of men from
New South Wales. The battalion became part of the 14th Brigade of the
5th Australian Division.
Arriving in France on 30 June 1916,
the battalion entered the frontline trenches for the first time on 12
July and fought its first major battle at Fromelles a week later. The
battle was a disaster, resulting in heavy casualties across the
division. Despite these losses the 5th Division continued to man the
front in the Fromelles sector for a further two months.
After a freezing winter manning
trenches in the Somme Valley, in early 1917 the 56th Battalion
participated in the advance that followed the German retreat to the
Hindenburg Line. It was spared the assault but did, however, defend
gains made during the second battle of Bullecourt. Later in the year,
the AIF’s focus of operations switched to the Ypres sector in Belgium.
The 56th’s major battle here was at Polygon Wood on 26 September.
With the collapse of Russia in October
1917, a major German offensive on the Western Front was expected in
early 1918. This came in late March and the 5th Division moved to defend
the sector around Corbie. The 14th Brigade, took up positions to the
north of Villers-Bretonneux and held these even when the village fell,
threatening their flanks.
Once the German offensive had been
defeated, the Allies launched their own offensive in August 1918. The
14th Brigade did not play a major role in these operations until late in
the month, but its actions were critical to the capture of Péronne,
which fell on 2 September. The 56th fought its last major battle of the
war, St Quentin Canal, between 29 September and 2 October 1918. It was
resting out of the line when the Armistice was declared on 11 November.
Soon after, members of the battalion began to be returned to Australia
for discharge. It ceased to exist as a separate entity on 10 April 1919,
when the remnants of all of the 14th Brigade’s battalions were merged
into a single unit. Text from AWM
- 529 killed, 1630 wounded (including
- 2 DSO
- 1 MBE
- 21 MC and 1 bar
- 20 DCM
- 50 MM
- 9 MSM
- 25 MID
- 8 foreign awards