Harold Ewart PARTRIDGE

District Clerk and Engineer for District Council of Kingscote for 7 years prior to enlisting.

Parents living at “The Pinery”, Kingscote.

Suffered bouts of paratyphoid and enteric while in France.

Harold married Dorothy Mary Evans ( b 1888 f Wm Grieg Evans, m Mary Blewett of Kensington Park) on 12/7/19. Dorothy died March 1949 while living at 121 Wattle Street, Fullarton. Harold died 1958. No evidence of any children.

ANZAC Feature. The Islander, Thursday May7, 2015. Page 12-13

Leader on the battlefield - Captain Partridge

Harold Ewart Partridge - Service No 1760

Harold Partridge was born at Wisanger on November 22, 1885, to parents Mary (nee Strawbridge) and Henry. Henry, who was a farmer and pastor, died at Glenelg December 19, 1915.

Mary, Harold’s next of kin, changed her address to Railway Terrace, Cheltenham on January 21, 1919.

Harold had five other siblings, and at one stage, they were living at “The Pinery”, (Brownlow), in Kingscote.

Before enlisting, Harold was a clerk and engineer in the Kingscote Council for seven years.

Harold enlisted on April 28, 1915 at Adelaide and was taken on strength into the 2/27th Reinforcements, D Company. He transferred to the 10th Battalion on February 22, 1916.

He was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant on July 22, 1915.

In November 1915 he was on the SS Benalla in the middle of the Indian Ocean on his way to Suez, where his unit disembarked on November 22.

He arrived in Marseille on April 3, 1916.

On the July 23, 1916, Lieutenant Partridge, with 35 other ranks, held a trench they’d taken for four hours, consolidating their position under heavy artillery shelling.

During that time, 1400 to 1800, his platoon was reduced to nine.

Lieutenant Partridge displayed great coolness and courage while in the trenches at Fleurbaix and Poizieres and he was on the Western Front for the remainder of 1916.

There he had to put up with artillery bombardments most nights when on the front line, going out on night patrols to assess the enemy’s position and maybe take a few prisoners for intelligence. (The same was done in Korea 35 years later.)

Then there were the artillery duels, one battery trying to knock out the other.

These could go on for hours.

In addition to heavy bombardments, there was also heavy rain.

The trenches became very muddy.

Moving artillery pieces forward was exhausting for both men and horse.

At times, horses would be completely submerged with their drivers fighting to keep their heads up.

Men would get stuck in the shell holes losing their boots and trousers when pulled free.

The rain was so heavy the exhausted men would sleep on wet bedding.

This brought on influenza and dysentery.

So if the enemy didn’t get you, the weather did. When not in the front line, the men rested and trained for raiding parties.

On July 14, 1917, Harold Partridge was sent on a course at Bombing School and on November 1, he was promoted to Captain then posted as Bombing Officer of the 1st Training Battalion.

On October 15, 1917 the Battalion received the order, “All men of the 10th Battalion will bath. They will be issued with a change of underclothing.” Captain Partridge rejoined his unit in March 1918.

He was fortunate to have been away for the gas attacks the Germans launched on the Allied artillery in October and November.

This form of warfare was very effective as some batteries had to be withdrawn from the front.

Mustard oil would gather in the dugouts so they would have to be abandoned.

Two officers who were gassed died within two days. 40 men working on a road were sent back, eyes streaming, voices gone and bodies blistered.

One soldier wrote in his diary, “We had another four days of this and then retired to a position 1,000 yards behind again. Here we stayed four days, and got shelled to hell, but no one minds that - a shell drops alongside, and one merely calls it a bastard and curses the Hun, and wipes off the mud.”

The Germans launched their major offensive of the war on March 9 and 10, 1918.

Again they used gas on the English artillery.

On March 24 the Australians were order into positions near the front which was then 22 miles back from where it had been in February 1918. The Somme was being overrun again.

As the Australians drove through Barly and similar villages in the area they came across old villagers preparing to evacuate.

When those people recognised the cheering, shouting soldiers as Australians they began unpacking again.

One correspondent described them as looking wonderfully well, clear eyed, determined and independent. Another described them as being inquisitive.

The 10th Battalion was involved in the fighting around Amiens, and Captain Partridge was given three weeks of leave in September 1918.

In January 1919 he was sent to a hospital in England with paratyphoid.

He returned from the war on the SS China and arrived in Adelaide on June 6, 1919 and was discharged from the Army on July 29.

He received Bravery Awards, Citations and Mentioned in Dispatches He and Dorothy Mary Evans married on July 12, 1919.

It appears they didn’t have any children.