Herbert Bolt
Encyclopedia
Herbert Bolt was a pioneer Australia
n rugby league
player, a state representative
centre and soldier who served and fell in World War I
. He is one of 75 Australian soldiers whose remains were identified by name in 2010 by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
as part of the Fromelles Military Cemetery
project.
Bolt made 52 appearances for the Newtown Bluebags
between 1912 and 1915. He represented for New South Wales twice on their 1915 tour of Queensland playing in the centres outside the legendary Dally Messenger
, scoring a try in each of his state representative appearances.
in September 1915. He was working as a brickmaker at the time of his enlistment living at Bexley, south of Sydney. He left Australia on board HMAT A29 Suevic on 23 December 1915 as a member of the 7th reinforcement being sent to strengthen the 17th Battalion, 5th Brigade (Australia)
, 2nd Division.
On the arrival in Egypt in February 1916, Bolt was allotted to the 55th Battalion
, 14th Brigade (New South Wales), 5th Division within II Anzac Corps
. When the more experienced I Anzac Corps
embarked for France at the end of the month, they took most of the available artillery pieces and trained personnel, leaving the II Anzac divisions to commence artillery training from scratch. Bolt was promoted to Corporal
at the end of the training period. Although the 5th Division who began arriving in France in July were the last of the four Australian divisions from Egypt to do so, they would be the first to see major action on the Western Front
at the Battle of Fromelles
, just one week after going into the trenches.
Lieutenant-General Richard Haking
, commander of the British XI Corps, which adjoined II Anzac Corps
to the south, planned an attack to reduce the slight German salient known as the "Sugar Loaf", north west of the German-held town of Fromelles. The 5th Division happened to be the unit facing the northern flank of the salient. By the time the attack was ready to be launched, its purpose as a preliminary diversion to the main action at the Somme had passed, yet Haking and his army commander, General Sir Charles Monro, were keen to go ahead. At 6pm on 19 July, after 11 hours of preliminary bombardment, the 5th Division and British 61st Division attacked. The Australian 8th and 14th Brigades, attacking north of the salient, occupied the German trenches but became isolated and out-flanked.
The AIF Project quotes a statement taken from Private F Johnston of the 55th Battalion who survived Fromelles but saw Bolt's demise. On the morning of 20 July 1916 at about 5am at Fleurbaix, Nutsy and I were close to one another when we were attacked by the Germans. He got more than six of them with his bayonet and the butt of his rifle, when he got a bullet through the head. He fell instantly being killed outright. He was as game as any man and was a well-known Newtown footballer
The battle was responsible for the greatest loss of Australian lives in one 24-hour period. The 5,533 Australian casualties, including 400 prisoners, were equivalent to the total Australian losses in the Boer War
, Korean War
and Vietnam War
combined. It would be many months before the Australian 5th Division was serviceable again.
On the news of his death the Newtown club rallied to raise funds for his widow and child. Events included a fancy dress parade down King St, Newtown and then on to Erskineville Oval
where a series of novelty events were held . With the money raised the club was able to purchase a house for Bolt's widow and daughter.
Bolt's remains were identified in 2010 as being lain in a forgotten mass grave at Pheasant Wood. Research by an Australian amateur historian, Lambis Englezos, had identified a site in a field at the edge of Bois Faisan on the outskirts of Fromelles. Bodies had been transported there by German soldiers on a narrow gauge trench railway on 22 July 1916, before being buried in eight pits measuring approximately 10 metres long, 2.2 metres wide and five metres deep. Englezos believed that these grave pits had not been discovered during the official post-war burial campaigns. After extensive archaeological surveys the mass grave was confirmed and remains were exhumed and tested against the DNA samples of the living relatives' of the fallen. Herbert Bolt's remains were reinterred in the Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery
in July 2010.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
player, a state representative
New South Wales rugby league team
The New South Wales rugby league team has represented the Australian state of New South Wales in rugby league football since the sport's beginnings there in 1907. Administered by the New South Wales Rugby League, the team competes in the annual State of Origin series against arch-rivals, the...
centre and soldier who served and fell in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. He is one of 75 Australian soldiers whose remains were identified by name in 2010 by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves, and places of commemoration, of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars...
as part of the Fromelles Military Cemetery
Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery
Fromelles Military Cemetery is a First World War cemetery built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission on the outskirts of Fromelles in northern France, near the Belgian border. Constructed between 2009 and 2010, it was the first new Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery for more than 50...
project.
Rugby league career
Born and raised in Newtown, SydneyNewtown, New South Wales
Newtown, a suburb of Sydney's inner west is located approximately four kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, straddling the local government areas of the City of Sydney and Marrickville Council in the state of New South Wales, Australia....
Bolt made 52 appearances for the Newtown Bluebags
Newtown Jets
The Newtown Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Newtown, a suburb of Sydney's inner west. They currently compete in the NSWRL Premier League competition, having left the top grade after the 1983 NSWRFL season...
between 1912 and 1915. He represented for New South Wales twice on their 1915 tour of Queensland playing in the centres outside the legendary Dally Messenger
Dally Messenger
Herbert Henry "Dally" Messenger was an Australian rugby union and rugby league footballer, recognised as one of the greatest ever players in either code. Messenger, or 'The Master' as he was dubbed, represented his country in both rugby football codes, playing two rugby union tests and seven...
, scoring a try in each of his state representative appearances.
War service
Although married with a young baby daughter, Bolt enlisted in the 1st AIFFirst Australian Imperial Force
The First Australian Imperial Force was the main expeditionary force of the Australian Army during World War I. It was formed from 15 August 1914, following Britain's declaration of war on Germany. Generally known at the time as the AIF, it is today referred to as the 1st AIF to distinguish from...
in September 1915. He was working as a brickmaker at the time of his enlistment living at Bexley, south of Sydney. He left Australia on board HMAT A29 Suevic on 23 December 1915 as a member of the 7th reinforcement being sent to strengthen the 17th Battalion, 5th Brigade (Australia)
5th Brigade (Australia)
5th Brigade is a brigade of the Australian Army. It is a Reserve combined arms formation based in New South Wales and forms part of the 2nd Division.-History:...
, 2nd Division.
On the arrival in Egypt in February 1916, Bolt was allotted to the 55th Battalion
55th Battalion (Australia)
The 55th Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army. Raised in 1916 for service during World War I the battalion served on the Western Front until the end of the war, before being briefly amalgamated with the 53rd Battalion and then eventually disbanded in 1919...
, 14th Brigade (New South Wales), 5th Division within II Anzac Corps
II Anzac Corps
The II ANZAC Corps was an Australian and New Zealand First World War army corps formed in Egypt in February 1916 as part of the reorganization of the Australian Imperial Force following the evacuation of Gallipoli in November 1915, under the command of William Birdwood...
. When the more experienced I Anzac Corps
I Anzac Corps
The I ANZAC Corps was a combined Australian and New Zealand army corps that served during World War I.It was formed in Egypt in February 1916 as part of the reorganisation and expansion of the Australian Imperial Force and the New Zealand Expeditionary Force following the evacuation of Gallipoli...
embarked for France at the end of the month, they took most of the available artillery pieces and trained personnel, leaving the II Anzac divisions to commence artillery training from scratch. Bolt was promoted to Corporal
Corporal
Corporal is a rank in use in some form by most militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. It is usually equivalent to NATO Rank Code OR-4....
at the end of the training period. Although the 5th Division who began arriving in France in July were the last of the four Australian divisions from Egypt to do so, they would be the first to see major action on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
at the Battle of Fromelles
Battle of Fromelles
The Battle of Fromelles, sometimes known as the Action at Fromelles or the Battle of Fleurbaix , occurred in France between 19 July and 20 July 1916, during World War I...
, just one week after going into the trenches.
Lieutenant-General Richard Haking
Richard Haking
General Sir Richard Cyril Byrne Haking, GBE, KCB, KCMG was a British general in the First World War. He is remembered chiefly for the high casualties suffered by his forces at the second Battle of Fromelles, although at least one British historian has sought to defend his reputation, regarding...
, commander of the British XI Corps, which adjoined II Anzac Corps
II Anzac Corps
The II ANZAC Corps was an Australian and New Zealand First World War army corps formed in Egypt in February 1916 as part of the reorganization of the Australian Imperial Force following the evacuation of Gallipoli in November 1915, under the command of William Birdwood...
to the south, planned an attack to reduce the slight German salient known as the "Sugar Loaf", north west of the German-held town of Fromelles. The 5th Division happened to be the unit facing the northern flank of the salient. By the time the attack was ready to be launched, its purpose as a preliminary diversion to the main action at the Somme had passed, yet Haking and his army commander, General Sir Charles Monro, were keen to go ahead. At 6pm on 19 July, after 11 hours of preliminary bombardment, the 5th Division and British 61st Division attacked. The Australian 8th and 14th Brigades, attacking north of the salient, occupied the German trenches but became isolated and out-flanked.
The AIF Project quotes a statement taken from Private F Johnston of the 55th Battalion who survived Fromelles but saw Bolt's demise. On the morning of 20 July 1916 at about 5am at Fleurbaix, Nutsy and I were close to one another when we were attacked by the Germans. He got more than six of them with his bayonet and the butt of his rifle, when he got a bullet through the head. He fell instantly being killed outright. He was as game as any man and was a well-known Newtown footballer
The battle was responsible for the greatest loss of Australian lives in one 24-hour period. The 5,533 Australian casualties, including 400 prisoners, were equivalent to the total Australian losses in the Boer War
Boer War
The Boer Wars were two wars fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics, the Oranje Vrijstaat and the Republiek van Transvaal ....
, Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
and Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
combined. It would be many months before the Australian 5th Division was serviceable again.
On the news of his death the Newtown club rallied to raise funds for his widow and child. Events included a fancy dress parade down King St, Newtown and then on to Erskineville Oval
Erskineville Oval, Sydney
Erskineville Oval is a rugby league ground in the Sydney suburb of Erskineville, New South Wales, Australia.The ground features a small old grandstand of approximately 1-2000 capacity, with an encircling grassy hill. There are bricked up ticket windows and rundown, closed public toilets. There are...
where a series of novelty events were held . With the money raised the club was able to purchase a house for Bolt's widow and daughter.
Bolt's remains were identified in 2010 as being lain in a forgotten mass grave at Pheasant Wood. Research by an Australian amateur historian, Lambis Englezos, had identified a site in a field at the edge of Bois Faisan on the outskirts of Fromelles. Bodies had been transported there by German soldiers on a narrow gauge trench railway on 22 July 1916, before being buried in eight pits measuring approximately 10 metres long, 2.2 metres wide and five metres deep. Englezos believed that these grave pits had not been discovered during the official post-war burial campaigns. After extensive archaeological surveys the mass grave was confirmed and remains were exhumed and tested against the DNA samples of the living relatives' of the fallen. Herbert Bolt's remains were reinterred in the Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery
Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery
Fromelles Military Cemetery is a First World War cemetery built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission on the outskirts of Fromelles in northern France, near the Belgian border. Constructed between 2009 and 2010, it was the first new Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery for more than 50...
in July 2010.