The Plugstreet Archaeological Project The 35th Infantry Battalion.

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The 35th Battalion, 9th Brigade, 3rd Australian Division, was raised at in Newcastle in New South Wales in late 1915, with a high proportion of miners among the battalion’s original members who departed for England from Sydney on the 1st of May 1916 on board the Benalla. A further 7 reinforcements would follow, the last leaving Sydney on the 2nd of August 1917 Arriving in England in early July, the 35th battalion spent the next four months training and crossed to France to take up positions on the Western Front in late November 1917. Their first major action was the Battle of Messines, launched on the 7th of June 1917, when the battalion attacked over ground near Ploegsteert Wood, close to the Ultimo and Factory Farm mines. The faced a 3 mile march from their camp which lead them through the wood under shelling from the enemy and a gas attack which slowed progress and claimed casualties. The battalion reached their jumping off points just in time for the start of the battle, signaled by the explosion of nineteen huge mines laid beneath a nine mile stretch of the enemy front line. The delay in the wood meant that many of the men went straight over the top, without pausing for the refreshments which had been planned. The 35th Battalion went onto the Battle of Passchendaele, where only 90 of the 500 men from the battalion came through unscathed. In 1918 they saw action in the Spring Offensive when the enemy pushed through the lines. In the summer they took part in the counter offensive and saw action at the Battle of Amiens and the Battle of St Quentin Canal. The 35th Battalion disbanded in March 1919

Those who served with The 35th Btn at the Battle of Messines. Barker J. A. Pte. d.7th Jun 1917 Dun  MC. Percy Muir Cpl. Justelius S. B. Pte. Reid S. Pte. d.7th Jun 1917 Williams William John Pte. d.9th Jun 1917

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Links War Diary of the 35th Infantry Battalion.