WITH Anzac Day coming up, it is appropriate to feature a military photo as we remember those men and women who gave their lives in World War One. This week's photograph is of the 20th Battalion Band and was taken at Liverpool in Sydney by Crown Studios, Vice Regal Photographers of Sydney. The photo was presented to their band instructor Sam Lewins, though the date is not known.
In the photo are (back row, left to right) A.J. Mullins, J.R. Morris, E.D. Ballard, M.J. Kain, A. Strange-Mure, J.L. Marsland, V.R. Braddock; (second row, standing) J.T. Brown, L.J. Annesley, R.J. Schulstad, A.G. Rogers, L/Corp M.J. Heraghty, M. McLeod, J.D. Dwyer, P.J. Lawlis, A.B. Hopson; (sitting) J. Osborne, J.A. McNeill, W.H. Langham, F.C. Johnson, band instructor Sam Lewins, bandmaster S. Wood, Corp. E. Lewins, J.T. Symons, W.J. Mullins; (front) R.A. Gordan, D. Jones.
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These bandsmen of the 20th Australian Infantry Battalion are posing with their brass instruments and drums.
Before leaving for overseas, this volunteer band delivered a moonlight concert on the Ordnance Ground in Durham Street. The concert started at 8pm and admittance was by donation collected on arrival, the money going towards their band instruments.
Recruiting had already begun after war was declared on Germany in World War One. Britain and Germany had gone to war on August 4, 1914.
The Commonwealth Australian Government was in the middle of an election struggle, but both the Prime Minister Joseph Cook and the Opposition Leader Andrew Fisher pledged their full support for Great Britain.
The Bathurst recruiting office was in the Ordnance Depot and young local Bathurst men were keen to join up to do their bit for King and Country.
Most volunteers, once accepted, were entrained to Sydney to begin their training. These men were part of the Australian Imperial Force and proud of it.
The 20th Battalion was, naturally, trained at the Liverpool Army Camp in Sydney during March 1915. The battalion was part of the 5th Brigade.
Some of the 20th Brigade's early newcomers had already participated in a military operation to apprehend and capture German New Guinea in 1914. These original men were part of the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force.
Most of the 20th Battalion, some with basically no training, embarked on board HMAT Berrima (A35) and sailed from Sydney Harbour on June 25, 1915.
After their arrival in Egypt, the infantrymen undertook further training in readiness for their deployment to Gallipoli late in August.
On making their way from the beach on August 22, 1915, the 20th Battalion soldiers took up a defensive role at a location known as Russell's Top.
The August offensive had basically petered out, so the men got used to their location, an area of previously fierce fighting.
Russell's Top was part of a line of ridges that stretched northwest from Anzac Cove and took in a large hill named Baby 700 that was connected by a small piece of land known as the Nek.
From their various positions, they could see much of the Turkish line to the south. The position was named after Brigadier Andrew Russell, commander of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade.
Most of the 20th Battalion were evacuated from the Anzac peninsula on December 20 and were given further training in Egypt before they embarked for France. They arrived in the trenches during April 1916.
The men of the 20th Battalion participated in their first foremost offensive around Pozieres during late July and during the end of August 1916.
A number of these bandsmen were killed on the Western Front, died of wounds or were invalided back to Australia.
World War One historian Charles Bean described one of the 20th Battalion encounters as "the worst ever encountered by the AIF".
The 20th Battalion was disbanded on April 20, 1919.
