Highlight on official records of the First World War: AWM352 Miscellaneous records of the 2nd Pioneer Battalion, AIF, 1914-18 War
Highlight on the official records of the First World War is a centenary program of posts highlighting those records created 100 years ago, why they exist and how we can help make these essential records available for research purposes.
Function and Provenance
A Pioneer Battalion was created for each division in the AIF (Australian Imperial Force). On 10 March 1916, the 2nd Pioneer Battalion (Western Australia) was formed in Egypt. The unit served in Egypt and The Sinai before deploying to the Western Front. The 2nd Pioneer Battalion was then assigned to the Second Division, AIF.
Pioneer battalions mainly performed construction tasks in the forward area not requiring the special equipment of engineers, such as constructing trenches and dugouts. They occasionally acted in the engineer role on tasks such as the construction of bridges. They had a large proportion of tradesmen and were organised the same as infantry battalions. Pioneers occasionally served as front line infantry.
The items are likely to be the personal papers of Frederick William Gadsby Annand, Commanding Officer of the 2nd Pioneers, and retained for an indeterminate time afterward. Item [17] bears the mark “private copy of the CO”. Item [19] contains a pay and allowance statement addressed to Colonel Annand, together with an efficiency report written by a superior officer after a period of training.
Frederick William Gadsby Annand was born in Toowoomba, Queensland, on 7 May 1872 and managed the Brisbane Permanent Building & Banking Company on the outbreak of the First World War. Leading up to the war, he spent 22 years in the militia with various light horse units. Annand joined the AIF at Sydney on 11 November 1915 with the rank of Major and appointed to command the 7th Field Company Engineers. He embarked on A23 “Suffolk” at Sydney on 27 November. With the raising of the 2nd Pioneer Battalion in Egypt, Annand was appointed on 1 March 1916 to organise the command of the new unit. Promotion to Lieutenant Colonel was achieved on 12 March and by 18 March, Annand could report his Pioneers “had been recruited to full strength (except officers).”
Serving on the Western Front, he saw action at Pozieres, Ypres and Longueval before being severely wounded on 15 November 1916, following an attack on ‘The Maze’. During the Second Battle of Bullecourt, on 2 May 1917, Annand mobilised his Pioneers to construct a trench up to the Hindenburg Line, a feat described by Official Historian CEW Bean as “one of the finest achievements of the Australian Pioneers.” (p. 485)
When asked to comment upon the service he considered most important or interesting, Annand wrote about the advance on Mont St Quentin, during 2 September 1918: “My battalion did some rapid bridging of the River Somme and Halle and very closely followed the infantry, clearing and opening up the roads and rendering if possible for the field artillery to rapidly follow up the advances of the infantry.”
In recognition of his exploits, Annand was awarded a Distinguished Service Order (DSO) on 17 January 1917 and Bar on 2 April 1919, a Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers Decoration (post-nominal: VD) for long and meritorious service and was Mentioned in Despatches by Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig on 13 November 1916 (AIF List 138, 8 Feb 1917) and 9 April 1917 (AIF List 186, 6 May 17).
Content
The collection is an incomplete record of the orders and correspondence of the 2nd Pioneer Battalion, some of which date before and after the First World War. In the main the records provide details of the fighting and date from May 1917 until August 1918.
Peacetime records:
- 1st Military District Orders (21 November 1913);
- AIF Honours List (No.427, 1919) and AIF Orders (4 April 1919);
- Speaking notes written in 1936 to commemorate the 21st anniversary of the Gallipoli landings, comments about the League of Nations and 1930s militarism.
Operational reports and orders 1913-18:
- These include pre-war district orders; battalion and brigade level orders issued by the Second Australian Division, AIF and documents reporting on selected engagements.
Recommendations for awards Sept 1917- April 1919:
- Hand written recommendations by local commanding officers, together with recommendations approved by Colonel Annand (recorded on standard forms). In addition, two copies of the Australian Imperial Force Orders Gazette, published after the Armistice, announcing the names of the decorated.
Assorted correspondence relating to the conduct of the war:
- In the main, these records relate to the performance of the Pioneers. Also included are congratulatory messages by General Sir Henry Rawlinson and Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig to the British armies in France, and speaking notes written in 1936 (presumably by Col. Annand) in which the author reflects on his experience during the war and the evolving political situation of the 1930s.
- In some instances, items were drafted by hand and appended to the typed version of the document, such as the recommendations for gallantry awards or clarifying instructions between command headquarters.
System of arrangement and control
The AWM352 records of the 2nd Pioneer Battalion are fragmented and incomplete. No formal arrangement persisted and that is due to the likelihood that this collection of papers was in private hands for many years. What arrangement does exist is based on the way the records were arranged when acquired by the Memorial. Minor changes in the arrangement were made to place the items in closer chronological order.
AWM352 is controlled using a sequential imposed numbering system.
Using the series
This series is available to search by using the National Archives of Australia online database, RecordSearch.
Private Records collection PR89/034 includes details of Lieutenant Colonel F W G Annand, papers related to the 2nd Pioneer Battalion and and HMAT Norman. 1914-1931
AWM352 is not presently digitised for inclusion on the Australian War Memorial website. However, the unit war diaries for the 2nd Pioneer Battalion (AWM4 14/14/1-36) are available as digitised records along with the unit embarkation rolls for the 2nd Pioneer Battalion (AWM8 14/14/3-6).
Users may also wish to examine related series AWM25 (Routine Orders and Field Returns) and AWM26 (Operations extracts). Biographical records on Colonel Annand may be located in AWM15 108 and AWM43 A26. Together with AWM352, these records may be viewed in the Research Centre’s Reading Room.
The Research Centre Reading Room is open Monday to Friday from 10 am to 4.50 pm and on Saturdays from 1pm to 4.50 pm. It is closed on Sundays and ACT public holidays.
The Research Centre telephone service is available from 9am until 5pm Monday to Friday excluding ACT public holidays. Call the Research Centre on (02) 6243 4315.
Sources
Bean, C E W (1941) First World War Official Histories. Vol IV – The Australian Imperial Force in France, 1917 (11th Edition). Chapter XII – The Second Battle of Bullecourt. AWM: Canberra.
Series Notes for AWM352. National Archives of Australia: RecordSearch database
Service Record of Lt Col F W G Annand. National Archives of Australia: Department of Defence; B2455.