The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (711) Second Lieutenant Henry Alfred Eibel, 15th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (711) Second Lieutenant Henry Alfred Eibel, 15th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

711 Second Lieutenant Henry Alfred Eibel, 15th Battalion, AIF
KIA 11 April 1917

Story delivered 10 November 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Second Lieutenant Henry Alfred Eibel.

Known as “Ernie”, Henry Eibel was born on 14 June 1889 in Dalby, Queensland, to Conrad and Alviene Eibel. He grew up at nearby Jandowae, where he attended school and worked on his father’s dairy farm.
Following the outbreak of the First World War, Eibel enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 21 September 1914. He was sent to Brisbane where he joined the newly-raised 15th Battalion.

In November, the battalion was transferred to Melbourne to join the other battalions of the 4th Infantry Brigade. Eibel left Melbourne on 22 December aboard the transport ship Ceramic, bound for Egypt.

Landing at Alexandria in January, several months of training in the desert followed. Eibel was hospitalised in February with a dangerous case of pneumonia but rejoined his battalion in time for its move to Lemnos to make final preparations for the Gallipoli campaign.
During the afternoon of 25 April, the 15th Battalion began coming ashore at Gallipoli. Weeks of intense fighting followed as Australian and New Zealand troops established a precarious hold on the peninsula.

During the afternoon of 15 May the 15th Battalion relieved the 2nd Light Horse Regiment at Quinn’s Post. That afternoon, Eibel was wounded in the head and face by shrapnel. He was evacuated to Egypt and, while convalescing, developed a dermatological condition which required further hospitalisation until early August.

He rejoined the 15th Battalion on Gallipoli in early September and was promoted to corporal a month later. In late November, with the cold weather setting in, Eibel, who had been promoted to sergeant, was evacuated to Lemnos suffering from influenza.
He returned to Gallipoli in mid-December, just in time to take part in the evacuation as the Gallipoli campaign came to a close.

The 15th Battalion returned to Egypt in January 1916 and was brought back up to strength with reinforcements as the AIF went through a period of expansion and reorganisation.

On 1 April Eibel was promoted to company sergeant major. He sailed with the 15th Battalion for France in early June and by the end of the month had entered the reserve line trenches near Bois Grenier.

The battalion was sent south to the Somme in late July and in early August took over front-line positions at Pozieres. During the relief, the battalion came under heavy German artillery fire and suffered a number of casualties. In early August the battalion carried out an attack on German positions, which, although successful, again saw the battalion suffer further casualties, including most of the officers in the attacking companies. As an experienced leader, Eibel was commissioned as a second lieutenant later that month.

In mid-November, Eibel was mentioned in Sir Douglas Haig’s despatches for “distinguished and gallant services and devotion to duty in the field. The award was promulgated in the London Gazette in early January 1917.
In March the German army withdrew to its prepared positions known as the Hindenburg Line. The withdrawal was pursued by British and empire troops and in early April a British offensive was launched at
Arras. To support this operation, an attack on the German positions at Bullecourt was ordered.

The attack began in the early hours of 11 April. Hasty planning had left it without artillery support, and the tanks which had been promised as support either broke down or were destroyed. Despite this, the men of the 4th Brigade, including the 15th Battalion, broke into the German trenches. The Germans counter-attacked swiftly and the Australians were soon engaged in a series of vicious close-quarters actions.

Eibel and a number of men created a barricade near a trench junction and held it for a short time. While holding this position, Eibel was struck in the chest by shrapnel. His batman attempted to apply a shell dressing, but Eibel handed him his map and other papers, telling his comrade that he was “done for”. Eibel sent his batman back to battalion to report and he died soon after. He was 25 years old.

When the men of the 15th Battalion were forced to withdraw, Eibel’s body was unable to be carried out. After the war his remains were could not be identified and today his name is commemorated on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among almost 62,000 Australians who died while serving in the First World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Second Lieutenant Henry Alfred Eibel, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Michael Kelly
Historian, Military History Section