Places |
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Accession Number | AWM2020.1.1.38 |
Collection type | Film |
Object type | Last Post film |
Physical description | 16:9 |
Maker |
Australian War Memorial |
Place made | Australia: Australian Capital Territory, Canberra, Campbell |
Date made | 7 February 2020 |
Access | Open |
Conflict |
First World War, 1914-1918 |
Copyright |
Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial This item is licensed under CC BY-NC |
Copying Provisions | Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction. |
The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (893) Private Stephen Hertzog, 37th Australian Infantry 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 (893) Private Stephen Hertzog, 37th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF, First World War.
Film order form893 Private Stephen Hertzog, 37th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF
KIA 4 October 1917
Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Stephen Hertzog.
Stephen Hertzog was born in February 1894 at Hawks’ View, near Albury, New South Wales, the son of Victor and Jane Elizabeth Hertzog. When he was young, the family moved over the Victorian border to Bethanga, near Wodonga. Once he left school, he worked as a farm labourer.
Hertzog married Irene Trenchard at St Augustine’s Catholic Church in Wodonga in March 1916. Two weeks after his wedding, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force, and joined the newly-raised 37th Australian Infantry Battalion. In June, his unit embarked from Melbourne on board the transport ship Persic, bound for England.
Once he had arrived in England, Hertzog began training at the large army camps on the Salisbury Plain. In November 1916, the 37th Battalion sailed to France. The unit was stationed in Armentieres near the border of Belgium. Throughout December and January, the battalion contributed soldiers to raiding parties on the German trenches. These raids sought information about the enemy’s movements, and aimed to disrupt German activities in the sector. In January the officers of the Third Division, of which the 37th Battalion was a part, were commended by their commander, Major General John Monash, for the success of these raids.
The winter of 1916 to 1917 was the first European winter for the Australian troops, and the coldest that many English soldiers could remember. In the cold conditions, Hertzog developed a lung infection in February and was evacuated to a field hospital. He recovered and rejoined his unit at the end of the month.
As the weather warmed up, the Anzac, British, and Canadian forces were preparing for a major attack over the Belgian border at the village of Messines, with the objective of capturing the high ridge line behind the village. The battle was the first time Australian troops had attacked German defensive blockhouses, and although the attackers successfully captured the high ground, success came at a heavy cost.
Between June and September 1917, the 37th Battalion trained in northern France. Crossing the border into Belgium the battalion joined the British offensive that began in September, known collectively as the Third Battle of Ypres. The Australians fought a series of battles beginning at Menin Road and Polygon Wood. On 4 October 1917, during the battle of Broodseinde, Hertzog was killed in action.
His body was buried on the battlefield, but the ground was later the scene of heavy fighting during the German Spring Offensive in 1918, and the location of his grave is now unknown. Stephen Hertzog’s name is inscribed on the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres, alongside the names of 6,000 other Australians who died in Belgium and have no known grave.
In Australia, Hertzog left behind a grieving widow and a son, Lloyd Stephen Hertzog, who he had never met.
Private Stephen Hertzog 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 Private Stephen Hertzog, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.
Thomas Rogers
Historian, Military History Section
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Places
- Europe: Belgium, Flanders, West-Vlaanderen, Messines
- Europe: Belgium, Flanders, West-Vlaanderen, Ypres
- Europe: Belgium, Flanders, West-Vlaanderen, Ypres, Menin Gate Memorial
- Europe: Belgium, Flanders, West-Vlaanderen, Ypres, Menin Road
- Europe: Belgium, Flanders, West-Vlaanderen, Ypres, Zonnebeke, Polygon Wood
- Europe: United Kingdom, England, Wiltshire, Salisbury Plain