German 15th Infantry Regiment shoulder strap : Lieutenant General Sir John Monash, AIF

Shoulder strap for the 15th Infantry Regiment. Field grey wool strap with white piping and red chain stitched number '15'. With the strap is a handwritten note in indelible pencil on the back of a piece of a German postcard that reads: '15th I.R. / 1st & 2nd Bttn / 13th Div. / captured by / 4th Div. 4/7/18 / at Vaire Wood / and Hamel'.

Single shoulder straps were routinely removed from dead or captured Germans for intelligence purposes, so that the names of the units opposing the Allied forces could be established.

This shoulder strap was collected on 4 July south of Vaire Wood during the Battle of Hamel and sent to the Australian Corps Headquarters, under the command of Lieutenant General Sir John Monash.

The 15th Infantry Regiment (IR) were in positions north of the old Roman road between Villers Bretonneux and Warfusee and south of Vaire Wood, near Hamel. On 4 July they faced men from the 21st and 23rd Battalions AIF. The diary of the 21st Battalion records captured men from the 15th and 137th IR being moved through the battalion headquarters.

However, some of these men could have been captured by the 23rd Battalion, as due to a lack of soldiers to escort prisoners, those captured by the 23rd Battalion tended to get mixed up with prisoners from other battalion areas.

The information with the strap says it was captured by the 4th Division, although it is more likely it was captured by the 2nd Division as the 6th Brigade directly faced the 15th IR. However, it is possible the strap was captured by men from the 13th Battalion, who were to the left of the 21st Battalion.