German 137th Infantry Regiment shoulder strap : Lieutenant General Sir John Monash, AIF

Shoulder strap for the 137th Infantry Regiment. Field grey wool shoulder strap with Borten [grey wool Non Commissioned Officer (NCO) lace] for an Offizier-Stellvertreter (Deputy or Acting Officer). The Borten appears to be a later addition, as small holes in the field grey wool indicate that the number '5' was previously chain stitched on the strap, but was removed before the Borten was added. The '5' is slightly off set and may have been part of a larger number (for example '15').

With the strap is a handwritten note in indelible pencil on a piece of grid paper that reads: '137th I.R. / 1st Bttn / 108th Div. / captured by 2nd Div. 6/7/18 / at / Warfusee Road'.

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 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 137th Infantry Regiment (IR) were in positions around the old Roman road between Villers Bretonneux and Warfusee. They faced men from the 23rd and 25th Battalions AIF. The diary of the 21st Battalion records captured men of the 15th and 137th IR being moved through the battalion headquarters.

However, the soldiers from the 137th IR may not have been captured by men of the 21st Battalion, who were located north of the 23rd and 25th Battalions. The 23rd Battalion noted in their war diary that due to lack of soldiers to escort prisoners, those captured by the battalion tended to get mixed up with prisoners from other areas.

The 23rd Battalion took about 90 prisoners north of the Roman road and the 25th Battalion captured over 90 men, south of the 23rd Battalion. Neither battalion recorded what units their prisoners had come from. Based on their objectives, there would have been men of the 137th IR among the prisoners captured by both battalions.