German 13th MinenWerfer [Trench Mortar] Company shoulder strap : Lieutenant General Sir John Monash, AIF

Shoulder strap for the 13th Minenwerfer [Trench Mortar] Company. Made from black wool strap with red piping and red chain stitched letters 'MW' over '13'. With the strap is a handwritten note, in indelible pencil on the back of a piece of a German postcard, that reads: '13th MW AbHq / (Heavy MW) / 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 at Vaire Wood during the Battle of Hamel and sent to the Australian Corps Headquarters, under the command of Lieutenantn General Sir John Monash.

The German 13th Infantry Division was located south of Hamel when the Battle of Hamel took place on 4 July 1918. During the battle, the 13th Division primarily faced men from the 4th Infantry Brigade, AIF, although some may have faced men from the 6th Brigade, who were positioned to the right of the 4th.

The unit war diary for the 16th Battalion records 700 prisoners passing through the 4th Brigade's Headquarters, including men from the 13th Minen Werfer Company.