German 97th Infantry Regiment shoulder strap : Lieutenant General Sir John Monash, AIF

Shoulder strap for the 97th Infantry Regiment. Field grey strap with white piping and red chain stitched number '97'. With the strap is a handwritten note,in graphite pencil on the back of a piece of a German postcard, that reads: 'Shoulder strap / 97th I.R. / 108th Div. / captured / by / 2nd Aust. Div. / 8.7.18'.

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 from a member of the German 97th Infantry Regiment (IR) was captured by members of the 27th Battalion, AIF and sent to the Australian Corps Headquarters, under the command of Lieutenant General Sir John Monash.

On 8 July 1918 the 27th Battalion took part in a 'peaceful penetration' raid on German positions east of Villers-Brettoneaux and north of Monument Wood. They first went out at 10am, capturing 13 soldiers from the 265th Reserve Infantry Regiment and killing eight German soldiers. They occupied the trench line and a few hours later went out again, taking and occupying another German trench. There they captured four men from the 97th Infantry Regiment.