German 332nd Infantry Regiment shoulder strap : Lieutenant General Sir John Monash, AIF

German soldier's shoulder strap for the 332nd Infantry Regiment. Field grey strap wool with white piping and red chain stitched number '332'. With the strap is a handwritten note written in indelible pencil on the back of a piece of a German postcard that reads '332nd I.R. / 2nd Bttn. / 97th Res. Div. / captured by / 4th Div. / on 16/6/18 / at 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 by one of the raiding parties from the 14th Battalion, 4th Division AIF on the night of 15/16 June 1918 at Vaire Wood, near Hamel, and sent to the Australian Corps Headquarters, under the command of Lieutenant General Sir John Monash.

That night two simultaneous raids occurred at 11.30 pm on positions around Hamel. In the north, the 16th Battalion raided Pear Shape Trench (also known as Pear Trench) at map reference 1:40,000 62D grid P8d. Further south, the 14th Battalion raided positions at 1:40,000 62D P14d to P20b at Vaire Wood.

In all, 18 prisoners and 4 machine guns were captured, an estimated 70 Germans killed and many more wounded. From north to south, the German order of battle that night was: 332nd Infantry Regiment (IR), 419th IR and 257th Reserve Infantry Regiment (RIR). Each regiment had one battalion in the line, one in reserve and one resting. On the night of the raid the 1st Battalion, 419th IR relieved the 3rd Battalion. The night before the 2nd Battalion 257th RIR had relieved the 3rd Battalion.

Three prisoners were taken from 332nd IR, four from 419th IR, four from 257th RIR and two from 11th Foot Artillery Regiment. In addition, 5 wounded prisoners passed through the 4th Division's Dressing Station. The 16th Battalion suffered light casualties. In the 14th Battalion one man was killed and a few others wounded.