Sergeant Edward Green

Edward Green was not born in Great Torrington; indeed, he was not born in the United Kingdom either. His place of birth is listed as Buenos Aires, Argentina. He isn’t the only soldier on the Great Torrington war memorial with this as a place of birth. As a result, it is difficult to track the early part of his life. We do know that he was born on 29th Septmber 1894.

By the 1901 census the family had moved to the UK, although records do not show his father with the family at this time. Their address is 3 St Judes Road, Plymouth.We find a full home with Ellen Green, Edward’s mother, as the head of the household. She was originally born in Plymouth in 1871 and is 30 at this point. Edward, aged 6, is the eldest of the children with siblings John, 4, and Reginald, 2, being the others. I note that the Reginald’s year of birth is 1899 and he was born in Plymouth, so the family have been in the country since at least that year. Two other members of the household are also worth noting. 12 year old Emma Eddy is listed as a visitor and she has a birthplace of Great Torrington. Similarly, one of their lodgers, Frederick Vickery, 18, who has an occupation as a baker, also comes from the town.

The family’s connection with Great Torrington grows stronger as Edward starts at the Great Torrington Council School for Boys in 1905 and by 1909 he has enrolled at the Bideford Grammar School. In 1911 the family are resident in the town living at 77 New Street, although Edward is not present. Ellen Jane is still the head of the household, but her husband and Edward’s father is still not present although, presumably, he cannot be too far away as they still have a growing family. John, who wasn’t present at the previous address, aged 14, is the eldest of the siblings along with Reginald, 12, Frederick, 8 and Cecil, 2. Edward, however, can be found living in Plymouth as a boarder at 61 High Street living with the Batten family. His occupation is a ‘barman’. His age is listed as 16 years old.

The only evidence I can find of Edward being in Australia is on his enlistment papers that show he was 16 years of age on arriving in the country, so this would have been soon after the 1911 census was taken. On the 5th October he enlisted with the Australian 4th Light Horse Regiment in the 3rd Reinforcement. As the name suggests, it formed as a divisional cavalry regiment for the 1st Australian Division on 1tth August 1914. Within the regiment, Edward served in the 4th Machine Gun Squadron.

On the enlistment papers his occupation is listed as a ‘station hand’. His marital status is ‘single’. He enlisted at the rank of Corporal. We also know that the unit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria on board the ship HMAT A13 Katuna on the 3rd February 1915. The 4th Light Horse would see a great deal of action and their first test would be at Gallipoli.

The light horse were considered unsuitable for the initial operations at Gallipoli, but were subsequently deployed without their horses to reinforce the infantry. The 4th Light Horse Regiment landed on 22 and 24 May and its squadrons were initially scattered to reinforce the infantry battalions already ashore. The regiment was not reunited until 11 June. Much of the regiment's time at Gallipoli was spent defending the precarious ANZAC position, most frequently around Ryrie's Post, but its squadrons were involved in several minor attacks.

Gallipoli Campaign

The Battle of Gallipoli, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign, was an attempt by the Allied Powers to control the sea route from Europe to their allies in Russia with the aim of using an amphibious landing to capture the Turkish capital of Constantinople. The premise of the operation laid in the stalemate of trench warfare in Europe and the need for a new offensive in another area rather than continuing seemingly futile and fruitless operations in Belgium and France. Success of the operation would effectively render Turkey out of the war.

Fighting in the Dardanelles, both at land and sea, lasted from February 1915 to January 1916. The operations began badly with a failed naval attack, which saw the naval commander, Admiral Sackville Carden, replaced in the early stages by Vice-Admiral Sir John de Robeck. Despite this initial failure, further preparations commenced for a ground invasion, which commenced on 25th April 1915. Two beachheads were forged despite fierce resistance from the Ottoman Army; Helles, on the southern end of the Gallipoli peninsula and at Gaba Tepe on the Aegean coast. However, progress was checked by the defenders determined opposition and no further progress inland could be made and an impasse was reached.

In an attempt to break the beleaguered deadlock, a further landing was commissioned for Suvla Bay, again on the Aegean coast in August. Despite seemingly taking the enemy by surprise and meeting little resistance, shocking mismanagement by the British Commander, even comparatively speaking against other errors across all theatres of the wider conflict, led to a similar deadlock to the other two attacks.

When thinking of Gallipoli, the sacrifices made by Australian and New Zealand troops often spring to mind first especially as the engagement is annually commemorated with ANZAC day. Indeed, Gaba Tepe was later commonly referred to as Anzac Cove as testament to the torrid task the ANZAC faced in their first active military mission. The sheer horror of the conditions faced by both sides is unimaginable. The topography of the battlefield coupled with the close quarter fighting would have meant bodies of the fallen could not be retrieved and buried. In the oppressive heat of summer, flies and vermin would have thrived causing sickness of biblical proportions, particularly dysentery, diarrhoea, and typhoid. The depth of winter would have added its own weight of problems.

The overall situation was assessed by the British Government and deemed futile to continue operations in the Dardanelles. It was agreed that on 7th December evacuation of the peninsula would commence. The last troops left a month later. History would remember the Gallipoli offensive as an unmitigated disaster and heads would roll at the highest echelons of British command, most notably the first lord of the British Admiralty, one Winston Churchill, whose door the blame largely fell.

As well as serving in the Gallipoli campaign, Sergeant Green was also mentioned in dispatches by receiving an honourable mention for gallantry in the fighting by General Murray. Along with his regiment, they left Gallipoli on 11 December 1915. They would be moved to Egypt to regroup; there they would spend the majority of 1916 on rear security detail in the Suez Canal zone. In April 1917 they moved into the Sinai desert with the overall British advance, but they continued with their security duties.

The Battle of Beersheba

The regiment's first major battle on the Sinai Peninsula would also become that which made it legendary. On 31 October 1917 an attack was launched to outflank the Turkish bastion of Gaza, against which two previous attacks had failed.

The charge of the 4th Australian Light Horse at Beersheba late in the afternoon of 31 October 1917, is remembered as the last great cavalry charge. The assault on Beersheba began at dawn with the infantry divisions of the British XX Corps attacking from the south and south-west. Despite artillery and air support, neither the infantry attacks from the south, or the Anzac Mounted Division’s attack from the east had succeeded in capturing Beersheba by mid-afternoon.

With time running out for the Australians to capture Beersheba and its wells before dark, Lieutenant General Harry Chauvel, the Australian commander of the Desert Mounted Corps, ordered Brigadier General William Grant, commanding the 4th Light Horse Brigade, to make a mounted attack directly towards the town. Chauvel knew, from aerial photographs, that the Turkish trenches in front of the town were not protected by barbed wire. However, German bombing had forced the 4th Brigade into a scattered formation and it was not until 4.50 pm that they were in position. The Brigade assembled behind rising ground 6 kilometres south-east of Beersheba with the 4th Light Horse Regiment on the right, the 12th Light Horse Regiment on the left and the 11th Light Horse Regiment in reserve.

The Australian Light Horse was to be used purely as cavalry for the first time. Although they were not equipped with cavalry sabres, the Turks who faced the long bayonets held by the Australians did not consider there was much difference between a charge by cavalry and a charge by mounted infantry. The Light Horse moved off at the trot, and almost at once quickened to a gallop. As they came over the top of the ridge and looked down the long, gentle open slope to Beersheba, they were seen by the Turkish gunners, who opened fire with shrapnel. But the pace was too fast for the gunners. After three kilometres Turkish machine-guns opened fire from the flank, but they were detected and silenced by British artillery. The rifle fire from the Turkish trenches was wild and high as the Light Horse approached. The front trench and the main trench were jumped and some men dismounted and then attacked the Turks with rifle and bayonet from the rear. Some galloped ahead to seize the rear trenches, while other squadrons galloped straight into Beersheba.

Nearly all the wells of Beersheba were intact and further water was available from a storm that had filled the pools. The 4th and 12th Light Horse casualties were thirty-one killed and thirty-six wounded; they captured over 700 men.

The capture of Beersheba meant that the Gaza-Beersheba line was Following the capture of Jerusalem, the brigade wintered in Judea, and then moved to Belah, on the coast near Gaza, for rest and training over the course of several months.turned. Gaza fell a week later and on 9 December 1917, the British troops entered Jerusalem.

Edward was able to return home on leave in the beginning months of 1918 and rejoined his regiment in late March [1]. In a letter to Mr J.H. Hinde he wrote “I am once more with my regiment, but all my pals have gone west and still we are fighting. I am just off to join in the fray – Good bye”.

The Es Salt raid

On 30 April 1918, while the British 60th Division attacked the Turks in the foothills, the leading brigades of the Australian Mounted Division dashed 25 kilometres north on the east side of the Jordan to the Jisr ed Damieh bridge. While the 3rd Light Horse Brigade seized Es Salt, the 4th Light Horse Brigade was to prevent Turkish reinforcements crossing from the west bank of the Jordan. The 2nd Light Horse and 5th Yeomanry Brigades were to attack the rear of the Turks facing the 60th Division.

Both projects miscarried. The 4th Light Horse Brigade guarding the Jordan crossing was driven back in hard fighting, while the 60th Division had not achieved surprise and had failed to dislodge the Turks in the foothills. On 4 May the order to retire was given.

Sergeant Green was amongst the casualties in the fighting on the 3rd May 1918; killed in action. As well as being remembered on the Great Torrington war memorial, his name can also be found on the Jerusalem memorial. At this time his father, Frederick Green, is noted as living at 55 Meddon Street, Bideford. Reports also show that two of Edward’s brothers, John and Reginald, were also serving in the forces in Mesopotamia. I haven’t been able to find any of his descendants, but I have found a newspaper clipping of him. I would be interested to hear from anyone who may have more information.

[1] North Devon Journal. 30th May 1918. ‘Torringtonian Killed in Action’.