Comben, Charlie Thomas
No.402 – Private Charles Thomas Comben – 44th Battalion AIF
Charlie Thomas Comben was born in Yarraville Victoria in 1889 to Bartholomew and Ellen Comben. The family moved across to Western Australian when Charlie was still young and took up residence at 95 South Street South Fremantle. (later renumbered to 39 South St).
Charlie attended Beaconsfield State School and after leaving school took up work as a Waterside Worker and also as a Carpenter.
In 1910 he married Susan Claire Saint, and a son from the marriage, Victor, was born in 1913. They initially lived together at 170 Holland Street Fremantle (later renumbered 99 Holland) though for work, Charlie also lived in a Harbour Trust building on the North Mole in North Fremantle.
On the 5th January 1916, Charlie enlisted into the AIF and was accepted as fit for service. The medical examiner found Charlie to be 5 feet & 5 ¾ inches in height; weight of 139 lbs; chest measurement of 35-37 inches; dark complexion; blue eyes and brown hair. His religious denomination was Roman Catholic. Initially allotted to No.44 Depot, on the 28th January 1916 Charlie was assigned to “B” Company of the 44th Battalion with the regimental number 402. The 44th Battalion trained in WA, based at Claremont Camp, until the end of May 1916 when they were told to prepare for departure.
On June 6th 1916, they boarded H.M.A.T. “Suevic” in Fremantle Harbour and left for the journey to England. Charlie got into trouble on the voyage for breaking ship when they reached a port of call and going absent without leave. He also spent a few days in the ships hospital.
Arriving at Plymouth on the 21st July 1916, the 44th Battalion were sent to the 3rd Division training camps on the Salisbury Plains, where they trained until November 1916, Charlie was trained to be part of a Lewis Gun team. In November Charlie was again in trouble for going Absent without leave for a day in Bristol. He was fined 2 days pay and given a day of Field Punishment No.2. On the 25th November 1916 the 44th Battalion left England and arrived in France.
They were initially sent to the region around Armentieres and spent the next few months in this sector. On the 5th January 1917 he was sent to hospital with Scabies though had returned on the 18th January. He obviously hadn’t fully recovered as on the 3rd February he was once again admitted to hospital with the same ailment, only rejoining the 44th Battalion on the 17th February 1917.
The battalion soon moved to the Ploegsteert region and on the 26th April 1917 Charlie was wounded by shrapnel in the right leg and shoulder. Evacuated back by the 10th Field Ambulance stretcher bearers, he was admitted to No.2 Australian Casualty Clearing Station and was then sent further back to No.13 General Hospital at Boulogne. Here his wounds were deemed serious enough for evacuation to England and on the 2nd May 1917 he was admitted to the Colchester Military Hospital, then the East Suffolk and Ipswich Hospital. On the 23rd May he was sent to No.3 Auxiliary Hospital and then to No.1 Auxiliary Hospital. On the 28th May he was sent to the No.2 Command Depot at Weymouth. Charlie was based here for some time and in August was sent to No.3 Command Depot. On the 5th September 1917 Charlie marched out to the Overseas Training Brigade at Perham Downs Camp and from here was allotted for service overseas, sailing from Southampton to France on the 19th September 1917.
Arriving at the 3rd Australian Division Base Depot at Rouelles near Le Havre, Charlie would spend a few weeks here and only rejoined the 44th Battalion on the 9th October 1917. He had missed the 44th’s first action in the Third Battle of Ypres but had returned in time for the attempted advance towards Passchendaele on the 12th October 1917. Charlie survived this action and spent the next few months of the Belgian winter with the unit as they held the line in Flanders.
On the 21st March 1918 the Germans launched their massive breakthrough of the Third & fifth British Armies. The 44th Battalion as part of the 3rd Division were immediately sent down to the Somme to try and stop the Germans advance. The 44th came into action with the Germans on the 28th March near Sailly-le-Sec and were able to halt the advance on their front. The next few months were spent in repelling the German attacks and trying to capture territory off the Germans.
On the 4th July 1918, the 3rd & 4th Divisions were involved in the capture of the French village of Hamel. The attack was a success and the Germans were pushed back. The 44th & 43rd Battalion’s successfully captured the town and pushed the Germans back to beyond the heights known as the Wolfsburg. Later in the day the Germans launched a counter attack, and Charlie was in an advanced position with his Lewis Gun. He did great damage to the German attack but was unfortunately killed.
He was given a battlefield burial just to the east of Hamel. After the war he was moved to the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, Plot I.F.9, where he lies to this day.
The 44th Battalion historian, Cyril Longmore, Himself a Captain in the 44th Battalion, wrote the following of Charlie;
“Most members of the original 44th will remember Charlie Comben…Every military convention was only something for him to break. Even Sergeant Majors could never fill him with the awe they inspired in everyone else. On occasions Charlie could give a teamster a run for his money in the artistic use of language and on company parade he would invariably give his opinion in a loud voice if the orders did not suit him. When the unit reached France he was No.2 on a Lewis Gun. His No.1 was temperamentally the exact opposite, a quiet, sincerely religious chap, who used the most proper language on all occasions. This strangely assorted pair went through the piece together for eighteen months without a quarrel and without a scratch…He was buried at the back of the trench on the hill by his cobber who, with his own hands erected the cross and murmured the burial prayer. The survivor, quieter than ever, plugged away up to the Hindenburg Line, where he got a nasty one in the head”.
Charlie’s wife, Clara, died in 1933 in Cottesloe aged just 39. Their son Victor died in 1968 aged 54.
(Photo below Charlie Comben front row on left)