Luly, Alfred
856 Sergeant Alfred Esmond Luly - 32nd Battalion AIF
Alfred Esmond Luly was born in Newcastle NSW in 1893 to Harriet and William Luly.
He was educated in Newcastle after which the family travelled to Western Australia.
Alfred became an accountant and was living in Holland Street Fremantle.
On the 11th May 1915 Alfred enlisted into the Australian Imperial Force. He was accepted as fit for service with the medical examiner recording his physical attributes as;
Height - 5 feet 7 & 3/4 inches tall;
Weight - 147lbs;
Chest Measurement - 35-37 inches;
Complexion - Fair;
Eyes - Blue;
Hair - Brown.
After his successful enlistment, Alfred was sent to Blackboy Hill Camp where he was initially assigned to the 7th Reinforcements to the 11th Battalion. He was then transferred to the 1st Reinforcements to the 28th Battalion and then the 8th Reinforcements to the 11th Battalion.
It appears that Alfred went to a school for Non Commissioned Officers and was shortly promoted to Sergeant. On the 10th August 1915 he was then assigned to the 10th Reinforcements to the 12th Battalion. He was with that group for a month but on the 16th September 1915 was transferred into "C" Company of the newly forming 32nd Battalion AIF.
The 32nd Battalion was a joint South and West Australian unit. The two WA companies did some of their training in WA but then went to Adelaide to join up with the rest of the Battalion and trained for a few more weeks in South Australia.
The 32nd Battalion left Adelaide in December 1915 and sailed for Egypt. After their arrival they spent more time in training and were also used to man part of the Suez Canal defensive line.
The 32nd Battalion became part of the 8th Brigade of the 5th Division AIF. They spent the first six months of 1916 training in the Egyptian desert. On the 17th June 1916 they departed from Egypt and boarded a troopship for France, arriving at Marseilles.
After their arrival they were sent north to the Armentieres region to have their first experience of trench life on the Western Front. Alfred was sent to a school of instruction at Cassel on the 1st July 1916, returning to the 32nd Battalion on the 15th July 1916.
The 32nd Battalion did not have long to wait to become involved in their first battle. On the 19th July 1916 the 32nd Battalion took part in the attack at Fromelles. Despite heavy German fire the 32nd Battalion captured part of the German trenches however due to having one open flank and the Germans isolating the men who captured the trenches, the 32nd Battalion could not hold on to their gains and the unwounded men either had to surrender or make a dash for their own lines. Many more men were shot down as they tried to withdraw.
The whole attack had been badly planned and the soldiers paid the price for the incompetence of the Generalship. The 32nd Battalion lost 718 casualties (killed, wounded and taken prisoner), almost three quarters of it's total strength.
During the attack Alfred made it into the German lines.
He left an account of the battle;
On the night previous to the attack No.12 platoon was in support to attend to rations and general fatigues for No.9, 10 and 11 Platoons who were stationed in the firing line. About 11pm 15 privates and myself were detailed to bring the company rations up from the ration dump which was just about 50 yards from the mouth of the communication trench. During the trip down the communication trench it was shelled occasionally but we had no casualties, also the entrance of the trench was frequently under machine gun fire and during the night there were a few casualties there, though we were fortunate and arrived at our destination with the fatigue party intact. We were rather heavily loaded and owing to the bottom of the trench being in want of repairs, and also slippery from the light showers of rain that fell occasionally we were slipping all over the trench, arrived at the front line at 12.45am and back to supports at 1.30am. Morning of 19th Stood to very early. During morning we repaired certain parts of the support line, nothing else particular until 11am and then our bombardment started and of course things were a trifle warm as the Germans were very often replying to our guns.
6pm – The first wave raised to the parapet and went over just as one man; owing to the first wave being practically annihilated the second wave went over almost immediately after the first. (We) the second wave joined what was left of the first wave about half way across No Mans land. When we were about 20 to 25 yards away from the German front lines, the few Germans who remained threw bombs but did not have much effect, we occupied their front line with hardly any opposition, we then pushed on and came across a deep ditch running parallel to their front line, we passed over this and went some distance in front but were ordered back and told to sandbag the (ditch) or trench and make the best protection possible.
During the night of the 19th we all worked very hard and erected as good a parapet as possible under the circumstances, it was very difficult to fill the sandbags owing to the clay soil being very sticky, where you dug the spade into the soil, to get it in the bag it was necessary to pull it off with your hands. I found it quickest for one to dig, one to hold the bag and the other take it off the spade.
Daylight 20th July we found ourselves being fired on from the trench in our rear…I remember seeing some of our men being forced out of the part of the communication trench between the German front line (the one we captured the previous night) and the ditch we were holding; after being pushed back some distance they were eventually driven out of a damaged part of the trench and then they ran towards where we were but a machine gun opened fire upon them and absolutely mowed them down and not one of them reached us. Later on in the morning I was told by a Lieutenant that we would have to charge through the German front lines back to our own lines. During the time we waited we kept up a constant fire on the Germans who now occupied their original front line and after firing for some time we noticed on the left our men were making a charge for it but no orders reaches us so those of us left also charged back. After going some distance a wounded Major called me and told me to go back and rally together those that were left, I went back but everybody had gone, I returned and informed the Major, and then a private and myself helped the Major along the ground some distance but the three of us were surrounded from the line I had just left.
Alfred was taken prisoner of war by the Germans and would spent the next two years in captivity. He was in Soltau and Minden for much of his captivity.
Picture of Alfred below while a Prisoner of War just after being sent to Holland (back row extreme left & 3516 Sgt EL Robertson 53rd Bn in back row on extreme right)
On the 13th June 1918 Alfred was transferred to Holland for internment. Holland was neutral in the war but there was also a holding camp for escaped and repatriated Prisoners of War. During his time in Holland Alfred worked for the Red Cross and was later commended for this work.
Due to the amount of work involved Alfred did not get to England till March 1919. After his arrival in England he reported to AIF HQ which then gave him a period of leave through April 1919. He reported back to AIF HQ in May and was then required to wait in Camp until he was assigned a berth on a troopship home.
On the 1st June 1919 Alfred boarded the transport ship Somali which took him home to WA, disembarking in Fremantle on the 8th July 1919.
Alfred was discharged from the AIF on the 20th August 1919. He resumed his work as an accountant and clerk and also took up auctioneering.
In 1921 Alfred married Elsie Mary Thorn in South Fremantle and they had a daughter Esmae Beryl born in 1923. The family had now moved to Leederville WA. Once in Leederville, Alfred began working as a clerk in various businesses in Perth. He also became heavily involved in the West Leederville sub branch of the RSL.
Unfortunately through the 1920's Alfred was showing signs of having tuberculosis. He was admitted to the Repatriation Sanatorium in 1930. This would cause his death at just the age of 41.
Alfred died on the 11th November 1934 and he was buried in Karrakatta Cemetery plot Wesleyan FC 0426.
The West Australian newspaper reported that;