Kitson, Henry
4227 Private Henry Kitson - 1st Pioneer Battalion AIF
Henry Kitson was born in Perth WA in 1887 to Joseph and Mary Kitson, being one of four siblings, with, John 1885, Joseph 1891 and Alice 1897. Sadly John had died aged just three in 1888.
Henry was educated in Fremantle and after leaving school he took up employment as an apprentice Saddler with GW Hill in Fremantle. This apprenticeship was of five years duration.
Henry's Mother died in Fremantle in 1905 and his father later remarried. He later went to the countryside to work at Goomalling but returned to Fremantle regularly where he resided with his sister in Victoria Avenue East Fremantle.
On the 7th October 1915 henry 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 5 inches tall;
Weight - 122lbs;
Chest Measurement - 32-25 inches;
Complexion - Brown;
Eyes - Blue;
Hair - Brown.
After his successful enlistment, Henry was sent to Blackboy Hill Camp where he was assigned to No.32 Infantry Training Depot. He was taken through the basics of infantry work at this depot camp and was then transferred to the 13th Reinforcements to the 12th Battalion AIF. He trained with this group for the next two months.
On the 29th January 1916, Henry and his reinforcement group left Fremantle Harbour aboard the HMAT Borda and set sail for Egypt, arriving at Suez on the 3rd March 1916. Henry was then disembarked and sent to the 1st Division reinforcement camp.
He remained with the reinforcements and they were shipped to France on the 29th March 1916. Arriving at Marseilles on the 5th April 1916, Henry was entrained north for Etaples where he was assigned to the 1st Australian Division Base Depot Camp. He stayed here for the next several weeks and was then sent to join the 1st Australian Pioneer Battalion on the 24th May 1916.
The Pioneer's could be utilised as infantry but their main role was in construction and maintenance of front lines, communication trenches and rear areas. The 1st Pioneers had their first experience of the Western Front near Bois Greiner and Fleurbaix. They would be in this region from April to June, then then 1st Australian Division was sent to the Somme battlefield.
From mid July 1916 the 1st Pioneer Battalion were making preparations for the infantry attack on Pozieres village. The infantry attack went ahead on 23rd July 1916 and captured the village. Henry survived this and subsequent actions around Mouquet Farm in August 1916.
After being relieved from the line after Pozieres, Henry wrote in his diary;
On the 26th, Germans counterattacked at Pozieres after a heavy bombardment but were driven back. We have driven the enemy right through the village & the whole of the village and the second line of German trenches are in our hands. Heavy artillery fire on both sides all day. Second Division relieved us on the 28th. Marched back to billets at Albert and had a good wash the first for five days & a feed, not before it was wanted.
The 1st Pioneers were sent to Ypres in Belgium for around six weeks; Henry wrote;
Went into billets at the old Belgian Barracks at Ypres. Transferred to HQ Sigs for phone work. Things very quite on this front, we put over a few shots and Fritz replies but no damage much done. Went out into the trenches on the 18th with the Colonel to have a look at the work. Rained all day.
The unit then returned to the Somme battlefield in October 1916. They would spend the 1916/17 French winter in this area in absolutely horrible muddy conditions. Henry wrote in his diary;
Slept out in the open, rained all night, very cold and miserable. Moved off in the morning, still raining, arrived at the side of a hill behind Mametz Woods on the road to Combles, mud up to our knees, had to make a place to sleep in…managed to rig up a place to keep ourselves dry & had a good sleep so feel a bit better but still raining. Our parties went out road making this morning…My mate is telling me we have been away from the West 277 days, it seems like years. There is a big gun just behind us just opened fire. I suppose he will try and keep us awake all night. Just finished tea and I could do with a good feed so things are only just, so if my friends could only see me now I think they would pity me or call me a damn fool. Cannot get much to eat but plenty of iron rations (shells)
Went 2 miles nearer the line on to a hill, raining all the time, our humpy was full of mud and water. Terribly cold, my mates are around a fire tin trying to make a fire. I am sitting in the corner doing a perish and trying to keep out of the mud. About 3 inches of mud on the floor and cannot get outside to fix it up as it is raining too hard. Decide to get into bed, pinched a heap of sandbags to put on the floor so we will be out of the mud a bit. To make things pleasant Fritz put a couple of shells alongside of our camp…
Went out into the trenches this morning with Captain Chalmers to have a look at the parties working, went through Delville Woods & they have been blown to pieces, must have been a fine wood at one time.
In March 1917 the Germans began a withdrawal to their pre-prepared defensive position known as the Hindenburg Line. The Australian and British units followed up this retirement closely and several sharp actions were fought around what was known as the Outpost Line villages. The 1st Australian Pioneer Battalion supporting their infantry around Boursies, Morchies and Lagnicourt through March and April 1917.
In May 1917 the 1st Australian Division relieved the 2nd Australian Division after they had captured a section of the German line at Bullecourt. The 1st Australian Pioneers were kept busy with keeping the communication trenches open. This work was being done under heavy German shellfire. Fortunately Henry came through unscathed.
In June 1917 the 1st Australian Division was withdrawn from the line for a well deserved three month rest period. On the 31st August 1917 Henry was given a two week furlough to England, returning to his unit on the 14th September 1917.
Henry was now working with his unit in Belgium during the Third Battle of Ypres. He served at the battle of Menin Road on the 20th September 1917 and then also saw service around Polygon Wood, Celtic Wood, Broodseinde Ridge and Passchendaele. He again came through unscathed through these operations from September till November 1917.
From December 1917 to March 1918 the 1st Australian Division were in the line in Belgium, south east of Ypres from Hollebeke to Messines. On the 31st December 1917 Henry was sent to hospital with mumps, being admitted to the 7th General Hospital at St Omer.
Henry returned to his unit on the 9th February 1918.
As a result of the German breakthrough on March 21st 1918 on the Somme, the Australian Divisions began to be sent south from Belgium. The 1st Australian Division was the last of the divisions to leave and had just reached Amiens when news came through of another German breakthrough from the front they had just departed from, so the 1st Australian Division were returned to Northern France to help stem this breakthrough.
Along with British units, the 1st Australian Division helped stop this German advance in the Hazebrouck and Nieppe Forrest sector of northern France. Through April till June 1918 Henry was with the 1st Pioneer Battalion as they constructed defences and trenches in this sector.
Through June and July 1918 there was many raids by the Australians in the vicinity of Merris and Meteren and the 1st Pioneers were kept very busy.
In August 1918 Henry and the 1st Australian Division were sent to join the other Australian Divisions on the Somme. A large advance took place from the Villers-Bretonneux front on the 8th August 1918. The 1st Australian Division advanced on the 9th August to further the gains already made.
Henry and the 1st Pioneers were in constant action from August 9th to September 18th when they were pulled out of the line for a rest period. On the 25th September 1918 Henry was sent to England on two weeks leave, rejoining his unit on the 11th October 1918.
When the Armistice was announced on 11th November 1918 the 1st Pioneers were making preparations to return to the front, but instead they were soon sent to Belgium, to what had been German occupied areas for the last four years. The 1st Pioneers were in the Charleroi area.
Henry would be here for the next few months and on the 7th June 1919 he got married in Belgium to 18 year old Berthe Marie Ghislaine Gillain. The marriage took place in Hainaut Belgium.
On the 12th July 1919 Henry and Berthe returned to Australia aboard the transport ship Indarra, the ship reaching Fremantle on the 29th August 1919. He was discharged from the AIF on the 21st October 1919.
After arriving home, Henry and Berthe went to live in Irwin Street East Fremantle.
They lived here through to the mid 1920's, then going to Serpentine before heading south in 1931 to Cowaramup where he took up soldier/settler scheme.
Henry lived in Cowaramup till the late 1940's and was also working as a mill hand during this time. In the 1950's he retired to Thomas Street Busselton
Henry died in 1959 in Busselton aged 72.