Samuel Archie Saunders was born 6 February 1886 in Kent Town, Adelaide, SA, to Rachel (née Solomon) and John Barnett Saunders. Known as Archie, he attended the Pulteney Street (Anglican) School, and being dextrous with his hands, was one of the first to be apprenticed for four years to F. Ochernat as a fitter and motor mechanic.

After his father passed away in 1910, Archie moved to Sydney, where apparently, he became friends with a Miss L. McKim.

On 6 January 1915 and slightly understating his age as 27, Archie enlisted in the AIF at Liverpool, NSW, in the 8th Australian Army Service Corps, 6th Reinforcement, as No. 6831 Driver Samuel Archie Saunders, noting his mother as next-of-kin and religion ‘Jewish’.

On 16 June 1915 they embarked aboard HMAT A63 Karoola from Sydney for Egypt, where he was attached to the 2nd Brigade Ammunition Column from August 1915. Subsequently, as reported by the Adelaide Observer and was placed as a Corporal in the Machine Gun Staff of the Imperial School of Instruction at Zeitoun:

Archie’s request to join a combat unit was implemented at Tel el Kebir in April 1916, when he was transferred to the 14th Brigade Machine Gun Company and promoted to sergeant.

.

The 14th MG Coy sailed from Alexandria on 18-19 June 1916 on HMT Knight Templar and a few on HMT Canada – including portentously Archie - arriving seven days later at Marseilles, where they entrained to Thiennes, in the north of France, 20 kilometers west of Lille, for deployment on the Western Front.

Late in the evening of 10 July, half of the company entered the frontline at Fleurbaix, and by the next midnight they completed the relief of the 12th MG Coy.

Poor visibility due to haze again delayed the artillery barrage and infantry attack on the morning of 19 July, when the 14th MG Coy Diary (AWM) records that the Officer in Charge, Captain Spier, received their operational orders in a conference led by Colonel H. Pope at his Brigade Headquarters: ten guns would advance after the fourth wave of the infantry.

The two leading waves of the 53rd and 54th Battalions had already lost over sixty men, including commanders and their seconds-in-command of three companies, from the German artillery fire and inaccurate Australian shells, before leaving the forward trenches at 5:43 pm, and were caught by enfilade machine gun fire from the Sugarloaf as they emerged from the sally-ports.

Yet, many of the remaining assault troops still managed to advance “about 300 yards to our front … and form up in front of the enemy’s parapets”, then overwhelm the German trench. The machine gun company also “succeeded in pushing across No-Man’s Land … and (the ten guns) were soon located in favourable positions in the captured ground.”[[]]

Many officers were killed or wounded, as Patrick Lindsay in his book Fromelles notes:

The order to withdraw was finally received at 7:50am. It had taken eight runners to get the message across the inferno that was No Man’s Land: the carrier pigeons had duly taken messages to Brigade HQ, but they would not fly back. Many defenders remained, whilst others fought their way out, often in hand-to-hand fighting, back to the Australian lines: resulting in heavy casualties of killed, wounded, or captured men.

As the 14th MG Coy diary summarises:

Indeed, Lt Robert Burns, heir to the Burns Philp shipping fortune, had refused to surrender. he smashed his machine gun and, with a few of his surviving men, tried to make his way back. His body was never found. Overnight, of the company’s 150 or so men, 17 were killed in action, with dozens wounded – still a lower rate than the brigade’s 1,717 casualties and the 5th Division’s total of more than 5,500.

One of those wounded as the Australians withdrew on the morning of 20 July, was Sergeant Samuel Archie Saunders, hit by gunshot to the arms and chest. Unlike many men who were left in No Man’s Land, he was lucky to be retrieved and taken by stretcher bearers of the 14th Field Ambulance to one of the twelve Regimental Aid Posts, six of which had been moved forward to 500 yards behind the assault battalions’ lines. They were overwhelmed with wounded, dying and dead – reflecting the situation in the communication trenches and No Man’s Land through which they pierced. The indescribable scenes of carnage continued over the ensuing days, when many men gave their lives rescuing comrades, as enemy fire persisted. Although agreed to by the Germans, the request of Australian officers in the field for a ceasefire to clear the battlefield of casualties was rejected by McKay – hence his later nickname, ‘Butcher McKay’.

In what became known as the Battle of Fromelles, author Robin S. Corfield (Don’t Forget Me Cobber, the Battle of Fromelles, 19/20 July 1916: an inquiry) confirms:

On 29 July, Rachel Saunders received a telegram that her son was dangerously ill, and she advised Miss McKim in Sydney, both cabled the Army. Despite seeing a newspaper report of Archie’s death, Rachel received telegrams on 8 and 16 August that his condition was “improving” but, as noted in his record, Sergeant Samuel Archie Saunders had:

Agonisingly, Rachel did not receive confirmation of his death for at least another month.

Archie Saunders’ Red Cross Wounded & Missing file reflects those conflicting reports of his condition. On 15 August AIF Headquarters, Horseferry Road, London, certified that he was “Removed from the Dangerously Ill List, and transferred to Base 1st Canadian Casualty Clearing Station 30/7/16.” Yet, Sister-in-Charge E. M. Thorold, of 13th General Hospital, Boulogne, replied to the Red Cross on 23 September 1916:

In this story, as with so many Fromelles stories, the human tragedy did not end with Archie’s death. To his family, the emotional turmoil was excessive, as hope was nurtured, only to be dashed. One can only say, that every member of Archie’s family, Miss McKim and his friends carried the scars of false hope forever.

Rachel received a package containing Archie’s personal effects in April 1917 at her home in St Peters, Adelaide. His service record (page 5) also has a hand-written note that a “Photograph (was) sent by DGRE to Miss McKim of ‘Lota’ Ocean Street, Woollahra.” (DGRE refers to Director Graves Registration and Enquiry)

Sgt Samuel Archie Saunders was buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, Boulogne, Nord Pas de Calais, France, and his headstone (picture below, showing incorrect rank as ‘Driver’ cf. ‘Sergeant’) is inscribed with the epitaph requested by his mother, Rachel:

In Adelaide’s West Terrace Cemetery, on the Saunders family memorial to her youngest son Braham, and husband John, Rachel also added text commemorating her only surviving son - until 14 August 1916 - Archie:

Links to unofficial records

Australian Jewish Historical Society: SAUNDERS, Samuel Archie

NLA Call No FERG/4003: Australian Jewry Book of Honour: The Great War, 1914-1918, Harold Boas, 1923