Off to War – 15th Field Company Engineers

The 15th Field Company Engineers was formed on 10 March 1916 in Egypt as part of the expansion of the Australian Imperial Force following the Gallipoli campaign. The company became one of three engineer units attached to the newly formed 5th Australian Division, alongside the 8th and 14th Field Companies.

The War Diary recorded:

“The company was formed on 10th March 1916 at Tel-el-Kebir…”
Source: AWM4 14/34/1 – 15th Field Company Engineers War Diary, March 1916

The new company drew together trained tradesmen, electricians, miners, carpenters, blacksmiths, railway workers, and labourers from across Australia. Many had already served in other engineer units or possessed civilian technical skills that were urgently needed on the Western Front. By March 1916 the company strength stood at 6 officers and more than 270 other ranks.

Training began at Tel-el-Kebir and along the Suez Canal at Serapeum, where the engineers undertook defensive works in the desert heat. The sappers learned trench construction, wiring, bridging, demolition work, water supply systems, road maintenance, and field fortification techniques. Signalling and communications also remained part of their duties during this early stage of the war.

The engineers quickly became responsible for a wide range of essential tasks:

• Digging and repairing trenches and dugouts
• Constructing strongpoints and command posts
• Laying barbed wire obstacles
• Building roads, bridges, and tramways
• Maintaining water supplies and communications

In June 1916 the 5th Division received orders to move to France. The 15th Field Company embarked from Alexandria, arriving at Marseilles on 29 June before travelling north by crowded troop trains toward the quiet Fleurbaix sector near Fromelles.

There the engineers immediately began preparing the front for offensive operations. Around Sailly-sur-la-Lys, Rifle Villa, Pinney Avenue, and V.C. Avenue, the company repaired British trenches, dug communication saps, laid duckboards, installed wiring, and established forward engineer and ammunition dumps.

By mid-July the engineers were working continuously under enemy observation and shellfire, preparing what many believed would be a limited supporting attack against the German lines. Few yet understood the scale of the disaster about to unfold.

Source: AWM4 14/34/1 – 15th Field Company Engineers War Diary, March–July 1916

Battle of Fromelles – 19–20 July 1916

In the days leading up to the attack, the 15th Field Company Engineers were attached to the 15th Infantry Brigade and tasked with preparing and maintaining the communication trenches between the rear areas at Sailly-sur-la-Lys and the forward assault positions opposite the German lines at Fromelles.

Engineer dumps were established at Rifle Villa, while working parties strengthened and repaired trenches around Pinney Avenue, V.C. Avenue, and nearby saps leading toward No-Man’s-Land. The company was divided into sections, each with defined responsibilities:

• No. 1 Section (Lt L’NOBLE) – communications and saps from Pinney Avenue to V.C. Avenue
• No. 2 Section (Lt McCLOUGHRY) – trench deepening and reinforcement work
• No. 3 Section (Lt McMILLARLY) – forward strongpoints and demolition stores
• No. 4 Section (Lt EVANS) – management of stores and forward engineer dumps

On the afternoon of 19 July 1916, German artillery began heavily shelling the Australian lines before the infantry assault commenced at 6 pm. As the bombardment intensified, the engineers worked frantically to keep communication trenches open and to move stores, ammunition, trench ladders, and bridging materials forward to the attacking battalions.

Captain Harold Greenway, commanding the company, recorded:

“Communications were maintained from the 300 yards line to the front line situated about 500 yards to the right of V.C. Avenue.”
Source: AWM4 14/34/1 – 15th Field Company Engineers War Diary, Intelligence Summary, 19–20 July 1916

The engineers operated under continuous shellfire throughout the night. Two sections of trench were completely destroyed, while working parties repeatedly repaired collapsed communications and evacuated wounded men from shattered trenches.

The War Diary noted:

“Working parties were under constantly heavy fire from high explosive shells.”
Source: AWM4 14/34/1 – 15th Field Company Engineers War Diary, July 1916

Lt L’NOBLE was specifically praised after remaining at his post throughout the battle:

“Throughout the night he remained continuously at his post keeping communications open and bringing up bomb supplies.”
Source: AWM4 14/34/1 Appendix 9 – Company Report by Capt. H. Greenway, 22 July 1916

Elsewhere, Lt EVANS directed salvage and repair parties around Rifle Villa and the firing line as engineers struggled to recover buried stores and restore damaged trenches.

Despite severe casualties and exhaustion, the company continued operating after the attack had collapsed. By 21 July the engineers were rebuilding communication trenches, restoring engineer dumps, and salvaging materials from the battlefield. A stock return taken after the battle recorded:

• 102,000 sandbags
• 7,360 pickets
• 400 trench ladders
• 15 bridges
  remaining or recovered for reconstruction work.
  Source: AWM4 14/34/1 Appendix 11 – Stores at Rifle Villa Dump and Firing Line, 21 July 1916

The company’s casualties during the battle were:

• 2 killed
• 1 officer and 21 other ranks wounded
• 5 missing
  Source: AWM4 14/34/1 Appendix 10 – Statement of Casualties, 22 July 1916

Captain Greenway later praised the “conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty” shown by the company’s sappers, many of whom worked for hours buried in mud and shattered trenches while maintaining the vital communications upon which the entire attack depended.

Source: AWM4 14/34/1 – 15th Field Company Engineers War Diary, July 1916