Brighton, Tasmania. September 1914. Group photograph of officers and non commissioned officers of B Company, 12th Battalion, AIF. From the left they are, back row, Corporals (Cpls) Webber, Allison, Lance Corporal (L/Cpl) Nicholas, Cpls Newton, Briggs, Allison, L/Cpl McElwee; middle row, Sergeant (Sgt) Garrard, Sgt Thorpe, Company Sgt Herbert, Lieutenant (Lieut) McPherson, Captain E.H. Smith, Lieut Foster, Sgt Wilson, Sgt Richardson; front row, L/Cpls Atkins and Dadson. (Donor Captain L.M. Newton)

Hobart, Tasmania. 1914-10-14. The 12th Battalion, AIF, marching through the city prior to embarking for service overseas. The mounted officer on the extreme right at the head of the Battalion is Colonel L. F. Clarke who was one of the first officers to be killed in the Gallipoli landing.

Brighton, Tasmania. September 1914. Three officers of the 12th Battalion, AIF; from the left they are Major H.A. McPherson, Lieutenant Colonel E. Hilmer Smith and Major J.A. Foster. (Donor Captain L.M. Newton)

Brighton, Tasmania. 13 September 1914. Group photograph of officers and men of B Company, 12th Battalion, AIF. (Donor Captain L.M. Newton)

Brighton, Tasmania. 20 September 1914. The tug of war team representing B Company, 12th Battalion, AIF, which defeated the team from A Company. (Donor Captain L.M. Newton)

PORTRAIT, LIEUTENANT M.M. ALLEN, 12TH BATTALION, AIF.

December 1916

A party of Australians of the 12th Battalion engaged in road making near Bazentin. Identified, working in the trench, front to back of photograph are: 4061 Private (Pte) Angus Allison Breen (second back, wearing slouch hat); 5383 Pte John Fox (to Breen's right, wearing helmet); 2902 Sergeant John Woods Whittle VC DCM (behind Fox, walking down the road, wearing slouch hat); 6282 Pte J S Harvey (sixth man back in trench, facing camera).

Mediterranean Sea. c. 1915-05. Sick and wounded 12th Battalion men on the deck of a transport vessel taking them from Gallipoli to Alexandria, Egypt, for hospital treatment. (Donor W. Fethers)

Studio portrait of 2nd Lieutenant Lauriston Brownell, 3rd Reinforcements, 12th Battalion (later Lieutenant of the 27th Battalion), of New Town, Tas, who was killed at Passchendaele, Belgium, on 1917-10-03. He was the brother of Air Commodore Raymond James Brownell, RAAF. (Original housed in AWM Archive Store)

Australian Military Units
12th Battalion

The 12th Battalion was among the first infantry units raised for the AIF during the First World War. Half of the battalion was recruited in Tasmania, a quarter was recruited in South Australia, and a quarter from Western Australia. With the 9th, 10th and 11th Battalions it formed the 3rd Brigade.


The battalion was raised within three weeks of the declaration of war in August 1914 and embarked just two months later. After a brief stop in Albany, Western Australia, the battalion proceeded to Egypt, arriving in early December. The 3rd Brigade was the covering force for the ANZAC landing on 25 April 1915 and so was the first ashore at around 4:30 am. Lieutenant Colonel L. F. Clarke, commander of the 12th Battalion, was killed by a sniper within hours of the landing. The battalion was heavily involved in establishing and defending the front line of the ANZAC position, and in August contributed two companies to the attack on Lone Pine. It was the only battalion in the brigade to do so. The 12th served at ANZAC until the evacuation in December.


After the withdrawal from Gallipoli, the 12th Battalion returned to Egypt and, in March 1916, sailed for France and the Western Front. From then until 1918 the battalion took part in bitter trench warfare. The battalion’s first major action in France was at Pozières in the Somme valley in July 1916. After Pozières, the battalion fought at Ypres in Flanders and then returned to the Somme for winter.


In 1917 the battalion took part in the brief advance that followed the German Army’s retreat to the Hindenburg Line. For their valorous actions near Boursies during this advance, Captain J. E. ‘Jim’ Newland, commanding A Company, and Sergeant J. W. Whittle were each awarded the Victoria Cross. The battalion subsequently returned to Belgium to participate in the offensive that became known as the Third Battle of Ypres.


In March and April 1918 the battalion helped to stop the German spring offensive, and later participated in the great allied offensive of 1918, fighting near Amiens on 8 August 1918. This advance by British and empire troops was the greatest success in a single day on the Western Front, one that German General Erich Ludendorff described as “the black day of the German Army in this war”.


The battalion continued operations until late September 1918. At 11 am on 11 November 1918, the guns fell silent. Soon after, the members of the AIF began to return to Australia for demobilisation and discharge.

12th BN departing Geelong for Egypt - 1914