Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

Burstal's narrative of demobilisation events, 1919 / J. A. Burstal
MLDOC 1421

This document outlines the general procedure for the demobilisation of the A.I.F. soldiers returning to Australia from the war in France. It details the papers required for all aspects of moving men from camps in England to their departure from Devonport, England, on a transport vessel bound for Australia.

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To lead up to my appointment to the Administrative Staff of No 3 Group, it is perhaps necessary to say something of the reinforcements waiting in England at the time of the Armistice, because in the case of the Third Divisional Group, it was largely from these men that the Camp Staff was drawn.

Upon the signing of the Armistice, it was apparently deemed advisable that pending further movements upon the part of both the enemy and the Allies, all drafts should be held in readiness only. Between that time and the latter end of January, men were either detailed or accepted voluntarily for Camp Staff duty in England for the period of demobilisation. It was afterwards found out that the estimate of the number required was somewhat short and much credit is due to men belonging to the very early quotas arriving from France who volunteered for the vacancies.

When it appeared certain that the chances of hostilities recommencing were nil, a genuine move towards the repatriation of the A.I.F. was begun. Just as each division had its training battalion for reinforcements in England, so each division was given a demobilisation centre, thus the following:-

1st Division-Lonbridge Deverill
2nd Division-Sutton Veny
3rd Division- Codford
4th Division-Hurdcott
5th Division- Weymouth.

All these camps were previously occupied by the A.I.F. as either Training battalions or Hospital bases, which only meant renaming them

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and replacing "C" Class staff, who were despatched to Australia first of all.

A Camp Staff was divided roughly into five sections, the administrative staff, the messing staff, the quartermaster’s staff, the Camp picquet and men employed who belonged to special units such as A.M.C. personnel, the Pay Corps and Army service corps.

Under the Administrative sector there were sub-sections such as, Boat Rolls Staff, Furlough Office, Criminal Investigation and correspondence staff, which last dealt with everything appertaining to the direct administration of the troops in the command.

The Messing Staff were responsible for the feeding of the Group and coming under the jurisdiction of the Messing Officer, were the cooks employed in the 10 cookhouses, the complete personnel employed at all Officers and sergeants messes, also at the ration stores in each camp .The Q.M.Staff included men employed in the Clothing Store which issued fresh clothing to all Quotas arriving from France, the camp barrack wardens, the sanitary squads and lastly the A.S.C. who were attached for transport duty. It can be gathered from this that the number required for the successful and smooth running of a group was fairly large.

Having volunteered for Camp staff duty, I found myself at the beginning of February, a typist in the Boat Rolls Office. This was my beginning, the work of course being practically entirely the compilation of Boat Rolls. February was a bad month for the demobilisation scheme but it gave us time to become thoroughly used to our work.

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A Quota on arriving in England would go through something like the following routine:-
On marching in it is met by the G.C.C.Group and the Group Staff Captain, and Standing Orders and general instructions are issued to the Quota Adjutant. It was laid down that all troops must have their embarkation leave three days after their arrival from Overseas. During this three days the O.C.Quota finds that his men have to [be] issued with fresh clothing, be given their Leave Pay and all applications for Family Ship, Non-Military employment, Discharge in U.K.and Marriage Leave together with five copies of a complete nominal roll of his strength in both alphabetical and lexigraphical order have to be rendered to Group Headquarters. Towards the closing of No 3 Group, it often occurred that Quotas were allotted to a transport before they returned from Leave but in the earlier days this was not so and upon the return of the men there was nothing to do but wait, excepting however the boarding of all men not boarded in France. A transport was as a rule allotted to a quota some twelve days before the date of sailing and when only seven days were left they were medically examined for Venereal Desease and scabies and ticked off on the Group Roll which was submitted to London. The day following they were paid their Voyage pay. The troops again marched past the M.O. the day immediately prior to embarking and their names were again checked off, this time from the London Roll. At the same time their kits were inspected by the group G.O.C. or his representative for the purpose of bringing to light any unauthorised Government property or any indecent literature. The Quota finally cleared up its own camp and its O.C.

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rendered a certificate to the effect that it was fit for the accomodation of incoming troops to the Group. Q.M. before entraining. So much from the point of view of the quota. The work entailed in the above formulated routine is of bigger dimensions than one is led to suppose. The main function of the Boat Rolls Office was rolls and to maintain a standard of efficiency in the compiling of these rolls both accuracy and speed were required. Beyond that it was necessary for the staff to be endowed with some small store of confidence and initiative with which to carry them over the work connected with the formula described above. It is that work which I am now going to attempt to detail. To facilitate comprehension let us take a quota for example, name it "X" and follow the handling of it from the point of view of Boat Rolls, from its arrival in England until its departure for Australia.

On the second day after arrival five nominal rolls are rendered from Quota "X", two for use of compilation and three to be attached to the Group Marching in and out State rendered to Headquarters , A.I.F.Depots in U.K.Tidworth. Supposing there are five quotas in the group due for an allotment before Quota "X", then there would be no especial hurry to make out the rolls for London. When however, there is only one before it a start is made immediately.The general number of Quota "X" on arrival in England was 1000 but after those men availing themselves of the various privileges offered by the A.I.F. have been struck off, also the Western Australian personnel, who are allotted to seperate transports of their own, the number has dwindled somewhat. The allotment to Quota "X" is in excess of the number of the strength,

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therefore it is necessary to draw from Details Camp, which, in the case of No 3 Group is known as "No 8". This camp is occupied by men who have been casualities from previous boat rolls together with men returning from N.M.E. and it is the duty of the Officer commanding No 8 Camp to be able to render in an hour’s notice a complete roll of his strength in strict order of the dates of enlistment.

Our original roll rendered on the arrival of Quota "X" from France having been ruled completely up to date, we commence the Group Roll. The order is, firstly infantry in order of battalions and divisions, secondly artillery in order of batteries and brigades, thirdly engineers in order of Field Companies, fourthly A.S.C. in order of divisional trains and lastly miscellaneous units. Each unit is alphabetical, all pages are number consecutively and no more than twenty names appear on one page. The details appearing alongside each man’s name are his regimental number, full christian names, and the number of his military district. Thirty copies of each roll are made and it will be shewn how each one of these copies is utilised. The method of duplication is that of typing on a wax sheet and the use of a Roneo Duplicator.

The roll being complete, that is the correct number of Warrant Officers Sergeants and other ranks as allotted from London by wire and confirmed from Tidworth by letter, a check parade is held the next day. It takes place in the camp occupied by Quota "X" and a medical Officer is in attendance. An ordinary army hut is used for the purpose of this parade and the Boat Roll sergeant checking, takes up his position at one end of the hut, with the M.O. at the other. The hardest work of all now

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falls on the Quota Adjutant. On the completion of Group Roll he is handed a copy which is generally the night previous to the parade and by the appointed time appearing in Group orders he must have his men ready to file through the hut in strict order of the roll. By this method each man gives his name to the checking NCO, passes on the M.O.and the whole parade does not last more than perhaps an hour. As is generally the case casualities occur even from this roll and in consequence No 8 must be drawn on again. The method of placing a number of names extra upon the roll to allow for this was proved to be unsuccessful as the men having been notified to be on the parade naturally expected to be embarking and there was trouble when the casualities did not cover the extra names.

At the conclusion of this parade, all casualty adjustments having been made the rolls should be complete in every detail and by the first available train, three copies in Roneo and one in type are despatched to "Demobaust", 20 Belgrave Square, London. The fact to be kept in view is that date of delivery in London must leave seven clear days before advised date of sailing of transport. As soon as possible five copies are rendered to the Group Pay Office for the purposes of Boat Pay and two to the Group Clothing store for the purpose of compiling the A.I.F. Forms Q.1.for men embarking in Boat Roll order, (the Quota brings all documents from France and in the case of the Q. 1. Forms they are handed to the group Quartermaster on the occasion of the issue of new clothing prior to proceeding on embarkation leave.) It will here be noted that eleven of the thirty five copies are already disposed of and by the next day’s despatch three are sent to

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Tidworth, making the number sixteen.
Some three days before date of embarkation, the London copy in duplicate of the transport roll is sent by special messenger to the Group. Much care must be exercised in the work now on hand. It is necessary to ascertain that every name submitted on the Group Roll appears on the London Roll. A proof against the correctness of the man doing this work is the fact that against the name of every man on our roll, he must put the number of the page of the London Roll upon which he appears and against his name in the London roll must be the number of the page in which he appears on the Group Roll. It is very often the case that London does omit a name, which means that London must be appraised of the fact by wire immediately and a telegram despatched to Tidworth asking for instructions. It eventually follows that Tidworth advise London to include the man and London advise us that they have done so. On the other hand it very often happens that a man has to included by Tidworth instructions after the despatch of the rolls and we advise London in the same manner and acknowledge receipt to Tidworth. The allotment to the Group does not always include the complete complement of the transport and in nine cases out of ten upon the roll returning it is found that the ship’s staff and a fair number of A.M.C. personnel have been allotted from London from other Groups under instructions from Tidworth.

The roll of men embarking from Quota "X" is complete, every man’s name submitted is shewn by London and there are yet two days before embarkation. Boat Rolls is now responsible for the move order which is made out immediately upon receipt of telegram from Tidworth advising time of entrainment.

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The order therefore makes known mainly the contents of this telegram, together with the numbers to be allotted to each train, the Officers in charge of trains, the place and time for the stacking of baggage, the time of Camp inspection by the Group Quartermaster, explicit instructions with regard to the cleaning of the camp and lastly it names the conducting Officer and N.C.O. Copies of this order are sent to everyone concerned, thus to the Brig-General, Staff Captain, Group. Q.M., O.C. and Adjutant of Quota "X", Railway Transport Officer at Codford Railway Station, the Messing Officer and lastly Tidworth. The next day is the last day before embarkation. A final check of the Quota together with a medical inspection is held in the same manner as the previous one already described and the G.O.C. or representative holds a surprise kit inspection.
With regard to this last, a certificate is rendered to Tidworth and signed by the G.O.C. to this effect and it is only one among many. Certificates are made out and signed in triplicate, one to Tidworth, one to the transport and one kept at Group as reference. The Senior Medical Officer has three to render, the first being jointly with the G.O.C. It is to the effect that A.F.B.s 634 (Medical Board papers) have been placed aboard the transport for every man embarking. The second he alone signs and is that all troops embarking have received one injection of the ½ C.C. per man of influenza vaccine and that enough vaccine has been placed aboard the transport to complete a further inoculation of 2 C.C. per man. The third he signs with the M.O. making the final examination of the draft the day prior to embarkation. It reads that all troops whose names appear on the accompanying Nominal Rolls have been medically examined and that they are free from

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any contagious or infectious disease and that none are contacts of infectious disease.

Other Group officials signing certificates are the Messing Officer and the Group Quartermaster. The former has to certify that all troops embarking have been rationed up to and including twenty four hours after entrainment. The Quartermaster’s is to the effect that all troops have been equipped according to instructions laid down for the troops embarking for Australia.
Certificates have to be complete in every detail by ten o’clock of the night before the Quota moves out.
A list of men struck off the boat roll at the final check parade either on account of absence or contagious disease has to be compiled. Against the name of the casualty is the reason for his non-embarkation and at the foot thereof a statement is made something after the following:-

Number Allotted- 6 W.Os- 20 Sergeants – 600 Other Ranks
Final Casualties as above - 0 W.Os- 1Sergeant- 10 Other Ranks
Number embarked- 66 W.Os- 19 Sergeants- 590 other Ranks

This roll was rendered in triplicate to Tidworth and one sent to the transport.
It was from these figures that the Furlough Office who made out travelling warrants for the troops trains and conducting parties advised the R.T.O.
Certificates and Casualty Roll being complete there is yet another big job to overcome. That is the compilation of the documents to be

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placed aboard the transport. They are made up in one large parcel and include:- A.F.B.s 122 (soldiers good conduct sheet) A.F.B. 536 (Medical History Sheet) AIF. Forms Q.1. (Clothing issue sheet) five copies of the Group Nominal Roll (making the number disposed of twenty one) copies of certificates for Kit Inspection, Rationing, clothing equipment, inoculation and medical inspection, copy of final roll of casualties, one copy of the London Roll with numbers of pages appearing against each man’s name, the vaccine mentioned in M.O.’s certificate and sufficient number of colour patches to cover the requirements of all troops aboard.
These were detailed in a covering letter in triplicate and the conducting N.C.O. must bring two copies back with him signed as having been received by the Orderly Room Sergeant of the transport.

Addendum.

With reference to the remaining nine copies of roll not yet disposed of, it might be said that, three are attached to the "Marching in and out Return" for the day the Quota moves out, three for Office File purposes and one to the Senior Medical Officer together with one each to the Conducting Officer and N.C.O.

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Quota "X" departs from Codford by two troop trains at something like four in the morning. This hour is usual, on account of the less congested traffic on the main lines. The transport sails from Keyham Docks, Devonport and the first train is due to leave at four fifteen. The R.T.O. and his two assistants are endeavouring to keep the number in a compartment at eight and to count the total strength of train at the same time. Groups of eight struggle along under the weight of their kits as they are allowed to pass through the station yard. Some are still somewhat influenced by the previous evening’s debauch, their last in Blighty and they have evidently made it worth while. Along the banks of the road leading to the temporary troop platform, the last fifty or so of the first draft can be distinguished by the glow of their cigarettes and mutterings as now and again they pick up their kits and move towards the gate through which no more than eight at a time are allowed to pass.

Across the breeze is wafted the strains of "Mademoiselle from Armentiers". That is the second train load passing through the village about a mile or so away. Upon the platform under the glare of the arc lamps, two Y.M.C.A. ladies and the Group Padre pass from carriage to carriage with the buckshee ration and the cigarettes.
Now they are all aboard. The conducting N.C.O. collects his warrants from the R.T.O., dumps his parcel of documents (brought down from Group by Staff car) into a vacant first reserved for the purpose, makes final arrangements with the Conducting Officer and reports his whereabouts to the O.C. train.
He wakes up somewhere near Exeter and comes to the conclusion

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that cigarettes on an empty stomach are no good for anyone. Here, however, tea and refreshments donated under the auspices of a generous and energetic body of Exeter women await all members of the train and general appreciation is shewn all round. Nothing more to worry him until North Road, Plymouth is reached, where the stationmaster collects the warrants. After passing a few hundred yards through Devonport station, the big G.W.R. engine is replaced by two small dock engines, and winding among workshops, dismantled guns and a miscellaneous number of war ships, huge fighting destructors representing the might of the British Navy, the train at length draws up alongside the transport. According with her size and general appearance, so do the tumult of remarks on the part of the diggers, agree. The Embarkation Staff now takes charge and their first order is to keep in the train, while they proceed to call the draft out in the order of units appearing on the roll. And so they file aboard, kits over shoulder, pay books in hand (their identification), and a triumphant smile upon the faces, which leads one to suppose that they have told their particular pals "that they would’nt beleive they were going home until they were right on the ship".

The first duty of the Conducting N.C.O. now is to present the Embarkation Staff Officer with a copy of the final list of casualties, after which documents have to be got aboard. To pass the Military Policeman on the gangway he has to cast a wistful glance at the Staff Officer who nods assent. He may find the Orderly Room Sergeant in the place where he ought to be or he may not, he may find him straight away or he may find him in an hours time. His documents

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receipted, there is nothing to do but wait until all troops are embarked. The second train load arrives about an hour after the first and are filed aboard in the same manner. Embarkation complete, the Group copy of London roll is ruled off with copy used at gangway and that finishes the administration of "Quota" "X" By No 3 Group Codford.
With the ship’s Band playing "Goodbyee" the digger’s Cooeeing and the occasional "Goodbye Choom" from neighbouring ships, the transport commences her long journey, with all her little incidents and tradgedies of a seven weeks voyage before her.

[Transcribed by Betty Smith for the State Library of New South Wales]