McCALLUM, Peter (1891-1967)
McCALLUM, Peter (1891-1967)
Peter McCallum was born 5 July 1891, the son of John and Catherine (McDonald) McCallum, of 'The Point', Birregurra.
He was educated at Geelong College from 1906-11, and Ormond College, The University of Melbourne, where he completed fourth year Law before enlisting in the AIF as a Private on 18 May 1915, and a posting to Infantry Reinforcements. He sailed on HMAT A70 Ballarat on 18 January 1916 with 14 Battalion (14 Reinforcement Group), and spent three months in Egypt, before re-embarking for France, where he served for eleven months. He was promoted Lieutenant on 15 September 1916, and then Captain.
At First Bullecourt on 11 April 1917 he was wounded and taken prisoner of war. He was initially reported missing but had been interned initially at Lager 1 Munster 1 W after being wounded and taken prisoner at Reincourt France on 11 April 1917. His right leg was broken below the knee and he was hospitalised for 8 weeks. He spent twenty months in Germany. Bean wrote in the Official History:
'A large proportion of officers and men were shot as they made for and struggled through the openings and crossed the fifty yards space between the wire and the first trench. It is probably not far from correct to estimate that at least a quarter, possibly a third, of the whole attacking force was killed or wounded at or near the first entanglement. Some were shot and bombed on its parapet, but OG1 was seized, and before the 15th came up, the 14th was already advancing to the second trench.'
Newton Wanliss also told of McCallum’s wounding in The History of the Fourteenth Battalion.
'When about 30 yards distant from the enemy’s wire, a swing was made for the gaps, where numbers of our men fell under the deadly concentrated machine-gun fire. Those who got through were at last at grips with the enemy, and they rushed at and sprang into the trench facing them. Pockets of Germans in places disputed possession, and a fierce hand-to-hand conflict took place which was speedily decided in our favour – as ever throughout the war when it came to close quarter fighting. Our Mills bombs did deadly work in those close contests. Several prisoners were sent to the rear but they were shot down, apparently intentionally, by their own machine guns. The surviving Germans scuttled like rabbits through their own communication trenches to their second line. The first objective was ours.
D Company, owing to its exposed left flank, had suffered probably most severely of all. Platoon Sgt CH Mayer¹, on the extreme left of the Brigade, rushed through the wire, followed by about a dozen men – the sole survivors of his platoon, No 16 – and was soon severely wounded after killing a German at close quarters. Many more men were casualties before the first trench was cleared. Lieutenants J A Mitchell² and A J McQuiggan³, together with the veteran Sgt Urie4 (all of D Company) and Lieutenants Peter McCallum and O C D Gower5 (of C Company) were here severely wounded and put out of action. Four trench-mortars had been allotted to the Fourth Brigade to co-operate, but only one reached the first objective. It accompanied D Company on the extreme left. It was now about 5.15 am. In that eventful first half-hour No Man’s Land had been crossed, and the first objective taken; the work and conduct of all had been beyond praise, but the price paid had been heavy. A large proportion of the Battalion had been put out of action. The first phase of the battle was over.'
The Pegasus of May 1917 reported McCallum’s wounding:
'Peter McCallum is a prisoner of war in Germany. On 12th April (sic), a machine gun bullet passed right through his leg below the knee. He writes that he is treated well.' Not long afterwards the Advertiser reported another message: 'Mr McCallum, of The Point, Birregurra, received a post-card by this week's mail from his son, Lieut. Peter McCallum, who is a prisoner of war in Germany. He stated that they were nearly through their objective on the 12th April, when he got a machine gun bullet, which passed right through his leg below the knee. He writes cheerfully. He did not think there was any chance of his losing his limb. He would be in bed for some weeks, and then be moved to a camp near. He is brother of Mrs D McIntyre, of 'Cliveden', Aberdeen Street, an old Geelong Collegian and Ormond College student'
He was firstly interned at Karlsruhe, as reported on 1 June 1917, then moved to Strohen on 9 August 1917. The Pegasus of December 1917 reported:
'Peter McCallum writes that he is able to walk with the aid of a stick, unfortunately he has not received any letters from Australia since becoming a prisoner of war. He is in Hanover and allowed to write only two letters a month.'
He was repatriated to Ripon on 30 December 1918, then embarked for Australia on 17 February 1919, and finally was demobilised from the AIF on 15 May. His battalion’s battle honours were Somme 1916, Somme 1918, Pozieres, Bullecourt, Messines 1917, Ypres 1917, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Passchendaele, Arras 1918, Ancre 1918, Hamel, Amiens, Albert 1918, Hindenburg Line, Epehy, France and Flanders 1916-1918, ANZAC, Landing at ANZAC, Defence at ANZAC, Suvla, Sari Bair, Gallipoli 1915-1916, and Egypt 1915-1917.
He became a solicitor after the war. He died in 1967.
¹ Carl Henry Mayer, of Collingwood, returned to Australia on 12th January 1918.
² Captain John Arthur Mitchell, of Royal Park, Melbourne, later awarded the Military Cross for service at Zonnebeke on 26th September 1917.
³ Captain Arthur James McQuiggin, of Picton, NSW.
4 Archibald Urie, DCM, the son of Mr and Mrs Archibald Urie, of Arran, Scotland, died later that day as a result of his wounds, aged 34 - he has no known grave, his name is commemorated on the Villers Bretonneux Memorial, he had been awarded the DCM for service at Pozieres, Bois Grenier and Mouquet Farm in July-August 1916.
5 Captain Okto Clive Dhroslyn Gower, of Sandringham a veteran of the Anglo-Boer War, he was seriously wounded in the stomach, and held prisoner with McCallum, repatriated to England on 2nd January 1919.
Peter McCallum was born 5 July 1891, the son of John and Catherine (McDonald) McCallum, of 'The Point', Birregurra.
He was educated at Geelong College from 1906-11, and Ormond College, The University of Melbourne, where he completed fourth year Law before enlisting in the AIF as a Private on 18 May 1915, and a posting to Infantry Reinforcements. He sailed on HMAT A70 Ballarat on 18 January 1916 with 14 Battalion (14 Reinforcement Group), and spent three months in Egypt, before re-embarking for France, where he served for eleven months. He was promoted Lieutenant on 15 September 1916, and then Captain.
At First Bullecourt on 11 April 1917 he was wounded and taken prisoner of war. He was initially reported missing but had been interned initially at Lager 1 Munster 1 W after being wounded and taken prisoner at Reincourt France on 11 April 1917. His right leg was broken below the knee and he was hospitalised for 8 weeks. He spent twenty months in Germany. Bean wrote in the Official History:
'A large proportion of officers and men were shot as they made for and struggled through the openings and crossed the fifty yards space between the wire and the first trench. It is probably not far from correct to estimate that at least a quarter, possibly a third, of the whole attacking force was killed or wounded at or near the first entanglement. Some were shot and bombed on its parapet, but OG1 was seized, and before the 15th came up, the 14th was already advancing to the second trench.'
Newton Wanliss also told of McCallum’s wounding in The History of the Fourteenth Battalion.
'When about 30 yards distant from the enemy’s wire, a swing was made for the gaps, where numbers of our men fell under the deadly concentrated machine-gun fire. Those who got through were at last at grips with the enemy, and they rushed at and sprang into the trench facing them. Pockets of Germans in places disputed possession, and a fierce hand-to-hand conflict took place which was speedily decided in our favour – as ever throughout the war when it came to close quarter fighting. Our Mills bombs did deadly work in those close contests. Several prisoners were sent to the rear but they were shot down, apparently intentionally, by their own machine guns. The surviving Germans scuttled like rabbits through their own communication trenches to their second line. The first objective was ours.
D Company, owing to its exposed left flank, had suffered probably most severely of all. Platoon Sgt CH Mayer¹, on the extreme left of the Brigade, rushed through the wire, followed by about a dozen men – the sole survivors of his platoon, No 16 – and was soon severely wounded after killing a German at close quarters. Many more men were casualties before the first trench was cleared. Lieutenants J A Mitchell² and A J McQuiggan³, together with the veteran Sgt Urie4 (all of D Company) and Lieutenants Peter McCallum and O C D Gower5 (of C Company) were here severely wounded and put out of action. Four trench-mortars had been allotted to the Fourth Brigade to co-operate, but only one reached the first objective. It accompanied D Company on the extreme left. It was now about 5.15 am. In that eventful first half-hour No Man’s Land had been crossed, and the first objective taken; the work and conduct of all had been beyond praise, but the price paid had been heavy. A large proportion of the Battalion had been put out of action. The first phase of the battle was over.'
The Pegasus of May 1917 reported McCallum’s wounding:
'Peter McCallum is a prisoner of war in Germany. On 12th April (sic), a machine gun bullet passed right through his leg below the knee. He writes that he is treated well.' Not long afterwards the Advertiser reported another message: 'Mr McCallum, of The Point, Birregurra, received a post-card by this week's mail from his son, Lieut. Peter McCallum, who is a prisoner of war in Germany. He stated that they were nearly through their objective on the 12th April, when he got a machine gun bullet, which passed right through his leg below the knee. He writes cheerfully. He did not think there was any chance of his losing his limb. He would be in bed for some weeks, and then be moved to a camp near. He is brother of Mrs D McIntyre, of 'Cliveden', Aberdeen Street, an old Geelong Collegian and Ormond College student'
He was firstly interned at Karlsruhe, as reported on 1 June 1917, then moved to Strohen on 9 August 1917. The Pegasus of December 1917 reported:
'Peter McCallum writes that he is able to walk with the aid of a stick, unfortunately he has not received any letters from Australia since becoming a prisoner of war. He is in Hanover and allowed to write only two letters a month.'
He was repatriated to Ripon on 30 December 1918, then embarked for Australia on 17 February 1919, and finally was demobilised from the AIF on 15 May. His battalion’s battle honours were Somme 1916, Somme 1918, Pozieres, Bullecourt, Messines 1917, Ypres 1917, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Passchendaele, Arras 1918, Ancre 1918, Hamel, Amiens, Albert 1918, Hindenburg Line, Epehy, France and Flanders 1916-1918, ANZAC, Landing at ANZAC, Defence at ANZAC, Suvla, Sari Bair, Gallipoli 1915-1916, and Egypt 1915-1917.
He became a solicitor after the war. He died in 1967.
¹ Carl Henry Mayer, of Collingwood, returned to Australia on 12th January 1918.
² Captain John Arthur Mitchell, of Royal Park, Melbourne, later awarded the Military Cross for service at Zonnebeke on 26th September 1917.
³ Captain Arthur James McQuiggin, of Picton, NSW.
4 Archibald Urie, DCM, the son of Mr and Mrs Archibald Urie, of Arran, Scotland, died later that day as a result of his wounds, aged 34 - he has no known grave, his name is commemorated on the Villers Bretonneux Memorial, he had been awarded the DCM for service at Pozieres, Bois Grenier and Mouquet Farm in July-August 1916.
5 Captain Okto Clive Dhroslyn Gower, of Sandringham a veteran of the Anglo-Boer War, he was seriously wounded in the stomach, and held prisoner with McCallum, repatriated to England on 2nd January 1919.
Source
Geelong Advertiser 21 July 1917 p5; Geelong Collegians at the Great War compiled by James Affleck. pp.248-249 (citing The University of Melbourne: Record of Active Service of Teachers, Graduates, Undergraduates, Officers and Servants (1926); CEW Bean, The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918: Vol. IV The AIF in France 1917; Pegasus; Newton Wanliss, The History of the Fourteenth Battalion AIF: Being the story of the vicissitudes of an Australian unit during the Great War; National Archive).