William Brining

Alias William Bertul Brining
Born 1886
Place Riga, Latvia
Ethnic origin Latvian
Religion Lutheran
Mother Anna Brining
Arrived at Australia from South America
on Ca 1917
Residence before enlistment Newcastle, NSW
Occupation Seaman / labourer
Naturalisation Served as Russian subject

Service #1

Service number 3254A
Enlisted 18.04.1917
Place of enlistment Newcastle, NSW
Unit 36th Battalion, 34th Battalion
Rank Private
Place Western Front, 1918
Final fate KIA 31.08.1918
Cemetery 511 Peronne Communal Cemetery Extension, France

Materials

Blog article

Russian

English

From Russian Anzacs in Australian History:

The sudden charge on Mont St Quentin on 31 August [1918] by several battalions of the 2nd Division (by now some battalions had only 300 men fit to fight) took the Germans by surprise, and many fled or were surrounded. But the Australians had many casualties, too. Among the fallen were three former seaman: Jack Aloe, who had failed in his bid to be granted naturalisation on the eve of his enlistment, William Brining, and Jacob Leffow. The last to arrive in Australia, the last to enlist -- there is probably some reasonable explanation that accounts for the high rate of casualties among seamen in these last weeks of the war. And yet the fate of these vagabonds dying on the crippled earth seems especially tragic.

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