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Albert Jacka was born
Albert Jacka was born on the 10th of January 1893 in Layard Victoria, Australia. When he was five his family moved to Wedderburn where he grew up. Albert was one of seven children his Father and Mother Nathaniel and Elizabeth had. He had three sisters: Fanny, Elsie and Bettie and three brothers: Samual, Sidney and William. -
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Albert Jacka's life
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Albert Jacka in the corps
After his original enlistment papers were lost, Albert travelled to Melbourne to sign up again on 8th September 1914. He trained at Broadmeadows camp outside Melbourne and was assigned to the 14th Battalion, part of the 4th Brigade and 2nd Division of the First Australian Imperial Force. His Brigade commander was a Colonel by the name of John Monash. -
Albert goes to Egypt
On the 22nd December 1914 Albert, along with 2000 other officers and men, boarded the HMAT Ulysses bound for Alexandria, Egypt. They reached their destination on the 31st of January 1915 and marched to their desert camp just outside Heliopolis. Here they trained for the next ten weeks beneath the Sphinx and pyramids. -
Helping on the beach
On the morning of the 25th Albert left Lemnos Island on board the Seanchoon, a troop carrier with around 1200 men, which anchored off the Gallipoli peninsula. From there they watched anxiously as their mates commenced the attack. At the end of the day they witnessed part of the beach being evacuated. Volunteers were called for and at 6:30pm Albert and 30 others raised their hands to help carry the wounded from the beach. -
First great act
Jacka asked his Lieutenant down a communication trench where he asked for ten men to lobby a counter attack. He received four. The counter attack failed however the rest of the Australian soldiers proceded to throw grenades at the turks. Jack used the dust from the grenades as cover and ambushed some turks in their trench he bayoneted the first two Turks, shot five and took three prisoners. -
The Victoria Cross
Upon becoming the first Australian to be awarded the Victoria Cross, Albert became the face for recruitment campaigns to encourage Australians to go to war. He also received a gold medal and 500 pounds from businessman John Wren. -
The front lines of Pozieres
After Gallipoli the AIF was sent to fight in the Somme. On the 6th August 1916 the 4th Australian Division, consisting of the 14th Battalion, was sent to the front line outside a town called Pozieres. It had been the place of intense fighting for some weeks. -
Albert dose it again
Albert and his platoon survived a relentless bombing raid overnight, now morning he alredy sees a large number of german troops advancing towards them unaware that two lines had paces over them. He looked to see some 40 odd germans with AIF prisoners he said to his men "This is no good boys, charge!” some germans asumed he was part of a bigger force and threw down their guns but the remaining 30 or so opened fire. -
Albert dose it again #2
Albert saw a german morter team in a small dugout (4 men) while fighting and charged them he was shot three times and knocked to the ground each time when he got to the germans they surendered he killed them though because he was too tired. However after all this he was only awarded a military cross, many protested about this including Albert himself saying what he did at Pozieres was six times more demanding than what he did at Courtney’s Post in Gallipoli. -
Albert released from hospital
After his injuries had recovered from Pozieres and Albert has now been released from hospital -
Albert back in action
Albert is now rejoining the army and has been placed Captain of the 14th battalion just in time for the upcoming assault on the Hindenburg line at Bullecourt. -
Albert braves no mans land
Albert was assigned the task of intelligence officer and immediately went to work in his new role. On the 8th April he ventured into no man’s land and identified a sunken road 300 metres in front of the Army’s position which they could take unopposed. By the end of the evening all battalions in the vicinity were moved forward. This achievement alone saved many lives as the German bombardment fell on their old positions. -
All goes pear shaped
On the night of the 9th Albert ventured far out into no man’s land, enough to see the German fortifications of the Hindenburg line, the thought of anyone attacking it horrified him.The plan for Bullecourt was for the tanks to attack first and the troops would follow under their protection, however the plan started to go wrong the tanks where late which would leave the toops fully exposed. Albert protested but the assult whent on. Despite the loses he was awarded a military cross -
A heroic effort
On 9th June 1917 the 14th Battalion moved into the front line at Messines Ridge. Albert was head of D Company and upon searching the area out in front he located several German outposts. Under the cover of darkness Albert and Reg Jones (head of B Company) went out and under small arms fire took out several German outposts. The next morning Albert took out a machine gun post in Deconinck Farm and was later sniped in the leg. he was sent back to england -
Jacka's Mob #3
The rockets were entrusted to Albert’s batman (assistant), however in the advance the batman was killed. This left Albert to retrieve them from no man’s land. Being sniped regularly he received a graze to his hand and a bullet hole in his tunic. Over 48 hours had past during which time the 4th brigade had pushed through a previously impregnable German line. They held their position through several counter attacks and artillery bombardments. They were then relieved by the 45th Battalion. -
Jacka's Mob
On the morning of 26th September 1917 the 14th Battalion, commonly known as Jacka’s mob, were to participate with the rest of the 4th Brigade in the assault on Polygon Wood. Polygon Wood had been a strong hold for the Germans for some time. The battlefield was a mass of waterlogged shell holes. Albert led his men, along with the 15th and 16th battalions, The men reached their objective, the blue line which was a small road in front of the German lines. -
Jacka's Mob #2
Albert thought there was a good chance that the German artillery would be trained on this position and after calling a meeting of company officers he moved the line 50 metres forward. This proved to be the correct decision as later on that evening the old position was heavily bombarded.The Germans commenced several counter attacks. Each time Albert sent up SOS rockets and an accurate bombardment was trained on the Germans. -
End of the war
On the 15th May 1918 the 14th Battalion occupied the front lines just north of Villers Bretonneux where they were heavily shelled with gas. The gas got into Albert’s lungs and it also seeped through the cracks of his old wounds. He was once again transferred to England for two major operations to reseal his old wounds. He wasn’t released until the 19th August 1918. -
End of the war #2
Jacka was released from hospital and shortly after Albert applied to go back to his beloved 14th Battalion however it was declined because he was seen unfit for duty. His fighting days were over. When the Germans signed the Armistice in November 1918, Albert could have been one of the first to be transported back to Australia however he decided to stay in England. He returned to Australia in September 1919 after touring Europe -
Albert for mayor
In September 1929 Albert was elected Mayor of St Kilda. He guided the towns people through the beginning of the great depression which resulted in him losing his own business and also his marriage. Despite this difficult time he always helped the people of St Kilda before himself. -
R.I.P. Albert Jacka
After a council meeting on 14th December 1931 he collapsed. The strain of the last couple of years and his old war wounds had taken their toll. Albert sadly passed away on the 17th January 1932 at the age of 39. The diagnosis was nephritis.
