Frank Reinhardt Fischer (1888 - 1918)

Ancestors

Biography

Frank Reinhardt Fischer was born on 13th January 1888 in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. He was the fifth of six children of Hugo Fischer and Annie Clausen.^[1] Frank trained as an accountant.

He served in the Australian Imperial Force during the First World War. On 13th December 1915 he enlisted with the Australian Imperial Force. Frank attended an officer’s short course from April to June 1916, but in October his appointment as Second Lieutenant was terminated. He re-enlisted on 30th January 1917^[2] and was posted as a Second Lieutenant to the 6th Australian Infantry Battalion.^[3] He embarked on 4th August 1917 from Melbourne aboard the troopship Themistocles; disembarking in October at Glasgow, Scotland.^[4] In Great Britain he underwent further officer’s training. While in England he was able to meet up with his sister, emerging opera star Elsa Stralia.

On 28th December he joined the 6th Battalion in the trenches of Belgium. He wrote home, in January, that he had been sopping wet for three days and had been six days without changing his clothes, with a further three to go. He said that he admired the toughness and resilience of the Australian soldiers in these conditions. In February 1918, he managed a week’s leave in Paris, and was promoted to Lieutenant. In March and April, the Battalion helped halt the German spring offensive and later participated in the allies’ own offensive, launched near Amiens on 8 August 1918. On 10th August 1918 at Lihons near Villers-Bretonneux, he was seen shot in the head and killed instantly during the advance of the 2nd Infantry Brigade. He was buried at Bayonvillers British Cemetery near Corbie but was reinterred, along with 36 other Australian soldiers, at Heath Cemetery in Picardie, France, in April 1920.^[5] Frank Reinhardt Fischer's name is located at panel 46 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ South Australia Birth Index #411/63 1888
2. ↑ Australian_War_Memorial_Nominal_roll:_Frank_Fischer; accessed 29 Jun 2018
3. ↑ Australian_War_Memorial_Unit_record:_6th_Australian_Infantry_Battalion; accessed 29 Jun 2018
4. ↑ Australian_War_Memorial_Embarkation_roll:_Lieutenant_Frank_Reinhardt_Fischer; accessed 29 Jun 2018
5. ↑ Australian_War_Memorial_Roll_of_Honour:_Lieutenant_Frank_Reinhardt_Fischer; accessed 29 Jun 2018
6. ↑ Australian_War_Memorial_Roll_of_Honour:_Frank_Fischer; accessed 29 Jun 2018