NAME:  Sydney August LIEBE                                                                                     

SERVICE NO:  1584

YEAR OF BIRTH: 1896

PLACE OF BIRTH:  Hamilton

DATE OF ENLISTMENT: 13 January 1915

PLACE OF ENLISTMENT:  Hamilton

AGE AT ENLISTMENT:  18

UNIT: 21st Battalion

EMBARKED:  28 June 1915

TROOP SHIP:  HMAT A35 Berrima

FATE:  Killed in Action – Mouquet Farm, France- 26 August 1916

Sydney August Liebe was born in Hamilton in 1896, a son of Wilhelm “William” Freidrich Liebe and  Hannah Adelaide Shearing.  William worked as a drover, and in the years before Sydney’s enlistment, the family lived in Brown, Cox, and Lonsdale Streets.  Sydney attended Hamilton State School. On 21 August 1907, Wilhelm, then aged forty-nine, was imprisoned for six months at Pentridge Prison with hard labour, for sheep stealing. He pleaded for leniency, stating he took the sheep to feed his wife and seven children. Around 1909, Wilhelm left the family home, and he and Hannah remained estranged. When Sydney left school, he worked as a blacksmith.  He was also a member of the local Citizen Forces.

On 13 January 1915, Sydney Liebe enlisted and left for overseas on 28 June with the 21st Battalion. He was just eighteen and on his way to Egypt, followed by Gallipoli.  He arrived at Gallipoli on 29 August and remained there until the evacuation, followed by time on Moudros.  By then, it was January 1916, and back in Hamilton, Sydney’s brother George had enlisted with the 58th Battalion.

During March 1916, Sydney left Egypt with the 21st Battalion for France, arriving on 26 March.  By 26 August, the 21st Battalion was at Mouquet Farm, having endured heavy fighting with more to come.  It was recorded in the 21st Battalion unit diary that 134 men from the battalion went missing from 22 August to 26 August. One was Sydney Liebe.

On 14 October 1916, the Hamilton Spectator reported that Sydney was missing.  On 1 May 1917, George Liebe wrote a letter from the field to the Defence Department.  He said some of his mates had told him Sydney was taken prisoner.  Some also wrote to Hannah Liebe and told her Sydney was a prisoner of war.  George thought Sydney was dead. However, because of anecdotal reports of large numbers of the 21st Battalion taken prisoner, it was worth asking.  The reply to George stated there was no record of Sydney having been taken prisoner, and he was still considered missing.  Sydney was never found, and his records show he was killed in action on 26 August 1916.

Sydney was remembered on the Hamilton War Memorial and the Borough of Hamilton Honour Roll.

 

ONLINE RESOURCES

Australian War Memorial – 21st Battalion

Australian War Memorial – 21st Battalion Unit Diary

Australian War Memorial – Red Cross Missing and Wounded Files – Sydney August Liebe

Australian War Memorial – Roll of Honour – Sydney August Liebe

Australian War Memorial- WW1 Embarkation Roll – Sydney August Liebe

Commonwealth War Graves Commission – Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, France – Sydney August Liebe

National Archives of Australia – WW1 Service Record -Sydney August Liebe

Newspaper Articles from Trove –  Sydney August Liebe

The AIF Project – Sydney August Liebe