Early Life and Family
Frederick Cecil Vidler was born at Berry, on the south coast of New South Wales, on 13 March 1892. He was the son of Frederick Ashley Vidler and Jane Haydon, later recorded as Jane Vidler, and his family home was at Chillingham, near Murwillumbah in northern New South Wales. [1][2]
Before the war Vidler worked as a labourer. His attestation described him as British-born, unmarried and without children, and recorded no previous military service. At the age of twenty-four he belonged to the generation of Australian men whose civilian working lives were interrupted by enlistment during the later years of the Great War. [1]
The available family record is concise, but it establishes the places most closely associated with him: Berry, his birthplace; Chillingham, his parental home; and Brisbane, where he enlisted. These distant New South Wales communities were connected by his war service to the shattered ground around Passchendaele in Belgium. [3][1]
Frederick Cecil Vidler was a labourer from New South Wales who died in the mud and artillery fire of the Passchendaele offensive, aged twenty-six.
Enlistment and Service
Vidler enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at Brisbane on 23 November 1916. His attestation recorded that he was twenty-four years and seven months old, gave his occupation as labourer, and named his father, Frederick Ashley Vidler of Chillingham, as his next of kin. [3][1]
He agreed to the required inoculations against smallpox and enteric fever and signed his willingness to serve in the Military Forces of the Commonwealth of Australia. Assigned to the 9th Reinforcements of the 47th Battalion, Australian Infantry, AIF, he received service number 3502. A discrepancy within the transcribed notes gives the number once as 3500, but the official casualty and commemorative records consistently identify him as Private 3502. [2][4][1]
Private Vidler’s short service culminated in Belgium during the autumn of 1917. He was killed in action on 12 October 1917 while serving with the 47th Battalion, one of the battalions committed to the unsuccessful Australian attack towards Passchendaele village. [4][2][1]
The 47th Battalion
The 47th Battalion was an Australian Imperial Force infantry battalion formed in Egypt in 1916 from Gallipoli veterans and reinforcements. It served in the 12th Brigade of the 4th Australian Division and fought on the Western Front in France and Belgium. [5]
Before Vidler joined the unit, the 47th Battalion had fought at Pozières and Mouquet Farm on the Somme, at Bullecourt, and at Messines. In 1917 it moved into the Ypres sector for the Third Battle of Ypres, participating in the later operations around Polygon Wood, Broodseinde and Passchendaele. [6][5]
The battalion’s role in October 1917 placed it among forces tasked with attacking the German-held Passchendaele Ridge. The offensive sought to gain the high ground east of Ypres and, in wider strategic terms, to press the German army back from the Flanders coast. Yet the battlefield was dominated by ruined woodland, shattered drainage systems, water-filled shell holes and an increasingly impassable sea of mud. [7][6]
The Road to Passchendaele
The Australian divisions entered the Third Battle of Ypres on 20 September 1917 at the Battle of Menin Road. Their advance, followed by fighting around Polygon Wood and Broodseinde, gained important ground at a high cost. In little more than a week of the systematic September attacks, Australian casualties approached 11,000. [6]
The success at Broodseinde on 4 October was followed by sustained rain. The ground deteriorated rapidly, artillery pieces became difficult to move and ammunition supply faltered. The attack on 9 October failed to achieve its intended advance, and the renewed operation planned for 12 October required exhausted troops to cross ground that had been pulverised by shellfire and transformed into mud. [8][6]
On 11 October the 47th Battalion received orders to attack Passchendaele Ridge. The men began moving about midnight through Zonnebeke and across country already devastated by the preceding battle. Heavy shelling struck their positions, with signallers, runners and scouts especially affected, disrupting the battalion’s communications before its assault could properly begin. [9]
The Attack of 12 October
The battle of 12 October 1917, often called the First Battle of Passchendaele, was a further attempt to secure the ridge and village of Passchendaele. The 3rd Australian Division led the Australian effort, assisted by elements of the 4th Australian Division, alongside the New Zealand Division. [10][8]
On the night of 12 October, Vidler moved forward with his company towards the front line. The available local account states that the men came under heavy German artillery fire during the move. This accords with the wider operational picture: infantry struggled across flooded craters and deep mud, lacked shelter, and found it difficult to maintain the pace required to follow the protective artillery barrage. [11][7][6]
The attack produced temporary local gains but could not hold them. German defenders retained strong positions and brought artillery and machine-gun fire to bear on the advancing troops. As casualties mounted in appalling conditions, the Australian forces were compelled to withdraw. The attack was called off the following day, leaving numerous dead, wounded and missing across the battlefield. [8][11][6]
At Passchendaele, the 47th Battalion fought across flooded shell holes and deep mud under heavy German fire; the ground gained could not be held.
Circumstances of Death
Private Frederick Cecil Vidler was killed in action on 12 October 1917, aged twenty-six. His unit was the 47th Battalion, Australian Infantry, AIF, and the official casualty record confirms both his date of death and his service number, 3502. [2][4][1]
The initial uncertainty surrounding Vidler’s fate illustrates the confusion of the battlefield. He was first reported wounded, but no further detail was immediately available; his father was advised in December 1917, some seven weeks after the action. Vidler was subsequently listed as missing in action while enquiries continued. [7][11]
A military inquest conducted by the commanding officer of the 47th Battalion on 22 March 1918 concluded that Vidler had been killed in action on 12 October 1917. The surviving evidence records a field burial approximately 1,000 yards south-west of Passchendaele and 1,000 yards north-east of Zonnebeke. It does not establish the exact mechanism of his death, and it is therefore most accurate to place it within the artillery-swept movement to the front line and the battalion’s wider Passchendaele operation. [11][7]
Burial and Commemoration
Vidler’s remains were later identified and reinterred in Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood, where he lies in Grave V.C.18. In September 1920 the Imperial War Graves Commission informed his parents that his remains had been identified and invited them to choose a personal inscription or symbol for his headstone. [1][2][11]
Buttes New British Cemetery stands within the former Polygon Wood battlefield near Zonnebeke. The cemetery is a fitting, though far distant, place of commemoration for a man from rural New South Wales who died during the final Australian assault of the 12 October battle. [12][1]
He is also commemorated through the Australian War Memorial’s Roll of Honour. The official record preserves his name, rank, unit, service number, death date and the fact that he died in Belgium with the 47th Australian Infantry Battalion. [4]
Legacy
Frederick Cecil Vidler left no wife or children, but his loss was keenly felt by his parents, Frederick Ashley and Jane Vidler, at Chillingham. His death connected a family rooted in the New South Wales districts of Berry and Murwillumbah with one of the most infamous battlefields of the Great War. [1]
His story also represents the experience of later AIF reinforcements: civilian workers who enlisted in 1916, trained for overseas service, and arrived in Europe in time to be committed to the bitter final stages of the 1917 Flanders offensive. Vidler’s service was brief, but his death occurred in an operation whose terrible conditions became synonymous with Passchendaele. [6][1]
Today his named grave at Buttes New British Cemetery offers a specific place of remembrance. It stands in contrast to the many Australians who disappeared on the Passchendaele battlefield and whose remains were never recovered or identified. [11][6]
Sources and Further Reading
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Private Frederick Cecil Vidler.
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood.
- Australian War Memorial: Private Frederick Cecil Vidler.
- Australian War Memorial: 47th Australian Infantry Battalion.
- Anzac Portal: Third Battle of Ypres, 1917.
- Australian War Memorial: Battle of Passchendaele (Third Ypres).
- Virtual War Memorial Australia: Frederick Cecil Vidler.
- Find a Grave: Private Frederick Cecil Vidler.
- Ancestry: Australian Imperial Force service records and family-history sources cited in the individual report.
Sources
[1] Individual-Report-for-Frederick-Cecil-Vidler.pdf https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/attachments/141549598/8ea1bd97-302c-4e84-9e64-4e89a1f5c21a/Individual-Report-for-Frederick-Cecil-Vidler.pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Checksum-Mode=ENABLED&X-Amz-Credential=ASIA2F3EMEYEYP2DPCSK%2F20261012%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20261012T201421Z&X-Amz-Expires=1317&X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjEMT%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FwEaCXVzLWVhc3QtMSJHMEUCIQDUsZxxXbQlMQV0qEevF%2B%2FuXpATnAq%2BZ5rLBbMDVGkpTQIgZQYqLoLaEbuJl62p7OZShPjKNUoWdqFaS5rI6Ildi8MqiQUIjP%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FARABGgw2OTk3NTMzMDk3MDUiDAPOjaPFVxxT%2BF%2BsnyrdBLxh55pSBRj7AHhXHV8Pj4yvZ5Us2riX9NhVHi1wuzXooZUR%2BXRH5mWyxd5r9Pzi7TVNU0PyTjLwFUNMUm28JHHfLvqi%2Fe%2Fr0Mii3RQUuC79PODB8oXUaVzpTIxmltn5c5pUQu6gBUt7TuCBP2ySCCXn6nn2NBxprBQGPjEkcTGvdK%2FE2NQpWOB%2F80mVTD3G%2BRJko7rUC30JdJIhZ%2FjFpcccW4gl8VeIIbtap%2BWArO%2FaG8tMPCeAt%2BHwuwvvb58W72neq%2F5JtmYT5fc0LRRiVyacOwoeaFxoagshH3RwY2pT5zsgsC8dRosyWhQI1YQkxUo68MeBASNZnWrTrxn3Fd7WjjEWJ99lgNJW9wdiNgWbCLHKW9t2LVc4PSBfoX7Xe96rlo8mOGgC8D8n1a%2BurVtQs2YU3N7hq0u31dXgcfNycPbLY%2Fl1kBJ0RW%2BoIA6A3ZxKzHz4hULk5mtfg8L3%2BLm2xeN2LCz7Oe9HR667MnigiFX9U1LdxS4DiwLxnewrxFYc7ei8b1Rz6dfM7ImO7LdD6QXaOw9umxcP%2BCDJyJ1Pqyfwp25dZuP5v9FzcZqsrbQcTV86ME%2F1nV9VonOxiTWI6hzFao%2FvCIcKC71QuMesCm6Jn%2Fj1F8Wq%2BtduCtTSzpnO5dekMCUM3TDzEkhAVjrPwEoG9hSRPzcSgAODXFstkDqiAXUT7Z7x5LFjFQkyOO4Lb6WdHGoags2mdEHu%2Fb6fx529eAcuHbnHIeE2c8kMH6OlUh8P563WVw5dkShids1SiU545Dj7jrGFtZV%2Bntkhun60zeEs%2FNBY6T9%2BMO%2FttNYGOpgBfDf65mvRL9IBiqLvr%2FfN9Jz5xxy4a7plNCdvCUT6XjmqhbX9NQQ2SgyU9JNqN4JyYjVK6ZZXN20WSa%2FawTAgyfL6XfHcPzhW0dCMJsgypMeR31Wkjc5pNyrDBjhtZakuxLccZtBcoHeCOLzVXm0u3Y8xo87AnuXNkyIM05b9Vs3txCF7QstA1vhJ9hvLLtubz%2BIufCsKRFA%3D&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-id=GetObject&X-Amz-Signature=4ddbf936a670baf37c41f01c88311d889f8cbda615456a183d24f4bb1c3c905f
[2] Private Frederick Cecil Vidler | War Casualty Details 480483 | CWGC https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/480483/frederick-cecil-vidler/
[3] VIDLER, Frederick Cecil – Virtual War Memorial https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/84502
[4] Private Frederick Cecil Vidler | Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P10273463
[5] 47th Australian Infantry Battalion – Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U51487
[6] Battle of Passchendaele (Third Ypres) – Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/blog/battle-of-passchendaele-third-ypres
[7] 47th Battalion – Nola Mackey – Family History https://nolamackey.wordpress.com/tag/47th-battalion/
[8] Third Battle of Ypres 31 July to 10 November 1917 – Anzac Portal https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/wars-and-missions/ww1/where-australians-served/western-front/third-battle-of-ypres
[9] Rufus Cooper and Arthur Rabnott, 47th Battalion | Stories https://www.anzacsquare.qld.gov.au/stories/rufus-cooper-and-arthur-rabnott-47th-battalion
[10] First Battle of Passchendaele – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Passchendaele
[11] World War I Family Hero- Frederick Cecil Vidler | Nola Mackey https://nolamackey.wordpress.com/2015/04/25/world-war-i-family-hero-frederick-cecil-vidler/
[12] Soldier Profile Private Frederick cecil Vidler – Everyone Remembered https://www.everyoneremembered.org/profiles/soldier/480483/
[13] Explore and Commemorate Australian soldiers and https://vwma.org.au/explore/people?history_events.unit_id=168&memorial_people.memorial_id=1797&page=2&t=1661238128937
[14] Passchendaele – the muddy, bloody WWI battle where many of the dead were never found https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/people/passchendaele-the-muddy-bloody-wwi-battle-where-many-of-the-dead-were-never-found-9274618
[15] William Thomas Cowen – Passchendaele archives https://archives.passchendaele.be/en/soldier/1417
[16] The Passchendaele offensive https://www.passchendaelesociety.org/the-passchendaele-offensive