Battlefield Grave Cross - Lieutenant Hugh Russel MC

This Memorial Cross to Lieutenant Hugh Russel is one of only a handful of original World War One grave markers returned from the Western Front. The cross originally marked his grave in the war graves extension to Hersin Communal Cemetery. After the Armistice on 11 November 1918, grave markers were standardised and eventually replaced with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone. As a mark of respect for a valued "mate", the members of Hugh Russel's Tunnelling Company retrieved his original battlefield grave marker and returned it to his wife in Perth in 1919. Hugh Russel was born at Highgate, London, England on 11 March 1873. After emigration to Australia he undertook exploration and survey work and qualified as a Land Surveyor. Hugh was a 42-year-old Surveyor and Mine Manager of Perth, Western Australia, when he enlisted in 1916.

The 6th Tunnelling Company was being formed in West Australia and 2nd Lieutenant H Russel transferred from the Pioneers on April 1st 1916. He embarked from Fremantle, Western Australia on board HMAT A69 Warilda on 1 June and arrived in England on 18 July 1916. Most of the 6th Company proceeded overseas to France on 28 August 1916. On 25 September 1916, the 6th Tunnelling Company was absorbed into the 3rd Australian Tunnelling Company.

Lieut. Russel’s war history is largely associated with the operations on HILL 70 and the underground protection of the front line on the HULLOCH-LOOS-MAROC Sector. This line traversed the Western slope of HILL 70, which was the main enemy position opposite the front. The enemy was trying to force Allied troops further down the slope of the Hill by mining During several months of stiff underground fighting, Lieut. Russel was wounded on three occasions. By July 1917, the Germans were driven back under their own line and the whole of his HILL 70 mining system had been captured. Lieutenant Hugh Russel was recommended for the Military Cross on 30 September 1917 by the Brigadier General, Chief Engineer, I Corps.

On 22 January 1918 Lieutenant Russel was wounded in Hythe Alley at Loos and died of his wounds on 23 January. He was undertaking survey work at a theodolite when a shell exploded nearby. His assistant, 5001 Sapper J Cardin, was killed outright. The theodolite is now at the Australian War Memorial. Lieutenant Russel and Sapper Cardin are buried at Hersin Communal Cemetery Extension, France. This burial place was used from March 1916 until October 1918. and contains 224 Commonwealth burials of the First World War; many of the graves are of engineers, mostly from tunnelling companies.