Frederick Busch DCM | The Battle of the Lys 1918 – Gallantry, Loss, and the Hidden Cost of War

Описание: During a visit to a quiet cemetery in northern France, we find a place shaped by the fierce fighting of April 1918, during the German Spring Offensive known as Operation Georgette or the Battle of the Lys.

Here lies 2343A Private Frederick Busch, D.C.M. (also recorded as Bush),
9th Battalion, Australian Infantry, A.I.F.,
killed in action on 22 April 1918, aged 23.

Frederick Busch was from Maclean, New South Wales, and before the war he worked as a seaman. He enlisted in August 1915, embarking from Brisbane aboard HMAT Warilda (A69) in October 1915. His service took him first to Egypt, where the A.I.F. trained at Zeitoun and served in Alexandria, before deployment to the Western Front.

This video explores not only the fighting of the Battle of the Lys—where Australian units were thrown into desperate defensive actions to stem the German advance—but also the less often discussed realities of soldiering. Service records show that Frederick Busch, like many men of the time, suffered from venereal disease, a widespread medical issue among armies of the Great War. Such conditions frequently led to hospitalisation, loss of pay, and time away from the front, affecting manpower and morale across all armies. These experiences were common, rarely spoken about, and form part of the broader human cost of war.

Despite these hardships, Frederick Busch distinguished himself through extraordinary courage. He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for conspicuous gallantry, risking his life under enemy fire by deliberately drawing the attention of German snipers, allowing his comrades to rescue a wounded soldier who had been captured by the enemy.

His story reflects the full complexity of wartime service—training far from home, illness, fear, courage, and sacrifice. Standing at his grave today, the noise and chaos of 1918 have faded, but the ground still remembers.

This is the story of one Australian soldier, and through him, the story of many.

We remember.

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This video is a Great war Vlog as part of our Great war travels around the Western Front Battlefields & Cemeteries ,See the Great war sites as they are now and visit the cemeteries and see the stories unfold of the Great war.
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