36553 Lance corporal Thomas Burnett, (2/2/1896-4/9/1918). "followed farming pursuits"

 

Lance-corporal Thomas Burnett, reported died from wounds on September 4, was the second youngest son of Mr Thomas Burnett (Middlemarch). He was born and educated at Middlemarch, and afterwards followed farming pursuits up to the time he enlisted with the Twenty-first Reinforcements. He left New Zealand in January, 1917, and after training in England proceeded to France, where he was slightly wounded in June of the same year. On recovering, he again proceeded to the front, where he again received wounds, this time bringing on his death. Previous to enlisting he took a keen interest in Territorial matters.  -Otago Daily Times, 23/9/1918.

In the whole of the sweeping operations in which the Regiment had become engaged since its discovery of the first German withdrawal on the morning of August 14th, the tactics employed were almost essentially those of open warfare. Trench-to-trench fighting had suddenly given place to a war of movement. Within a month the Division had advanced to a depth of close on 20 miles. Many villages of size and a great area of country had been liberated. The whole machinery of war, the cogs of which had long been stationary, was working swiftly and with telling effect. The enemy, now withdrawing everywhere, had been thrown off his balance. On the one side, terrific artillery barrages delivered by guns massed almost wheel to wheel, the infantry, flushed with victory, exerting relentless pressure or in full pursuit, an ever-increasing toll of prisoners and enemy dead, piles of booty, and, as a spectacle never to be forgotten, a bewildering and enormous stream of men, guns, tanks, ammunition supply, transport, and all the vast essentials of a great Army, ceaselessly rolling eastward; on the other side retreat, stubborn rear-guard actions, counter-attacks to save time and artillery or in a vain endeavour to snatch back a vital position, the abandoning of guns and material, the blowing up of roads and bridges, disorganisation, and the lowering moral that comes of defeat. It was the debacle of March over again, but with the positions reversed.  -Official History of the Otago Infantry Regiment.

It was during this tumultuous period of rapid victory following near defeat that Thomas Burnett was wounded, with a gunshot wound to his abdomen.  He died in the Dressing Station of the 3rd NZ Field Ambulance. He has no known grave.

East Taieri Cemetery.