Image courtesy Australian War Memorial.
When a man turns 40, it’s time to get serious about two things: learning how to smoke meat and the history of World War I and World War II.
While the smoked meats satiate our hunger pangs, war history satisfies our need of watching brave men going into battle. When surfing channels, for some reason, we can’t click past actual old, grainy film footage of battles past. Perhaps it’s a time warp of sorts, remembering when we were full of piss and vinegar, feeling invincible, ourselves.
I’ll admit one of my newfound hobbies of late is searching YouTube for something interesting to watch, as my satellite dish, with its hundreds of channels, fails to capture my attention anymore.
While surfing YouTube, what once bored me now grabs my attention: stories about brave men or units performing near-miraculous feats in battle. Common theatres include WWI and WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.
Image courtesy Australian War Memorial.
Waltzing Matilda
The latest story to enthrall me is about a young Australian farmer. William “Billy” Sing was born in 1886 to an English mother and a Chinese father. He grew up in Clermont and Proserpine, in rural Queensland, with his two sisters. Life was tough, and from a young age, Billy helped his parents with their market garden and milk deliveries.
Growing up, like most farm boys everywhere, Billy learned to become a talented horse rider and skilled shooter. His shooting skills were honed from daily stalking and shooting of nuisance kangaroos and wallabies for government bounty.
Young Billy learned that keeping ammunition costs to a minimum increased profit, providing inspiration for skilled, accurate shooting. Skills he carried into his military service, saving hundreds of men.
When the war of wars broke out in 1914, Billy was eager to sign up. As one of the first men to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force, Billy was not subjected to the same degree of prejudicial recruiting of non-white Australians and was promptly accepted into the 5th Light Horse Regiment. He was sent to Egypt in December 1914 followed by Gallipoli in May 1915.
Image courtesy Australian War Memorial.
Natural Shooter
In Gallipoli, Billy quickly earned the nickname “the Murderer” or “the Assassin” for his skill as a sniper. Turkish snipers hiding in the elevated, rocky terrain pinned down Billy’s comrades for days at a time. They’d pick them off, one by one, as his comrades peeked over their trench to see if the coast was clear or while leaving the trench confines to relieve themselves.
Billy had enough! He decided he would hunt the snipers the way he hunted kangaroos back home. After all, the terrain was the same. Under the cover of darkness, Billy constructed blinds using available stones and stacked them.
Then he wove shrubs and grasses into the gaps, brilliantly camouflaging his sniper’s hide. Billy’s eyes were used to spotting and picking out targets hidden amongst the rocky terrain, like it was, back home.
Billy, ever patient, waited for hours on end for enemy snipers to appear. As a skilled marksman, he had no problem hitting the snipers out to 400 meters once he spotted them with his iron-sighted standard-issue short magazine Lee-Enfield (SMLE) No.1 Mark III rifle chambered in .303 British. He was very successful in his one-man defiance against the Turkish snipers.
After several weeks of Billy’s punishing, accurate sniper fire, the Turks withdrew, falling back 200 meters because of his accurate and deadly onslaught. Officially, there are 150 kills attributed to Billy. Though his spotters said it was more like 200, and the command staff estimated the realistic number was more like 300.
Image courtesy Australian War Memorial.
Testimonial
Fellow soldier Ion Idriess described Billy as, “a little chap, very dark, with a jet-black moustache and a goatee beard. A picturesque-looking mankiller. He is the crack sniper of the Anzacs.”
Every morning in the darkness before dawn, Billy would find a place to hide and watch over the Turkish soldiers in their trenches.
Waiting patiently with a “spotter”, usually Tom Sheehan or Ion Idriess, he would wait for an enemy soldier to come into view. To avoid becoming a target of the Turkish snipers, the Australians would stay in their position until nightfall. The ANZAC war diary for 23 October 1915 states:
“Our premier sniper, Trooper Sing, 2nd L.H., yesterday accounted for his 199th Turk. Every one of this record is vouched for by an independent observer, frequently an officer who observes through a telescope.”
Billy’s fame spread beyond the soldiers at Gallipoli, and his tally was written about in the Australian, British and American press.
The Turkish Army was also aware of Billy’s reputation, bringing in their own crack shot, a man known to the Australians as “Abdul the Terrible.”
It’s thought Abdul came close to fulfilling his mission. In August 1915, a single bullet, fired from the Turkish side, passed through Sheehan’s telescope and through his hands, mouth, and cheek before hitting Billy in the shoulder.
Later, it was Billy who shot and killed Abdul. The Turkish army immediately retaliated, aiming its heavy artillery at Billy’s hiding position and destroying it. Fortunately for the Australian sniper and his spotter, they had already evacuated to their unit trenches.
For his efforts in Gallipoli, Billy was mentioned in dispatches by General Sir Ian Hamilton and awarded the British Distinguished Conduct Medal in 1916 for: “Conspicuous gallantry from May to September 1915 at Anzac as a sniper. His courage and skill were most marked, and he was responsible for a very large number of casualties among the enemy, no risk being too great for him to take.”
The Australian soldiers were evacuated from Gallipoli in December 1915, and Billy was sent first for training in England and then to fight in France with the 31st Battalion.
In 1917, he was recommended but not awarded the Military Medal for his actions leading an anti-sniper fighting patrol at Polygon Wood, in Belgium.
He was again mentioned in dispatches for gallantry, this time by General Birdwood, Commander of I ANZAC Corps, and in 1918, was awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre.
Billy’s health suffered during his service, and he was frequently hospitalized to treat ailments ranging from serious infections to influenza. He was wounded numerous times, once with a gunshot to the leg, which caused him problems for years.
Billy returned to Australia in July 1918 as a submarine guard on board the troopship SS Boonah. Shortly after, he was permanently discharged as being unfit for duty due to ongoing chest problems. He returned to Proserpine, Queensland, to a hero’s welcome, which included the presentation of a purse of sovereigns from well-wishers.
Image courtesy Australian War Memorial.
Early Ending
In 1942, Billy moved to Brisbane to be near his sister, Beatrice. A year later, he died of heart failure at the age of 57 and was buried at Lutwyche Cemetery in Brisbane. There was no sign of his war medals or awards.
His headstone highlights his skills as a sniper:
“His incredible accuracy contributed greatly to the preservation of the lives of those with whom he served during a war always remembered for countless acts of valor and tragic carnage.”
I have much respect and admiration for men like William “Billy” Sing. Cheers to all the great fighting men like him.