page_title: Maurice Wilder-Neligan
section_title: Gallipoli campaign
hierarchical_section_title: Maurice Wilder-Neligan / World War I / Gallipoli campaign
caption_attribution_description: English: Captain Reginald MacDougall Bowman, Australian Army Medical Corps (AAMC), visiting some 9th Battalion officers in a support trench. Left to right: Captain J. M. Dougall, Lieutenant M. Wilder-Neligan (later Lieutenant Colonel CMG DSO DCM, Commanding Officer of the 10th Battalion), Captain Bowman and Captain E.C.P. Plant (9th Battalion adjutant and later Major General DSO OBE, Commanding Officer of the NSW Lines of Communication Area in WW2).
context_page_description: Lieutenant Colonel Maurice Wilder-Neligan, CMG, DSO & Bar, DCM, born Maurice Neligan, was an Australian soldier who commanded the South Australian-raised 10th Battalion during the latter stages of World War I. Raised and educated in the United Kingdom, he was briefly a soldier with the Royal Horse Artillery in London, after which he travelled to Australia where he worked in Queensland. He enlisted as a private in the Australian Imperial Force on 20 August 1914 at Townsville, under the name Maurice Wilder, giving Auckland, New Zealand, as his place of birth. A sergeant in the 9th Battalion by the time of the Gallipoli landings of April 1915, he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, the second highest award for acts of gallantry by other ranks. He was quickly commissioned, reaching the rank of temporary captain before the end of the Gallipoli campaign. During his time at Gallipoli he was wounded once, and formally changed his name to Wilder-Neligan.
context_section_description: After completing training, the 3rd Brigade was designated as the covering force for the landing at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, on 25 April 1915, and so was the first brigade ashore about 4:30 am. By 9:00 am, Wilder was performing the role of battalion adjutant, assisting the acting commanding officer to organise and direct the unit. The day after the landing, Wilder's actions resulted in the award of the Distinguished Conduct Medal, the second highest award for acts of gallantry by other ranks. The citation read: 
  For conspicuous gallantry on 26 April 1915, near Gaba Tepe. Assisted by another non-commissioned officer, who was subsequently killed, he carried a wounded man into a place of safety under very heavy fire. Later on he was instrumental in collecting stragglers, who he led back into the firing-line.
  Owing to officer casualties, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant three days after the landing. Along with the rest of the 3rd Brigade, the 9th Battalion was closely engaged in establishing and defending the Anzac beachhead during the ensuing months, rotating between the various posts and trenches.
  During the heavy Turkish counter-attack of 19 May, Wilder showed "capacity to command at a difficult moment". On the night of 27 May, he commanded a raid by 63 soldiers of the battalion on a Turkish position south of the Anzac perimeter near Gaba Tepe. The destroyer HMS Rattlesnake used its searchlight to pinpoint the trench to be attacked, then pounded it with twenty rounds of high explosive and shrapnel from its guns. Wilder then led his force quickly up the hill towards the Turkish position, and using only the bayonet, they killed six, captured one, and returned to the Australian lines without suffering casualties. According to his biographer, Alec Hill, the success of the raid was ensured by his meticulous planning. He was wounded in early June and evacuated to Egypt, but discharged himself from hospital and returned to his unit by early August, when he was promoted to lieutenant. In the same month, he was mentioned in despatches for the first time.
  In mid-September he was formally appointed as unit adjutant, swiftly followed by a temporary promotion to captain. He formally changed his name to Wilder-Neligan in October, and remained at Anzac until November, after which the battalion was evacuated to Egypt. During its time in Egypt, the 9th Battalion was stationed for a period on the front line in the desert near the Suez Canal. On one occasion, an Ottoman patrol was seen, and the adventurous Wilder-Neligan asked to be allowed to take out a patrol on camels to cut them off. With certain restrictions, this was permitted, but no contact with the enemy occurred. In March 1916, he relinquished his post of adjutant, and was substantively promoted to captain before the battalion left Alexandria for France and the Western Front at the end of the month.
caption: Wilder (second from left) with officers of the 9th Battalion at Gallipoli
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