Maurice Edward Kozminsky was born in St Kilda, Melbourne, on 14 May 1884 to Esther (née Goldberg) and Abraham Kozminsky*, manager of the Austral Hat Mill and member of St Kilda Hebrew Congregation. Maurice attended Scotch and Wesley Colleges, serving 10 years in their Cadets and Wesley’s First VIII winning crew. After Maurice matriculated, he worked in the hat manufacturing business.

Aged 31, he enlisted in the AIF at Melbourne in May 1915: No. 4649 Private Maurice Edward Kozminsky, and was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in November. He embarked from Melbourne on 7 March 1916 with the 15th Reinforcement of 7th Battalion aboard HMAT A18 Wiltshire for Alexandria, then Marseilles. Near Albert, France, on 22 July, Maurice joined D Company of the battalion, part of the 2nd Australian Infantry Brigade of the 1st Division, which included many Gallipoli veterans and was restored in preparation for the ensuing battles of the Somme.

Just one day later, they were in action at Pozières until 27 July and by mid-August, the battalion was again in the front-line, from Munster Alley towards Moquèt Farm (see attached photos). C.E.W. Bean’s Official History notes that: “… the left of the line reached the German strongpoint at the fork of the road, and some Australians entered the trench but were at once bombed out by the enemy. Lieutenant Kozminsky was shot, and died on being brought in.”

Witnesses later reported to the Red Cross that, near Pozières on 18 or 19 August: “We were digging a communication trench and had lost all our officers and [Lt. Kozminsky] came over to take their place. The second time out in No Man’s Land in the Bapaume Road he was hit by Machine Gun fire in his left side thigh and stomach and later on got one arm blown off by a shell. I helped to put him on the stretcher. / He was sent to the Clearing Station but there was not much hope for him when he left us. I may be returning to Australia in a few weeks and would be glad to meet his people if they care to see me.” Lt. Maurice Kozminsky Died of Wounds at the Detachment Special Hospital, Warloy, on 19 August 1916, aged 32. He was buried nearby in the Warloy-Baillon Communal Cemetery Extension, five miles west of Albert, Picardie, France. On 21 August, the 2nd Brigade was relieved by the 5th Brigade, having lost 915 out of a full complement of 3,750 men.

Jewish Chaplain Rev. David Freedman and 10th Bn C.O., Lt. Col. R.A. Jess, wrote to Maurice’s parents: “He had shown himself to be a brave soldier, and leader of men, possessing all the qualities which make a successful officer. Had he lived I am sure he would have won for himself much distinction.” Jess also told an ”old pal of Kos,” Captain Charles Goddard: “Kos was one of the bravest; in fact too brave.”
* Younger son, Clifford Samuel Kozminsky, a Private in the AIF Medical Corps in 1916-17, briefly served on hospital ships and returned to Australia in 1918.