Bill Kibby

William Henry Kibby, born on 15 April 1903 in Winlaton, County Durham, spent his youth in northern England before his family migrated to Adelaide, South Australia, in early 1914. Educated at Mitcham Public School, he entered the plastering trade, mastering decorative moulding and architectural fibrous plastering at the Perfection Fibrous Plaster Works in Edwardstown. In 1926 he married Mabel Sarah Bidmead Morgan, settling in Helmsdale to raise two daughters. Kibby combined a quiet, artistic disposition—evidenced by his watercolour painting, sketches, and gardening—with physical robustness as an assistant scoutmaster handling lifeboats for the 2nd Glenelg Sea Scouts. In 1936 he enlisted in the part-time Militia, serving four years with the 48th Field Battery, Royal Australian Artillery, where he developed a disciplined command of weapons handling and field craft.

Following the outbreak of the Second World War, Kibby enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force on 29 June 1940, receiving the service number SX7089. Appointed to the 2/48th Infantry Battalion, his prior service brought rapid promotions to acting corporal and acting sergeant, before confirmation in the rank of sergeant on 17 November 1940, just prior to sailing aboard HMT Stratheden. His operational debut suffered an immediate setback in Palestine when, on New Year’s Eve 1940, he sustained a compound leg fracture in an unlit slit trench. Kibby endured over a year of hospitalisation and rehabilitation, during which he produced dozens of landscape drawings, before completing rigorous small-arms training and rejoining his unit in northern Syria in February 1942. Deployed to Egypt that June to stem the Axis advance toward the Nile Delta, Kibby served in the front line during the First Battle of El Alamein in July, participating in fierce actions around Tel el Eisa and the Makh Khad Ridge.

Kibby performed the actions that brought him the Victoria Cross during the intense fighting of the Second Battle of El Alamein between 23 and 31 October 1942. When the offensive opened against Miteiriya Ridge on the night of 23 October, hostile fire killed his platoon commander. Taking command of No. 17 Platoon, Kibby charged forward with his Thompson submachine gun, silencing an enemy position, killing three defenders, and taking twelve prisoners to clear his company's advance. Over the subsequent days at Trig 29, under repeated artillery bombardment and armoured counter-attacks, he moved from section to section directing defensive fire and repeatedly went into the open to repair shattered field telephone wires. During the night of 30–31 October, as the battalion pressed toward Ring Contour 25, No. 17 Platoon was swept by machine-gun fire. With the advance stalling and his platoon shattered, Kibby advanced alone against the final enemy machine-gun nest, hurling grenades at point-blank range until a fatal burst of automatic fire killed him. Buried initially by enemy forces, his remains were later recovered by comrades of his unit and reinterred at El Alamein War Cemetery.

His posthumous Victoria Cross was gazetted in The London Gazette on 28 January 1943. The official citation reads verbatim:

"During the initial attack at Miteiriya Ridge on the 23rd October, 1942, the Commander of No. 17 Platoon, to which Sergeant Kibby belonged, was killed. No sooner had Sergeant Kibby assumed command, than his Platoon was ordered to attack strong enemy positions holding up the advance of his Company. Sergeant Kibby immediately realised the necessity for quick decisive action, and without thought for his personal safety he dashed forward towards the enemy posts firing his Tommy-gun. This rapid and courageous individual action resulted in the complete silencing of the enemy fire, by the killing of three of the enemy and the capture of twelve others. With these posts silenced, his Company was then able to continue the advance. After the capture of TRIG 29 on the 26th October, intense enemy artillery concentrations were directed on the battalion area, which were invariably followed with counter-attacks by tanks and infantry. Throughout the attack that culminated in the capture of TRIG 29 and the re-organisation period which followed, Sergeant Kibby moved from section to section personally directing their fire and cheering the men, despite the fact that the Platoon throughout was suffering heavy casualties. Several times, when under intense machine-gun fire, he went out and mended the platoon line communications, thus allowing mortar concentrations to be directed effectively against the attacks on his Company’s front. His whole demeanour during this difficult phase in the operations was an inspiration to his Platoon. On the night of the 30th-31st October when the Battalion attacked “ring contour” 25, behind the enemy lines, it was necessary for No. 17 Platoon to move through the most withering enemy machine-gun fire in order to reach its objective. These conditions did not deter Sergeant Kibby from pressing forward right to the objective, despite his Platoon being mown down by machine-gun fire from point blank range. One pocket of resistance still remained and Sergeant Kibby went forward alone throwing grenades to destroy the enemy now only a few yards distant. Just as success appeared certain, he was killed by a burst of machine-gun fire. Such outstanding courage, tenacity of purpose and devotion to duty was entirely responsible for the successful capture of the Company’s objective. His work was an inspiration to all and he left behind him an example and the memory of a soldier who fearlessly and unselfishly fought to the end to carry out his duty."