Charlie Stoerkel, dubbed “The Fire Eater of the 48th” by AWM historian Michael Kelly, had an outstanding war record and was also involved in organizing Anzac soccer competitions in France. He played for the Glenelg club after the war.
Charles William Stoerkel was born in north London in 1895 to a German father and English mother. Working as a clerk in London, he was attracted by the possibility of an outdoor life in a warm climate. The Farm Apprentices’ Scheme offered this opportunity. It placed young, single British men on farms around South Australia – it brought future Socceroo Jock McQueen to the state. Stoerkel worked on a farm in the Orroroo district in 1913. Soccer was played at Orroroo in that year so there is a possibility that he may have been able to get a game.
He enlisted at Morphetville racecourse as early as 11th September 1914 and embarked on an extraordinary military career, initially with the 16th Battalion. Landing at Anzac Cove on the afternoon of 25th April, Stoerkel went through the entire Gallipoli campaign, taking part in some of the fiercest fighting, and survived unscathed. At one point he served in General Sir Ian Hamilton’s personal guard.
In France the following year with the 48th Battalion, Stoerkel was wounded at Pozieres, being mentioned in dispatches after remaining on duty with a shell splinter in his neck. The following year saw the 48th fighting at Messines. Charlie Stoerkel was now a 2nd Lieutenant, having being promoted from Regimental Sergeant Major at the beginning of the year. He was still only twenty one. At this battle he led two other Australians forward under shell fire to occupy a series of abandoned German trenches. Eventually cut down by machine gun fire, Stoerkel was shot in the face. Although in great pain he returned to HQ and reported on the situation – an act of bravery for which he was awarded the Military Cross.
He recovered from this awful wound and was back on duty with his battalion by October during the fierce fighting at Passchendaele. In March 1918 there was more intense combat for the 48th as they halted the German advance at Dernancourt. At Monument Wood near Villers-Brettoneux a month later Stoerkel earned a bar to his Military Cross. He led a company forward through heavy fire to attack a fortified farm house which turned out to be the headquarters of a German battalion. The attack was a failure and the 48th were driven back. However, the Fire Eater’s company took 21 prisoners and he was able to present his CO with a German watch.
On 8th August 1918 the Australians advanced from Amiens to achieve a major break through- the “black day of the German army” as General Ludendorff called it. Stoerkel was hit in the stomach by shrapnel during the day – his third serious wound of the war. However, he was back at the front within weeks, attached to an American regiment in mid September.
The battle-weary Anzacs were withdrawn from front line duty by the beginning of October. Officers now pondered over ways to keep the men occupied. Route matches, sightseeing and lectures were arranged, but organized sport proved to be the most popular diversion. Cricket, boxing and athletics were organized, and of course the three codes of football.
In October the 12th Brigade diary noted that Lt. Charles Stoerkel was part of a committee organizing a divisional soccer competition. Two matches per week were to be played, of seventy minutes duration. Soccer was widely played by the Anzacs – there were competitions at company, battalion, brigade and divisional level. As a less violent game than rugby or Aussie rules, and requiring less players, soccer was the ideal distraction. The restorative powers of the game on nerves that had been stretched to breaking point were widely appreciated.
Robert Graves, another Anglo-German, wrote of how he and other convalescent soldiers played game after game in a remote English village that had apparently not seen any football for eighty years. Anzacs who had played for clubs in Australia would have come into their own in these inter-unit games, whilst many who were new to the game would have “had a go.” A three-year lay off might have killed the game off in South Australia, but the widespread prevalence of army football provided strength for a re-growth.
In London in 1919 Stoerkel married Catherine Valentine in their home suburb of Edmonton. He was also given non-military leave to learn how to operate a cinema. The couple were back in Adelaide by the end of the year and in January 1920 Charlie Stoerkel changed his name by deed poll to Tanner – his mother’s maiden name. The anti-German sentiment that existed in South Australia before his enlistment must have left its mark, although he had fought long and hard against the Germans in France whilst bearing a German surname.
He tried his hand at various peace time activities, some in the country. In 1923 the Tanners were living at Glenelg and Charlie turned out regularly for Glenelg reserves. He was perhaps no longer able to head the ball because of his war wound!
They moved to Sydney in 1924, and, although in increasingly poor health, Charles Tanner died in 1985 at the age of 90.