Description
Object description
Australian private and NCO served with 2/28th Australian Infantry Bn, 24th Australian infantry Bde, 9th Australian Infantry Div, Second Australian Imperial Force in Middle East and North Africa, 1941-1942; NCO served with 2/28th Australian Infantry Bn, 24th Australian infantry Bde, 9th Australian Infantry Div in Papua New Guinea, 1943; officer served with 2/4th Australian Infantry Bn, 16th Australian Infantry Bde, 6th Australian Infantry Div in British Borneo, 6/1945-9/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Perth and Melbourne, Australia, 1921-1939: family origins; education; sight of Jewish refugees; degree of knowledge of First World War; anticipation of Second World War; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Recollections of enlistment and training as private with 2/28th Australian Infantry Bn, 24th Australian infantry Bde, 9th Australian Infantry Div, Second Australian Imperial Force in Australia, 1939-1940: degree to which friends enlisted; reasons for enlistment in infantry battalion; question of conscription and volunteers; formation of unit at Melville Camp near Fremantle; character of medical; reasons for parents allowing him to enlist at seventeen; motivation for enlistment; training at Northam Camp, 7/1940-12/1940; conditions at Northam Camp; relations with civilians.
REEL 2 Continues: lack of equipment. Recollections of voyage aboard HMT Aquitania and HMT Nieuw Zeeland from Australia to Egypt via Ceylon, 1/1941: conditions on board HMT Nieuw Zeeland; disembarkation leave; reaction to leaving Australia; farewell to parents; lack of knowledge of destination; daily routine on board HMT Aquitania; transfer to HMT Nieuw Zeeland at Colombo, Ceylon; traveling through Suez Canal, Egypt. Aspects of period as private with 2/28th Australian Infantry Bn, 24th Australian infantry Bde, 9th Australian Infantry Div, Second Australian Imperial Force in Palestine, 1/1941-3/1941: move to Palestine; contact with Jewish civilians; leave in Jerusalem; relations with Arabs and Jews; commutations with Australia. Recollections of operations as private and NCO with 2/28th Bn 24th Australian infantry Bde, 9th Australian Infantry Div, Second Australian Imperial Force during Siege of Tobruk, Libya, 4/1941-8/1941: move from Palestine to Tobruk; use of underground former Italian bunkers; opinion of Italian Army troops; importance of Tobruk; reasons for battalion's move to Tobruk.
REEL 3 Continues: terrain around Tobruk; method of navigating during night patrols; opinion of Royal Horse Artillery; character of perimeters; reaction to initial sight of Deutsches Afrika Korps troops on Derna Road; shortage of water; boredom and lack of reading material; importance of mail; threat from Deutsches Afrika Korps tanks; opinion of Australian commanders at Tobruk; relations with other Allied troops; character of rations; problems with desert sores; degree of war information available to troops; opinion of Royal Navy; daily routine; number of Deutsches Afrika Korps attacks against Australian lines; reasons for constant patrolling; nature of Deutsches Afrika Korps attacks; opinion of Deutsches Afrika Korps troops.
REEL 4 Continues: attitude towards German propaganda; question of German forces missing attempt to break into Tobruk Perimeter on arrival; skirmishes between Deutsches Afrika Korps and Australians; state of health; lack of psychological casualties; lack of differences between urban and country born troops; importance of organisational and individual timing; effect on smokers of lack of cigarettes; attempts to sleep; loss of platoon commander Lieutenant Robert McGregor, 18/4/1941; importance of personal religious faith; personal motivation; unloading ships in Tobruk Tarbour; naval support for garrison; situation in Tobruk town; method of moving from frontline to town.
REEL 5 Continues: medical treatment available; effects of shell fire on tanks; state of Tobruk; bathing in salt water; conditions in second line of defence; importance of holding Tobruk; reaction to withdrawal from Tobruk, 8/1941. Aspects of period as NCO with 2/28th Australian Infantry Bn, 24th Australian infantry Bde, 9th Australian Infantry Div, Second Australian Imperial Force in Middle East, 1941-1942: move to Palestine; leave in Jerusalem; attending function in Egypt; sight of Egyptian Royal Train; visit to Pyramids, Egypt; move to Tripoli, Lebanon; nature of exercises in French Syria.
REEL 6 Continues: methods of dealing with tanks and effects of 88mm Guns; attitude of Arabs and Jewish civilians; role of battalion in French Syria. Recollections of operations with 2/28th Australian Infantry Bn, 24th Australian infantry Bde, 9th Australian Infantry Div, Second Australian Imperial Force in Egypt, 6/1942-12/1942: nature of move from French Syria to Egypt, 6/1942; degree of panic amongst Egyptian civilians; initial attack by battalion on Ruin Ridge, Egypt, 27/7/1942; encounter with senior officer; importance of humour; wounding on Ruin Ridge, 27/7/1942; nature of the attack; contrast between British and Australian hospitals; role of Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachment nurses; opinion of British Army troops.
REEL 7 Continues: opinion of South African medical staff; character of medical treatment and period of recuperation in Palestine; move to Suez; reaction to visit by Prime Minister Winston Churchill prior to Battle of El Alamein. Aspects of operations as private with 2/28th Australian Infantry Bn, 24th Australian infantry Bde, 9th Australian Infantry Div, Second Australian Imperial Force during Battle of El Alamein, Egypt, 11/1942: degree of confidence in Generals Bernard Montgomery and Leslie Morshead; jumping into slit trench with corpse; reaction to moving through minefields at night; moving under creeping artillery barrage; nature of Deutsches Afrika Korps artillery fire; role of Australians during battle.
REEL 8 Continues: reaction to moving out of cover; opinion of Australian military personnel; reaction to leaving Middle East after Battle of El Alamein, 1/1943. Aspects of period as NCO with 2/28th Bn 24th Australian infantry Bde, 9th Australian Infantry Div in Australia, 2/1943-9/1943: voyage from Egypt to Australia, 1/1943-2/1943; leave; reception on arrival in Fremantle; reputation of Australian Imperial Force troops in Australia; attitude of civilians towards Japanese threat; British and American presence in Perth.
REEL 9 Continues: attitude of Australian Imperial Force troops towards American service personnel in Perth; degree of knowledge of Papua New Guinea; training in the Atherton Tableland in Queensland. Recollections of operations as NCO with 2/28th Australian Infantry Bn, 24th Australian infantry Bde, 9th Australian Infantry Div in Papua New Guinea, 9/1943-1/1944: move to Port Moresby, 9/1943; conditions in Papua New Guinea; situation of Japanese forces; crossing river under fire during advance to Lae; equipment carried by troops; problems encountered during river crossing; aid given to troops pinned down by Imperial Japanese Army troops.
REEL 10 Continues: opinion of Imperial Japanese Army troops; lack of Japanese psychological warfare encountered; advance towards Lae; problems with Imperial Japanese Army snipers; battalion morale; arrival in Lae; chain of command and degree of responsibility held as acting sergeant. Aspects of training as officer with Officer Cadet Training Unit in Australia, 1944: reaction to return to Australia; character of officer training; question of qualities of leadership in officers.
REEL 11 Continues: leave in Perth prior to embarkation. Recollections of operations as officer with 2/4th Australian Infantry Bn, 16th Australian Infantry Bde, 6th Australian Infantry Div in British Borneo, 6/1945-9/1945: plan to attack Labrun Island; question of anticipated length of war, 6/1945; role liberating prisoner of war camps at Kuching, 9/1945; nature of landing at Labrun Island; capture of Japanese prisoners of war at Labrun Island; mopping up operations on Labrun Island; behaviour of Japanese prisoners of war; attitude to amphibious landing; opinion of United States Army troops; hearing of end of Second World War, 15/8/1945; role of unit in Kuching. Aspects of demobilisation in Australia, 1945: attitude on board ship returning to Australia.
REEL 12 Continues: aspirations for future; question of how the war changed his life; attitude to leaving Australian Imperial Force; bond between former comrades; question of psychological effects of military service.