Description
Object description
Australian private served as motorcycle despatch rider with 2/11th Australian Infantry Bn, 19th Australian Infantry, 6th Australian Infantry Div in Middle East, North Africa and Greece, 4/1940-5/1941; prisoner of war in Dulag 183, Salonika, Greece, Stalag VII-A, Moosburg, Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf and Stalag 344, Lamsdorf, Germany, 6/1941-1/1945; escaped from Stalag 344, Lamsdorf, Germany to Kraków, Poland and Soviet Union, 1/1945-3/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Albany, Australia, 1914-1939: family; education; employment; joined Citizen Military Forces; attitude to GB and British Empire; awareness of rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazis; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of period as private with 2/11th Australian Infantry Bn, 18th Australian Infantry, 6th Australian Infantry Div in Australia, 10/1939-4/1940: induction procedure; medical examination; posting to Greta Camp in New South Wales; description of basic training; uniform and equipment; weapons; derogatory nicknames for recruits; opinion of Prime Minister Robert Menzies.
REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Nevasa from Fremantle, Australia to Egypt, 20/4/1940-18/5/1940: accommodation and rations; beer ration; recreational activities; morale; sleeping arrangements; sailing in convoy; memories of crossing Red Sea; drill; physical training; daily routine and duties. Aspects of period as private with 2/11th Australian Infantry Bn, 19th Australian Infantry, 6th Australian Infantry Div in Middle East, 5/1940-12/1940: initial impressions of Gaza, Palestine; training; leave; attitude towards presence and use of brothels; sightseeing trip to the Pyramids, Egypt; relations with civilians; daily life in camp; concert parties; tented accommodation; communication with family in Australia; sporting activities.
REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of operations as despatch rider with 2/11th Australian Infantry Bn, 19th Australian Infantry, 6th Australian Infantry Div in Libya, 1/1941-3/1941: opinion of Italian Army troops; move to Bardia; duties as motorcycle despatch rider; attitude towards prospect of death; conditions in Bardia; Italian prisoners of war; use of requisitioned Italian Army equipment and vehicles; climate; operations at Tobruk, 1/1941; battalion casualties; strategic importance of Tobruk; move to Derna and occupation of airfield; opinion of Italian forces' resistance; relations with Free French Forces; story of visit by Prime Minister Robert Menzies to Benghazi; water rationing; opinion of officers.
REEL 4 Continues: comradeship. Aspects of operations as despatch rider with 2/11th Australian Infantry Bn, 19th Australian Infantry, 6th Australian Infantry Div in Greece, 4/1941: voyage aboard Netherlands Merchant Marine troopship SS Slamat from North Africa to Greece; opinion of food on board; disembarkation at Piraeus, 4/1941; train journey to front line; reception from Greek civilians; duties at Headquarters Coy; description of attacks by German Air Force Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive-bombers; story of being knocked off motorcycle and losing contact with battalion; role during operations; evacuation from Greece to Crete, 4/1941; attitude towards campaign in Greece. Recollections of operations as private with 2/11th Australian Infantry Bn, 19th Australian Infantry, 6th Australian Infantry Div on Crete, Greece, 4/1941-5/1941: duties defending airfield at Rethymno: weapons and ammunition available; further details of evacuation from Greece, 4/1941; daily routine and duties.
REEL 5 Continues: story of escorting prisoner to Suda Bay; local resistance to Germans; German Air Force attacks; discovery of codes in crashed German Air Force aircraft and obtaining air-supply drops; opinion of Greek Hellenic Army troops; rations and extra food from local civilians; description of German airborne assault, 20/5/1941; defence of airfield at Rethymno; question of taking prisoners; opinion of German airborne troops; nature of operations around airfield at Rethymno; story of shooting down German Air Force aircraft and clearing away bodies; reaction to death of friends; treatment of wounded. Aspects of period as prisoner of war on Crete, 5/1941-6/1941: attitude to surrendering to German forces, 30/5/1941; treatment by German forces; march to Suda Bay; voyage from Suda Bay to Salonika, 6/1941; conditions aboard ship; comparison of character of Australian Imperial Force and British Army troops.
REEL 6 Continues: Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Dulag 183 in Salonika, Greece, 6/1941-10/1941: barrack accommodation; problem of dysentery; opinion of food and sanitary facilities; problem of malaria and lice; attitude to being a prisoner of war; description of camp; story of starting escape tunnel; question of attempting to escape; nicknames; daily routine; parades. Aspects of journey from Salonika, Greece to Germany, 10/1941: nature of six day train journey to Germany; story of two prisoners escaping; being met by Red Cross in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Stalag VII-A, Moosburg, Germany, 10/1941-6/1943: how camp commandant punishing guards for poor condition of prisoners of war; description of camp; barrack accommodation; issue of French military clothing; work parties; employment as carpenter; memories of Christmas 25/12/1941; black market activities; daily routine; relations with guards.
REEL 7 Continues: amusing story of dummy; homemade alcohol; bribery of guards; Red Cross parcels; supplementing diet with goods obtained on black market; attitude to escaping; sabotage on work parties; question of rights as prisoner of war and role of Red Cross; opinion of treatment received; camp hierarchy; prior recollection of reaction to German invasion of Soviet Union, 6/1941; problem of food shortages; German searches for illicit clandestine radios; reaction to news of Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, United States of America, 7/12/1941; working hours; recreational activities; description of Munich; attitude of German civilians towards prisoners of war.
REEL 8 Continues: Allied bombing raids on Munich, 12/1942; damage to camp; attitude to Allied bombing raids; duties clearing bomb damage after Allied air raids. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Stalag VIII-B and Stalag 344, Lamsdorf, Germany, 6/1943-1/1945: nature of work in carbide factory; story of friend's relationship with German woman; importance of comradeship; attitude to death of friends; story of escaping from camp and journey to Kraków, Poland, 1/1945. Aspects of escape from Stalag 344, Lamsdorf, Germany to Kraków, Poland and Soviet Union, 1/1945-3/1945: interrogation by Polish Partisans; daily life in Kraków; black market activities; train journey across Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic to Odessa, Soviet Union; story of friend marrying Soviet woman; return to Egypt.
REEL 9 Continues: Reflections on period as prisoner of war in Stalag VII-A, Moosburg, Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf and Stalag 344, Lamsdorf, Germany, 6/1941-1/1945: use of homemade illicit radios to follow progress of war; reaction to news of D-Day landings in Normandy, France, 6/6/1944; description of work in steel mill; further details of escape from Stalag 344, Lamsdorf, 1/1945; opinion of treatment by Soviets. Aspects of period as former-prisoner of war in Australia, 3/1945-8/1945: story of return to Australia via Egypt, 3/1945; family reunion in Albany; attitude to presence of American service personnel in Australia.
REEL 10 Continues: memories of VE Day, 8/5/1945; reaction to dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945; rehabilitation; problem of stomach ulcer; pension; health problems; nature of post-war life and employment in Australia; reflections on period of military service and as prisoner of war.