Description
Object description
Australian officer served with 2/7th Field Ambulance, Australian Imperial Force in North Africa, Greece and Crete, 1941; POW in Crete, Greece and in Stalag VIII B, Lamsdorf, Stalag IVA, Elsterhorst, and Oflag IV A, Hohenstein, Germany, 1941-1945
Content description
REEL 1: Background in Australia, 1911-1940: family; education; medical studies; captained combined Australian university hockey team, 1934; trained as surgeon at Perth Hospital; attitude to Britain and Royal family; various memories of First World War; military training at school and university; effects of Depression on daily life; attitude to British Empire; opinion of Hitler; reaction to Munich Agreement; story of visit to Britain, 1939; reaction to outbreak of war, 9/1939; returned to Australia and enlisted, 1/1940.
REEL 2 Continues: memories of period in New York; reason for enlisting with Field Ambulance; physical fitness; boxing; attitude to propaganda; basic training at Northam Camp and training as gas officer; duties as medical officer; organisation of medical services; opinion of British; medical equipment; memories of Chester Wilmott.
REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of voyage from Fremantle to Egypt, 9/1940: opinion of food; memories of Colombo; accommodation; disembarked at El Kantara. Aspects of operations with 2/7th Field Ambulance, Australian Imperial Force in North Africa, 1941: joined unit near Gaza, Palestine; further training; posted to Mersah Matruh area, Egypt; requisitioned supplies; memories of Alexandria; attitude to Italians; organisation of medical units with 6th Div; first experience of being under fire; preparations for attack on Bardia, 1/1941; memories of Italian POWs; attached to 2/2nd Field Ambulance at Tobruk; role in resuscitation tent; condition of wounded; souvenirs; duties in charge of mobile medical section.
REEL 4 Continues: story of treating wounded journalists; medical equipment; story of captured Italian money; treated wounded Arabs at Benghazi; reception from local civilians; opinion of Italian troops; re-grouped in Mersah Matruh; appointed senior medical officer aboard troop ship; bombing of ship and treatment of casualties; sailed to Piraeus, Greece and re-joined 2/7th Field Ambulance. Aspects of operations with 2/7th Field Ambulance, Australian Imperial Force in Greece, 1941: duties as gas officer; set up advanced dressing station; casualties among medical personnel.
REEL 5 Continues: further description of advanced dressing station; retreated to Megara Beach; story of mules; sailed to Crete aboard Thurlow Castle; attacked by Stukas; attitude to retreating; arrived on Crete, 4/1941. Aspects of operations with 2/7th Field Ambulance, Australian Imperial Force in Crete, 4-5/1941: address by General Freiburg; location of A Coy in King of Greece's house; problem of lack of air support; used olive trees for cover; daily routine and duties; disposition of medical services; description of German invasion of Crete, 26/May/1941; strafed by German plane; treatment of wounded from both sides; role as liaison between A Coy and HQ; story of relieving medical officer with battle fatigue. Aspects of period as POW in Crete and Greece, 5-11/1941: duties as medical officer in POW camp in Malami; set up regimental aid post; obtained drugs and supplies from Germans.
REEL 6 Continues: story of assisting in escape from camp and punishment in solitary confinement; attitude to being POW; transported in groups to Salonika, Greece; story of walking wounded and German officer; opinion of living conditions in camp in Turkish barracks; problem of bed bugs and fleas; opinion of food; morale; transported to Germany in cattle trucks; given food by Yugoslav civilians. Aspects of period as POW in Stalag VIII B, Lamsdorf, Germany, 11/1941-2/1942: lagergeld; observation of Geneva Convention; arbeitskommandos; memory of POWs from Dunkirk; food parcels; medical duties including treatment of Allied POWs with TB; daily routine; ill-treatment of Russian POWs; typhus epidemic; opinion of German organisation; description of accommodation; recreational activities; communication with family; posted missing; age of guards; discipline in camp; story of visit to German officer's home in Dresden; daily life for German civilians. Aspects of period as POW in Stalag IVA, Elsterhorst, and Oflag IV A, Hohenstein, Germany, 1941-1945: duties as doctor in Konigswartha Hospital in Stalag IVA for 15 months; relations with French doctors; description of treatment of TB cases and role of Maurice Blondeau in developing technique of artificial pneumothorax.
REEL 7 Continues: further description of artificial pneumothorax operations; use of codeine for coughs; x-ray machines; use of penicillin; post-war career as TB specialist; other treatments for TB and repatriations of TB patients; opinion of treatment as POW; use of swimming pool; awareness of progress of war; question of observation of Geneva Convention; escape attempts; treatment of wounded POWs memories of air raids over Dresden; opinion of Australian nursing orderlies; co-operation with Germans; operating theatre.
REEL 8 Continues: treatment of American troops with frostbite; story of being liberated by Americans, 5/1945; opinion of rations; weight loss; US medical supplies; benefit of new surgical techniques for TB learned in camps; communication with family; attitude to smoking; sporting activities in camps; relations with other nationalities; story of Russian POWs making alcohol; coffee; obtained radio by bribing guards; Italian POWs; attitude of German guards to POWs; taken by Americans to Erfurt; problem of overeating after liberation.
REEL 9 Continues: Aspects of period in Germany, GB and Australia, 1945-1947: flown in Lancaster to GB; memories of bombed German cities; souvenirs; sprayed with DDT and issued with new clothing; posted to base for Australian POWs in Eastbourne; promoted major and remained with army as TB specialist until 1947; adjustment to civilian life; worked in chest hospitals in GB; summary of developments in treatment of TB in GB, US and Canada; duties as army surgeon in Australia; positive effect of war in treatment of TB; opinion of Australian Army Medical Service; discharged from Army, 1/1947. Post-war life and career as surgeon in Australia.
REEL 10 Continues: comradeship of ex-service personnel; reflections on period of wartime service and as POW; attitude to patriotism.