Description
Object description
Australian gunner served with 2/3rd Field Regt, Royal Australian Artillery, 6th Australian Infantry Div, Australian Imperial Force in Australia, GB, Egypt and Greece, 11/1939-4/1941; prisoner of war in Greece and Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf, Germany, 5/1941-1/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Australia, 1923-1939: scenes on arrival in Australia; moves of family with group of immigrants; details of camp settled in; education; assistance given to father; opinion of nationality; attitudes towards GB; further details of camp and reasons for move to Perth; effects of the Great Depression; knowledge of wider world; father's service during First World War; family; degree of knowledge of First World War and events in Europe during 1930s; further details of education; attempt to join Royal Australian Navy and reason for not being accepted; reason for not obtaining further education; employment; membership of Citizen Military Forces.
REEL 2 Continues: uniform and equipment; activities during annual camp; joining of Australian Army on declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of enlistment and training with 2/3rd Field Regt, Royal Australian Artillery, 6th Australian Infantry Div, Australian Imperial Force in Australia, 11/1939-5/1940: awaiting call-up for military service; reason for enlistment, 3/11/1939; attitude to Australia's involvement in Second World War; composition of gun team; later story of nature of withdrawal through Greece, 4/1941; previous pattern of training with Citizen Military Forces; opinion of equipment; role of artillery; opinion of German artillery and forces; later impressions of Soviet Army troops. Aspects of voyage aboard the HMT Queen Mary from Australia to GB, 5/1940-6/1940: reaction to leaving Australia; accommodation on board; route taken; activities on board; story of leaving ship without permission to visit Cape Town, South Africa and subsequent punishment; arrival in Scotland; reflections on British forces and Dunkirk Evacuation, 5/1940-6/1940.
REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of period as gunner with 2/3rd Field Artillery Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, 6th Australian Infantry Div, Australian Imperial Force in GB, 6/1940: impression of civilian attitude and aerial activity during Battle of Britain, summer 1940; search for Fifth Columnists at Tidworth Camp; guns and transport issued; relations with civilians and British Army troops; reaction to possibility of German invasion; opinion of Prime Minister Winston Churchill; visit by King George VI; prior recollection of voyage aboard HMT Queen Mary from Cape Town, South Africa to Freetown, Sierra Leone; conditions on board; preparations for embarkation and reaction to overseas posting; voyage aboard HMT Empress of Canada from GB to Egypt, 11/1940. Aspects of period as gunner with 2/3rd Field Regt, Royal Australian Artillery, 6th Australian Infantry Div, Australian Imperial Force in Egypt, 11/1940-3/1941: details of camp in Egypt.
REEL 4 Continues: brothel areas and bars in Egypt and South Africa; wait for move to front line, including acquiring alcohol from officers. Aspects of operations as gunner with 2/3rd Field Regt, Royal Australian Artillery, 6th Australian Infantry Div, Australian Imperial Force in Greece, 3/1941-4/1941: activities at Vevi Pass; story of kerosene in truck and near miss from artillery shell; incident of accidentally running a gun crew off the road; positions taken up in Southern Greece; arrival in Greece and prior preparation of vehicles for voyage; reception from Greek civilians; prior visit to the Pyramids in Egypt; scenes during journey through Greece.
REEL 5 Continues: transporting crew and equipment through Greece; rations; setting-up of gun at Vevi; role during action; sleeping arrangements; climate including first experience of snow; experiences of artillery fire; memories of commanding officer; reaction to withdrawal; repairs made to muffler; preparations for withdrawal; reaction to artillery fire; nature of attacks by German Air Force Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive-bombers; reaction to deaths of comrades; final position taken; destruction of gun and vehicle.
REEL 6 Continues: reaction to having to destroy truck; prior recollection of loading truck with ammunition; degree of knowledge about German opposition; morale; attempt to obtain lift on landing craft; nature of transfer from beach to ship; problems boarding HMS Ajax; memories of HMS Ajax's crew during voyage from Greece to Crete; degree of knowledge of destination and reaction to situation; opinion of Morris truck driven. Recollections of operations as gunner with 2/3rd Field Regt, Royal Australian Artillery, 6th Australian Infantry Div, Australian Imperial Force on Crete, Greece, 4/1941-5/1941: arrival in Crete; story of refusal to handover rifle.
REEL 7 Continues: posting to Rethymno; gun issued on arrival; ranges taken; sight of German airborne invasion, 20/5/1941; morale; duties in unit; details of guns issued; initial action taken by gun troop against German airborne troops; reaction to arrival of German airborne forces; sight of parachuting German airborne troops; plan for withdrawal; earlier discarding of German items and destruction of guns; reaction to orders for surrender; capture by German forces; period in action, including truce; rations obtained from Cretan civilians; post-war return to Crete, 1975; relations with Cretan civilians; further details of capture by German forces.
REEL 8 Continues: Aspects of period as prisoner of war on Crete and Greece, 6/1941-7/1941: search and possessions confiscated; problems with boots during march across Crete; attitude to German captors; escape and contact with civilians; reason for return and hospitalisation; conditions in prisoner of war hospital; conditions during voyage from Crete to Salonika on mainland. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf, Germany, 8/1941-4/1945: footwear on arrival; weather conditions; beatings received from German guards; reaction to situation; prior recollection of voyage from Crete to Salonica, including plans for capture of ship; train journey to Lamsdorf, including method of hiding knife and rations; relations with Polish colleague in mine; work in mine.
REEL 9 Continues: knowledge of rights as prisoner of war; problems faced by potential escapees; Red Cross parcels; conditions and activities in Stalag VIII-B; problems with climate; accommodation in camp for mine; daily routine; rations; spud bashing and method of stealing potatoes; supply of meals for workers and prisoners of war; heating; question of boredom; reasons for being beaten; start to work on Sunday; work in mine and incident of hitting colleague with shovel; period in solitary confinement. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Germany and Czechoslovakia, 1/1945-5/1945: initial march away from Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf; journey toward Allied lines and contact made with Soviet Army personnel; opinion of Soviet Army troops; arrival in Prague; relations with civilians; presence of collaborators in churches; physical state.
REEL 10 Continues: treatment received from German guards; details of mail sent; prior recollection of aerial activity witnessed as prisoner of war in Germany; war news; VE celebrations in Prague, Czechoslovakia, 9/5/1945. Aspects of return to Australia from Czechoslovakia via GB, 1945: obtaining truck for journey out of Prague, Czechoslovakia; state of Czech civilians; checkpoints on journey to Pilsen, Czechoslovakia; reporting at airfield; rations; restrictions on movement; help given to civilians; activities during leave in GB; stop-offs during voyage to Australia; arrival in Sydney, Australia; reception on arrival home. Post-war life and employment in Australia: return to civilian employment; reflections on world since end of Second World War; reflections on punishment given to Czech collaborators, 1945; story of boxer in coal mine; opinion of 2003 Iraq War; question of doing it all again.
