STIRK PARK KALAMUNDA WORLD WAR I & II MEMORIAL WALK.

For the compilation of this Memorial Walk, I would like to thank Elizabeth Taylor, Kalamunda Shire President and RSL Patroness, for her initial (2002) advice and ongoing encouragement; former South Ward Councillor, John Everett; the old and new RSL hierarchy (Messers Esschert and Carpenter); the Hon. Bruce Billson MP, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence, Federal Member for Dunkley; Mr John Day, MLA, Kalamunda, W A; Mr. Bill Houston, Army History Unit, Canberra; Ms. Marjorie Bly, Assistant Director National Archives of Australia; Ms Margaret Lewis, Australian War Memorial, Canberra; Harry Kloppenburg, RAAF Museum, Bullsbrook, WA; David Burns, SQNLDR 4, Office of Air Force History, Tuggeranong: Brett Mitchell, Naval History Section, Sea Power Centre – Australia Department of Defence; the ever helpful Battye and KALAMUNDA library staff and my ever patient family.

Please send any alterations/corrections to G.S. Connell, 58 Betti Road, KALAMUNDA,W A 6076.

As you go down the memorial walk, the names of the ‘Fallen’ on the left are:

STIRK, A.L

NOELL, A.J

HODGSON, M.R

JOHNSON, C.E

NANNUP, E

HALLETT, E

ANDERSON, W.H.G

PEPPER, C.J

FORD, E.H

WEST, R.P

KING, R.I.M

CUNNOLD, W.H

SPAIN/SHAIN, W.D

FRANCES, E.E

Returning towards the entry, the names of the ‘Fallen’ on the left are:

NEWMAN, G.H

SMITHH, H.W

PETTITT, J.F

STREET, J.O

SHERWOOD, C.

PRINGTON, K.D

FINDLAY, A.W

BRINE, W.E

ROBERTSON, C.

BARRON, N.G

JACKSON, D.

WOODALL, G.E

WOOD, B.B

The following ‘Fallen’ as yet have no memorial plaque:

DORRINGTON, R.K

LEE, N

MCLEOD, G

MASON, R.M

NORTH, G

PEGGS, R.J

PHILIP, C.R

SMAILES, B.S

STIRK Arthur Lindsay

Nationality Australian

Rank: Stoker: Royal Australian Navy/HMAS Perth

. HMAS Perth was built at Portsmouth Naval Dockyard and commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Amphion on 25 June 1936. Purchased by the Australian Government, she was commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) on 29 June 1939. The light cruiser displaced 6,830 tons, was 169 metres long, and had a beam of 17.3 metres. Her armament consisted of eight 6-inch guns, eight 4-inch dual-purpose guns, a number of automatic anti-aircraft weapons and eight 21-inch torpedo tubes. She also carried a Seagull V aircraft for reconnaissance and spotting duties. Her speed was 32 knots and she carried a complement of 681.

Her early war service was in the Caribbean and the Pacific and she did not reach Australia until 31 March 1940. Until November 1940, the ship was engaged on patrol and escort duties in Australian waters. She then departed for the Mediterranean where she played a minor part in the battle of Matapan. She was involved in the evacuations of Crete and Greece in April and May 1941, in the course of which she was badly damaged by bombing. After repairs, the cruiser was engaged in operations off the coast of Syria before proceeding to Australia for an extended refit. She arrived in Sydney on 12 August.

While the ship was refitting, Captain H.M.L. Waller, DSO and bar, RAN, took command on 24 October 1941. After completion of her refit, Perth operated off eastern Australia on patrol and escort work, visiting New Guinea. On 14 February 1942, Perth sailed for the Netherlands East Indies, arriving at Batavia (now Jakarta) on 24 February where she was attacked by Japanese aircraft that day and the next without sustaining any damage. The Perth sailed for Surabaya on 25 February, in company with four Royal Navy ships. On 26 February the ship departed Surabaya in company with the Dutch light cruisers De Ruyter and Java, the heavy cruisers USS Houston and HMS Exeter, and two Dutch, three British and four US destroyers. The squadron, under the command of the Dutch Rear Admiral Karel Doorman, proceeded along the north coast of Madura Island, searching for a Japanese invasion convoy.

The cruise was unsuccessful but, as the ships were preparing to enter Surabaya and refuel, Admiral Doorman received information that the Japanese forces had been sighted to the north. Accordingly, he steamed to intercept. In the ensuing battle of the Java Sea, fought over the night of 27-28 February, the allied force was soundly defeated. The Japanese force was able to exploit its superiority over the four-nation Allied force in terms of long-range gunnery, torpedoes, night fighting, the freshness of its crews, and its homogeneity. The Dutch cruisers were sunk and Exeter badly damaged, while most of the destroyers were sunk or withdrew as their torpedoes were exhausted. Perth and Houston were able to break off the action with the Japanese and sailed to Tjilitjap, where they refuelled.

Orders were received for the cruisers to sail through the Sundra Strait for Tjilitjap on Java’s south coast. They sailed at 7.00pm on 28 February and set a course to the west for the Strait, Perth leading, with Houston five cables astern. At 11.06 a vessel was sighted at about five miles range, close to St Nicholas Point. When challenged she proved to be a Japanese destroyer and was immediately engaged. The two cruisers had met the Japanese invasion force assigned to western Java.

Shortly afterwards, other destroyers were sighted to the north and the armament shifted to divided control to allow more than one target to be engaged. Despite this, the enemy destroyers attacked from all directions during the action; it was impossible to engage all targets simultaneously, and so some were able to close to short range. Nevertheless, Perth was to suffer only superficial damage in this phase of the action.

At about midnight it was reported that the cruiser had little ammunition left, so Captain Waller decided to attempt to force a passage through Sunda Strait. He ordered full speed and turned the ship south for Toppers Island. Perth had barely steadied on her new course when a torpedo struck her in the starboard side. The captain ordered the crew to prepare to abandon ship. A few moments later, another torpedo struck just forward of the first hit and Captain Waller gave the order to abandon ship. After five or ten minutes, a third torpedo struck well aft on the starboard side, followed shortly after by another on the port. Perth, which had been heeling to starboard, righted herself, then heeled to port and sank at about 12.25am on 1 March. Houston, still fighting but ablaze, was also hit by torpedoes and sank shortly afterwards. The Japanese losses were light with one transport and one minesweeper sunk and several vessels seriously damaged.

Perth’s crew abandoned ship between the second and third torpedoes, but it is doubtful if any boats

Were successfully launched, although many rafts and Carley floats were. During the abandon ship operation the Perth was under fire from many destroyers at close range and many hits were sustained and casualties caused. Many were killed or wounded in the water by the explosion of the last two torpedoes and by shells exploding in the water.

Of the Perth’s company of 686, which included four civilian canteen staff and six RAAF personal for operating and servicing her aircraft, only 218 (including one civilian and two RAAF) were eventually repatriated; the remainder were killed during, or soon after, the action, or died as prisoners of war. Captain Waller was lost with the ship. Source: www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/perth/loss.htm

AWM excerpt: HMAS Perth: The Loss of HMAS Perth, 1 March 1942

Recommended Recommended literature:: `Ship of Courage: The epic story of HMAS Perth and her crew’ by Brendan Whiting. Publisher St. Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin.

Age: 21

Height: 6’3 1/2”; Hair: brown; Eyes: hazel; Complexion: fair.

Source: http://naa12.gov.au/scripts/imagine.asp?B=4537886&I=1&ase=1

Date/Place of birth 29-01-1921/KALAMUNDA,W .A

Son of: Henry & Annie Gertrude Louise STIRK, KALAMUNDA, W.A.

Date/Place of Enlistment 10-05-1940/Port of FREMANTLE

Service no: 24330

Date of Death: 01-03-1942

Source www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx? casualty=2488384

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Panel 73 Column 3 Plymouth Naval Memorial

ROLL OF HONOUR; KALAMUNDA, WA

Kalamunda’s Arthur, Lindsay and Stirk streets honour this man.

NOELL Alfred John.

Nationality: Australian. Height: 5’11”; Hair: fair; Eyes: Grey; Complexion: sallow.

Rank: Stoker/ Royal Australian Navy/ HMAS Sydney

Age 19

Date /Place of birth 12 Aug 1922/ KALGOORLIE,W .A.

Son of: Frederick and Elizabeth Caroline Noeu, BICKLEY, W. A.

Date/place of Enlistment 12/08/1940/home port FREMANTLE

Service no 23728

Date of death 20/11/1941/killed in action HMAS Sydney

Casualty type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Panel 57 Col 3 Plymouth Naval Memorial

Source www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2485219

Carnarvon, on the West Australian coast, was the setting for a naval clash on 19/11/1941 between HMAS Sydney under Captain Joseph Burnett and the German Kormoran under Commander Anton Detmers. Disguised as a Dutch merchant vessel, Straat Malakka, the Kormoran encountered the Sydney 240km southwest of Carnarvon as she was heading south to Fremantle after escorting a troopship to the Sunda Strait. Burnett approached the `Dutch’ vessel to within 1,600 metres, allowing the raider’s guns almost a point-blank range. After failing to show the `secret sign’ assigned to the Straat Malakka, Detmers hoisted German colours and at 5.30pm gave orders to open fire with her six 5.9-inch main guns, her 3.7-inch and anti-aircraft machine-guns as well. Hits on the Sydney’s bridge director tower and amidships, which destroyed the cruiser’s aircraft, severely impaired Sydney’s ability to respond. Eventually, the Sydney was able to score hits on the Kormoran’s funnel and engine room before a German torpedo inflicted further damage on the Sydney. By 9.0pm the Kormoran’s personnel had abandoned ship before it exploded under its cargo of 200 mines. The rescue of 25 of the Kormoran’s crew on the evening of the 24^th of November by a British tanker initiated an air search by RAAF aircraft for the missing Sydney. A further 315 German survivors from a total crew of 393 and four Chinese (prisoners from the Kormoran’s earlier attacks) were rescued. But these failed to clarify the situation. Apart from a shellfire damaged life float and two life belts, no wreckage or personnel from the Sydney that had 645 officers and men was ever found. Source pages 195/6 `Where Australians Fought’ by Chris Coulthard-Clark PUBLISHER Allen & Unwin

Recommended literature:: HMAS Sydney: `Loss and Controversy’ by Tom Frame. Publisher: Sydney: Hodder & Stoughton.1993.

The HMAS Sydney (1934) was a modified Leander-class light cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy. The ship had great success in the first years of World War II, but controversy and mystery surrounds the loss in November 1941 of Sydney and its crew. Its sinking with all hands represents the greatest ever loss of life in an Australian warship; Sydney was also the largest vessel of any country to be lost with no survivors during the war.

Sydney was laid down by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Limited at Wallsend-on-Tyne, England on 8 July 1933 as HMS Phaeton, purchased by the Australian Government in 1934 and renamed in memory of an earlier Sydney. She was launched on 22 September 1934 by Mrs. S. M. Bruce, wife of the Australian High Commissioner to Britain and commissioned at Portsmouth on 24^th September 1935. Displacement: 6,830t; Length: 562 ft (171.3m); Beam: 56 ft (17.1m); Speed: 32.5 knots; Complement: 376; Armament: 8x6-inch guns, 4x4-inch guns, 3x5mm machine guns, 12 Lewis guns, 8x21 inch torpedo tubes (in 2 quadruple mounts).

Deployment: While serving in the Mediterranean, Sydney was credited with the sinking of the Italian destroyer Espero and shared honours in the sinking of the destroyer Zeffro during the Battle of Calabria. Sydney’s crowning glory was achieved on 19 July 1940, in the battle of Cape Spada in the Greek Islands. With a British destroyer squadron in company, she engaged the high-speed Italian light cruisers Bartolomeo Colleoni and Giovanni dalle Bande Nere. In the running battle which followed, Bartolomeo Colleoni was wrecked and later sunk by torpedoes from the destroyers, while the very high speed of Giovanni dalle Bande Nere enabled her to escape a similar fate. This victory had important strategic effects: “…until the fall of Greece some nine months later, Allied control of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean was virtually unchallenged”

Source: (HMAS Sydney II and the Kormoran, Australian War memorial).

On July 27, while covering a convoy to the Dardanelles, in company with HMS Neptune, Sydney was involved in the sinking of a small tanker, Ermioni, which was carrying fuel to the Italian garrison in the Dodecanese. During August and September, Sydney took part in various operations, including bombardments of Italian positions at Bardia, in Libya, and an airfield at Scarpanto in the Dodecanese. Sydney then returned to Alexandria for repairs, maintenance and leave. In October, Sydney and HMS Orion carried out a bombardment of Port Maltesana (Astipalea) in the Dodecanese. In November Sydney ferried troops and stores to Crete; on the night of November 11, Sydney, Orion, HMS Ajax and two destroyers attacked an Italian convoy of four merchant ships and two escorts in the Strait of Otranto. All the merchant ships were sunk, although the two escorts escaped.

Sydney was refitted at Malta and departed the Mediterranean for Australia on January 12, 1941, performing escort duties en route. The SHIP reached Fremantle on February 5 and underwent a further refit in Sydney Harbour, during which Collins handed over command to Captain Joseph Burnett.

On February 27, the ship left for its new base of Fremantle, from where it would carry out patrol and escort duties in the Indian Ocean, occasionally venturing into Asian and Pacific waters.

Final battle, disappearance and searches.

On November 5, at Albany, Western Australia, Sydney began escorting the troopship Zealandia, which was bound for Sunda Strait, in the Dutch East Indies. Sydney and Zealandia arrived at Fremantle on November 9. They were delayed by a labour dispute on board Zealandia, but left Fremantle on November 11. They reached Sumatra on November 17.

The Sydney began the return voyage to Fremantle, and was scheduled to arrive in the afternoon or evening of November 20. Axis submarines and surface raiders had already been active in the Indian Ocean and Pacific, and it was expected that any Australian naval vessel on such a voyage might have to investigate reported sightings or suspicious vessels.

About 4pm November 19, somewhere west of Shark Bay, Western Australia, Sydney sighted a merchant ship about 20 kilometres away and challenged it. The other ship identified itself as the Dutch ship, Straat Malakka. It was in fact, the German auxiliary cruiser, Kormoran. According to survivors from Kormoran, Sydney closed to within 1,000 metres and was surprised and overwhelmed when the crew of Kormoran opened fire with concealed artillery and torpedoes. Kormoran was also badly damaged in the ensuing battle and had to be abandoned. Survivors from Kormoran reported that Sydney was last seen heavily on fire and down by the bows. The ship and its 645-crew members were never seen again. The Australian War memorial houses the only trace of Sydney which was ever found: one of its Carley float life rafts, damaged by gunfire, discovered at sea several days after the sinking.

In early February 1942, another Carley float, containing the body of a white male adult, was found off Christmas Island about 2,500km from the scene of the battle. Neither the body nor the float has been positively identified as being from Sydney (In October 2006, it was reported that an archaeological investigation had rediscovered the remains and they were being examined by forensic scientists).

In March 1943, a lifebuoy from Sydney was found near Comboyuro Point, Moreton Island, Queensland, although this may have fallen overboard before the warship was sunk. There have been many unsuccessful attempts to locate the wreck over the years. In 2005, a prominent shipwreck hunter, David Mearns, mounted another expedition to find the wreck with the assistance of the latest sonar technology, and newly revealed details recorded by the commander of Kormoran, Theodor Detmers.

In June 2007, British maritime researcher, Timothy Akers, a former employee of David Mearns, claimed to have located the wreck of the Sydney along with other wrecks from a Japanese Battle Group in the vicinity, using high quality satellite imagery he purchased (Claims sunken WWII RAN ship finally found. News limited). However, this claim has been disputed, and Ted Graham, the chairman of the Perth-based volunteer company HMAS Sydney Search, has dismissed the possibility the wreck can be located using satellite imagery (HMAS Sydney find `nonsense’. The Sydney Morning Herald).

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Sydney_II

ROLL OF HONOUR: Alfred John Noell’s name is located at panel 8 in the commemorative Area at the Australian War memorial.

Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=146-1484

ROLL OF HONOUR: KALAMUNDA

Kalamunda’s John and Noel roads honour this man.

HODGSON Mathew Roscoe.

Nationality: British

Rank: Sergeant/ Royal Australian Air Force 13 Squadron (CITY OF DARWIN)

Motto: Resilient and Ready.

No. 13 Squadron was formed from elements of No. 12 Squadron at RAAF Base Darwin on 1 June 1940. The Squadron initially served in the general reconnaissance role and flew maritime surveillance patrols over the seas to the north of Australia and survey flights over Northern Australia. In May, the Squadron began flying familiarisation flights over the Netherlands East Indies in preparation to deploy to the NEI following the outbreak of war with Japan. Following the start of the Pacific War, No. 13 Squadron deployed two flights of Hudson light bombers to Ambon. Flying in the face of heavy resistance, these aircraft conducted patrols throughout the eastern islands of the NEI, locating a number of Japanese convoys. The surviving aircraft from these flights returned to Darwin in February 1942, as Ambon faced invasion. However, the squadron commander, Wing Commander, Ernest Scott, was killed in a massacre by Japanese troops following the battle.

No. 13 Squadron was severely affected by the Japanese Air raids on Darwin on 19 February 1942, with the Squadron’s headquarters, stores and spares being destroyed. As a result of the Squadron’s heavy losses during the defence of the NEI and the raids on Darwin, No. 13 Squadron generally only had one or two aircraft operational on most days in early 1942. Nevertheless, the Squadron continued to fly operational attack and reconnaissance missions over the NEI. No. 13 Squadron was later awarded the United States Presidential Unit Citation for its operations over Timor during August and September 1942. No. 13 is one of only two RAAF Squadrons to have received this honour. No 2 squadron is the other squadron, which received the award for Vietnam War performance).

No 2 Squadron was formed in Egypt in 1916. It was reformed in 1937, when it carried out continuous operations in the Pacific during World War II (from the dark days when Australia was threatened in 1941 and 1942, and throughout constant strikes in the Northwest Area of operations until the mopping up and ultimate defeat of Japan in 1945). Its postwar involvement in two Southeast Asia conflicts, Malaya and Vietnam made it the only Australian air unit to have flown operations in four wars.

Source: ‘Highest Traditions’; by John Bennett, PUBLISHER AGPS 1995.

The Squadron continued to conduct operations against the Japanese until 4 April, 1943, when it handed its Hudson aircraft over to No. 2 Squadron and was withdrawn to RAAF Base Fairbairn to rest and re-equip. At Fairbairn the Squadron took delivery of Bristol Beaufort and Lockheed Ventura Aircraft and conducted anti-submarine and shipping patrols along the Australian East Coast. The Beauforts were handed over to No. 2 Squadron in August. The future Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam joined the Squadron as a navigator during 1943.

No. 13 Squadron moved to Cooktown in late May 1944 before moving again to Gove in August. From Gove, the Squadron mainly carried out anti-submarine and escort patrols, though it appears to have also mounted a small number of bombing raids against the eastern islands of the NEI. In late June 1945, the Squadron moved to Morotai in the NEI and, soon after the end of the War, to Labuan in British North Borneo. From Labuan the Squadron operated in the transport role and ferried ex-Prisoners of War and other personnel back to Australia before being disbanded on 11 January 1946.

Aircraft operated: Avro Anson (June 1940)-April 1943); Lockheed Hudson (June 1940-April 1943); Bristol Beaufort (April-August 1943); Lockheed Ventura (April 1943-January 1946).

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._13_Squadron_RAAF

During the period 09-06-1940-12-06-1940 patrols also included searches. Hudson aircraft replaced the Anson aircraft.

Aircraft flown: Ansons and Hudsons and re-armed with Venturas and Beauforts (30-07-1943).

Source: `Units of the Royal Australian Air Force’ (Vol 3, Bomber Units) by the Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1995.

13 Squadron Chronology:

1 June 1940-formed in Darwin, NT.

6 December 1941-moved to Laha, Netherlands East Indies.

31 January 1942- evacuated to Darwin.

2 May 1942 –moved to Hughes Strip.

19 April 1943 –moved to Canberra, ACT.

9 June 1944 – moved to Cooktown, Qld.

25 August 1944 – moved to Gove, NT.

26 June 1945 –moved to Morotai.

16 August 1945 – moved to Labuan, Borneo.

11 January 1946 – disbanded at Labuan.

1 July 1989 – reformed at Darwin.

November 1984 – based at Darwin, NT.

Between the end of World War I and the start of World War II, little was done to improve the defence against Germany’s `Kriegmarine’. The liner, Athenia, was sunk on the first day of war and was followed by a sinking by U-boats in 1941 of 4.3 million tons of shipping, in 1942 of 6.2 million tons, and, by April 1943, A monthly level of sinking had reached 600,000 tons. However, by April, allied air craft had air to surface radars, new sonobuoys, Leigh target-illuminating lights and more lethal depth charges, which caused Admiral Doenitz to recall his U-boat packs (May 24, 1943) which never proved again such a serious threat. In September 1939, the Sunderland, partnered at first by the Avro Anson (11,020 being built) was replacing the RAF’s biplane flying boats.

Source: History of Military Operation by Bill Gunston; Publisher: Octopus Publishing Group Ltd. London, U.K.

The Avro 652A prototype was flown for the first time, entering RAF service as the Anson, on March 24^th, 1935 (15 days after the March 9^th formation of the formation of the German Luftwaffe). The Avro was the RAF’s first monoplane aircraft with retractable landing gear, albeit hand cranked.

Source: p105, A Hundred Years of Military Aviation by Peter R March, publisher: Cassell & Co, London, U.K.

Lockheed Hudson: First Flown in December 1938, the Hudson was chosen by the RAAF for delivery from 9^th February 1940 to 20^th May 1942. All Mk III aircraft featured Wright Cyclone engines, plus two beam and one extra ventral machine gun.

Type: five-seat medium bomber.

Country of Origin: USA

Number Ordered: 247

Serial Numbers: 1-50(Mk1), 51-100(MkII), 153-162, 170, 172 to 247 (Mk III), 101 to 152, 163 to 169, 171 (Mk IV).

Entered Service 1940

Left Service 1949

Other Roles: Photo-reconnaissance

Armament: Guns-7x0.303-inch Browning; MGS (3x2, 2x1).

Bomb load-750 lbs.

Weighs (lbs.): Empty-12, 000 Loaded – 17,500.

Dimensions (feet) Wingspan-65.6, Length –44.4; Height-11.10 ½;

Power: Two Pratt Whitney Wasps; each 1,050hp OR two Wright Cyclone engines, each 1,100hp.

Initial Climb 1,200 feet/minute.

Ceiling (feet) 22,000

Speed (mph) cruising-224; Maximum –246

Endurance: 2,160 miles or 6 hours.

Source: p71 Australia’s Military Aircraft by Ross Gillett, Publisher: Aerospace Publications: N.S.W.1987

Planes flown: Lockheed Ventura: the RAAF acquired Seventy-five Venturas on lend lease terms from 18^th May to 19^th August 1943. The primary differences between the Mk I and the Mk II models included the Mk II’s more powerful engines and the Mk I’s extra long-range fuel tanks. By 1948 most surviving aircraft had been reduced to components or allotted for disposal. However, it was not until 17^th February 1953, that the final pair, A59-6 and A59-17 were sold. A59-61 Lockheed Ventura could be distinguished from the Lockheed Hudson by the forward dorsal turret, nose rudder and ventral gun position.

Type: Five-man reconnaissance bomber

Country of Origin USA

Number Ordered: 75

Serial Numbers 1-9 and 11-18 (MkI), 10,19,20 (MkII), 50 -104 (PVI).

Entered Service 1943

Left Service 1946

Other Roles: Communications, anti-submarine.

Armament; guns: 8x0.303 Browning MGs (2 in rear, 4 in dorsal turret, 2 in nose), 2x0.5-inch (nose).

Bombload-2, 500lbs, depth charges, torpedoes.

Weight (lbs.): Empty-20, 197. Loaded – 31,077.

Dimensions (feet): Wingspan-65.6

Length-51.9

Height-13.2

Power: two Pratt Whitney r-2800-31 Double Wasp 8-cylinder radial air-cooled engines each 2,000hp.

Initial Climb: 2,230 feet/minute

Ceiling (feet) 26,400

Speed (mph): cruising –164; Maximum-312@13,800 feet.

Endurance: 1,660 miles.

Source: p116 Australia’s Military Aircraft by Ross Gillett, Publisher: Aerospace Publications N.S.W. 1987

Bristol Beaufort: Orders for 90 Australian-built Beauforts were placed in July 1939, with total orders rising to 701. The last aircraft was delivered off the assembly line August 1944.

Type: Four-seat medium torpedo bomber.

Country of Origin: United Kingdom.

Number Ordered 701.

Serial Numbers 1001 (MkVII), to 50 (MkV), 51 to 90 (MkVI), 91 to 150 (MkVII), 151 to 180 (MkVIA), 181 to 700 (MkVIII), 701 to 746 (MkIX).

Entered Service: 1941

Left Service: 1947

Other Roles: Reconnaissance, convoy protection, transport (Beaufort IX).

Armament: Guns – 4x0.303 Browning MkII MGS (2x2).

Bombload – 1,000lbs (internally), 500lbs (wings).

Weights (lbs.) Empty –13,000. Loaded-21, 500.

Dimensions (feet): Wingspan 57.10. Length-44.5. Height-12.5.

Power: Two Pratt Whitney R-1830-S3C4-G twin-row Wasp air-cooled engines; each 1200hp.

Initial Climb:

Ceiling 9feet) 25,000

Cruising-Maximum-232 @sea level, 267 @15,900 feet.

Endurance: 1,060/1,600 miles or 6 hours.

Source: p79, Australia’s Military Aircraft by Ross Gillett, Publisher: Aerospace Publications N.S.W. 1987

Age33

Date/Place of birth 07/09/1908/ PRESTATYN, WALES

Son of Thomas Garstang and Ethel Mary HODGSON,

Husband of Helen Aitken Spears Hodgson, Sth Kalamunda.

Date of Enlistment 06-01-1941 PERTH WA

Service no. 406529

Date of death 12 Jan 1942 missing in action, Celebes flying battle.

Casualty type: Commonwealth War Dead

Cemetery AMBON WAR CEMETERY, INDONESIA; collective Grave 28 5-8

Source: www.cwg.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=4007449

On January 10^th 1942 a 13 Squadron Hudson made two attacks on a Japanese flying boat. The enemy aircraft first tried to climb away at high speed but was unsuccessful. It then tried to out-dive the Hudson but could not. After scoring hits on the enemy aircraft the Hudson had to break off the attack due to a fuel shortage. On January 11^th, Laha was bombed again. 27 bombers escorted by zero fighters bombed the Laha aerodrome, and approximately 300 bombs were dropped, with the Zeros then proceeding to strafe the airfield. Enemy bombing raids continued throughout January, with Squadron 13 eventually evacuating to Darwin. Squadron 13 suffered heavy losses throughout this period but continued to attack Japanese position. The Japanese continued to attack Darwin, Broome, Derby and Katherine. The efforts of Squadron 13 were noted by the Commanding General of the South West Pacific Area, which commended the Squadron for its initiative and courage.

Source: pages 39/40 `Units of the Royal Australian Air Force’, volume 3. Bomber Units, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1995.

On 12 January 1942, Sergeant Matthew Roscoe HODGSON was flying as Wireless Air gunner (WAG) on a Hudson bomber with No 13 Squadron RAAF from the island of Namlea in Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia). They were part of a group of five Hudsons attacking Japanese shipping at Manado on the northern tip of the island of Celebes. At the time, Japanese forces were advancing down the Malay peninsular towards Singapore and through the NEI towards Australia. The attack on the Japanese shipping was an attempt to slow their advance. However, the Hudsons were attacked by a group of zero fighters and four of the five Hudsons were shot down. SGT Hodgson was buried at the Ambon War Cemetery in Indonesia.

Source: Office of Air Force History, TUGGERANONG.

ROLL OF HONOUR: Matthew Roscoe Hodgson’s name is located at panel 100 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial.

Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=148-33327

Source: AWM148 Roll of Honour cards, 1929-1945 War, Air Force

ROLL OF HONOUR: KALAMUNDA

Following Japan’s early December 1941 entry into World War II, AMBON, in the Banda Sea, was the scene of a battle (between the island’s Australian and Dutch garrisons and the invading Japanese forces) to defend the valuable Kendari airfield on the south-eastern coast of Celebes less than 650km from Ambon. It was later from the same (captured) Kendari airfield that the Japanese launched their second attack by 54 aircraft of the 1^st Air Attack Force on Darwin. The object of the Japanese attack on Darwin was to inhibit Darwin’s usefulness as an allied base in the defence of Timor. The 2/21^st Battalion (part of the 23^rd Brigade of the 8^th Australian Division was sent to Ambon with anti-tank, engineer and other detachments on the 17^th December, 1941. It joined 2,600 Netherlands East Indies troops commanded by Lieut.Colonel. J.R.L.Kapitz. The Dutch aircraft and Hudson bombers from No.13 Squadron, RAAF used the island’s two airfields at Laha and Liang. Ihe island suffered its first Japanese air attack on 6^th January, 1942. The Japanese had moved into northern Celebes, seized the Kendari airfield on the south-eastern coast, and started inflicting ever-increasing raids of intensity. The last of the defending aircraft withdrew on the night of January 30^th, 1942. The same night the Japanese convoy arrived at the island’s north and south coasts and landed three battalions of the 228^th Regiment and naval troops under command of Major-General Takeo Ito. Source: `The Japanese Thrust’ by Lionel Wigmore (1975), Canberra: Australian War Memorial; J Beaumont (19880 `Gull Force, Sydney; Allen & Unwin. Source: p201 `Where Australians Fought’. Condensed from pages 201/202 rewritten

Most of the pre-war RAAF and the ROYAL NEW ZEALAND AIR FORCE comprised Brewster Buffaloes (as did the Dutch) and Lockheed Hudson bombers. The Brewster and Hudson bombers were designed and built in the USA. The Hudson was actually a modification of the Electra passenger aircraft to a bomber aircraft. Most of the other bombers used during World War II were designed and built as bombers, but some were modified during the war for passenger usage. Winton Churchill flew in a few modified bombers.

DARWIN AIR RAIDS

On 19 February 1942, 188 planes were launched against Darwin whose harbour was full of ships. Eight ships were sunk, two were beached and later refloated and many of the other 35 ships in the harbour were damaged by bomb or machine gun fire. The raid also heavily damaged Darwin town and the RAF aerodrome. A second raid of 54 bombers was launched two hours later on the same day. The raids on 19 February were the first two of sixty-four raids against the Darwin area and its nearby airfields, which bore the brunt of Japanese attacks on mainland Australia.

In January 1943, No 1 Fighter Wing, RAF moved to the Darwin area with three Spitfire squadrons, No. 54 RAF at Darwin, No. 452 RAAF at Strauss and No. 457 RAAF at Livingstone. The Spitfires had major clashes with the Japanese on 2 and 15 March 1943. On 20 June 1943, the Spitfires intercepted the formation of 21 bombers and 21 fighters, shooting down nine bombers and five fighters. This was the most successful encounter by the RAAF over Darwin, during which the Group Captain Caldwell, an ace from the European theatre, shot down his fifth Japanese aircraft. The final air raid on Darwin took place on 12 November 1943.

Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/air_raids/darwin

Recommended literature: Steve Either (1987) `Flying Squadrons of the Australian Defence Force’: Aerospace Publications.

`Units of the Royal Australian Air force(1995). A concise history: Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service. RAAF Historical section :

DARWIN SQUADRONS.

No 77 Squadron Royal Australian Air F was formed in 1942 and currently operates F/A-18 Hornet aircraft from RAAF Base Williamtown. The Squadron was formed at RAAF Base Pearce on 16 March 1942. Equipped with P-40E Kittyhawk aircraft the squadron was initially responsible for the defence of Perth. No. 77 Squadron moved to Batchelor near Darwin in August 1942, where it became the first RAAF fighter squadron to be stationed in the area. The Squadron saw action-defending Darwin from Japanese air raids and claimed its first `kill’ (`Betty’ bomber) on 23 November 1942. In CHECK February 1943, No. 77 squadron was deployed to Milne Bay in New Guinea (P-40K Kittyhawks). The Squadron flew escort and ground attack operations over New Guinea and Solomon Islands until September 1944 when it moved to western New Guinea. The Squadron moved to Morotai in April 1945 and conducted ground attack missions over the Netherlands East Indies until June when it was redeployed to Labuan Island to support the Australian Army’s operations in Borneo. Following the Japanese surrender, No. 77 Squadron was selected as part of Australia’s contribution to the British Commonwealth Occupation Force and, after converting to P-5ID Mustang fighters, arrived in Japan in February 1946. Occupation duties proved uneventful, and No. 77 Squadron was preparing to leave Japan for Australia when the Korean War broke out in June 1950.

No 77 Squadron was committed to action over Korea as part of the United Nations forces, and flew its first ground attack sorties on 2 July, 1950, Making it the first non-United States UN unit to see action. No. 77 Squadron deployed to Korea in October to support the UN advance into North Korea but was withdrawn to Pusan in November in response to the Communist forces’ counter-attack. The squadron was withdrawn to Japan in April 1951 to re-equip with Gloster Meteor jet fighters and returned to action with these new aircraft in July. Following heavy losses from MiG-15 fighters No. 77 Squadron operated in the ground attack role from December 1951 until the end of the war; it remained in South Korea on garrison duties until returning to Australia in November 1954. The Squadron was disbanded at RAAF Base Williamtown on 12 August, 1956 but was reformed 19 November 1956 equipped with CA-27 Sabres. In December 1958 the Squadron moved to RAAF Base Butterworth in Malaya where it flew ground attack missions against Communist guerillas during the Malayan Emergency. The Squadron remained at Butterworth during the 1960s and served in the air defence role during the Indonesian Confrontation. No. 77 Squadron returned t RAAF Base Williamtown early 1969 to be re-equipped with Mirage III fighters which it operated in the air defence role. In January 1985 the squadron was temporarily equipped with Aermacchi MB-326 jet trainers which it operated until converting to F/A-18 Hornet fighter bombers in 1987. The Squadron operated a detachment of Pilatus PC-9 aircraft in the forward air control role from 2000 until 2003; this role is now filled by the Forward Air control Development Unit. A detachment of four F/A-18s from No. 77 squadron was deployed to protect the key US air base at Diego Garcia between December 2001 and February 2002 during the early phases of the invasion of Afghanistan.

Aircraft operated: P-40 Kittyhawk (March 1942-1945?)

P-51D Mustang (Late 1945? -April 1951)

Gloster Meteor (April 1951-August 1956)

CA-27 Sabre (November 1956-July 1969)

Mirage III (July 1969-June 1987

Aermacchi MB-326 (January 1985-June 1987)

F/A-18 Hornet (June 1987-current)

Pilatus PC-9(2000-2003

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._77Squadron_RAAF

DARWIN SQUADRONS.

Three squadrons-Nos. 75,76 and 77- were raised in an atmosphere of crisis following the successful February 19, 1942 Japanese attack on Darwin. At 9.57am, 9 Zeros strafed a RAN minesweeper (HMAS Gunbar) in Darwin Harbour followed by a tight formation of bombers launched from four aircraft carriers in the Timor Sea. Darwin Harbour held 47 naval and merchant vessels which were an easy target for the bombers. Before noon, a group of 54 bombers, launched from Ambon, targeted the RAAF base. Losses for the day totalled ten ships, 23 RAAF and USAAF aircraft, public buildings and private homes, most Air Force facilities and 243 people. The prior belief that Island Australia should have spent more defence money on airpower rather than the 60% of its defence budget on the navy was proved correct in one day. Pressure from newly appointed Prime Minister, John Curtin, resulted in the delivery to the RAAF of P-40 Kittyhawk fighters.

Japan Mitsubishi A6M Zero-Sen (1939).

Type: single-seat carrier-based fighter.

Engine: (Model 53C) 1,210hp Nakajima NKIP Sakae 31 14-cylinder radial air-cooled

Armament: two 20mm cannon, three 13.2 mm machine-guns, one 7.7mm machine-gun.

Maximum Speed: 346mph (555km/h) at 19,680’ (6,000m).

Rate of Climb: 3,140’ (957m) l min.

Ceiling: 35,100’ (10,698m).

Wing Area: 229.27sq ft (21.30sqm).

Weight Empty: 3,920lb (2,733kg).

Take-off Weight: 6,026lb (2,733kg).

Span: 36’1” (11.00m).

Length: 29’9” (9.07m).

Height: 9’2” (2.79m).

Japan’s famous Zero naval fighter was so named from its military designation of Type O Carrier Fighter. At the height of its success in the early days of the Pacific War, it was the world'’ most formidable carrier-based aircraft, then being superior to any of its land-based opponents. The Zero prototype first flew in April 1939 and was subsequently used as a fighter-bomber. In the last months of the war Zeros were utilised in Kamikaze operations.

Source: David Monday (1977) `Pictorial History of Aircraft’, Hong Kong: Mandarin Publishers Ltd.

The superiority of equipment and material of Japanese aircraft manifested itself in the early phases of World War II. From the start of the conflict the superior quality of Japanese equipment in battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, torpedoes, shells, pyrotechnics, searchlights and particularly aircraft was obvious, especially the zero-Sen. The superbly trained Japanese war machine with the Zero in the van stormed through South-east Asia, annihilating ill-coordinated British, Dutch and American efforts. It was deemed `suicide’ for any Allied aircraft to take to the air to combat the Zero As the Zero’s weaknesses and Allied aircraft’s advantages manifested themselves, Japan’s air supremacy declined. Source: p208, Classic Aircraft of World War II. Publisher: Bison Books Ltd.4 Cromwell Place, London UK.

Gunbar was requisitioned for War Service on 30 September 1940 by the Royal Australian navy-at a Charter Rate of 120 Pounds per month from the North Coast Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. Sydney. She was refitted as a Minesweeper and commissioned for Minesweeping duties along the Southeast coast of Australia on 19 December 1940 under the command of Lt. N.M. Muzzell, RANR (S). HMAS GUNBAR had a crew of 27. In April 1941 she moved to Western Australia and operated out of Fremantle until January 1942. She then moved to Darwin where she was one of many vessels attacked during the first Japanese air raid on Darwin on 19 February 1942. HMAS Gunbar has the reputation of being the first ship attacked by the Japanese aircraft during the attack. Nine sailors including the Commanding Officer were wounded during the attack. Ordinary Seaman Herbert J. Shepherd (f3384) later died from his wounds on 22 February 1942.

HMAS Gunbar was being used as Water Carrier at the time of the attack. She was just passing through the entrance boom when the Japanese aircraft arrived over Darwin. The nine Japanese aircraft proceeded to attack HMAS Gunbar on eighteen occasions. They knocked her single machine gun out of action. The Gunbar limped into the harbour and evacuated five of her wounded and then went to the assistance of the stricken merchant ship Portmar. HMAS Gunbar evacuated the crew of Portmar. HMAS Gunbar together with HMAS Kara Kara were the two anchored gate ships for the Darwin Boom Defence until April 1943. HMAS Gunbar eventually moved to Sydney where she was paid off into Reserve. Some Darwin streets are named in honour of HMAS Gunbar and Lt-Cdr Muzell.

Commanding Officers: Lt. Norman M. Muzzell, RANR (S) 18 Dec 1940

Lt. Maurice Boyd RANR (S) Apr 1942.

Lt. Samuel C. Smith RANR (S) 3 June 1942.

Lt. Charles C. G. Gray, RANR (S) 7 Dec 1942.

Ship paid off to Maintenance Reserve 30 June 43 – Recommissioned 21 Oct 1943.

Lt. Harold F. Town RANR (S) 21 Oct 1943

Lt. S.P. Gains, RANR (S) 4 Sept 1945.

Source: http://home.st.net.au%Edunn/ran/hmasgunbar.htm

Recommended literature: Tom Lewis, `Wrecks in Darwin Waters, and Vic Cassells ` For Those in Peril - A comprehensive listing of the Ships and Men of the RAN who have paid the Supreme Sacrifice in the wars of the 20^th Century’.

JOHNSON Conrad Ervin (Mine worker).

Nationality Australian

Rank: Sgt, Wireless Operator/Air gunner, RAAF/ATT.Hq. RAF, MIDDLE EAST.

Source, Bid Taylor (sister), 1/54 Williams Street, KALAMUNDA, W A

Age 28

Date/Place of Birth: 19/11/1913/KALAMUNDA, WA (Ronneby).

Son of: August and Margaret Elizabeth JOHNSON/KALAMUNDA, W A.

Date/Place of Enlistment: 07/10/1940/PERTH, W. A.

Service no.406301

Date/Place of Death: 30^th Mar 1942 flying battle/ Mediterranean.

Posting on death: TRANSIT CAMP ALMAZA MALTA

CASUALTY DETAILS www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx/casualty=1082394

Taranto (Italy, North of Malta) in 1940, with its fleet of warships and its Regio Aeronautica, was regarded by the allies as a threat and a possible target with torpedo bombers. Admiral Cunningham decided to use HMS Illustrious and the Mediterranean Fleet with its Fairey Swordfish aircraft to attack. The November 11^th 1940 attack started with a string of flares dropped by two Swordfish around the harbour and (with a maximum speed of only 130mph), the dropping of bombs on an oil storage depot and a follow up by 19 more biplanes. These skilfully managed to twist and turn to avoid barrage balloon cables and fire from anti-aircraft weapons, flying so low their wheels touched water. All aircraft managed to escape. A reconnaissance flight confirmed that four battleships, a cruiser, two destroyers and two auxiliary vessels had been severely damaged: 21 fragile biplanes and 42 gallant men (each Swordfish loaded to its maximum) had managed to alter the balance of power in the Mediterranean. With the eventual loss of two aircraft, the British left the Italian Fleet in ruins! The Japanese noted the success of this `surprise’ attack and followed suit with its attack on pearl Harbour thirteen months later.

Source: Peter R March (2000) `A Hundred Years of Military aviation’, London: Cassell & Co.

Malta was a British base for submarines and aircraft preying on Axis lines of supply to Libya. In the spring of 1942, the Axis decided to obliterate Malta in a siege of annihilation: Malta became the most bombed place on earth. Malta’s history: a Phoenician colony circa 1,000 BC, Greek occupation 746 BC, followed by possession by Cartage and Rome, and the Arabs later in 870 AD. The Normans took control in 1,090, with Malta later being a fuedal fiefdom of Sicily. In 1530, The Roman Emperor Charles V granted Malta to the knights of St John of Jerusalem who ruled it into the 19^th century, making Valetta one of the Mediterranean’s greatest strongholds.

In 1814, Britain acquired Malta, which then gained its independence (21^st September 1964) while still remaining within the Commonwealth, and becoming a Republic in 1974.

World War II history: In March 1942, the Air Officer commanding Malta had been sending urgent messages to London and his Command Headquarters in Cairo for aircraft and pilots. Fifteen pilots were despatched from England by a Sunderland flying boat with another 15 pilots to soon follow. Spitfires were flown into Malta from the carrier HMS Eagle March 7, 1942 while Royal Navy submarines and RAF/Fleet Airarm torpedo carrying aircraft out of Malta were wreaking havoc on Axis shipping carrying supplies to German/Italian forces in North Africa. The Germans retaliated with Operation Herkules, dumping 6,728 tons of bombs on Malta (April 3) and 3,156 tons on Valetta harbour.

April 20^th saw the arrival of Squadrons 601 and 603 manning new spitfires and the US carrier Wasp and HMS Eagle with 46 and 13 more Spitfires, respectively. These helped turn the tide and the Luftwaffe lost circa 500 aircraft, either destroyed or badly damaged during the next trying days. The Axis then tried to starve Malta into submission. Supply convoys were destroyed and by the end of August, food, fuel and ammunition were almost exhausted, with surrender in sight. The dockyards had been pulverised and Malta virtually neutralised. Winston Churchill then ordered Operation Pedestal to be mounted: a convoy of 14 merchant ships including the US tanker Ohio, supported by a huge Naval Escort, was sent to bring relief to Malta. The convoy was harried by German U-boats and Italian submarines, E-boats, dive and torpedo bombers and high level bombers during its journey through the Straits of Gibraltar. Only 5 merchant vessels remained afloat, the crippled Ohio being nursed by three British destroyers to Malta, arriving August 15^th to cheering crowds. Malta survived and General Montgomery went on to win his famous Battle of el Alamein. Fighting in Malta erupted again in October, but with its Spitfires and their pilots all stood firm and the island was saved.

Source: http://ahoy.tk-jk.net/macslog/BattleforMalta.html

ROLL OF HONOUR: AWM 148 roll of Honour cards, 1939-1945 War, Air Force

Memorial: panel 124 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial

Grave/Memorial Panel 5 Col 2 Floriana, MALTA MEMORIAL, MALTA (2,300 airmen).

ROLL OF HONOUR: KALAMUNDA

Personal service Records: http://www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=148-33841

Source: www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=33841

Recommended literature:: Nicholas Monsarrat, `Kapillan of Malta’.

NANNUP Edward.

Nationality: Australian (Labourer).

Rank: Private, Australian Army/2/2^nd Bn (6^th division).

Age: 36

Date/Place of Birth 05/02/1906/ BELMONT, WA

Son of: Edward Pyes NANNUP and Emily NANNUP of West Perth, husband of Rose Margaret NANNY of 32 Kelvin St. MAYLANDS WA

Source: http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/Imagine.asp

Date/Place/Locality of Enlistment 02-07-1941/CLAREMONT/KALAMUNDA, WA

Service no. WX14716

Source: http://www.ww2roll.goc.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=E&veteranID=751603

Date/Place of Death: 05/03/1942/Java.

Source: AWM147 Roll of Honour cards, 1939-1945 War, 2^nd AIF (Australian Imperial Force) and CMF (Citizen Military Force).

Embarked 21/04/1942 S.S `Orcades’ for BATAVIA.

Date of Death: Became missing (28.2.1942) and is for official purposes presumed dead:

05/03/1942/JAVA Source http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/Imagine.asp

Posting on death: 2/2 Pioneer Battalion.

Casualty details: Source www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=A&VeteranID-751603

Casualty type: Commonwealth War Dead.

Grave/Memorial Column: 138 Singapore Memorial.

Source: www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2139942

Timor, an island in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) saw the Japanese invasive action (February 20-23 1942) to secure a fighter aircraft base close to Australia. The `defending Australian “Sparrow Force” comprised a body of 1,400 men reinforcing the Dutch and Portuguese garrisons. Lieut. Colonel William Leggatt commanded the Australian force which comprised the 2/40^th Bn (part of the 23^rd Brigade of the 8^th Australian Division), the 2/2^nd Independent Company and other detachments. The independent company went to Dili on the north coast, in the Portuguese zone of control. About midnight on February 19^th, Japanese war ships shelled Dili. Troops were landed and advanced on the airfield. A section of the 2/2^nd Independent Company posted there inflicted severe losses on the enemy before withdrawing into the hinterland (after cratering the airfield). Leggatt’s troops at Koepang put up a spirited fight, killing all but 78 of the paratroopers, He and his men (carrying a column of 132 sick or wounded) surrendered 9.0am on February 23, 1942. The independent company joined Brigadier William Veale and 250 of his troops from Koepang and withdrew towards the Portuguese part of the island. They mounted a guerilla warfare campaign which laster a further year. The initial attack on Timor cost the lives of 84 Australians and several hundred of the 5,500 invading Japanese troops.

Source: `The Japanese Thrust’ by Lionel Wigmore (1957) Canberra: Australian War Memorial.

Helfrich’s ships included three British cruisers, two Australian, two Dutch, and one American; five British destroyers, four American, and two Dutch; and some Dutch submarines and smaller craft. Commodore Collins (1) remained at Batavia as “Commodore, China Force”, in general control, under Helfrich, of the British and Australian ships. The defending forces included some 18 British and Australian ships. The defending air forces included some 18 British fighters and 20 twin-engine aircraft fit for operations; a few American fighters; and ten Dutch squadrons, all much depleted. The Dutch Army totalled some 25,000 troops but, as the Australians had observed early in February, they seemed unlikely to be capable of a very effective resistance. These troops were deployed in four area commands: Batavia area, with two regiments under General Schilling; North Central area (one regiment, under General Pessmann); South Java area (one regiment, under General Cox); and East Java (one regiment under General Ilgen). The only effective mobile striking units were the two Australian battalions (2/3 Machine Gun and 2/2 Pioneers) under the command of Brigadier Blackburn; a squadron of British tanks of the 3^rd Hussars, and a battalion of the 131^st American Field Artillery Regiment. The British and Australian contingents, including five British anti-aircraft regiments, two of them without guns, were at length placed under the general control of Major-General Sitwell⁽²⁾, who had been Wavell’s senior anti-aircraft officer.

Blackburn, a sanguine, gallant and enterprising officer, was a lawyer who had served on Gallipoli in the ranks and won the Victoria Cross as a subaltern at Pozieres in 1916. Between the wars he had risen to the command of a machine-gun battalion, and in 1940 had formed the 2/3^rd Machine Gun Battalion. He had led this unit in the Syrian campaign on June and July 1941, in which the 2/2^nd Pioneers also fought, as infantry, in a series of costly engagements.

(1) Vice-Admiral Sir John Collins, KBE, and CB: RAN. HMS Canada 1917-18; Asst Chief of Naval Staff 1938-39; comd HMAS Sydney 1939-41, British Naval forces in ABD AREA 1942, HMS Shropshire 1943-44, Australian Squadron 1944 and 1945-46: First Naval Member and Chief of Naval Staff 1948-55. b Deloraine, Tas, 7 Jan 1899.

(2) Maj-Gen H.D.W.Sitwell, CB, MX, GOC Brit Troops Java 1942. Regular soldier, b 25 Oct. 1896.

Source: Lionel Wigmore(1957) The Japanese Thrust, Canberra: Australian War Memorial.

ROLL OF HONOUR

Edward Nannup’s name is located at panel 73 in the Commemorative area at the Australian War Memorial.

Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=147-17246

ROLL OF HONOUR; KALAMUNDA

Recommended Recommended literature:: E.F.Aitken (1957) ` The story of the 2/2^nd Australian Pioneer Battalion’, Variant title; `2/2Pioneer Battalion history’, Melbourne: 2/2^nd pioneer Battalion Association, SUBJECT; World War, 1939-1945-Regimental histories-Australia; Unit histories, Australian: Australia. Army. Pioneer Battalion, 2/2^nd;

HALLETT Edwin

Nationality: Australian

Rank: Able Seaman: Royal Australian Navy/HMAS PERTH

AWM excerpt: HMAS Perth: ‘The Loss of HMAS Perth 1 March, 1942’. HMAS PERTH was built at Portsmouth Naval Dockyard and commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Amphion on 25 June 1936. Purchased by the Australian Government, she was commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) on 29 June 1939. The light cruiser displaced 6,830 tons, was 169 metres long, and had a beam of 17.3 metres. Her armament consisted of eight 6-inch guns, eight 4-inch dual-purpose guns, a number of automatic anti-aircraft weapons and eight 21-inch torpedo tubes. She also carried a Seagull V aircraft for reconnaissance and spotting duties. Her speed was 32 knots and she carried a complement of 681.

While the ship was refitting, Captain H.M.L. Waller, DSO and bar, RAN, took command on 24 October 1941. After completion of her refit, Perth operated off eastern Australia on patrol and escort work, visiting New Guinea. On 14 February 1942, Perth sailed for the Netherlands East Indies, arriving at Batavia (now Jakarta) on 24 February, where she was attacked by Japanese aircraft that day and the next without sustaining any damage. The Perth sailed for Surabaya on 25 February, in company with four Royal Navy ships. On 26 February the ship departed Surabaya in company with the Dutch light cruisers De Ruyter and Java, the heavy cruisers USS Houston and HMS Exeter, and two Dutch, three British and four US destroyers. The squadron, under the command of the Dutch Rear Admiral Karel Doorman, proceeded along the north coast of Madura Island, searching for a Japanese invasion convoy.

Perth’s crew abandoned ship between the second and third torpedoes, but it is doubtful if any boats were successfully launched, although many rafts and Carley floats were. During the abandon ship operation the Perth was under fire from many destroyers at close range and many hits were sustained and casualties caused. Many were killed or wounded in the water by the explosion of the last two torpedoes and by shells exploding in the water.

Source: www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/perth/loss.htm

Recommended literature:: Brendan Whiting ‘Ship of Courage’- The epic story of HMAS Perth and her crew’, St. Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin.

Age 21

Date/Place of Birth 15 May 1920/MULLEWA, WA

Son of Rupert Edwin and Anna Maria HALLETT, Gnowangerup WA

Date of Enlistment 17-02-1941 Service record assessment: `Of very good character’.

Service no. F3377

Source: www.2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?Service ID=N&VeteranID=1119811

Date of Death: 01/03/1942- lost at sea, presumed dead

Posting on Death: HMAS Perth in the SUNDA STRAIT

Casualty type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial PLYMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL Panel 75 Col 2

Source: www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx? casualty=2480368

ROLL OF HONOUR: E. Hallett’s name is located at panel 5 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial

Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=146-818

ROLL OF HONOUR: KALAMUNDA

ANDERSON WILLIAM HENRY GORDON (stonecutter).

Nationality: Australian

Rank: Private: Australian Army 2/11/Postal Ambulance Service (6^th Division).

Age 25

Date/Place of Birth: 10 Jul 1919/ N PERTH, WA

Son of William Henry and Elizabeth ANDERSON of Hale Rd, Forrestfield

Date/Place/Locality of Enlistment 23 July 1942/GINGIN/FORRESTFIELD, WA.

Source: www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=A&VeteranID=762362

Service no WX28133

Date of Death 6 Jan 1945 New Guinea. Buried Aitape War Cemetery, Grave A.C.2

Posting on Death: 2/11 Australian Infantry Battalion MATA PAU-NIAP

Casualty type: Commonwealth War Dead.

War Diary & Intelligence Summary (01-01-31-01-1945 says: `

Battle summary:

Excellent job in carrying out (? pincher) attack on NIAP BY 14 Platoon with 12 Platoon in reserve.

08.30. Air strike by 11 Beaufort Bombers on V633302 (map reference) was only partially successful.

The bombers then strafed the target with better results.

0912: Artillery preparation on position, 48 shells in area. An attempt was made to use tanks by clearing the shoulder of RAZOR SPUR with a bulldozer but it was unsuccessful.

At 1013, 14 Platoon with 12 Platoon in reserve moved across the WAKIP and was held by enemy fire at V633302. Three tanks and a bulldozer were sent up the coast about 400 yards to try and give support from the beach,

At 1132 WXI5408 private Rowe J was wounded.

At 1400 tanks and bulldozer had made a track from the beach up to the old German Rd.

At 140, WX11566 Cpl A.C. McCloy died of wounds and NX17456 Private J.A. Adams was wounded (by a grenade from a discharger fired with a dud ballistic cartridge). Artillery and M3 (mortar) fired on position for 9 minutes. Then 14 Platoon pushed forward again and advanced about 500 yards with tank support. WX28133W.H.G. Anderson was killed by fire from Base Support Area.

1642 NIAP occupied. 12 Platoon moved up and prepared to occupy defensive position at NIAP point. 1715. 14 Platoon moving back to perimeter at MATAPAU were fired on by Heavy Machinegun and WX15729 H.P. Wilson….[unfinished sentence].

Source: 6^th January War Diary or Intelligence Summary: Unit 2/11 Infantry Battalion. Date: from 1 January-31 Jan 1945.

Date/Place of Death: 06/-1/1945/New Guinea, killed in action.

Source: AWM147 Roll of Honour cards, 1939-`945 War, 2^nd AIF (Australian Imperial Force) and CMF 9Citizen Military Force).

Grave/Memorial PP.A.6 LAE WAR CEMETERY

Source: www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx/casualty=2166941

ROLL OF HONOUR: William Henry Gordon Anderson’s name is located at panel 35 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial.

Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=147-387

Recommended literature: K.T.Johnson (2000) `The 2/11^th (City of Perth) Australian Infantry Battalion, 1939-1945 / variant title: `Second eleventh (City of Perth) Australian Infantry Battalion, 1939-1945.

Swanbourne, WA: John Burridge Military Antiques. SUBJECT: World War, 1939-1945-personal narratives, Australian; World War, 1939-1945-Regimental histories-Australia; Unit histories. Australian; Australia, Army. Battalion: 2/11^th History. It includes a Nominal Roll and index.

Source: http://www.awm.goc.au/firstopac/hin/cgi-jsp.exe/shelf1jsp?recno=50953&userId=&catTable=

ROLL OF HONOUR: KALAMUNDA/ FORRESTFIELD WA

Kalamunda’s Anderson Road, Forrestfield, honours this man.

PEPPER Cyril John

Nationality: Australian

Rank: Private/ Australian Army/2/28 AIF Battalion

Age 28

Date/Place of Birth 16/05/1915/BUSSELTON, WA

Son of: Alfred James (1939 stone cutter of Kalamunda) & Amy Lucille PEPPER of 171 Wellington St., NORTHAM, WA.

Service no: WX8948

Date/PlaceLocalityof Enlistment 25/10/940/CLAREMONT/HOLLYWOOD, WA

Prisoner Of War.

Source: http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=A&VeteranID=745227

Date/Place of death: 26/08/1943.

Casualty type: Commonwealth War Dead

Source: http://www,cwgc,org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2249610

Grave/Memorial: J. B. 8. PERTH WAR CEMETERY AND ANNEXE

ROLL OF HONOUR: AWM 147 Roll of Honour cards, 1939-1945 War, 2^nd AIF (Australian Imperial Force) and Citizen Military Force. Died of illness, Australia. Memorial: panel 55 in the commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial. Source: www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=147-18757

The Army established Perth War Cemetery in 1942. It was used for the burial of those who died of wounds in Hollywood Military Hospital after their return from operational areas, and of others that died from accident or sickness. A number of graves were also brought in from civil and temporary military cemeteries. The cemetery was taken over by the Commission in February 1949. The writing desk in the Records Building at the main entrance was the gift of the Government of Western Australia on behalf of the people of the State. It holds the register of those buried or commemorated in the cemetery, and the visitors’ book. In this building, too, is the WESTERN AUSTRALIA CREMATION MEMORIAL commemorating seven members of the Australian Forces who were cremated at Karrakatta Crematorium, PERTH WAR CEMETERY contains 475 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War. Amon g them is “Bluey” Truscott (Sqdn. Ldr. Keith W. Truscott, D.F.C. and Bar, Mentioned in Despatches) the football star and famous Australian air ace, who was a member from its beginning of the first Australian fighter squadron to be formed in the United Kingdom. During the battle of Milne Bay his Squadron-No.76-together with No. 75 Squadron played a vital part in halting the Japanese advance on Australia’s doorstep. The cemetery also contains 16 burials of the First World War. Immediately adjoining Perth War Cemetery, and originally part of it, is an enclosure known as the PERTH WAR CEMETRY NETHERLANDS ANNEXE, with a separate entrance on Smythe Road. Here are buried seven Dutch servicemen and 21 Dutch civilians, five of whom are not identified. These civilians were evacuees from Java who were flown to Australia. As the seaplanes came to rest in Broome harbour they were attacked by Japanese fighter aircraft and all were sunk. There were many survivors, but a number whose bodies were not recovered also lost their lives. *The cemeteries from which casualties were moved include Albany, Ballidu, Boulder, Bunbury, Kalgoorlie, Karrakatta, Margaret River, Narrogin, Northam and York General Cemeteries and Broome, Harvey, Merredin and Moora War Cemeteries. Source: www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_details.aspx?cemetery+14120&mode=1

Source AWM147 Roll of Honour cards, 1939-1945 War, 2^nd AIF (Australian Imperial Force) and CMF (Citizen Military Force).

Panel 55 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial.

ROLL OF HONOUR: CAPEL and KALAMUNDA, WA

FORD Eric Harold.

Nationality: British

Rank: Corporal. 2/16^th INF Bn (7^th division) Australian Army

Age30

Date/Place of Birth: 26/03/1915/ NORWICH, ENGLAND

Son of William & Kate May FORD, husband of Lorna FORD, INGLEWOOD, WA.

Date/Place/Localityof Enlistment 31-07-1942 MOORA/INGLEWOOD, WA

Service no. WX29919

Source: www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=A&VeteranID=764098

Date of death: 24/11/1945. Source: www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx? Casualty=2166377

Posting on Death 16 Battalion-Died of illness-Rabaul, New Britain

http://www.awm.gov.au/diaries/ww2/folder.asp?folder=512 for history of 16^th infantry battalion

Rabaul, New Britain Island (January 23 1942) saw conflict between an invading 5,000-strong Japanese force under Major-General Tomitaro Horii and a defending Australian garrison. No 24 Squadron, RAAF, was virtually eliminated. The withdrawing Australian captured or surrendering troops under Colonel Scanlon were murdered. On March 4, 1942 Japanese captors murdered 160 prisoners at Tol and Waitavavalo plantations. However, 400 escaped in mass rescues during late March and early April and some smaller parties were still escaping as late as May from New Britain.

Source: `The Japanese Thrust’ by Lionel Wigmore, Australian War memorial, Canberra.

Roll of Honour: AWM 147 Roll of Honour cards, 1939-1945 War, 2^nd AIF (Australian Imperial Force) and CMF (Citizen Military Force). Panel 65 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial. Source: www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=147-7863

Casualty type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial: RABAUL (BITA PAKA) WAR CEMETERY

New Guinea War Cemetery- Grave C.B.15 Source:www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2166377

ROLL OF HONOUR: AWM147 Roll of Honour cards, 1939-1945 War, 2^nd AIF and CMF. Eric Harold Ford’s name is located at panel 65 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War memorial. Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=147-7863

Recommended literature:: Australian Army war diaries-Second World War: 16^th Battalion

http://www.awm.gov.au/diaries/ww2folder.asp?folder=512

ROLL OF HONOUR: INGLEWOOD/KALAMUNDA WA

Kalamunda’s Cyril Rd, High Wycombe, honours this man.

WEST Robert Pierce (Contractor).

Nationality: Australian.

Rank: private/ Australian Army/16^th Battalion (4^th Brigade).

Age 43

Date/Place of Birth: September, 1883, Maribyrnong, Victoria

Son of Thomas & Fanny West, Gooseberry Hill, W A.

Wife: Amy Frances Hilda WEST, Traylen Rd. KALAMUNDA WA.

Date/Place/Locality of Enlistment: 10/02/1916/KALAMUNDA/GOOSEBERRY HILL, WA.

Service no. 5458.

Cousin by marriage to: Pte W. E. MEAD, of Rockingham, & Sgt Harry MEAD of Leederville.

Both killed in action.

Date /Place of Death: 28-09-1916/Ypres/ Belgium

Casualty type: Commonwealth War Dead. Killed in Action

Memorial Reference: II.E.5.

Grave/Memorial BELGIUM 56 Chester Farm Cemetery Zillebeke

Source: www.cwgc.org/searcy/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=446178

Ypres, Belgium is close to the French border in the province of Flanders. In 1914, it was the centre of a road and rail network and a vital transportation centre for the British and French armies. On 21/10.1914 the Germans attached the British around Ypres (pronouced `weepers’). On October 31, the British 2^nd Battalion attacked the 244^th Saxon Regiment. By sunset, only 140 of the 2^nd Battalion were still standing. May 9, 1914 saw the start of the Second Battle of Ypres with a British attack. By May 25, the British had lost 60,000 men and the Germans 35,000. August 1916 saw the British introduce a tractor with caterpillar tracks designed by engineer, colonel Swinton, to haul heavy equipment. Swinton then suggested a larger tractor mounted with encased guns. Enthusiastically supported by Churchill, `Big Willie; had two six pounder guns and `Mother’ was equipped with five machine guns. Source: `1,000 Curious Facts on World War I’, PUBLISHER: Bardwell Press, Great BARDFIELD, ESSEX, CM7 4SL, ENGLAND.

The Australian 16^th Battalion was part of the 4^th Brigade of the 4^th Division formed February 1916.

The 4^th Brigade had the 13^th Bn from N.S.W.; the 14^th from Victoria; the 15^th from Queensland and Tasmania and the 16^th from WA and SA. It had mortar battery and Machine Gun Company.

Source: http://enwikipedia.org/wiki/4^th_Division_(Australia).

Between 8^th august and 3^rd September, 1916, Mouquet Farm,(situated about 1.7 km north-west of the heights behind the village of Pozieres) was the focus of nine separate attacks by three Australian divisions of 1 Anzac Corps. The operation’s goal was to extend British control of the ridge extending from Pozieres towards the ruined town of Thiepval. Its aim was to drive a wedge behind the post held by the Germans. The toll on the 4^th Division was 4,649 casualties. The 4^th was brought into battle again on the nights of 27 and 28 August. After a loss of another 2,409 casualties, Mouquet Farm was practically half-surrounded on its northeastern face but, with the withdrawal of the 1 Anzac Corps from the Somme on 08/09/1916, was still in enemy hands. It fell three weeks-after British forces swept past in a wider offensive and left it as an isolated outpost. The 11,000 Australian casualties sustained meant that in just six weeks since entering the Somme front, Anzac Corps losses had reached 23,000 (of whom 6,741 had been killed). This was comparable to the toll sustained by the AIF in the eight-month Gallipoli campaign.

Source Coulthard-Clark (1998) `Where Australians Fought. The Encyclopaedia of Australia’s Battles’ (extracted from C.E.W. Bean (1933) `The Australian Imperial Force in France, 1916’, NSW: Allen & Unwin).

CHESTER FARM CEMETERY, Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, is located 5km south of Ieper town centre, on the Vaarstraat, a road leading from the Rijselseweg (N365) connecting Ieper to Armentieres. From Ieper town centre the Rijselseweg is located via the Rijselsestraat, through the Rijselpoort (Lille Gate) and by crossing the Ieper ring road, towards Armentieres and Lille. The road name then changes to Rijselseweg. 3km along the Rijselseweg lies the left hand turning onto the Vaartstraat. The cemetery is located 1.5km along the Vaartstraat on the left-hand side of the road.

The cemetery was begun in March 1915 and was used by front line troops until November 1917. Plot I contains the graves of 92 officers and men of the 2^nd Manchesters, who died in April-July 1915 and there are 72 London Regiment burials elsewhere in the Cemetery. There are 420 Commonwealth servicemen buried or commemorated in this cemetery. Seven of the burials are unidentified but special memorials commemorate six casualties known or believed to be buried here. Sir Edwin Lutyens designed the cemetery.

Source: www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_details.aspx?cemetery=51402&mode=1

Reference: Panel 81 Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial.

Source www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=145-58319

ROLL OF HONOUR: AWM 145 Roll of Honour cards, 1914-1915 War, Army. Robert Pierce WEST’S name is located at panel 81 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial.

ROLL OF HONOUR: KALAMUNDA

Kalamunda’s West and Robert roads honour this man.

The 16^th Battalion AIF was raised from 16^th September 1914, six weeks after the outbreak of the First World War. Three-quarters of the battalion were recruited in Western Australia, and the rest in South Australia. With the 13^th and 15^th Battalions it formed the 4^th Brigade commanded by Colonel John Monash.

The South Australian and Western Australian recruits were united when the battalion trained together in Victoria. They embarked for overseas on Boxing Day. After a brief stop in Albany, Western Australia. The battalion proceeded to Egypt arriving in early February 1915. Australia already had an AIF division there, the 1^st. When the 4^th Brigade arrived in Egypt it became part of the New Zealand and Australian Division. The 4^th Brigade landed at ANZAC late in the afternoon of 25 April 1915.

A week after the landing, the 16^th was thrown into the attack on Bloody Angle suffering many casualties. From May to August the battalion was heavily involved in establishing and defending the front line of the ANZAC beachhead and in August the 4^th Brigade attacked Hill 971. The hill was taken at great cost, although Turkish reinforcements forced the Australians to withdraw. The battalion served at ANZAC until the evacuation in December.

After the withdrawal from Gallipoli, the battalion returned to Egypt. While there the AIF expanded and was reorganised. The 16^th Battalion was split and provided experienced soldiers for the 48^th Battalion. The 4^th Brigade was combined with the 12^th and 13^th Brigades to form the 4^th Australian Division.

In June 1916, they sailed for France and the Western Front. From then until 1918, the battalion took part in bloody trench warfare. Its first major action in France was at Pozieres in the Somme valley, where Private Martin O’Meara won the battalion’s first Victoria Cross. The battalion spent much of 1917 in Belgium advancing to the Hindenburg Line. The battalion, along with most of the 4^th Brigade, suffered heavy losses at Bullecourt in April, when the brigade attacked strong German positions without the promised tank support. In March and April 1918, the battalion helped to stop the German Spring offensive. At Hamel in June, Lance Corporal Tom Axford was awarded the battalion’s second Victoria Cross. The battalion participated in the great allied offensive of 1918, fighting near Amiens on 8 August 1918. This advance by British and empire troops was the greatest success in a single day on the Western Front, one that German General Erich Ludendorff described as `The black day of the German Army in this war.’ In late August Lieutenant L.D. “Fats” McCarthy won what became known as the “super VC”.

The battalion continued operations until late September. At 11.am on 11 November 1918, the guns fell silent. In November 1918, members of the IF began to return to Australia for demobilisation and discharge. 1127 killed.1955 wounded. Source: www.awm.gov.au/units/unit_11203.asp

Recommended literature:: `The Old Sixteenth: being a record of the 16^th Battalion, AIF during the Great War/by C. Longmore.

Battle Honours; Casualties; /Commanding Officers; Decorations; Collection Items: References:

AWM4, 23/33/1-23/33/39

C. Longmore, The Old sixteenth: being a record of the 16^th Battalion, AIF during the Great War.

Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/units/unit_11203.asp

KING Robert Ian Maxwell

Nationality Australian

Age 21

Rank: F/sergeant/RAAF/2^nd Squadron. Motto: consilio et Manu.

Date /Place of Birth 16-04-1923 KALAMUNDA WA

Son of: John Maxwell and Gemima KING of South Perth, WA.

Date/Place of Enlistment: 24/05/1942/PERTH

Service no.427122

No. 2 Squadron RAAF is a Royal Australian Air Force squadron. It was first formed in 1916 (known as 68 Squadron Royal Flying Corps,) at Heliopolis, Egypt, and is currently (6/6/2007) being re-formed to operate Boeing Wedgetail aircraft from RAAF Base Williamtown and RAAF Base Tindal. The Squadron was heavily involved (as a fighter squadron) during the Battle of Cambrai in the First World War and as a bomber squadron in the Second World War and Vietnam War.

In the later years of the Canberra bomber’s RAAF operations it was predominantly used for target towing and aerial mapping. 2 Squadron operated the Canberra aircraft at RAAF Amberley (west of Brisbane, Queensland, until 1982.

Aircraft flown: Boeing Wedgetail.

Beauforts

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._2 Squadron_RAAF

Chronology:

September 1916 – formed in Egypt

30 January 1917 – arrived in United Kingdom

21 September 1917 – moved to France

June 1919 – disbanded in Australia

10 January 1922 – reformed at Point Cook

July 1922 – Squadron disbanded

3 May 1937 – reformed at Laverton

5 December 1941 – moved to Penfoei

18 February 1942 – moved back to Darwin

4 July 1943 – awarded US Presidential Citation

15 May 1946 – disbanded at Laverton

23 February 1948 – 21 Squadron re-named 2 Squadron

1 July 1958 – deployed to Butterworth

April 1967 – arrived in South Vietnam

4 June 1971 – departed Phan Rang for Australia

9 June 1971 – reformed as a photo-reconnaissance squadron

26 July 1982 – final operational flight

Source: `Units of the Royal Australian Air Force’ vol 3 Bomber Units. Australian Government Publishing service, Canberra, 1995.

No. 2 Squadron’s task was to help support MacArthur’s landings at Hollandia and Aitape by an air strike campaign against the airfields to the north and in western New Guinea, with emphasis on the Kai Islands. Further tasks included harassing airfields bordering the beachheads. On 27 March 1944, Squadron Leader, John Scott (A16-230) searched islands to the north, in the Wetar Straits between the Banda and Timor Seas. Scott’s aircraft was shot down near Loeang Island, but the subsequent search by Beauforts failed to locate any trace of the crew. All of the crew, in fact, had been able to reach the island, and were cared for by the natives before being captured. It is believed the crew was taken to Babar Island, and then to Saumlaki on Jamdena Island. When the crew was being transferred by barge to Toeal on 24 May, an 18 Squadron Mitchell near Tenaman Island attacked them. Pilot Officer, Don Beddoe, was wounded in this attack and then shot dead by one of his captors. Scott and the rest of his crew (Flight Sergeants Robert King, Bruce Wallace and Keith Wright) were then moved to Ambon and were all executed by the Japanese at Galala on 16^th August 1944.

In the early morning darkness of Monday 3 April, Pilot Officer Colin Brockhurst’s crew departed from Hughes on a convoy protection patrol over Allied shipping in the Arafura Sea. The aircraft failed to return. The wreckage (sunken in mud in the Adelaide River) was not discovered until 1946. These two losses over the last weeks of Hudson operations marked virtually the end of No. 2 Squadron’s association with these war-weary bombers.

Source: John Bennett (1995) `Highest Traditions’, Canberra: AGPS Press, .extracted from page 195.

From August 1943 No 2 Squadron’s duties were escorting allied shipping in the north-western areas and reconnaissance over the Timor and Arafura Seas and enemy bases. Beauforts started replacing Hudsons during January 1944. The first operational mission flown by Beauforts was on 12 January 1944. During the following months the squadron’s duties were aimed at harassing Tanimbar, Kai and Aroe Islands to blockade the Japanese in the Arafura Sea. The squadron gradually became undermanned with a resultant reduction in operations while new crew training was in progress.

December 1944 saw the squadron destroying enemy barges and smaller freighters supplying garrisons with food and equipment. A total of 1000 tons of shipping was either damaged or destroyed. One of the squadron’s final World War II tasks was the location and supply of food drops to prisoner of war camps. Source: `Units of the Royal Australian Air Force’ vol.3 Bomber Units. Australian government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1995.

Date of Death 16-08-1944 (Executed by the Japanese).

Posting at time of death 55OB (PP) Prisoner of War.

Source: John King: Ambon Prisoner of War and Next of Kin.

Casualty type: Killed In Action.

The 2^nd Squadron RAAF comprised A16-230 bombers

Timor:.Australian troops under Lieut.Colonel William Leggatt were located around Koepang to defe nd the bay, and nearby Penfui airfield against Japanese invasion, No 2 Squadron, RAAF, operated its flight of Hudson bombers. Japanese Zero fighters from Koepang twice attached Wyndham, the West Australian coastal town in March 1942. The first raid, carried out shortly after 10.a.m. on 3^rd March 1942 (the same day as Broome was attacked) involved eight Zero fighters. Damage was inflicted on RAAF DH-84 Dragon navigation training aircraft, which had just landed. It was caught on the ground and set alight by strafing. Also set on fire was the airfield hangar and a fuel dump with a large quantity of 44-gallon drums, delivered only one week earlier. A second aircraft, a Lockheed 10 operating a commercial service for MacRobertson-Miller Aviation Co., had cleared the area just minutes before the enemy fighters arrived. It thus escaped being caught up in the raid.

The second attack on Wyndham again focused on the aerodrome. This raid was by seven bombers on 23^rd March. This raid blasted a chain of 30 craters along the runway. An hour later three Zeros appeared and made low-level strafing runs that had little significant effect. HORN Island, one of a cluster of islands, off Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, was targeted during March-August, 1942 by Japanese aircraft because of it being a main tactical base for allied air operations. Alerted personnel escaped harm by dispersion to sheltered areas on receipt of warning signals. However, one RAAF Hudson bomber was destroyed on the ground and another was set on fire. Both belonged to 21 Squadron, RAAF, based at Port Moresby. Derby, a port town in King Sound, northeastern Australia was raided on March 20t^h, 1942, with little damage or casualties. However Japanese raids on Port Moresby (the Australian territorial capital of Papua), on 21^st March lasted until 9th May and saw Australian and American pilots attacking Japanese forces. The RAAF’s No. 75 Squadron, newly formed with American P40 Kittyhawk fighters under the command of Squadron Leader John Jackson, suffered its first combat sortie less than two hours after its arrival on March 21^st. Thereafter the squadron was in almost daily combat, attacking enemy bases. The withdrawal of the Australian squadron coincided with the Battle of the Coral Sea. This engagement thwarted a Japanese naval attack and invasion against Port Moresby and effectively ended the immediate threat. The Port Moresby air defence battle saw the loss of 18 enemy aircraft and probably four more, another 29 were damaged in air combat, 35 destroyed or damaged on the ground by the squadron’s strafing operations and the cost to 75 Squadron was of 21 aircraft and twelve pilots.

Source Coulthard Clark (1991) ‘Where Australians Fought’, NSW: Unwin & Allen.

Aircraft flown: Hawker Demons (May, 1937), Ansons (end of 1937), Lockheed Hudsons (June 1940), Beauforts (January 1944), North American B-25 Mitchells (May 1944).

The first UK example of the Hawker Demon was flown in February 1933. To supercede the Westland Wapati, orders were placed by the RAAF in august, 1934, for 18 aircraft (A1-1 to 18), then additional 36 fighter-bombers (A1-19) for army co-operation. The Hawker Demon was the last two-seat biplane fighters to be manufactured in any significant numbers. The rear cockpit of the aircraft was canted to provide an enhanced arc of fire for the gunner. For each of the two forward firing Vickers machine guns, 600 rounds of ammunition was carried and for the Lewis gun, six 97-round magazines. The RAAF aircraft differed from the RAF counterparts in respect to enhanced ram’s horn exhaust manifold, tail wheel and an improved engine. The first of the 18 Demons were delivered from March, 1935, to equip No. 1 Squadron. These aircraft, and the next 36, boasted the 600bhp Kestrel V engine, whereas the RAF versions were powered by the 584bhp kestrel VDR. During service with the RAAF, 29 Demons were lost in a variety of accidents, due mainly to lack of operational trainers. Two of the more unusual incidents included A1-2 which taxied into A1-39, and A1-47 which struck high tension wires and was gutted by fire. Accordingly in 1936 ten extra aircraft were ordered, incorporating dual controls and with the provision for target towing, the version being known as the Mk II or Demon II.

Hawker Demon.

Type: two-seat fighter-bomber.

Country of origin: United Kingdom.

Numbered ordered: 64

Serial Numbers: 1-54 (Mk 1), 55 to 64 (Mk II).

Entered Service: 1935

Left Service: 1940

Other Roles: Target towing, training, army co-operation.

Dimensions (feet): Wingspan: 37.2

Length: 29.7

Height: 10.5

Power: One Rolls Royce Kestrel engine; 600hp.

Initial climb: 10,000 feet in 7 minutes 55 seconds

Ceiling (feet): 27,800

Speed (mph) Cruising-

Maximum – 182 @16,000 feet.

Endurance: 2 ½ hours.

Source: p21 Australia’s Military Aircraft by Ross Gillett. Publisher: Aerospace Publications Pty. Ltd. NSW, 1987.

Grave/Memorial Panel 98 AMBON WAR CEMETERY 21 C.8, INDONESIA

AMBON WAR CEMETERY: The Commission strongly advises that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office should be contacted before attempting to visit. Their details are as follows: Travel Advice Unit Consular Division Foreign and Commonwealth Office Old Admiralty Building London SW1A2AF Tel: 0207 008 0233 Fax: 0207 008 0164 Web site: http://www.fco.gov.au

Opening Times: Monday to Friday 09.30-16.00.

The gates to the cemetery are normally kept locked but entry can be made through the side entrance and the resident head-gardener’s accommodation. A notice to this effect is situated outside the main cemetery gates. The location or design of this site makes wheelchair access impossible.

Ambon Island lies close to the south west coast of Ceram in the Mollacca Group of islands. It is reached by air from Jakarta with connecting flights are Ujung Pandang in Sulawesi (Celebes). Ambon War Cemetery (known locally as the Australian Cemetery) is on the opposite side of the bay to the airport. It can be reached by taxi travelling around the bay to Ambon town, or there is a ferry service across the bay that brings you to Ambon town. The Cemetery is 5km northeast of Ambon on the main road to Galala. Standing on the first terrace within the cemetery will be found the Ambon Memorial. This Memorial, in the form of a shelter, commemorates officers and men of the Australian forces who have no known grave. Many of those commemorated here died in the defence of Ambonia in the early months of the war against Japan and others were killed in the Allied assault on Japanese air bases established on Ambonia and Celebes. A large number perished in Japanese POW camps.

The town of Ambon, situated on Laitimor Peninsula on the southern shore of Ambon Bay, was severely damaged during the war, first by the Japanese who bombed it heavily in January 1942 and later by the allied forces who attacked it in 1943 and 1944. The War Cemetery was constructed on the site of a former camp for Australian, British and Dutch prisoners of war, some of who had been transferred from Java in 1943, and many of those buried in it died in captivity. Other burials were of Australian soldiers who died during the Japanese invasion on Ambon and Timor. Soon after the war the remains of prisoners of war from Haruku and other camps on the island were also removed to Ambon and in 1961, at the request of the Indonesian Government,. The remains of 503 graves in Makassar War Cemetery on the island of Celebes were added to the cemetery. The total number of graves in the cemetery is over 2,000. Of this total over half are Australians, of whom about 350 belonged to the 2/21^st Australian Infantry Battalion. Most of the 800 British casualties belonged to the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force; nearly all the naval dead were originally buried at Makassar. The American airmen were killed with 7 Australian airmen in July 1945; all were buried in a collective grave in Plot 28. The non-war grave is that of a seaman of the Merchant navy, whose death was not due to war service. The cemetery is laid out in a series of terraces approached by short flights of steps on the central axis. The Ambon Memorial, which is in the form of a shelter, stands on the first terrace. It commemorates over 450 Australian soldiers and airmen who died in the region of Celebes and the Molucca Islands and have no known grave. The cross of Sacrifice stands on the highest terrace in a wide expanse of lawn: the terrace below it contains most of the burials from Makassar. All the graves are marked with bronze plaques mounted on concrete pedestals and set in level turf. Tropical trees and shrubs are planted throughout the cemetery and around its boundaries. There are 186 Dutch burials here, 15 being unidentified, and 1 American Airman. Identified Casualties: 1769.

Cemetery Details: www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_details.aspx?cemetery+2015000&mode=1

ROLL OF HONOUR: Memorial Panel 98 Commemorative Area, Australian War memorial.

AWM 148 Roll of Honour cards, 1939-1945 War, Air Force

Source www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp??p=148-34169

CASUALTY DETAILS http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=4007588

ROLL OF HONOUR; Robert Ian Maxwell King’s name is located at panel 98 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial

Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=148-34169

ROLL OF HONOUR: KALAMUNDA WA

Kalamunda’s King Road honours this man.

Recommended literature: John Bennett (1995) ` Highest Traditions’: the history of No.2 Squadron, RAAF, Canberra: AGPS. SUBJECT World War, 1914-18-Aerial operations, Australian, World War, 1939-1945-Aerial operations, Australian.; World War, 1939-45-Regimental histories-Australia; Unit histories, Australian; World War, 1914-18-Regimental histories-Australia. Royal Australian Air Force. Squadron, 2 History: Unit histories, Australian. First World War, 1914-18; unit histories, Australian. First World War, 1914-48, Army-flying Corp; Unit History.

Source: www.awm.goc.au/firstopac/bin/cgi-jsp.exe/shelf1.jsp?recno=39057&userId=&catTable=

Service Record: http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=R&Veteran ID=1021638

CUNNOLD William Herbert.

Nationality: Australian

Age 26

Date/ Place of Birth 28/03/1916/ FREMANTLE, WA

Rank: gunner/Australian army 2/7^th field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery.

Son of: John Thomas and Louisa CUNNOLD, PICKERING BROOK, WA

Date/Place/Locality of Enlistment: 21/05/1940/PERTH/PICKERING BROOKWA.

Service no. WX3130

The 2/7^th Battalion, part of 17^th Brigade of 6^th Australian Division, opened its headquarters at the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds on 25^th October, 1939, relocated to Puckapunyal 03/11/1939, to carry out basic training and departed Melbourne for overseas duties 15/04/1940. Further training occurred 17/05/1940 on arrival in the Middle East, followed by further training in Palestine and Egypt. Its first campaign was the advance against the Italians in Eastern Libya, followed by the battles for Bardia and Tobruk, ending its activities in Libya manning defensive positions at Marsa Brega-the western extent of the advance. It deployed to Greece in April 1941 to resist the expected German invasion, the battle being however a long drawn-out withdrawal with the rescue of the Battalion by a pair of British destroyers at the end of April. Together with hand to hand bayonet fighting against the Germans in Crete, the 2/7^th played a critical rearguard role as allied forces retreated across the island and, as a result, the battalion was left behind on the island and taken into captivity. The battalion was reformed in Palestine and formed part of the garrison in Syria before leaving the Middle East to defend Ceylon from possible Japanese attacks. The battalion disembarked in Australia 4^th August 1942 and met the Japanese for the first time January 1943 as part of the force defending Wau in New Guinea. The 2/7^th after securing Wau participated in the drive towards Salamaua. On arrival back in Australia 6/10/1943, the 2/7^th retrained in northern Queensland and disembarked at Aitape in New Guinea for its final campaign – arduous patrolling to clear the Torricelli Range between January and June and then in August 1944 similar duties over the Prince Alexander Range. The battalion returned to Australia 18/12/1945 and disbanded at Puckapunyal February 1946.

Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/units/unit_11258.asp

Date/Place of Death: 11/07/ 1942/ El Alamein, Egypt

Source: www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=A&VeteranID=739622

Nominal Roll: http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?serviceID=A&VeteranID=739622

Casualty type: Killed In action, EGYPT.

ROLL OF HONOUR:: panel 15 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial

Source AWM147 Roll of Honour cards, 1939-1945 War, 2^nd AIF 9Australian Imperial Force) and CMF (Citizen Military Force).

Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=147-5365

Grave/Memorial A II F.20 El Alamein WAR CEMETERY/EGYPT

The cemetery is kept open during daylight hours and is staffed by our gardeners Saturday to Thursday 07.30-14.30. Wheelchair access is with some difficulty. For further information regarding wheelchair access, please contact our Inquiry Section on telephone number 01628 507 200

ALAMEIN is a village, bypassed by the main coast road, approximately 130km west of Alexandria on the road to Mersa Matruh. The first Commission road direction sign is located just beyond the Alamein police checkpoint and all visitors should turn off from the main road onto the parallel old coast road. The cemetery lies off the road, slightly beyond a ridge, and is indicated by road direction signs approximately 25m before the low metal gates and stone wing walls which are situated centrally at the road edge at the head of the access path into the cemetery. The Cross Of Sacrifice feature may be seen from the road.

The campaign in the Western Desert was fought between the Commonwealth forces (with, later, the addition of two brigades of Free French and one each of Polish and Greek troops) all based in Egypt, and the Axis forces (German and Italian) based in Libya. The battlefield, across which the fighting surged back and forth between 1940 and 1942, was the 1,000km of desert between Alexandria in Egypt and Benghazi in Libya. It was a campaign of manoeuvre and movement, the objectives being the control of the Mediterranean, the link with the east through the Suez Canal, the Middle East oil supplies and the supply route to Russia through Persia. EL ALAMEIN WAR CEMETERY contains the graves of men who died at all stages of the Western Desert campaigns, brought in from a wide area, but especially those who died in the Battle of el Alamein at the end of October 1942 and in the period immediately before that. The cemetery now contains 7,240 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, of which 815 are unidentified. There are also 102 war graves of other nationalities. The ALAMEIN CREMATION MEMORIAL, which stands in the southeastern part of El Alamein War Cemetery, commemorates more than 600 men whose remains were cremated in Egypt and Libya during the war, in accordance with their faith. The ALAMEIN MEMORIAL forms the entrance to the Alamein War Cemetery. Land Forces panels commemorate more than 8,500 soldiers of the Commonwealth who died in the campaigns in Egypt and Libya, and in the operations of the Eighth Army in Tunisia up to 19 February 1943, who have no known grave. It also commemorates those who served and died in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Persia. The Air Forces panels commemorate more than 3,000 airmen of the Commonwealth who died in the campaigns in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Greece, Crete and the Aegean, Ethiopia, Eritrea and the Somalilands, the Sudan, East Africa, Aden and Madagascar, who have no known grave. Those who served with the Rhodesia and South African Air Training Scheme and have no known grave are also commemorated here. Sir Hubert Worthington designed the cemetery.

Source: www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_details.aspx?cemetery=2019000&mode=1

William Herbert CUNNOLD’s name is located at panel 15 in the Commemorative area at the Australian War Memorial

Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/rh/person.asp?p=147-5365

Recommended literature: David Goodhart (1952) `The History of the 2/7 Australian Field Regiment’ Adelaide: Rigby. SUBJECT; World War, 1939-1945-Regimental histories-Australia; Unit histories, Australian; Australia. Army. Field Regiment, 2/7^th.

Source: www.awm.gov.au/firstopac/bin/cgi-jsp.exe/shelf1.jsp?recno=29297&userId=&catTable=

Source: www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceIE=A&VeteranID=739622

ROLL OF HONOUR; KALAMUNDA, W A

Kalamunda’s Cunnold Close and Street, Pickering Brook, honour this man.

SPAIN/SHAIN, Walter Daniel.

Nationality: Australian

Rank: Private2/16^th/AIF 7^th division.

Age 25

Date of Birth: 12-10-1916

Place of Birth: Cottesloe Beach, Western Australia.

Date/place of birth registration:;1916/CLAREMONT, WA

Son of: Walter Valentine SPAIN and Mrs Elizabeth BENTLEY (nee LADAMS)

Nephew of: Charles Edward SPAIN (AIF) and Elizabeth Grace (nee LADAMS) SPAIN.

Source: cousin SPAIN. B A

Date/place/locality of Enlistment: 06-12-1940/CLAREMONT/PICKERING BROOK

Service no: WX9667

Shaggy Ridge in New Guinea was the scene of grim fighting between January 19 and 31, 1944, by the Australian 7^th Division. The strategy to cut Japanese routes from Finnesterre mountain range saw Major-General George Vasey set brigadier Frederick Chilton the task of capturing a key feature, the Kaniryo Saddle. The action plan was for one battalion to fight along the main ridge while two more battalions moved along parallel ridges, converging at Kaniryo Saddle. The 18^th Brigade began action on January 19, and by January 26, Kaniryo Saddle had been captured. However, the enemy stayed on at Crater Hill, attacked by air and artillery bombardment. /Their defence collapsed January 31, with the survivors withdrawing towards Paipa. The 18^th Brigade lost 46 men with 147 being wounded.

Source: Coulthard Clark (1998) `Encyclopaedia of Australia’s Battles’ (Extracted from `The New Guinea Offensive’ by David Dexter, 1961, Canberra: Australian War Memorial), NSW:Allen & Unwin..

Date/Place of death: 01/09/1942/PAPUA

Source: AWM147 Roll of Honour cards, 1939-1945 War, 2^nd AIF (Australian Imperial Force) and CMF (Citizen Military Force).

For the personal service records see; Australian Service records from World War II on National Archives of Australia Website. Posting at time of death: Shaggy Ridge, New Guinea.

Source: Cousin, SPAIN.B.A.

ROLL OF HONOUR Walter Daniel SHAIN’s name is located at panel 39 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial.

Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=147-21344

ROLL OF HONOUR: KALAMUNDA, WA.

FRANCES Edgar Ernest.

Nationality: Australian

Rank: Stoker: HMAS Perth, Royal Australian Navy

Age: 25.

AWM excerpt: HMAS Perth: The Loss of HMAS Perth, 1 March 1942. HMAS Perth was built at Portsmouth Naval Dockyard and commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Amphion on 25 June 1936. Purchased by the Australian Government, she was commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) on 29 June 1939. The light cruiser displaced 6,830 tons, was 169 metres long, and had a beam of 17.3 metres. Her armament consisted of eight 6-inch guns, eight 4-inch dual-purpose guns, a number of automatic anti-aircraft weapons and eight 21-inch torpedo tubes. She also carried a Seagull V aircraft for reconnaissance and spotting duties. Her speed was 32 knots and she carried a complement of 681.

While the ship was refitting, Captain H.M.L. Waller, DSO and bar, RAN, took command on 24 October 1941. After completion of her refit, Perth operated off eastern Australia on patrol and escort work, visiting New Guinea. On 14 February 1942, Perth sailed for the Netherlands East Indies, arriving at Batavia (now Jakarta) on 24 February, where she was attacked by Japanese aircraft that day and the next without sustaining any damage. The Perth sailed for Surabaya on 25 February, in company with four Royal Navy ships. On 26 February the ship departed Surabaya in company with the Dutch light cruisers De Ruyter and Java, the heavy cruisers USS Houston and HMS Exeter, and two Dutch, three British and four US destroyers. The squadron, under the command of the Dutch Rear Admiral Karel Doorman, proceeded along the north coast of Madura Island, searching for a Japanese invasion convoy.

Perth’s crew abandoned ship between the second and third torpedoes, but it is doubtful if any boats

Date/Place of Birth: 26/07/1915/SUBIACO. WA

Son of: Horace and Phoebe Esther Margaret FRANCES of KALAMUNDA. WA

Service no:20478

Date/Place of Death: 01/03/1942/SUNDRA STRAIT (Lost at sea).

Casualty type: Commonwealth War Dead

ROLL OF HONOUR: Panel 5 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial

Source: www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=146-674

Memorial Panel 73 Column 3 Plymouth Naval Memorial

Source: www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2479458

PLYMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL: United Kingdom, DEVON. The Memorial is situated centrally on The Hoe and looks directly towards Plymouth Sound. It is accessible at all times. Copies of the Memorial Register are kept at the Tourist Information Office at Island House, 9 The Barbican, Plymouth, PLI2LS, and also in the Naval Historical Section at Plymouth Library.

After the First World War, an appropriate way had to be found of commemorating those members of the Royal Navy who had no known grave, the majority of death having occurred at sea where no permanent memorial could be provided. An Admiralty committee recommended that the three manning ports in Great Britain-Chatham, Plymouth and Portsmouth-should each have an identical memorial of unmistakable naval form, an obelisk, which would serve as a leading mark for shipping. Sir Robert Lorimer, who had already carried out a considerable amount of work for the Commission, with a sculpture by Henry Poole, designed the memorials. After the Second World War it was decided that the naval memorials should be extended to provide space for commemorating the naval dead without graves of that war, but since the three sites were dissimilar, a different architectural treatment was required for each. The architect for the Second World War extension at Plymouth was Sir Edward Maufe (who also designed the Air Forces memorial at Runnymede) and the additional sculpture was by Charles Wheeler and William McMillan. In addition to commemorating seamen of the Royal Navy who sailed from Plymouth. The First World War panels also bear the names of sailors from Australia and South Africa; the governments of the other Commonwealth nations chose to commemorate their dead elsewhere, for the most part on memorials in their home ports. After the Second World War, Canada and New Zealand again chose commemoration at home, but the memorial at Plymouth commemorates sailors from all other parts of the Commonwealth. Plymouth Naval Memorial commemorates 7,251 sailors of the First World War and 15,933 of the Second World War. No. of Identified Casualties: 2,3185.

Source: www.awm.gov.au/firstopac/bin/cgi-jsp.exe/shelf1.jsp?recno=29868&userld=&catTable=

Rrecommended Recommended literature:: `Ship of Courage’: the epic story of HMAS Perth and her crew by Brendan Whiting. PUBLISHER: St. Leonards, N.S.W. Allen & Unwin. 1994

ROLL OF HONOUR: KALAMUNDA WA

Kalamunda’s Francis Road, may honour this man.

NEWMAN George Henry (Dairy Hand).

Nationality: Australian.

Rank: Flight Sergeant, Royal Australian air Force/ATT:RAF Squadron 460

Age: 25.

Number 460 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force (460 Sqn RAAF) was raised during World War II at RAF Molesworth, in England on November 15, 1941. It was a multinational unit, but most personnel were Australian.

Date/Place of birth 13/05/1919/PERTH

Son of John Henry & Ada Rebecca NEWMAN, Valley Rd, KALAMUNDA WA

Date/Place/Locality/ of Enlistment: 11/10/1942/PERTH/WATTLEGROVE, W A.

Service no: 427924

Source: http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=R&VeteranID=1022069

Date of death 19/10/1944

Casualty type: Commonwealth War Dead

Memorial Reference: Collective grave 8.C.26-30 DURNBACH WAR CEMETERY

Source: www.cwgc.org/search/casualtyaspx?casualty=2101605

ROLL OF HONOUR: panel 108 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War memorial

Source: www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=148-36049

Source: AWM 64 (1/295); AWM 64 (1/294) appendix C64; AWM 237 (63)(64)

Date of Death: 19 October 1944

Aircraft type: Lancaster

Serial number; PB 152

Radio call sign: AR-Z

Aircraft flown: Bomber Vickers Wellington, Avro Lancaster; Handley Page Halifax

Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/units/unit_1163

A82-Vickers Viking C2 was first flown 22/01/1945 as a development of the Wellington transport.

Source: p126 Australia’s Military aircraft by Ross Gillett, Publisher: Aerospace Publications, NSW.1987

A66-Avro Lancaster III was operated by Australian personnel in Europe.

Type: Seven-man heavy bomber.

County of Origin: United Kingdom.

Numbered Ordered: 2 (RAAF).

Serial Numbers: 1 and 2

Entered Service: 1943

Left Service: 1946

Armament: guns-10x0.303 MGs (2 nose, 2 dorsal, 2 ventral turret, 4 tail).

Bombload-22, 000lbs (max)

Weights (lbs): empty-36, 900; loaded-70, 000.

Dimensions (feet): Wingspan-102; Length-69.6; Height-20.

Power: Four Rolls Royce Merlin 20 12-cylinder Vee liquid-cooled engines.

Initial Climb:

Ceiling (feet) 24,500

Speed (mph): cruising-210; Maximum-287@11,500.

Endurance: 1,660 miles.

Britain Avro Lancaster (1941). Known originally as the Manchester III, reflecting its development from the disappointing Manchester, the four-engine Lancaster was the most important bomber aircraft developed in the United Kingdom during World War II. Used primarily on night operations, they carried the 22,000 Grand Slam bomb and the unique skip-bomb designed by Barnes Wallis.

Type: four-engine heavy bomber

Engine: four 1,460hp Merlin 20/22 or 1,640hp Merlin 24 12-cylinder Vee in-line liquid-cooled.

Armament: 8 to 10 0.303 machine-guns and

one 22,000lb (10,000kg) bomb or 14,000lb (6,350kg) of smaller bombs.

Maximum Speed: 287mph (460km) at 11,500ft (3.505m).

Rate of Climb: 480ft (46m)/min.

Ceiling: 24,000ft (7,465m).

Wing Area: 1,297sq ft (120.49sqm).

Weight: empty-36, 475lb(16,536kg), take-off: 68,000lb (30,844kg).

Span: 102-ft (31.09m).

Length: 69 ft 4 in (21.13m)

Height: 20ft 6 in (6.25m).

Source: page 171, Pictorial History of Aircraft by David Mondey. Publisher: Mandarin Publishers

Limited, Hong Kong.1977.

British bomber procurement had not suffered from the restrictions imposed in the USA. Aircraft such as the Vickers Wellington (29), with a range in excess of 2,500 miles (4.023km) with a 1,000lb (453kg) bomb load had been covered by an Air Ministry specification of 1932. There was also the Handley Page Hampden, also of 1932, which could carry 2,000 lb (907kg) of bombs over a range of 1,885 miles (3.034km). It was, however, the Wellington, commonly known as `Wimpy” which proved to be the backbone of Bomber Command in th early years of the war and was retained until the first of the long-range four-engined bombers entered operational service.

Source: page 45 Pictorial History of Aircraft by David Mondey. Publisher: Mandarin Publishers, Hong Kong.1977.

Date of Death 19-10-1944 (officially presumed dead).

Posting on death 460 SQUADRON RAF, Germany

Summary: Lancaster PB 152 took off from RAF Binbrook at 1655 hours on 19 October 1944 to bomb Stuttgart, Germany. Bomb load 1x4000lb bomb and 1800x4lb incendiaries. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Twenty-eight aircraft from the squadron took

part in the raid and two of these including PB 152 failed to return.

CREW: RAAF 4115940 PO Fontaine, P Captain (Pilot);

412879 WO Bain R.G. (Navigator); 437314 F/O Middleton, CG (Bomb Aimer);

427929 Flt Sgt Newman, G.H. (Wireless Operator Air); 421870 WO Krutli, RA (Mid Upper Gunner); 430890 Flt Sgt Kenealy, EJ (Rear Gunner0;

RAF Sgt Chisman, A L (Flight Engineer).

WO Bain (RAAF) who became POW later reported `A night fighter shot us up setting fire to the starboard engine. The order to abandon was given. I acknowledged but did not hear any of the others do so. I was first to leave the aircraft at about 15,000 feet. The aircraft was in a steep dive but still seemed under control. Both the starboard engines were on fire. The aircraft was shot down and crashed approx 25 miles from Stuttgart. After parachuting I tried to make my way to France. I spent seven days walking through forests and along the roads at night. I was captured when breaking into a house for food. I was informed that all the crew were killed.’ The six remaining crew are buried in the Durnbach War Cemetery, Germany.

Source: Royal Air Force Bomber Command: Losses of the Second World War 1944-W.R.CHORLEY. 19-20 October, 1944. Publisher Midland Counties Publications Leicester England

Squadron motto: Strike and Return. Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/units/unit_1163,asp

Casualties: 1018 (589 Australian) killed. Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/units/unit_1163.asp

No. 460 Squadron, RAAF was formed at Molesworth in the United Kingdom on 15 November 1941. It was an “Article XV Squadron”, formed in accordance with agreements that complemented the Empire Air Training Scheme. It comprised Vickers Wellington B1c, B4 and later Handley Page Halifax B2 bombers. In November 1942, (Avro) Lancaster B1, B3 and B7 were added. The squadron moved to Binbrook in June, 1943. The squadron became part of the Royal Air Force’s Bomber Command and joined the strategic bombing campaign against Germany. Equipped with Vickers Wellington bombers, it mounted its first raid against the German city of Emden, March 12, 1942.

In the ensuing three years the squadron was heavily committed to operations over Germany, Italy and German-occupied Europe. It operated, in succession, from airfields at Molesworth (15 November 1941-3 January 1942), Breighton (4 January 1942-14 May 1943), and Binbrook (14May 1943-27 July 1945). Although it had originally been planned to re-equip the squadron with Handley Page Halifaxes in September 1942, it began operating Avro Lancasters in the following month and joined Bomber Command’s 1 Group. The bulk of the squadron’s operations formed part of the strategic bombing offensive against Germany, although prior to, and during, the D-Day landings in June 1944, it was employed in support of allied ground operations. The squadron flew its last raid, against (Hitler’s Mountain retreat at Berchtesgarten), on ANZAC Day 1945.

The squadron is regarded as having been the most efficient of the Australian bomber squadrons. It maintained consistently higher serviceability rates among its aircraft, set numerous operational records within Bomber Command, flew the most bombing raids of any Australian squadron, and was credited with the greatest tonnage of bombs dropped-24, 856 tons. The Australian War Memorial’s Lancaster “G for George” was a 460 Squadron aircraft. The squadron, however, suffered heavily. It lost 81 aircraft on operations and suffered 1,018 fatal casualties (589 Australian)-the highest number of any of the Australian squadrons.

Following the end of hostilities in Europe in April 1945, the squadron participated in Operation Manna, which involved the airdropping of food to Dutch civilians during the first week of May 1945. It was subsequently employed to transport liberated Commonwealth prisoners of war to Britain. With this role complete, 460 Squadron was selected to form part of “Tiger Force”, Bomber Command’s intended contribution to the strategic bombing of Japan, which necessitated a transfer to No. 5 Group and a move to East Kirby. The war in the Pacific ended, however, before “Tiger Force” was deployed. The squadron relinquished its aircraft in early October 1945, and disbanded on the 25^th of that month.

Squadron motto: Strike and return. Source: www.awm.gov.au/units/unit_11163.asp

Recommended literature:: Units of the Royal Australian air force: a concise history. Vol 2, fighter units,

(Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1995).

P. Firkins(2000 ` Strike and Return: the unit history of No. 460 RAAF Heavy Bomber Squadron, RAF Bomber Command in World War Two’: Loftus Australian Military History Publications.

Source: www.awm.gov.au/firstopac/bin/cgi-jsp.exe/shelf1.jsp?recno=50865&userId=&catTable=

http://www.awm.gov.au/firstopac/bin/cgi-jsp?recno=50865&userId=&cat Table=

Battle Honours; Casualties; Commanding Officers; Decorations: source: http://www.awm.gov.au/units/unit_1163.asp

.DURNBACH WAR CEMETERY, Germany Bad Tolz, Bayern (Bavaria). Wheelchair access is possible.

Durnbach is a village 16km east of Bad Tolz, a town 48km south of Munich. Durnbach War Cemetry is 3km north of the village Gmund am Tegernsee. Using the A8 frm Munich, turn off at the junction Holzkirchen, taking the 318 road in the direction of Gmund am Tegernsee. At the crossroads with the 472, turn left in the direction of Miesbach. The cemetery is situated approximately 500m on the left from the 318/472 crossroads.

The site for Durnbach War Cemetery was chosen, shortly after hostilities had ceased, by officers of the British Army and Air Force, in conjunction with the officers of the American Occupation Forces in whose zone Durnbach lay. The great majority of those buried here are airmen shot down over Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Austria, Hessen and Thuringia, brought from their scattered graves by the Army Graves Service. The remainder is men who were killed while escaping from prisoner of war camps in the same areas, or who died towards the end of the War on forced marches from the camps to more remote areas. DURNBACH WAR C EMETERY contains 2, 934 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 93 of which are unidentified. One grave in the cemetery (III.C.22) contains the ashes of an unknown number of unidentified war casualties recovered from Flossenburg. Also, one grave (IV.A21) contains the remains of 6 unidentified U.K. airmen. There are also 30 war graves of other nationalities, most of them Polish. Within the Indian section of the cemetery will be found the DURNBACH CREMATION MEMORIAL, commemorating 23 servicemen of the army of undivided India who died while prisoners of war in various places in France and Germany, and who were cremated in accordance with their religion. Source www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_details.aspx?cemetery=2008700&mode=1

Casualty type: Commonwealth War Dead

ROLL OF HONOUR: George Henry Newman’s name is located at panel: 108 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial. Source AWM 148 Roll of Honour cards, 1939-1945 War, Air Force. Source www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=148-36049

Reference AWM 148 Roll of Honour cards, 1939-1945 War, Air Force

ROLL OF HONOUR: KALAMUNDA WA

Recommended literature: (1995) Units of the Royal Australian Air Force: a concise history, Vol 2, fighter units, (Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.

P. Firkins, (2000) `Strike and Return; ;Loftus: Australian Military History Publications.

http://www.awm.gov.au/firstopac/bin/cgi-jsp?recno=50865&userId=&cat Table=

SMITH Harold William.

Nationality: Australian

Rank/ Pte Australian Army2/28^th 9^th Division

Age 22

Date/Place of Birth: 25/10/1919/SUBIACO, WA.

Date/Place/locality of Enlistment: 21/04/1941/CLAREMONT, WA/VICTORIA PARK, WA.

Son of Henry Scholefield and Margery Ellen SMITH of MAIDA VALE, WA

Service no: WX11743

Next of Kin; SMITH, Margery.

http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=A&VeteranID=747924

Date of Death 22/07/1942/

Casualty Details: El Alamein

http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2212023

CEMETERY: EL ALAMEIN WAR CEMETERY.

http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_details.aspx?cemetery=131900@mode=1

Posting at time of Death 2/28 Bn

Casualty type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial: .Panel 3. EL ALAMEIN WAR CEMETERY

Source: www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2212023

ALAMEIN MEMORIAL details www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_details.aspx/cemetery=131900&mode=1

ROLL OF HONOUR:Harold William Smith’s name is located at panel 55 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial.

www.awm.gov.au/roh/results.asp

ROLL OF HONOUR: GUILDFORD/KALAMUNDA WA

Kalamunda’s Harold Road, Maida Vale, honours this man.

2/28^th Battalion of the 9^th division together with a British brigade moved at midnight on the night of July 26, 1942 attempting a break-through of the German lines on the Miteirya Ridge south of Tel el Eisa. By 1.0am the Australian units were clearing `Ruin Ridge’ with bayonets when they came under fire from hidden enemy posts. Commanders were wounded, ammunition-carrying vehicles were lost and, just before dawn, the battle intensified with the arrival of 18 troop-carrying German trucks. German troops foiled rescue attempts by British tanks and the Australians, by 10.0am, were facing enemy tanks from three directions. Just after 10.0am the 2/28^th’s commander, Lieut.-Colonel L. McCarter, accepted the inevitable and surrendered. All were marched 8km behind enemy lines. More Australians were killed by British gunfire as they moved through enemy lines. 65 officers and men were killed or wounded in the operation. 489 were taken prisoner. Supporting detachments of anti-tank gunners, engineers and machine-gunners were included in the casualty count. The 69^th British Brigade, which was also involved, lost about 600 men.

Source: Coulthard-Clark (1998) `Where Australians Fought’, NSW: Allen & Unwin (extracted from Barton Maughan (1966) ‘Tobruk and El Alamein’, Canberra: Australian War Memorial

Recommended literature:: Australian Army war diaries-Second World War 2/28 Infantry Battalion

awm.gov.au/diaries/ww2/folder.asp? folder=482

Recommended literature:: Daryl Clohessy (2005) `Wouldn’t Have Missed It For Quids: the history of the 28^th Battalion, 2^nd A.I.F. 1939-1945, Bassendean, W.A. SUBJECT: Australia Army Battalion, 2/28^th History: World War, 1939-1945-Regimental histories-Australia; World War, 1939-1945Campaigns-New Guinea.

http://www.awm.gov.au/firstopac/bin/cgi-jsp.exe/shelf1.jsp?recno=100008857&userId=&cat Table=

Source: www.awm.gov.au/firstopac/bin/cgi-jsp.exi/shelf1.jsp?recno=100008857&userId=&catTable=

PETTIT John Frederick.

Nationality: British

Rank: Flying Officer: Royal Australian Air Force 6.S.F.T.S.SA (6 Service Flg Trg School MALLALA)

Age 24

Date/Place of Birth: 11 June 1919/ Place of Birth WELLINGTON, SOUTH AFRICA

Son of: George (Boer War infantry) and Amelia Maud PETTIT.

Later (1927-63) George with 2^nd wife, Lillian JORDAN of South Africa, was Orchardist @ `Rising Dawn’, WALLISTON, WA.

Cousin: David Somerville. Lieut, Royal Engineers.

Date/Place of Enlistment: 03-03-1941/PERTH, WA

Service No. 406662

Date of Death 14 Jul 1943

Next of Kin: PETTIT.G.Father. Box 2 Kalamunda, W.A.

Posting at time of Death: 6 Service Flying Training School MALLALA, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Source: http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=R&VeteranID==1060127

The RAAF training system comprised an initial training school. Two schools were located in New South Wales and one in each of the other mainland states with six schools in all. The students underwent a ten-week course of drill, comprised of physical training, mathematics, physics, navigation, law, administration, science, ground defence, signals, health and hygiene and aircraft recognition. Applicants for the course required a minimum intelligence quota of 110, satisfactory eye-muscle coordination, reaction speed, and night vision. At the course’s end, students were streamed off into pilots, navigators, bomb-aimers, wireless operators, or air gunners. The `trainee pilots’ group at the end of the course were given an additional six weeks drill to prepared them for flight grading. Following this they were then sent to an elementary flying training school (EFTS) for a month for additional ground school and ten hours flying, usually in Tiger Moths. Successful remained for another eight weeks’ of training and 65 hours of elementary flying. The not so successful were streamed off to a non-pilot aircrew mustering, transfer to ground crew or discharge. Pilots were regarded as `glamorous’, navigators as `the brains’. Wireless operators and gunners were considered as `second-best’. The RAAF’s only wartime Aboriginal fighter pilot was aircraftman, Len Waters. Len was also exceptionally adept at Morse (Code) and had feared that his success here may have streamed him away from a pilot career.

Source: Alan Stephens, `The Royal Australian Air Force’, Victoria: Oxford University Press.

Place of death: St Vincent’s Gulf, SA

Cause of death: Accidental.

Casualty type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Panel 5 SYDNEY WAR CEMETERY

Source: www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=226238

ROLL OF HONOUR: Panel 116 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial

Source: AWM 148 Roll of Honour cards, 1939-1945 War, Air Force

Source: www.awm.gov/au/roh/person.asp?p=148-36630

ROLL OF HONOUR: KALAMUNDA WA

Kalamunda’s Pettit Road, Lesmurdie, honours this man.

STREET Jack Oliver..

Nationality: Australian

Rank: Driver: Australian Army 2/4 Machine Gun Battalion (6^th division).

Age 30

Date/Place of Birth 05-04-1911/LEEDERVILLE, WA

Son of: William John & Isabelle Clare STREET.

Next of Kin: STREET, William

Mother lived Kalamunda Rd, MAIA VALE during War.

Date/place/locality of Enlistment: 30-10-1940/CLAREMONT/ BEACON, W A.

Source: http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=R&VeteranID=1060127

Service no: WX9178

Date of Death: 15 Feb 1942/Malaya (Date of Cease-fire on Singapore).

Source: http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=A&VeteranID=745454

Casualty type: Commonwealth War Dead: KIA in one of 2/4^th MGBn’s last battles.

ROLL OF HONOUR: panel 76 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial

Source: www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=147-22897

AWM 147 Roll of Honour cards, 1939-1945 War, 2^nd AIF (Australian Imperial Force) and CMF (Citizen Military Force).

`The Struggle for Singapore’. The Japanese 18^th division persisted in attempts to thrust between Varley and Bellentine’s brigades near the Ulu Pandan-Reformatory road junction. On Varley’s right, penetration was occurring in the area between the Ulu Pandan-Holland roads junction and Racecourse village to the north, across the northern flank of the machine-gunners on Ulu Pandan IV. Evidently therefore an attempt was being made to envelope or by-pass the Australian forward positions. Machine-gun detachments sent to the Railway Bridge across Holland road halted a force approaching the 2/Gordons on the right flank. An armoured car detachment led by Stanwell (9) of the 2/4 Machine Gun Battalion, engaged in a sharp fight, until the car was disabled, with enemy troops on Holland road just south of Racecourse village. The results obtained in these engagements by armoured cars led naturally to think of what might have been achieved had the Australians been equipped with tanks.

Varley ordered up the 2/18^th Bn, now commanded by Major O’Brien, with Cpt Okey as his second-in-command, to deal with the Japanese turning movement on his left. Late in the afternoon he ordered it to drive Japanese from a rise which they had captured from the Punjabis, south of the Ulu Pandan road and east of Reformatory road. The brigade area, however, was constantly under bombardment and Japanese planes were circling like hawks, swooping from time to time to strike. The Japanese, in good cover, were covering their approaches with fire, and the positions occupied by the machine-gun battalion and Robertson’s “Y” Battalion were swept by bullets and mortar bombs. Lieutenant Mackay brought forward a water truck, machine-guns, and three armoured cars manned by British troops. Captain Chisholm, in charge of a force allotted to the task, himself acted as forward observation officer for counter-artillery fire. O’Brien'’ men, numbering about sixty in the vicinity of the ridge, reached its forward slopes but as night fell they had not dislodged the enemy.

Japanese thickly clustered on hills west of Reformatory road also thrust strongly against the brigade’s northern positions, with the result that they gained height between the road and Ulu Pandan IV. Under pressure from both flanks, the Australians were gradually forced back. The commander of the 2/4^th Machine Gun Bn, Lieut-Colonel Anketell, was mortally wounded, and his battalion, after mowing down successive waves of Japanese became almost surrounded. Fifty of the 400 Australians were killed or wounded.

Thus, when Varley reported to Bennett’s headquarters the situation on his front, he was given permission to redisperse his forces for the protection of the Holland and Buona Vista roads junction to this rear. The 2/18^th Bn had been reduced to 250 all ranks. The machine-gun battalion was able to disengage only after it had repulsed the enemy on its front with bayonets. The 44^th Indian Brigade withdrew to the area of the Railway Bridge over Buona Vista road. A partial withdrawal was made by the forces farther south. Although a hitch occurred in maintaining contact with the Gordons, they eventually moved back also. On their right in the new line was the 2/26^th Battalion and Captain Couch’s signals detachment.

In the northern area during the afternoon of 12^th February the 2/10^th Baluch, with artillery support, had frustrated a Japanese attempt to capture the road junction at Nee Soon. The 53^rd Brigade, aided by the 2/30^th Australian Battalion, gave cover to the withdrawal of the 8^th and 28^th Brigades to their sectors in the perimeter, and remained on the road immediately south of Nee Soon. The Australian battalion exploded an ammunition dump on the Seletar Rifle Range and then moved to the vicinity of the Island Golf Club and Ang Mo Kio village on upper Thomson, road, east of the Peirce Reservoir. Ramsay’s men slept briefly before dawn, in buildings formerly used as the Australian General Base Depot, and then went into new positions near by as reserve. Both the 18^th Division and the troops in the Changi area and on the beaches east of Kallang were withdrawn without contact with the enemy.

The ancillary arms of the Australian forces in playing their part while movement of the infantry was so rapid, and units became so fragmentary and dispersed had experienced acute difficulties. The signallers, who in the face of many difficulties had established a very thorough system of communication between commanders and their forces in the period before the Japanese landings, worked unceasingly to repair landlines damaged by incessant Japanese bombardment. They sought to re-organise their network as headquarters, from battalions to division, moved from place to place. The artillery was required constantly to seek out new gun positions, only to move again as the tide of battle ebbed. Curiously optimistic reports reached their headquarters after the counter-attack had been ordered on 10^th February. These were to the effect that the 11^th Indian Division had successfully attacked and was holding the line from the Causeway to Bukit Timah; that 600 Japanese aircraft had been destroyed on the ground; and that no further withdrawals were to be made. The artillery diarist recorded that these “induced intense optimism amongst most personnel, and the general feeling was that the British forces had `turned the corner’ and could now expect continued attacks rather than continued “withdrawals”. However, once artillery unit commanders reported the situation in their areas, this elation was short-lived. In the small hours of 11^th February vehicles in the advanced artillery headquarters area adjacent to Holland road came under small arms fire, and in consequence the headquarters was withdrawn to Tanglin Barracks. Ceasefire on Singapore was 4.0pm 15-02-1942

(9) Cpl O.M.Stanwell, WX7789;2/4 MG Bn, Shop assistant; of Bayswater, WA; b Moora WA, 24 Jul 1905. Died POW 12-03-1945.

Source: Lionel Wigmore `(1975) `The Struggle for Singapore’. Canberra: Australian War Memorial.

ROLL OF HONOUR: Memorial Panel 76 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial Grave: Coll. grave 30.A.5-8 KRANJI WAR CEMETERY.

ROLL OF HONOUR: GUILDFORD/ KALAMUNDA, WA.

Kranji War Cemetery is 22 km north of Singapore overlooking the Straits of Johore just off the Singapore-Johore road (Woodlands Road) at the milestone 13 ½, and there is a short approach road from the main road. It is locally known as Kranji Memorial. There is a bus stop on the main road facing the Cemetery. There is a MRT terminal a short distance from the Cemetery. Most taxi drivers do not know the Cemetery. Before 1939 Kranji was a military camp and (at the time of the Japanese invasion of Malaya) the site of a large ammunition magazine. Feb 8 1942 the Japanese crossed the Johore Straits, landing at the mouth of the Kranji River within two miles of the place where the war cemetery now stands. On the evening of February 9 1942 they launched an attack between the river and the causeway. During the next few days fierce fighting ensued, in many cases hand to hand, until their greatly superior numbers and air strength necessitated a withdrawal. After the fall of the island, the Japanese established a prisoner of war camp at Kranji and eventually a hospital was organised nearby at Woodlands. After the re-occupation of Singapore, the small cemetery started by the prisoners at Kranji was developed into a permanent war cemetery by the Army Graves Service when it became evident that a larger cemetery at Changi could not remain undisturbed. Changi had been the site of the main prisoner of war camp in Singapore and the Australian Infantry Force had set a large hospital up there. In 1946, the graves were moved from Changi to Kranji, as were those from the Buona Vista prisoner of war camp. Many other graves from all parts of the island were transferred to Kranji together with all Second World War graves from Saigon Military Cemetery in French Indo-China (now Vietnam), another site where permanent maintenance could not be assured.

The Commission later brought in graves of both World Wards from Bidadari Christian Cemetery, Singapore, where again permanent maintenance was not possible. . Today, 4,458 Commonwealth casualties of WWII are buried at Kranji. More than 850 of the burials are unidentified. The Chinese Memorial in Plot 44 marks a collective grave for 69 Chinese servicemen, all members of the Commonwealth forces, whom the Japanese during the occupation in February 1942 killed. First World War burials and commemorations number 64, including special memorials to three casualties known to have been buried in civil cemeteries in Saigon and Singapore, but whose graves could not be located. . Within Kranji, stands a 24,000-name memorial for the Commonwealth land and air forces that have no known grave. The land forces commemorated by the memorial died during the campaigns in Malaya and Indonesia or in subsequent captivity, many of them during the construction of the Burma-Thailand railway, or at sea while being transported into imprisonment elsewhere. The memorial also commemorates airmen who died during operations over the whole of southern and eastern Asia and the surrounding seas and oceans.

The SINGAPORE (UNMAINTAINABLE GRAVES) MEMORIAL, which stands at the western end of Singapore Memorial, commemorates more than 250 casualties who died in campaigns in Singapore and Malaya, whose known graves in civil cemeteries could not be assured maintenance and on religious grounds could not be moved to a war cemetery.

SINGAPORE CREMATION MEMORIAL, which stands immediately behind the Singapore Memorial, commemorates almost 800 casualties, mostly of the Indian forces, whose remains were cremated in accordance with their religious beliefs.

The SINGAPORE CIVIL HOSPITAL GRAVE MEMORIAL stands at the eastern end of the Singapore Memorial. During the last hours of the Battle of Singapore, wounded civilians and servicemen taken prisoner by the Japanese were brought to the hospital in their hundreds. The number of fatalities was such that burial in the normal manner was impossible. Before the war, an emergency water tank had been dug in the grounds of the hospital and this was used as a grave for more than 400 civilians and Commonwealth servicemen.

After the war, it was decided that as individual identification of the dead would be impossible, the grave should be left undisturbed. The grave was suitable enclosed, consecrated by the Bishop of Singapore, and a cross in memory of all of those buried there was erected over it by the military authorities. The 107 Commonwealth casualties buried in the grave are commemorated on the Singapore Civil Hospital Grave Memorial.

Colin St Clair Oakes designed Kranji Was Cemetery and the Singapore Memorial.

Adjoining Kranji War Cemetery, is KRANJI MILITARY CEMETERY, a substantial non-world war site of 1,378 burials, created in 1975 when it was found necessary to remove the graves of servicemen and their families from Pasir Panjang and Ulu Pandan cemeteries.

Source: Commonwealth War Graves Commission 04/-7/2002.

ROLL OF HONOUR: GUILDFORD/ KALAMUNDA, WA.

SHERWOOD Raymond Collard (Clerk).

Nationality: Australian.

Rank: Flight sergeant/RAAF/SQN460/ATT RAF

Age 21

Date/Place of Birth: 04/02/1923/West Perth.

Son of: Raymond Henry and Emily Catherine of 7 Hillside Ave. SWANBOURNE, WA.

Source: http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/ItemDetail.asp?M=O&B=5548936

And of KALAMUNDA (1939), WA

Date/Place/Locality of Enlistment: /PERTH, WA.

Service no: 427559

Connections: 406493:SGT/Pilot SHERWOOD, Leslie Roy RAAF and

WX5434, CORP SHERWOOD, John Aubrey, Bren Gun carrier (cousins).

No. 460 Squadron, RAAF was formed at Molesworth in the United Kingdom on 15 November 1941. It was an “Article XV Squadron”, formed in accordance with agreements that complemented the Empire Air Training Scheme. It comprised Vickers Wellington B1c, B4 and later Handley Page Halifax B2 bombers. In November 1942, Lancaster B1, B3 and B7 were added. The squadron moved to Binbrook in June, 1943. The squadron became part of the Royal Air Force’s Bomber Command and joined the strategic bombing campaign against Germany. Equipped with Vickers Wellington bombers, it mounted its first raid against the German City of Emden.

The squadron is regarded as having been the most efficient of the Australian bomber squadrons. It maintained consistently higher serviceability rates among its aircraft, set numerous operational records within Bomber Command, flew the most bombing raids of any Australian squadron, and was credited with the greatest tonnage of bombs dropped-24, 856 tons. The Australian War Memorial’s Lancaster “G for George” was a 460 Squadron aircraft. The squadron, however, suffered heavily. It lost 81 aircraft on operations and suffered 1.018 fatal casualties (589 Australian)-the highest number of any of the Australian squadrons.

Squadron motto: Strike and return. Source: www.awm.gov.au/units/unit_11163.asp

Recommended literature:: Units of the Royal Australian air force: a concise history. Vol 2, fighter units, (Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1995).

Strike and Return by P> Firkins, Publisher: Loftus: Australian Military History Publications, 2000.

http://www.awm.gov.au/firstopac/bin/cgi-jsp?recno=50865&userId=&cat Table=

P. Firkins, Strike and Return: the unit history of No. 460 RAAF Heavy Bomber Squadron, RAF Bomber Command in World War Two (Loftus: Australian Military History Publications, 2000).

Source: www.awm.gov.au/firstopac/bin/cgi-jsp.exe/shelf1.jsp?recno=50865&userId=&catTable=

Battle Honours; Casualties; Commanding Officers; Decorations: source: http://www.awm.gov.au/units/unit_1163.asp

Date of Death: 15/03/1944/North West Europe flying battle (European theatre).

Operation Stuttgart: Took off 1916 Binbrook. Lost without trace. All are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.

Aircraft Type: Lancaster.

Serial number: ND 393

Radio call sign: AR-E

Unit: 460 Sqn RAAF

SUMMARY: Lancaster ND 393 took off from RAF Binbrook at 1916 hours on 15 March 1944 to bomb Stuttgart, Germany. Bomb load 1x4000lb bomb, 120 x 30lb and 600 x4lb incendiaries. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. Twenty-four aircraft from the squadron took part in the raid, and only one aircraft ND 393 failed to return.

CREW: RAAF 413416 PO Parkinson, G.E. Captain (Pilot).

RAF Sgt Marley, G P (Navigator0.

RAAF: Service no: 413874, WO Krone, H (Bomb Aimer).

RAAF: Service no: 413393, WO King, R G (Wireless Operator Air Gunner).

RAF Sgt Read. , E J (Flight Engineer).

RAAF: Service no: 434078 Flt Sgt Bell, J H (Mid Upper Gunner).

RAAF 427559 Flt Sgt SHERWOOD R C (Rear Gunner0.

Following post war searches and enquiries no trace of the missing aircraft or crew could be found. Their names are commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing at Runnymede, Surrey, UK.

Source: AWM 64 (1/295); AWM 237 (63) (64).

Casualty type: Commonwealth War Dead

ROLL OF HONOUR: Grave/Memorial AWM 148 Roll of Honour cards, 1939-1945 War, Air Force

Raymond Sherwood’s name is located at panel 108 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial.

Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?P=148-37762

Reference: Panel 284 RUNNYMEDE MEMORIAL

Source: http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=1807066

ROLL OF HONOUR: GUILDFORD & KALAMUNDA WA

PRINGTON K.D.

Prington is not listed as a Kalamunda resident/volunteer.

May have had relatives in Kalamunda.

FINDLAY Alexander William.

Nationality: British

Rank: Private Australian Army 2/4^th M.G.Bn (6^th division).

Age: 44

Date/place of Birth: 28/06/1901/ INVERURIE, SCOTLAND

Source: http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/ItemDetail.asp?M=0&B=6457944

Son of: George & Elizabeth FINDLAY.

Husband of Margaret Porter FINDLAY, KALAMUNDA W. A.

Date/place/locality of Enlistment: 25/10/1940/CLAREMONT/ KALAMUNDA, W A.

Service no: WX8874

Date of Death19/01/1944 (prisoner of war, Siam) Thailand.

Casualty type: Commonwealth War Dead

Source: www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2650181

Grave/Memorial: 1.F.39

Cemetery: KANCHANABURI WAR CEMETERY

KANCHANABURI WAR CEMETERY, THAILAND, is located 129km west north west of Bangkok in the north eastern part of the town along the Saeng Chuto Road. A Commission signpost faces the cemetery on the opposite side of the road. Cemetery and memorial registers are kept in the cemetery service area and must be requested from one of the gardeners.

ROLL OF HONOUR: Panel 75 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial.

Source: www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=147-7556

Source AWM147 roll of Honour cards, 1939-1945 War, 2^nd AIF (Australian Imperial Force) and CMF

(Citizen Military Force).

ROLL OF HONOUR; KALAMUNDA

Source www.awm.gov.au/firstopac/bin/cgi-jsp.exe/shelf1.jsp/RECNO=100002963&userId=catTable=

Recommended literature:: Murray Ewen (2003) `Colour patch the men of the 2/4^th Australian Machine Gun Battalion, 1940-1945’, Victoria Park, WA: Hesperian Press.

Les Cody (1997) `Ghosts in Khaki: the history of the 2/4^th Machine Gun Battalion, 8^th Australian Division AIF’, Carlisle, W.A.: Hesperian Press. Subject: World War, 1939-45 Campaigns-Singapore; World War. 1939-45-Personal narratives, Australian; World War, 1939-45-Prisoners and prisons, Japanese.

It is estimated that 2,646 Australians, 10,000 other allied prisoners and 70,000 Asian labourers died during the construction of the 420km Burma to Thailand railway. The Japanese planned to use the railway for an attack on India The railway was commenced simultaneously from Thanbyuzayat (Burma) and Bampong (Thailand). Completion date was October 1943. Surviving prisoners of war were then moved to Changi (Singapore). Workers were required to move daily 2 cubic metres or more of rock and soil regardless of their physical condition. Malnutrition, shortage of food and medicine, exposure to tropical diseased and appalling treatment from guards and the Japanese insistence on speed at all costs contributed to the high death rate. Escape was punished by execution.

Source: `The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History’, New York: Oxford University Press.

BRINE William Edward (Bank of New South Wales clerk).

Nationality: Australian.

Rank: Pilot Officer: Royal Australian Air Force attached to a RAF 39 Squadron Middle East

No.39 Squadron, R.F.C., came into being on 15^th April 1916, with headquarters at Hunslow. It was the first squadron to be formed especially for Home defence and gained distinction for its part in defeating the German airship menace. On the night of 2/3^rd September 1916, Lieutenant W. Leefe Robinson shot down the Schutte-Lanz airship S.L.11 in flames at Cuffley- a feat for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. This was the first German airship shot down on English soil. On 23^rd/24^th September the squadron scored another success later when Lieutenant F. Sowrey shot down the Zeppelin L.32 near Billericay. On the same night another pilot of the squadron helped to bring down (but not destroy) the Zeppelin L.33. During the next German raid on 1^st/2^nd October the squadron claimed yet another airship when Lieutenant W.J.Tempest destroyed the L.31 at Potters Bar. In 1918 the squadron was several times in action against raiding aeroplanes. And, on 19^th/20^th May, Lieutenant A.J.Arkell and Air Mechanic A.T.C. Stagg, in a Bristol Fighter, shot down a Gotha bomber in flames near East Ham.

The enemy was forced to abandon the Belgian coast during the Allies’ final advance that began in August 1918.. Squadron 39 was then sent to France but the Armistice intervened before it could get to work.

Source: MacDonald & James (1976) `Bomber Squadrons of the RAF and their aircraft- New Edition’. London.

Aircraft flown:, F.E.2b for night bombing. Oct 1918 at Vavichove. Nov. 1918,F2b. Disbanded 16 Nov. 1918. Reformed 1 July, 1919 at Biggin Hill from No. 37 Squadron with eighteen D.H.9a. 1923 at Spittlegate. 1928, Wapiti. 1930, at Risalpur. 1931, Hart. 1939, Blenheim l and 4L (FJ-). In the Far East. 1940, in France. C.O.S/L C.M. M. Greece. 1941, Maryland B.1 on photo-reconnaissance until Jan. 1942. 1941 Beaufort 1 in Egypt. 1942 Boston B.3. June, 1943, Beaufighter T.F.10. Nov. 1944, Marauder b.3 in Balkans. Feb. 1946, Mosquito F.B.6, T.3, N.F.36, Tempest F.6 1954, in Middle East with Meteor N.F.11, N.F.13. 1955 at Luqa, Malta. C.O. S/L J.M.Omeara. 1 July 1958 renumbered from No. 69 squadron. 1959, Canberra P.R.3 at Luqa. C.O. W/C R.L. Wade, Canberra P.R.9.

Casualty record. 406023 Source http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/ItemDetail.asp?M=O&B=1054353

On July 1, 1919, No. 37 Squadron at Biggin Hill was renumbered 39 Squadron and remained a cadre until moved to Spittlegate in February 1923 to be equipped with D.H.9As as a day bomber unit. In December 1928 the squadron left for India and began patrol duties on the NorthWest Frontier with Wapitis in February 1929. Harts were received in November 1931 and were replaced by Blenheims in august 1939 before No. 39 moved to Singapore shortly before the outbreak of World War II. In April 1940 it returned to India en route for the Middle East but was diverted to Aden when Italy’s early entry into the war became imminent. Bombing raids were made on targets in Italian East Africa until November, when No. 39 moved to Egypt. Converting to Marylands in January 1941, the squadron began strategic reconnaissance missions in April. In August, some Beauforts were received for anti-shipping operations that began on 17 September but Marylands continued reconnaissance flights until January 1942. Torpedo-bomber missions against enemy convoys were mounted from advanced bases in Egypt and Libya while a detachment was based in Malta. On 20 August 1942, this detachment joined others of Nos 86 and 217 Squadron to become No. 39 Squadron, the residue of No. 39 in Egypt joining No. 47 Squadron.

Anti-shipping and mine-laying operations with Beauforts continued until they were replaced by Beaufighters in June 1943. Sorties ranged over the Central Mediterranean, first from North Africa and later from Sardinia. Night intruder missions over northern Italy supplemented shipping strikes along the French and Italian coasts and a move in July 1944 to Italy extended these activities to the Balkans but in December the squadron began to receive Marauders. Operations with these began 7 February 2945 and in October No. 39 moved to the Sudan where it began to re-equip with Mosquitoes. On 8 September 1946, the squadron disbanded.

On 1 April 1948 No. 39 reformed at Nairobi as a Tempest squadron but disbanded again on 28 February 1949. On 1 March 1949, it reformed at Fayid with Mosquito night fighters for the defence of the Suez Canal. In March 1953, it re-equipped with Meteors and moved to Malta in January 1955, where it disbanded on 30 June, 1958. No. 69 Squadron was renumbered 39 Squadron on 1 July 1958 on transfer to Malta and its Luqa-based Canberras were engaged on photographic reconnaissance duties wile attached to NATO until September 1970, when the squadron moved to the UK. ON 28 May, 1983, No. 69 disbanded, its tasks being taken over by No. 1. Photographic Reconnaissance Unit.

Source: James Halley, `The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth 1918-1988’

Age: 21
date/Place of birth: 30 Oct 1919/Clifton Crescent. MT. LAWLEY, WA

Son of: Alfred Tonkin & Gladys Ida BRINE, 100 Williams Rd, GOOSEBERRY HILL, WA

Place of Birth: MOUNT LAWLEY WA

Date/Place of Enlistment 25-05/1940/PERTH

Service no: 406023

Source: www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=1536021

Date of Death: 15 June 1941-attached to 39 Sqn RAF El Alamein.

At the time of his death, PLTOFF Brine was flying to Martin Maryland reconnaissance aircraft with No 39 Squadron RAF. This squadron was based at Wadi Natrun, Egypt and was conducting reconnaissance for the allied ground forces against Rommel’s Afrika Korps. German fighter aircraft shot down PLTOFF Brine’s aircraft.

Source: Office of Air Force History, Tuggeranong.

AWM 148 Roll of Honour cards, 1939-1945 War, Air Force

ROLL OF HONOUR: Panel 19 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial

No 39 Squadron was formed 15 April 1916 at Hounslow, being the first squadron formed especially for Home Defence and gaining distinction for its part in defeating the German airship menace. Lieutenant Leefe Robinson on 2/3^rd September, 1916 shot down the Schutte-Lanz airship S.L.II in flames at Cuffley-a feat for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross, the Schutte-Lanze being the first German airship shot down on English soil. A second success was the downing of the Zeppelin L.32 near Bi llericay. From then on the squadron was continually in action against German air raids over England. The enemy abandoned the Belgium coast in August 1918 and the Home Defence was sent overseas. No 39, equipped with Bristol Fighters went to France at the beginning of November, just prior to the armistice, after which the squadron was disbanded. In 1928/9 the newly formed 39 squadron serviced the Indian NorthWest Frontier and in the spring of 1940 moved to Aden to reinforce Middle East command. Following Italy’s entry into the war, No. 39 (flying Blenheims) bombed enemy targets in Abyssinia and Eritrea, then moved up to Egypt, participating in General Wavell’s “30,000” offensive. Re-equipped with Maryland aircraft for reconnaissance it served time in Egypt, then at the end of 1941 converted to Beauforts and operating mainly in a torpedo-bomber role, achieved successes against enemy shipping. As the war progressed, the squadron moved on to Malta, Tunisia, Sardinia and finally, Italy. In 1944 it was flying Beaufighters on anti-shipping strikes, but converted to Marauders at the turn of the year and the final months of the European War bombed enemy targets in Jugoslavia. Towards the end of 1945 the squadron moved to the Sudan and in the following year converted to Mosquitoes. Between September, 1946 and June, 1958 No. 39 was disbanded and re-formed several times –always in the Middle East – and had two different roles: (a) fighter-bomber (Tempests) in 1948/49 and (b) night-fighter (Mosquitoes and then from 1953, Meteors) from 1949-58. Disbanded on 30^th June, 1958, it was revived the following day as a Canberra photo-reconnaissance unit at Luqa, Malta (its base since January, 1953), when No. 69 Squadron was re-numbered 39.

Source: `Bomber Squadrons of the RAF and their aircraft’ by Philip Moyes, J.R. Publisher: MacDonald & James, London, new edition 1976.

Casualty type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Col 245 ALAMEIN MEMORIAL

Source: www.wgc/prgsearch/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=1536021

Source: www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=148-29776

Recommended Recommended literature:: Ken Delve (1985) ‘The Winged Bomb’: Midland Counties Publications,. Subject: Royal Air Force, Squadron, 39 history.

ROLL OF HONOUR: KALAMUNDA WA

Kalamunda’s Brine Road, honours this man.

ROBERTSON Colin Graham Distinguished Flying Cross

Nationality: British

Commissioned RAF 28/09/1938 SQN 278

Rank: promoted to Flight Lieutenant/RAAF: 03/09/1940 (London Gazette, 22-10-1940).

Squadron numbering (James J Halley)

From the commencement of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) squadron numbering style was (not `1^st Suadron’) but No. 1 Squadron.. The Royal Naval Air Service started with its own numbering system, but when it joined the RFC (to create the new RAF), Naval squadrons adopted the prefix `200’, but

later the `200’ series were given to squadrons newly formed in the RAF and to former RNAS stations. Nos 201-299 were regular RAF squadrons, mainly former Royal Naval Air Service units.

Formed from No.3 ASR Flight at Matlask to provide air-sea rescue duties off the East-Anglian coast, No. 278 Squadron was formed October 1, 1941 with Anson A.S.R.1, Lysander A.S.R.3a (MY-); 1942, (amphibious) Walrus A.S.R.2 (MY-); 1944 Tiger Moth 2 (MY-); 1945ious) Walrus A.S.R.2 (MY-). 1944, Tiger Moth 2 (MY-); 1945, Sea Otter (amphibious-small boat carrying) A.S.R.2; Spitfire A.S.R.2c, and a Warwick A.S.R.1 (MY-).

Source: W.R. Chorley, `Royal air Force Bomber Command: Loses of the Second World War 1944’,

Leicester: Midland Counties Publications Leicester England.

Squadron 278 was home-based between April 1944 and February 1945, flying Walrus, Anson, Warwick and Spitfires with their Air Sea Rescue services in demand over the channel. RAF Bradwell Bay was first used as a grass airfield in 1936 as a re-fuelling and re-arming base by fighter aircraft using the air to ground firing ranges at Denghie Flats.

The development of three hardcore and asphalt runways occurred in March 1941 with a perimeter track, circa 30 dispersal points sharing twelve Blister hangers, several buildings, a Bellman type steel hangar and many Nissen hut sites to house nearly 2,000 personnel. The site was the only fighter airfield fitted with FIDO a fog dispersal system. The station was handed over to No. 11 Group of Fighter Command in April 1942. Distressed aircraft and bombers such as Lancasters and Halifaxes used the airfield due to its close proximity to the English Channel. . August 1944, saw the arrival of three squadrons of spitfires, forming the Bradwell Fighter Wing which provided escorts for Lancaster bombers engaged in missions in support of allied invasion forces on the Continent. The wing also played a part in escorting the airborne Forces paratroop operations to Arnhem in September. The station closed on December 1, 1945. It is now the site of one of Britain’s first nuclear power stations.

Source:W.R.CHORLEY ` Royal air Force Bomber Command: Loses of the Second World War 1944’.

Publisher Midland Counties Publications Leicester England

According to `The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force’ by James J. Halley, Reprinted 1985, Air

Britain Historians Ltd, Tonbridge Kent, England, No. 278 Squadron was formed 1 October 1941 from No.3 ASR Flight at Matlak for air-sea rescue duties off the East Anglian coast. In February 1943 it received Ansons and by the end of the year had extended its area to include the northeast of England. In February 1944, it took over two of No. 282 Squadron’s detachments in southern Scotland while other detachments were based in the extreme north, though in April these were given up and No. 278 reverted to covering East Anglia. Warwicks were received in May 1944, but in February 1945 the squadron became a Walrus unit only, operating over the English Channel. On 14^th October 1945 No 278 Squadron disbanded.

Extracted from: http://www.wartimememories.co.uk/airfields/bradwellbay.html

Motto: Ex mare ad referiendum (From out of the sea to strike again).

Squadron Bases.

Matlask 1 Oct 1941

North Coates (D) 26 Nov 1941 to 12 Jan 1943

Coltishall 10 April 1943

Woolsington (d) 6 Oct 1943

Achlington (D) 10 Dec 1943 to 19 Dec 1943

Hutton Cranswick (D)

19 Dec 1943 to 31 Mar 1944

Ayr (D) 1 Feb 1944 to 21 Apr 1944

Drem (D) 1 Feb 1944 to 22 Apr 1944

Castletown (D) 10 Feb 1944 to 22 Apr 1944

Peterhead (D) 10 Feb 1944 to apr 1944

Sumburgh (D) 10 Feb 1944 to 20 apr 1944

Bradwell Bay 21 Apr 1944

Martlesham Heath (D) 21 Apr 1944 to 23 Sep 1944

Hornchurch (D) 13 Nov 1944 to 15 Feb 1945

Thorney Island 15 Feb 1945

Hawkinge (D) 24 Feb 1945

Beccles (D) 24 Feb 1945 to 14 Oct 1945

Exeter (D) 18 July 1945 to 14 Oct 1945

Flight Lieutenant Colin Graham Robertson was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross for his service with No 95 Squadron Royal Air Force (The London Gazette, 26-06-1942). The citation states that between November 1939 and March 1941, he completed 2000 hours of flying on Sunderland aircraft, including 1780 hours on operational flights. “Flight Lieutenant Robertson has displayed outstanding qualities of leadership and reliability. He has completed his missions cheerfully under adverse weather conditions. On one occasion he located three lifeboats containing 75 survivors from a merchant vessel that was torpedoed in the Atlantic. He alighted, transhipped the survivors to the aircraft and despite confused ocean swell, succeeded in taking off and bringing them back without any damage to the aircraft.”

Source: Office of Air Force History: Tuggeranong.

No 95 squadron was formed on 8 October 1917 but before becoming operational was disbanded on 4 July 1918 to provide personnel for active units. It began to reform at Kenley on 1 October 1918 as a fighter squadron but formation was abandoned with the Armistice a few weeks later before it received any of its intended Martinsyde F.4s.

On 16 January 1941, a detachment of three Sunderlands of No.210 Squadron at Pembroke Dock became No.95 squadron, which flew its first boat out to Gibraltar early in February. After flying patrols, the squadron began to arrive at its base at Freetown, Sierra Leone, on 17 March to begin anti-submarine patrols over the South Atlantic. In July 1941, activities by Vichy reconnaissance aircraft resulted in a flight of Hurricanes being added to the squadron, this becoming No. 128 Squadron on 7 October 1941. In March 1943, No. 95 moved to Bathurst, Gambia, operating detachments from Sierra Leone, Dakar and Liberia for the rest of the war. On 30 June 1945, the squadron disbanded.

Squadron bases:

Ternhill 8 Oct 1917

Shotwick 30 Oct 1917 to 4 July 1918

Kenley 1 Oct 1918 to 20 Nov 1918

Pembroke Dock 16 Jan 1941

Freetown 17 Mar 1941

Jui 9 Apr 1942

Bathurst 7 Mar 1943 to 30 Jun 1945

Aircraft Equipment:

Various used between September 1917 to July 1918

Sunderland I Jan 1941-Jan 1944 P623 (SE-E)

Sunderland III Jul 1942-Jun 1945 JM671 (Z)

Hurricane I Jul 1941–Oct 1941 Z4244

Age 27

Date /Place of Birth 21/12/1917 Edinburgh. Arrived Australia 05/08/1927

Refer to publication R940.544941 S886a held in the Research Centre’s reference collection.

Source: www.awm.gov.au/croll/person.asp?p=272-2269

Next of Kin: Eric and Phyllis CHILTON ROBERTSON of KALAMUNDA (later LESMURDIE), WA

Service no 41210

Date of death 05/03/1945. On this day, SQN 278 was flying Walrus aircraft over the English Channel.

The Walrus was an amphibious biplane flying boat that was used for the air/sea rescue role (landing on water to rescue airmen and sailors).

Source Office of Air Force History, TUGGERANONG.

Casualty type:

Grave/Memorial Panel 266 RUNNYMEDE MEMORIAL, Surrey, United Kingdom.

MEMORIAL: RUNNYMEDE, SURREY, ENGLAND.

ROLL OF HONOUR: KALAMUNDA WA

Kalamunda’s Robertson Road, Gooseberry Hill, honours this man.

BARRON Norman Gordon.

Nationality: Australian

Rank: Private/ Australian Army/2/28^th Battalion 9^th Division

Age: 30

Date/Place of Birth: 09/06/ 1911/YORK, WA

Son of Robert James and Margaret BARRON,

Husband of Sheilah Margaret BARRON, East CANNINGTON, WA

Date/Place/Locality of Enlistment: 30/07/1940/CLAREMONT/FORRESTFIELD, W A.

Service no: WX5449

Date of Death: 14/09/1941/Libya-killed in action: Siege of Tobruk: 11/04/1941-07/12/1941.

Source: www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx.?casualty=2119464

Casualty type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Column 92, ALAMEIN MEMORIAL

Source: www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx/casualty=2119464

ROLL OF HONOUR: Panel 55 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial

AWM 147 Roll of Honour cards, 1939-1945 War, 2^nd AIF (Australian Imperial force) and CMF (Citizen Military Force).

Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=147-1140

1905 saw the start of 20th century history of conflict in Libya when France attempted to force the Ottoman Empire’s Sultan of Morocco to participate in a trade treaty. Germany objected. Germany believed the treaty would have given France control of Libya. A compromise between the countries was reached at a conference held in Algeciras, Spain, in April 1906. However, September 29, 1911, saw Italy invading Tripoli (Libya) after the Sultan had offered a compromise (rejected by Italy) for Italian merchant ships.

The Ottomans released all of Libya to Italy after a short struggle. Tiny Montenegro (north of Turkish-occupied Greece) invaded the Ottoman Empire (12-10-1912after noticing the weakening of the Ottoman Empire,. Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece aided it within 10 days. Within a few months the Ottoman army was defeated. 1913 then saw the Balkan nations arguing with each other over division of conquests. Two Balkan wars followed.

June 1914 saw Bosnia’s capital, Sarajevo, the scene of the shooting (by Serb extremist, Gavrilo Princip) of Archduke, Franz Ferdinand, heir to Austria’s emperor, Franz Josef. After conferences between Germany, Austria, Italy, Serbia, Russia, Britain and France, Austria at 3.00pm on 28 July 1914, sent a telegram to the Serb government declaring war. Prime Minister, Sibe Milicic, thought the telegram was a joke. However, a second telegram from a frontier post announced that Austrian artillery had opened fire. Before the start of World War I, Germany possessed an army of 8.5million men and a navy of 40 battleships and 57 cruisers; The Russian Empire (Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Ukraine, Belorussia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kirghizistan, part of Poland and what is now modern Russia) 4.4m million, 10 million in reserve and a navy of 16 battleships and 14 cruisers. The Austrian Empire had an army of 3 million and a navy of 16 battleships and 12 cruisers. Britain had an army of 711,000 and a navy of 64 battleships and 121 cruisers.

The outbreak of World War I in Europe saw conflict flare up in Africa. Germany ruled Togoland (Togo), Cameroons (Cameroon), Southwest Africa (Nambia), and German East Africa (Tanzania).

Belgium ruled Congo (Democratic Republic of Congo), France ruled French Congo (Gabon), Algeria and French West Africa (Chad), Central African Republic, Niger, Burkina, Cote d/Ivoire, Guinea, Senegal, Mauritanis, Mali and Benin. Britain ruled South Africa, Bechuanaland (Botswana), Rhodesia and Nyasaland (Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi), Uganda, Kenya, British Somaliland (part of Eritrea), Nigerai, Gold Coast (Ghana), Sierra Leone, Sudan and Egypt. The end of World War I saw German colonies overseas divided up between Britain, Australia, Japan and France.

Extracted from `1,000 Curious Facts On World War I’. Essex: Bardfield Press, Great Bardfield, Essex, CM7 4SL, England.

Recommended literature:: Rheinhold Eggers (1973) `Colditz Recaptured’, German economy/hunger, emergence of Hitler, Great Britain:Robert Hale, Ltd.

1^st Paperback edition 1974 New English Library Ltd, Holborn, London, E.C.1.

Australian troops between December 1940-February 1941 (Libya) were for the first time involved in a major World War II campaign. Australian troops comprised the 6^th Division under Major-General Ivan Mackay and the 9^th Division. The Australian 6^th Division together with the British 7^th Armoured Division made up Lieutenant-General Sir Richard O’Connor’s XIII Corps in the Western Desert. The 6^th arrived in Egypt early 1940 and by January 3 its 17^th and 19^th brigades were ready for a successful attack on the Italian town of Bardia (Libya). The Italian garrison surrendered the next day. 38,000 prisoners were taken plus stocks of guns and equipment. Most of the 500 casualties were Australian⁽¹⁾.

Tobruk. The Italian town was originally lost to the Australian 6^th Division, January 21-22, 1941. However, the dispatch of the Afrika Korps to reinforce the German troops forced the 9^th to withdraw from Benghazi to Derna and by 9 April were back inside the Tobruk perimeter bringing the number for the defence of Tobruk up to 31,000 men. The British Commander-in-chief in the Middle East (General Sir Archibald Wavell) gave Australian Major-General John Lavarack (commander of the 7^th Australian Division) orders to hold Tobruk for `about two months’ until relief could arrive from the Egyptian frontier. The German commander, Erwin Rommel, attacked on the evening of April 13^th. Repeated attacks from the Germans were constantly repelled and by 8.30am the next day the battle was over. 250 German prisoners were taken, 150 killed, and Australian losses numbered 26 killed and 64 wounded. Rommel attacked (unsuccessfully) again on 16^th April with a loss of 803 men including an almost complete 62^nd Italian Regiment (the Trento Division) with a loss of only two men. Heavy fighting from April 30 – May 3^rd with success and losses on both sides saw the cessation of German thrust, with 954 Germans and Italians lost and 797 from the defending garrison. Enemy air attacks intensified during June and July, reducing availability of food and other essentials. The last major (unsuccessful) assault launched by the Australians was on August 2, 1942. Following this, pressure by Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Blamey, commander of the AIF, the Australian War Cabinet was successful in pressing the British government for relief for the Australian units. The 18^th Brigade arrived by sea during August and rejoined its own division in Syria. The 9^th Division followed in September and October and was replaced by the 70^th British division. The one remaining Australian battalion was the 2/13^th. This had been attacked and forced to return to Tobruk. It remained here until 23 November when it joined the 9^th in Palestine following Rommel’s withdrawals of his troops to the west. The eight-month ‘Siege of Tobruk’ saw 3,009 casualties (including 832 killed) and 941 taken prisoner of war.

Source: Coulthard Clark `Where Australians Fought’, St L eonards NSW: Allen & Unwin(exxtracted from the book: `Tobruk and El Alamein’ by Barton Maughan (1966). PUBLISHER Canberra: Australian War Memorial.

(1) P 348: The Oxford Companion to Australian History.Oxford University Press New York.

Recommended 9th Division literature:: Philip Masel `The Second 28^th: the story of a famous battalion of the Ninth Australian division’ with an appendix, Perth: `The 24^th Anti-tank Company’, Perth: 2/28^th Battalion and 24^th Anti-tank Company Association.

Source: www.awm.gov.au/firstopac/bin/cgijsp.exe/shelf1.jsp?recno=38232&userld=&catTable=

Australian Army War Diaries-Second World War AWM52,Item 8/3/28-2/28 Infantry Battalion

Australian War Diaries-2/28^th Infantry Bn: www.awm.gov.au/diaries/ww2folder.asp?folder=482

For Barron’s date of death diary see: AWM52,8/3/28/21-September 1941, Appendices

ROMMEL Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel (15 November 1891, Heidenheim -14 October 1944, Herrlingen, Germany) was born to father Erwin, a school headmaster, and mother, Helene von Luz, daughter of a local government official. Rommel was famed in that he single-handedly affected the course of World War II as well as being admired by friend and foe alike. His childhood has been described as very undistinguished in that he was not scholarly outstanding. Outside of an interest in mathematics he gained as a teenager, he remained completely unremarkable. He grew up and on July 19^th 1910 (aged 19) joined the 124^th Wurttemburg Infantry Regiment as a cadet. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant in January of 1912 and saw his first action when Europe was drawn into war in 1914. . It was then that his infectious enthusiasm and bravery marked him as one completely out of the ordinary. He seemed tireless, became physically tough, shaming less robust characters by his example and impressed every German soldier who knew him with his extraordinary instinct for battle. It is said he had a `feel’ for battle, for the enemy’s likely plans and reactions, for what might or might not work, yet remained in that military environment, a being `apart’, yet an inspiration to his men who said: `Where Rommel is, there is the front’. By the end of World War I, war he had been awarded the Iron Cross and the Pour le Merite. His wife was Lucy Mollin, whom he married on November 27, 1916 in Danzig. His son was Manfred, born Christmas Eve, 1928. Rommel wrote and published, ‘Infanterie Greift An’ (The Infantry Attacks), in 1937. He held positions as a commander and instructor throughout the army between wars. In 1938 he was in charge of field headquarters when Hitler took over the Sudeten provinces of Czechoslovakia. When Hitler drove into Prague (March 15, 1939), Rommel was in command of the escort and was (for his success in protecting Hitler) given the 7 Panzer Division February 15, 1940. By June 19, he had captured 100,000 prisoners, 300+ guns (artillery pieces), 450 tanks and armoured cars and over 7,000 transport vehicles with a loss of 42 tanks and 3,000 dead, wounded or missing men. Rommel’s greatest achievements came in the North African deserts, where (within two weeks of his arrival) he had captured 400 miles of territory, but realised early in the piece that the war was futile. Rommel’s next large assignment was to protect Europe against invasion. But (after D-day) sensed that Germany’s defeat was inevitable and tried to convince Hitler to make a peace offer. Following an injury received during an air attack, Rommel was invalided home. Here, on October 14, 1944, he received a visit by Generals Burgdorf and Maisel, accusing him of an attempt on Hitler’s life. He was then removed from home. His wife later received news that he had died of a ‘heart attack’ It is said that Rommel was never a Nazi, was a great patriot and was disillusioned by Hitler and the war, believing that Hitler’s plans were not for the good of Germany but for personal glory. Winston Churchill greatly admired Rommel (nicknamed The Desert Fox) who stands in the first rank of great captains of history. To the allies, he was acclaimed as a supremely professional soldier: chivalrous, decent and unsmirched by the crimes of the Nazi regime, carrying out his duty with an often-dazzling success.

Source: David Fraser (1993) `Knight’s Cross: A Life of Field Marshall Erwin Rommel’, New York: Harper Collins.. http://members.tripod.com/disordered_intellect/serv0303.htm

Rank: Field Marshall.

Unit: Alpenkorps.

Commands: 7.Panzer-Division

Afrika Korps.

Panzer Army Africa

Commander-in-chief North Italy

Army Group E, Greece

Army Group B

Battles/wars World War I

Battle of Caporetto (1917)

World War II

Fall of France

Battle of Arras (1940)

North African Campaign

Siege of Tobruk (1941)

First Batle or El Alamein (1942)

Battle of Alam Halfa (1942)

Second Battle of El Alamein 91942)

Battle of Medenine (1943)

Battle of the Kasserine Pass 91943)

Battle of Normandy

Pour le Merite

Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds.

Battle of Gazala (1942)

Operation Crusader

Battle of Bir Hakeim (1942)

EGYPT

4.3.5 the allies attack again

Second Battle of El Alamein

4.3.5.1 The summer standoff

4.3.5.2 The battle of Alam el Halfa

4.3.5.3 Second battle of El Alamein

4.3.5.4 Rommel’s retreat

4.3.6 The end in Africa

4.4 France (1943-1944)

4.5 The plot against Hitler

5 Rommel as a military commander

6 popular perception

7 in fiction

8 quotations about Rommel

9 Quotations

10 Notes and references

11 References and further reading

11.1 Primary source.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/erwin_Rommel

ROLL OF HONOUR: KALAMUNDA WA

Kalamunda’s Barron Road honours this man.

JACKSON Donald (Mariner).

Nationality: Australian.

Rank: Private Australian Army/2/43 Bn

Age: 23

Date/Place of Birth 20/02/1919/KALGOORLIE

Son of Albert Victor and Elsie Mary JACKSON, Canning Rd, KALAMUNDA WA

Date/place/Locality of Enlistment: 27/07/2940/CLAREMONT/ GERALDTON W A.

Service no: WX5410 Date of Death: 01/11/1942/Egypt

Source: www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2116645

Source: www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=A7VeteranID=741791

Casualty type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial A.I.C.2 EL ALAMEIN WAR CEMETERY Grave 20. A.17

Source: www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx/CASUALTY=2116645

El Alamein lies along the west Egyptian coast of the Mediterranean Sea 110km away from Alexandria. Between October 23 and November 5 1942, one of the greatest battles of World War II took place. The forces involved included 220,000 British men of the Eighth Army (including the Australian 9^th Division). Field Marshal Erwin Rommel had 180,000 men from four German and eight Italian divisions. The British commander, Lieut.-General Bernard Montgomery, planned an assault which would include the 30^th Corps, the 13^th Corps, four infantry divisions of 30^th Corps –Scottish, South African, New Zealand and Australian men. By October 31^st, Lieut.-General Sir Leslie Morshead, commanding the 9^th Australian Division, could see that his division had been almost totally destroyed. That evening, he relieved the 26^th Brigade by the 24^th Brigade. November 1^st saw the result of his action. The full brunt of two German divisions fell on these new troops. By 1.05am on November 2, 1942, the final phase of the battle took place. Renewed effort from the allies, which burst through German lines, saw the beginning of the axis collapse. General Ritter von Thoma, of the Afrika Korps, was captured on November 4^th. And, even though Adolf Hitler insisted on a `fight to the finish’, Erwin Rommel ordered a withdrawal. The allied victory at El Alamein was the beginning of the end. The axis forces retreated in North Africa, and the remnants of the force surrendered in Tunis, May 1943. Losses to the Australian forces were 620 killed, 1,944 wounded and 130 taken prisoner. The total toll was one-fifth of the Eighth Army’s entire losses of 13,560 killed, wounded and missing. The Australian division’s last casualties were on November 4^th, 1943.

Extracted from ‘Where Australians Fought’;Allen & Unwin from `Tobruk and El Alamein’ by Barton Maughan: Canberra; Australian War Memorial.

ROLL OF HONOUR: Panel 62 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial.

AWM Roll of Honour cards, 1939-1945 War, 2^nd AIF (Australian Imperial Force) and CMF (Citizen Military Force). Source: www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=147-11707

Australian army war diaries-Second World War AWM52, item 8/3/35-2/43 Infantry Battalion 1940-Feb 1946.46 www.awm.gov.au/diaries/ww2/folder=490

Recommended literature: Gordon Combe (1972) `The second 43^rd Australian Infantry Battalion 1940-1946/Gordon Combe, Frank Ligertwood, Tom Gilchrist, Adelaide: Second 43^rd Battalion AIF Club. SUBJECT:World War, 1939-1945-Regimental histories-Australia; Unit histories, Australian;Australia. Army Battalion, 2/43^rd.

Source: www.awm.gov.au/firstopac/bin/cgi-jsp.exe/shelf1.jsp?recno=20568&userld=&catTable=

ROLL OF HONOUR: KALAMUNDA WA

Kalamunda’s Jackson Rd, Walliston, honours this man.

WOODALL George Eric.

Nationality: Australian

Rank: Private/ AIF/2/3 Machine gun Battalion (6^th division).

Age 31

Date/Place of Birth: 02/01/1914/ HULL ENGLAND

Son of Ward and Eleanor WOODALL, MAIDA VALE, WA

Mother resident at ‘The Newlands’, c/r Edney & Kalamunda Rd, MAIDA VALE at time of death.

Date/Place/ Locality of Enlistment: 29/04/1941/CLAREMONT/MAIDA VALE, WA

Date of Death 20/01/1944/Thailand (Prisoner of War, Burma/Thai railway).

Service no: WX12071

Source: http://www.ww2ndroll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=A&VeteranID=748211

Casualty type: Commonwealth War Dead

Reference1.0.68

Cemetery: KANCHANABURI WAR CEMETERY

KANCHANABURI WAR CEMETERY is a short distance from the site of the former `Kanburi’, the prisoner of war base camp through which most prisoners passed on their way to other camps. The Army Graves Service who transferred to it all graves of those who died along the notorious Burma-Siam railway created it. The railway was built by Commonwealth, Dutch and American prisoners of war. During construction, 13,000 prisoners of war died and were buried along the line, an estimated 80-100,000 civilian also died during construction. These were mainly forced labour from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies or conscripted in Siam. Source: Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Source: www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx/casualty=2195705

ROLL OF HONOUR: AWM 147 Roll of Honour cards, 1939-1945 War 2^nd AIF (Australian Imperial Force) and CMF (Citizen Military Force). George Eric Woodall’s name is located at panel 75 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial.

Source: http: www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=147-26091

KANCHANABURI WAR CEMETERY is 129km west northwest of Bangkok along the Saeng Chuto Road. A Commission signpost faces the cemetery on the opposite side of the road. Visiting information: The cemetery and memorial registers are kept in the cemetery service area and must be requested from one of the gardeners.

Historical information: The notorious Burma-Siam railway, built by Commonwealth, Dutch and American prisoners of war, was a Japanese project driven by the need for improved communications to support the large Japanese army in Burma. During its construction, approximately 13,000 prisoners of war died and were buried along the construction. An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians also died in the course of the project, chiefly forced labour brought from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, or conscripted in Siam (Thailand) and Burma (Myanmar).

Two labour forces, one based in Siam and the other in Burma worked from opposite ends of the line towards the centre. The Japanese aimed at completing the railway in 14 months and work began in October 1942. The line, 424km long was completed by December 1943.

The graves of those who died during the construction and maintenance of the Burma-Siam railway (except for the Americans, whose remains were repatriated) were transferred from camp burial grounds and isolated sites along the railway into three cemeteries at Chungkai and Kanchanaburi in Thailand and Thanbyuzayat in Myanmar.

Kanchanaburi War Cemetery is only a short distance from the site of the former `Kanburi’ the prisoner of war base camp through which most of the prisoners passed on their way to other camps. The Army Graves Service, who transferred to it all graves along the southern section of railway, from Bangkok to Nieke, created it.

Some 300 men who died during an epidemic at Nieke camp were cremated and their ashes now lie in two graves in the cemetery. The names of these men are inscribed on panels in the shelter pavilion.

There are now 5,084 Commonwealth casualties of the Second World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. There are also 1,896 Dutch war graves. Within the entrance building to the cemetery will be found the KANCHANABURI MEMOIAL, recording the names of 11 men of the army of undivided India buried in Muslim cemeteries in Thailand, where their graves could not be maintained. Colin St Clair Oakes designed the cemetery. Source: commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Recommended literature:: ‘From Snow to Jungle’: a history of the 2/3^rd Australian Machine gun Battalion by John Bellair. PUBLISHER; Sydney: Allen & Unwin. SUBJECT; World War, 1939-45-Regimental histories-Australia: Unit histories, Australian; Australia. Army. Australian Machine-gun Battalion, 2/3^rd 1987. Source: www.awm.gov.au/firstopac/bin/cgi-jsp.exe/shelf1.jsp?recno=33455&userId=&catTable=

ROLL OF HONOUR KALAMUNDA WA

Kalamunda’s Woodall Court, High Wycombe, honours this man.

WOOD George Benjamin ( Blacksmith).

Nationality: British.

Rank: Private AIF/28^th Bn/7^th Brigade.

Date/Place of birth: 18/10/1894/BUNTFORD, MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND

Son of: George & Eliza WOOD.

Date/Place of Enlistment World War I: 26/02/1915/Mt BARKER, W A

Returned to Australia 16/12/1917

Service No: 189

Date/Place/locality of Enlistment World War II: 02/05/1941/PERTH/WALLISTON, W A .

Service No: W29503

World War I records: Fought in Gallipoli, France. Suffered shellshock Boulogne, France.

Source: family records.

28^th Battalion: The 28^th Bn was raised at Blackboy Camp in Western Australia on 16/04/1915 from recruits previously earmarked for the 24^th Battalion, which was instead, being raised in Victoria. The Battalion left Australia in June, and, after two months spent training in Egypt, landed at Gallipoli on 10^th September. At Gallipoli, the 7^th Brigade, which included the 28^th Battalion reinforced the weary New Zealand and Australian Division. The 28^th had a relatively quiet time at Gallipoli and the battalion departed the peninsula in December, having suffered only light casualties.

After another stint in Egypt, the 7^th Brigade proceeded to France and the Western Front, as part of the 2^nd Australian Division. The 28^th Battalion took part in its first major battle at Pozieres between 28 July and 6 August, 1916. After a spell in a quieter sector of the front in Belgium, the 2^nd Division returned to the south in October, where the 28^th Battalion took part in confused and costly fighting to the east of Flers, in the Somme Valley.

For many of the major battles of 1917 the 28^th found itself in supporting roles. At the second battle of Bullecourt, the 28^th provided reinforcements who were nonetheless involved in heavy fighting. The 28^th went on to attack as part of the third phase at the battle of Menin Road, capturing its objectives in seven minutes, and was in reserve during the capture of Broodscinde Ridge. The battalion was also in reserve for the battle of Poelcappelle on 9^th October, but, with the attack floundering in the mud, it soon became embroiled in the fighting. In April 1918, the 28^th fought to turn back the German spring offensive and, from 8 August participated in the joint British and French offensive that marked the beginning of Germany’s defeat. The Battalion was prominent in the fighting to secure crossing points over the Somme River around Peronne, and in the advance beyond Mont St Quentin. The 28^th’s last actions of the war were fought as part of the effort to break through the Beaurevoir Line in the first week of October 1918. The first members of the battalion began returning to Australia in January, and the 28^th was disbanded in March 1919.

Casualties: 787 killed, 2241 wound (including gassed).

Source: http://www.awm.gov/au/units/unit_11215,aso

GLOSSARY

1^st Australian Imperial force; 7^th Brigade; Battle of Amiens; Battle of Broodseinde Ridge; Battle of Flers; Battle of Menin Road; Battle of Poelcappelle; Beaurevoir Line; Capture of Pozieres; German spring Offensive; Hindenburg Line; Mont St Quentin; New Zealand and Australian Division.

BATTLE HONOURS

Somme 1916

Poziers

Bapaume 1917

Bullecourt

Ypres 1917

Menin Road

Polygon Wood

Broodseinde

Poelcappelle

Passchendaele

Hamel

Amiens

Albert 1918

Mont St Quentin

Hindenburg Line

Beaurevoir

France and Flanders 1916-1918

Suvia

Gallipoli 1915-1916

Egypt 1915-1917

COMMANDING OFFICERS: Collett H.B. Read G.A. Currie P.

Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/units/unit_1215.asp

Recommended literature: H.R.Collett (1969) `The 28^th: A record of war service with the Australian Imperial Force: 1915-1919. The 28^th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force: A record of war service’, Perth:: H.K.Kahan,1969).

WOOD George Benjamin.

Nationality: British.

Rank: Corporal (World War II records).

12 ORD. STORES COY/AUSTRALIAN ARMY ORDNANCE CORPS

Son of: George and Eliza WOOD, husband of Edith Wood, WALLISTON W. A.

Date/Place/Locality of Enlistment: 02/05/1941/PERTH/WALLISTON, W A.

Service no: W29503

Date of death 24/01/1944

Wounded World War I 28^th Bn, France. Re-enlisted World War II served Northam WA. Ordnance Stores as a boot maker. Transferred to Fremantle coastal Fixed Defence until sudden death at Fremantle Barracks due to recurrence of World War I leg injury.

Source: Daughter: Mrs. K. Jorden, 8 Hunt Place, Parmelia WA 6167.

CEMETERY: PERTH WAR CEMETERY & ANNEXE.

ROLL OF HONOUR

George Benjamin Wood’s name is located at panel 90 in the Commemorative area at the Australian War Memorial.

Source: http://www.aw.m.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=147-26063

DARLING RANGE ROADS BOARD OF HONOUR ROLL 1939-1945 f honouring those possibly killed in action with no memorial plaque as yet)

DORRINGTON Ronald Kingston.

Nationality: Australian.

Rank: Flying Officer/RAAF ATT RAF 614 SQN.

Age: 26

No 614 Squadron was formed at Cardiff on 1 June 1937 as an army co-operation unit of the Auxiliary Air Force. Initially equipped with Hinds, it received Hectors by the end of 1937. Shortly after the outbreak of war it began to convert to Lysanders. It moved June 1940 to central Scotland where it began coastal patrols. Training with the Army was the main duty of the squadron. In July 1941 it received some Blenheims, re-equipment being completed in January 1942. In support of Bomber Command’s `Thousands Raids’ in May and June `942, the squadron sent its Blenheims to attack enemy airfields in the Low Countries and in August it laid smoke screens for the landings at Dieppe. In November, No. 614 moved to North Africa to attack enemy airfields and communications in Tunisia until the end of the campaign in May 1943. It then turned to shipping escort duties in the Western Mediterranean. It was disbanded 25^th January 1944. On 3 March 1944, No 462 Squadron at Celone was renumbered No 614 Squadron, its Halifaxes took part in raids on targets in Italy and the Balkans and in supply-dropping to partisans. In August 1944, it began to receive Liberators, the Halifaxes were finally withdrawn in March 1945. On 27 July 1945 the squadron was renumbered 214 Squadron.

Source: James Halley `The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth 1918-198’.

Date/place/ of birth: 11/09/1919/PERTH, WA

Parents: unknown.

Age: 25/26

Date/Place of Enlistment/locality: 25/09/1942/MELBOURNE, VICTORIA/CARMEL, W A

Next of Kin: DORRINGTON Irene.

Service no: 419765

Date/place of death: 16/03/1945/Italy (accident). At the time Dorrington was flying Liberator bombers with No 614 Squadron RAF. At this time, 614 SQN was based in Amendola, Italy and was conducting operations in support of allied ground forces in Italy and Southern Germany.

Source: Office of Air Force History: Tugeranong.

No. 614 `County of Glamorgan’ Squadron (RAF) was formed 01-06-1937, Cardiff, U.K. an Auxiliary for bombing with Hinds and Hector 1 (YX-) by the end of 1937 then converted to:

1939, Lysander 2.1941, Blenheim 4f, 4L, 5, Wellington B.3.

May, 1942, participated in first 1,000 bomber raid on Cologne; in North Africa, Nov. 1943, Halifax B.2/1a, Liberator B.6, B.8; Pathfinder duties in Italy; bombed Ploesti oilfields; disbanded Feb. 1944.

It was reformed March 1944 (from No. 462 Squadron).

1944, Mosquito B.16, B.25. Disbanded July 1945.

Reformed May 1946, at Llandow as an Auxiliary for fighting with Spitfire L.F.16e, F.22 (7A-, RAU-). 1940, Vampire F.B.5, Meteor T.7, Harvard T.2b (7A-RAU-).

Planes utilised 1939: Westland Lysander, 1941 Bristol Blenheim, 4F, 4L, 5 and Wellington B3s. In May 1942, the squadron participated in the first 1,000 bomber raid on cologne and moved to North Africa in November 1943 (Handley Page Halifax B2, Liberators B6 and B8). Pathfinder duties in Italy plus bombing raids on Ploesti oil fields. The squadron was disbanded February 1944 and reformed 03-03-1944 from No. 462 Squadron. 1944, Mosquito B.16, B.25. Disbanded July 1945. Reformed May 1946, at Llandow as an Auxiliary for fighting with spitfire L.F.16e, F.22 (7A-,RAU-). 1950 Vampire F.B.5, Meteor T.7; Harvard T.2b (7A-,RAU-).

Squadron bases:

Cardiff 01/06/1937

Odiham 02/10/1939

Grangemouth 08/06/1940

Macmerry 05/03/1941

Odiham 27/09/1941

Macmerry 03/10/1941

Odiham 26/08/1942

Portreath 16/11/1942

Blida 17/11/1942

Canrobert 05/12/1942

Ouimene 07/02/1943

Tafaraoui 22/05/1943

Borizzo 28/08/1943

Celone 25/01/1944

Stonara 10/05/1944

Amendola 15/07/1944

To 27/07/1944

Llandow 10/05/1946

To 10/03/1957

Source: The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth 1918-1988 by James J Halley.

Aircraft flown: Hind, tutor, 1938. Hector 1 (YX), 1939. Lysander 2 1941., Blenheim 4f, 4L.5. Wellington B3, May 1942. Halifax B.2/1a, Liberator B6, B8,

The Handley Page Halifax originating from a 1936 specification, which called for a twin-engined heavy bomber, evolved instead with four Rolls-Royce Merlins. Developing successfully, it shared with the Avro Lancaster the major burden of the night offensive against targets in occupied Europe.

Source: page 45 ‘Pictorial History of Aircraft’ by David Mondey. Publisher:Mandarin Publishers Ltd. Hong Kong, 1977

Motto: Codaf I geislo (Welsh). I rise and search.

ROLL OF HONOUR AWM 148 Roll of Honour cards, 1939-1945 War, Air Force

ROLL OF HONOUR Ronald Kingston DORRINGTON’s name is located at panel 121 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial.

Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=148-31350

ROLL OF HONOUR: KALAMUNDA, WA.

Kalamunda’s Dorrington Road honours this man.

LEE Zachariah Julius

Rank: Private?AIF/26^th Bn

Date of birth ? 1895.

? Connected to: LEE Noah (1941 Orchardist of Watsonia Rd, KALAMUNDA, WA).

Enlisted 27/01/1916, returned to Australia 19/06/1919

Service no 5457

Date of death 25-05-1952 aged 57

Officially commemorated New South Wales Garden of Remembrance Wall 11

Possible connections:

Connected to: ? brother, LEE Noah KALAMUNDA (born 1899,buried KARRAKATTA).

Connected to: LEE Noah SWAN VIEW (born 1924,buried MIDLAND, W A) burial records.

Noah LEE was a striking looking man with an engaging personality, excellent footballer, an engine driver with the West Australian Government Railways, and the last apprentice to be trained as a fireman on the Kalamunda Zig Zag Railway. While in Kalamunda, he was actively engaged with local football clubs then moved to CLAREMONT and became a star football performer.

Source: Pat Hallahan (Kalamunda Historian).

The 26^th Battalion was raised at Enoggera, Queensland, in April 1915 from recruits enlisted in Queensland and Tasmania, and formed part of the 7^th Brigade. It left Australia in July, and, after training in Egypt, landed at Gallipoli on 12 September. At Gallipoli, the 26^th played a purely defensive role and at various times was responsible for the defence of Courtney’s and Steele’s Posts, and Russell’s Top. It withdrew from the peninsula on 12 December.

After another stint in Egypt, the 7^th Brigade proceeded to France as part of the 2^nd Australian Division in March 1916. In concert with the 28^th Battalion, the 26^th mounted the first trench raid undertaken by Australian troops on the Western Front on 6 June. The Battalion fought in its first major battle around Pozieres between 28 July and 7^th August. After a short spell in Belgium, the 2^nd Division came south in October to attack again in the Somme Valley. The 26^th Battalion took part in two attacks to the east of Flers, both of which floundered in mud and slush.

In early 1917, the 26^th Battalion joined the follow-up of the German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line and attacked at Warlencourt (1-2 March) and Lagincourt (26^th March). For his valorous actions at Lagincourt, Captain Percy Cherry was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. On 3 May, the battalion was also involved in the second attempt to breach the Hindenburg Line defences around Bullecourt. Later that year the focus of the AIF'’ operations switched to Belgium. There, the 26^th Battalion fought in the battle of Menin Road on 20 September, and participated in the capture of Broodseinde Ridge on 4 October.

Like most AIF battalions, the 26^th fought to turn back the German spring offensive in April 1918, and in the lull that followed mounted ‘peaceful penetration’ operations to snatch portions of the German front line. In one such operation in Monument Wood on 14 July, Lieutenant Albert Borrella was awarded the Victoria Cross. Later in the year the 26^th participated in the great offensive that began on 8 August, its most notable engagement being an attack east of Mont St Quentin on 2 September. The Battalion’s last action of the war was the capture of Lormisset, part of the operation to breach the Beaurevoir Line, on 3 October 1918. The 26^th Battalion was disbanded in May 1919.

GLOSSARY: 1^st Australian Imperial Force: 2^nd Division; 7^th Brigade; Battle of Broodseinde Ridge; Battle of Flers; Batttle of Menin Road; Beaurevoir Line; Capture of Pozieres; Cherry, Percy Herbert; Courtney’s Post; Enoggera; German spring Offensive; Hindenburg Line; Peaceful penetration; Russell’s Top; Steele’s Post.

BATTLE HONOURS

Somme 1916; Pozieres; Bapaume 1917; Bullecourt; Ypres 1917; Menin Road; Polygon Wood; Broodseinde; Poelcappelle; Passchendaele;Hamel; Amiens;Albert 1918;Mont St Quentin;Hindenburg Line/Beaurevoir;France and Flanders 1916-1918;Suvla; Gallipoli 1915-1916;Egypt 1915-1917.

CASUALTIES: 906 killed, 2,543 wounded (including gassed).

COMMANDING OFFICERS: Ferguson G.A.; Travers, R.J.A. Davis W.M.

Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/units/unit_11213,AO

McLEOD G – the following McLeod men were found.

McLEOD George White (cook).

Nationality: British.

Date/Place of birth: 06/10/1898/RENFREW SCOTLAND

Next of Kin: Margaret McLEOD

Date/Place of Enlistment: PERTH WA.

Service no: W30574

McLEOD George William

Nationality: Australian.

Rank: Unknown:AIF 2/11^TH Bn

Date/Place of birth: 26/12/1916/NORTHAM, WA

Date/Place of Enlistment: NORTHAM, W A

Service no: WX2505

Next of Kin: McLEOD George.

POW 1941

Place on discharge 1945; 42 Coode St, Maylands.

The 2/11 Battalion was raised for overseas service in 1939. The unit saw action in the Western Sahara, Tobruk, Greece and Crete. The Battalion was involved in heavy fighting on Crete, including the Battle for Retimo Airfield. The Battalion, tasked to protect the airfield against an airborne invasion by German forces, fought until they were out of ammunition. German forces captured the battalion (586 captured, 42 escaped). The Battalion was reformed later in 1941 in Syria based on the 42 escaped members. The unit returned to Western Australia for training and deployed to New Guinea in 1943. Here, they served with distinction until the end of the war. By April, 1946 both 11^th Battalion and the 2/11^th Battalion raised for war service were disbanded. Retimo lines (the current home of 11^th/28^th Bn RWAR) was named after the action fought on Crete by the 2/11^th Battalion IF.

Source: http://www.defence.gov.au/Army/11_28RWAR/history.html.

McLEOD Gordon Wesley

Nationality: Australian.

Rank: Flight Sergeant RAAF SQN 138

Date/Place of birth: 24/11/1917/MACKSVILLE, NSW.

Son of: William Gordon & Violet May McLEOD of Macksville, NSW, AUSTRALIA.

Date/Place/locality of Enlistment: 23/05/1942/SYDNEY/unknown, NSW.

Service no: 422658

Source: http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2686020

Date/Place of death: 01/09/1944/North West Europe.

Squadron RAF 138 took off Tempsford 2200 Operation Bob 325 and set course for France. Encountered a violent storm during which the Stirling IV clipped the tops of trees and crashed at Lombard (Doubs), a village roughly 8km NE of Arc-et-Senans, where all were taken for burial in the local communal cemetery. Sgt ALEXANDER was flying as a second navigator.

CREW: 138 SQN Stirling IV LJ503 NF-F Op SOE.

Flight Officer R.B.HARDIE RAAF killed

Sgt G McP JACK killed

Flight sergeant M. STANLEY RAAF killed

Sgt J.C.ALEXANDER killed

Flight Sergeant G.W. McLEOD RAAF killed

Flight Sergeant N.E. BARNES RAAF killed

Flight Sergeant S.J.HAYES RAAF killed

Slight Sergeant R.A. ASHTON RAAF killed

Source: W.R.CHORLEY `Bomber Command Loses of World War II 1^st September 1944’, Leicester:

Midland Counties Publications, Leicester, England

MEMORIAL/ CEMETERY: ARC-ET-SENANS COMMUNAL CEMETERY.

ROLL OF HONOUR: Gordon Wesley McLeod’s name is located at panel 126 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial.

Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=148-35146

ROLL OF HONOUR KALAMUNDA, WA.

MCLEOD Graham

Nationality: Australian.

Date/Place of birth: 13/10/1921/ DOODLAKINE, WA

Next of Kin: McLEOD HUGH- station master at Collie.

Date/Place of Enlistment: COLLIE, WA.

Service no: W41348

Discharged: May 1942.

MCLEOD Graham Albert George

Nationality: Australian.

Rank: Flight Sergeant/RAAF SQN .

Date/Place of birth: 23/01/1923/IVANHOE, VICTORIA

Son of: Harold George & Florence Ida McLeod of Hawthorn East,. VICTORIA, Australia.

Date/Place/locality of Enlistment:04/02/1941/MELBOURNE/HAWTHORN EAST, VIC

Service no: 12840

Source: http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=R&veteranID=86432

Date/Place of death: 24/08/1943 Germany

Memorial: BERLIN 1939-1945 WAR CEMETERY

Source: http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2202052

ROLL OF HONOUR. GRAHAM Albert George McLeod’s name is located at panel 126 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial.

Source: http://ww.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=148-35145

ROLL OF HONOUR KALAMUNDA, WA.

Squadron 158 formation Motto: Strength in unity. May 9, 1918 saw the inception of a proposal to form Squadron 158 for deployment to France with Snipes in early September. A change was made to Salamanders with a revised deployment but these plans were changed to a proposed deployment in October. This, however, was suspended July 29. The squadron eventually formed as a Salamander squadron at Upper Heyford September 4, 1918. Its elements came from Nos 42,50 and 53 Training Depot Squadrons and the Central Flying School. It may not have received any operational aircraft by Armistice Day and was disbanded November 20, 1918. The re-formation of the squadron occurred February 14, 1942 at Driffield. Elements came from a nucleus provided by No 104 Squadron (equipped with Wellingtons).

June 1942 saw the arrival of Halifaxes, the squadron moving at the same time to East Moor and (in November) to Rufforth.February, 1943, saw the squadron moving to its main wartime home of Lissett. From here it operated as part of Bomber Command’s Main Force for the remainder of the war. In January, 1944, Halifax III aircraft arrived. At the same time `C’ Flight was used to provide the basis of No. 640 Squadron. This immediately moved to Leconfield. The squadron was transferred to Transport Command after the end of the war together with the rest of No 4 Group. June 1945 saw it receiving Stirlings. These were taken to Stradishall in August. From here it conducted trooping flights to the Middle East and India. It was disbanded December 31, 1945. `Friday the 13^th’ (one of No 158’s Halifax IIIs, LV907) ended the war having completed 128 operational missions. It was displayed in London after the war. What remains of it is now housed in the RAF Museum at Hendon. A recreation of the aircraft from various Halifax and Hastings components and newly built items is on display at the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington..

Source: http://www.rafweb.org/Sqn156-158.htm.

MCLEOD Gregor Drummond

Nationality: Australian.

Rank: Private/AIF/2/21 Bn

Date/Place of Birth: 15/04/1909/MILDURA, VIC.

Son of: John & Mary McLeod, Mildura, Victoria

Next of Kin: MEYENN M

Date/Place/Locality of Enlistment: 14/06/1940/CAULFIELD/MILDURA, VICTORIA

Service no: VX25923

Date/Place of death: 20/02/1943 AMBON.

CEMETERY: BONMANA WAR CEMETERY.

ROLL OF HONOUR; Gregor Drummond McLeod’s name is located at panel 47 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial.

Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=147-15178

ROLL OF HONOUR: KALAMUNDA, WA.

The 2/21^st Battalion saw action between January 31 and February 3, 1943, fighting together with a Dutch garrison against Japanese forces invading the island of Ambon located in the Banda Sea between the Celebes and western New Guinea. The two companies of the 2/21^st fought until surrender on February 2, but were murdered in a mass execution by their Japanese captors. The role of the Dutch and Australian troops was to defend the Bay of Ambon and its two airfields (Laha and Liang) used by both Dutch and Australian forces alike.

Source: Lionel Wigmore (1957) `The Japanese Thrust’ Canberra: Australian War Memorial.

MASON Robert Melville (Timber mill worker)..

Robert MASON was working at Smailes Mill at the outbreak of World War II.

Source: Ted Smailes, KALAMUNDA, 2007.

Nationality: Australian.

Rank: Able Seaman/RAN/HMS SULTAN (possibly initial placing).

Age: 20

The HMS SULTAN was named for Sultan Abdulaziz of the Ottoman Empire, visiting England when the Sultan was laid down.

A broadside ironclad of the Royal Navy of the Victorian era, the Sultan was laid down 29/02/1868;

Launched 31/05/1870 and completed 10/10/1871.

Her displacement was 9,290 tons, length: 325 feet; beam: 59 feet, draught: 25’6” light, 28’ deep load. Engine was a one-shaft Penn trunk, I.H.P.=720. Speed under power 14.13 knots; Rig: Ship-rigged sail area 49,400 sq.feet. Best speed under sail: 6 knots. Complement: 633. Her armament: 8 10” muzzle-loading rifles, 4 9”muzzle-loading rifles 7 20-pounder breech loading rifles, belt 9 inches, tapering to 6 inches. Armour: Main deck battery 9 inches, Upper deck battery 8 inches.

The Sultan’s design closely followed that of the HMS Hercules. Unlike the battery of the earlier ship, that of the Sultan was on two levels. The main deck guns provided broadside fire, with limited ahead fire from the foremost gun, while the upper deck guns provided additional broadside fire and also could fire astern, by traversing the after gun on a turntable.

The Sultan’s hull had one of the roundest amidships cross-section ever adopted at the time of her launch, and this and the low metacentric height of only three feet made her a very steady gun platform. It was soon found, however, that she lacked adequate stability-in Naval parlance she was “tender’ –and some six hundred tons of extra ballast had to be inserted into her double bottom.

SERVICE HISTORY: The Sultan was commissioned at Chatham for the Channel Fleet, in which she served until 1876. She was refitted, being reduced to barque rig. She was then posted to the Mediterranean under the command of His Royal Highness, the Duke of Edinburgh. The Sultan was with Admiral Hornby at the Dardanelles in 1878. She was then again refitted, and reduced to reserve until 1882, when she returned to the Mediterranean. At the bombardment of Alexandria she sustained causalities of two killed and eight wounded from a single hit on the battery. She was with the Particular Service Squadron during the Russian war scare of June to August 1885. She was then retained in the Mediterranean. On March 6, 1889 she grounded on an uncharted rock in the Comino Channel between Malta and Gozo. Her bottom was ripped open and she sank. In the following August, the Italian firm, Baghina & Co, raised her for a fee of fifty thousand pounds. She returned to Portsmouth after temporary repairs. In Portsmouth she underwent modernisation and repair until 1896. She served in the reserve until 1906 then she was partially dismantled and became an artificers’ training ship under the name of Fisgard IV. In 1931 she was further converted into a mechanical repair ship, regaining her original name of Sultan. She was used as a depot for minesweepers at Portsmouth during World War II and was sold in 1947.

Source: Oscar Parkes British Battleships ISBN 0-85177-133-5

Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Sultan_%281870%29

Categories: Victorian era battleships of the United Kingdom Royal Navy battleships.

: `Sultan’ (steamship) -history of the ship. 1,885 gross tons, 1,215 net tons; single screw, registered Liverpool 1894; registered Fremantle July 1895; April 1909 sold to Japan, renamed ‘Kayo Maru”. Link: Parsons, Ronald, 1923-Steamships in colonial Western Australia, p.71, 387.24.

also: Dickson, Rod (Rodney Arthur). Ships registered in Western Australia from 1856, Vol.2, p 29. Q387.2 DIC.l also The Fremantle-Singapore Service published 1997. SUMMARY: History of subsidised shipping service Western Australia to Singapore-including the Sultan which joined the service in 1894.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Sultan_(1870)

Posting at death: HMAS YARRA.

http://ww/www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=146-1340

HMAS YARRA (possible 2^nd placing).

SEA POWER CENTRE-AUSTRALIA HMA SHIP HISTORIES

HMAS YARRA (MII).

Type: Grimsby Class Sloop

Displacement 1,060 tons (standard), 1,500 tons (full load)

Length 266 feet

Beam 36 feet

Draught 10 feet

Builder Cockatoo Docks and Engineering Co Ltd Sydney

Laid Down 28 May 1934

Launched 28 March 1935, by Mrs Parkhill, wife of the Minister for Defence

Machinery Parsons geared turbines, twin screws

Horsepower 2,000

Speed 16 ½ knots

Armament 3x4-inch guns, 4 x 3-pounder guns

HISTORY: HMAS YARRA commissioned at Sydney on 21 January 1936 under the command of Captain George d. Moore RAN.

YARRA was employed in coastal patrol and escort duties up to the end of the first twelve months of World War II. On 28 August 1940, YARRA left Australia under command of Lt Commander W.H. Harrington RAN (later Vice Admiral Sir Hastings Harrington KBE CB DSO, First Naval Member of the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board and Chief of Naval Staff (1962-65).

The YARRA visited Direction Island (where in 1914 the crew of the German cruiser EMDEN landed to destroy its wireless station shortly before the HMAS SYDNEY forced the EMDEN ashore on North Keeling Island). The YARRA then participated in escort duties up and down the Red Sea and maintaining blockades between Africa and the Arabian coast. October 1940 saw the YARRA involved in anti-enemy action outside Aden. In mid March 1941 the YARRA left the Red Sea for Bombay for refitting. April 12 saw the YARRA escorting troops to Basra to protect British interests in the Persian Gulf. 30 May a pro British Government took over, an armistice was signed and British troops occupied all-important points in Iraq. YARRA’s service area in early May was in the narrow waters of the Shatt-el-Arab, the meeting place of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers supporting land-based British forces.

Immediately following the successful conclusion to the Iraqi problem, the Middle East problem worsened with Hitler’s armies on 22 June 1941 sweeping across the Russian border. Mid August saw the German troops at the gates of Leningrad. Smolensk had been taken and the troops were sweeping towards the Crimea and the Caucasus, presenting a threat (for England) to oil-rich Persia (Iran) which was also a defence for India. Russia and Britain together invaded Iran on August 25, 1941. Britain’s plan was the capture of Abadan (site of the great oil refineris fed by wells in the Persian hinterland), the Iranian naval base at Khorramshahr and the port of Banda Shapur, together with enemy shipping found in the its harbour. The naval force available was the YARRA, a small gunboat, a corvette, two armed yachts, two armed river steamers, a tralwer and last but not least the Australian Armed Merchant Cruiser KANIMBLA. By 10.0am the following day (August 26) the Persian port was in British hands.

On August 28, the YARRA commenced the salvage of the partly destroyed and burning 5,000 ton Italian HILDA from the Strait of Hormuz, completed by the tug SYDNEY THUBRON. On 27^th August, the Persian Government accepted British-Russian terms and on 16 September 1941 the pro German Shad abdicated in favour of his son and the following day British and Russian troops entered Teheran.

More salvage work followed for the HMAS YARRA. The YARRA was then posted to the Persian Gulf and then to the Mediterranean station, including the Red Sea. Until the relief of Tobruk, the YARRA was almost constantly at sea between Alexandria and Tobruk with wild and stormy weather and a perpetually active enemy, with 35 enemy aircraft attacking on 7 December and holing the HMS FLAMINGO which called on the YARRA to tow her into Tobruk.

December 9 saw the end of the YARRA’s Mediterranean service. War had broken out in the Pacific and the Yarra sailed for Colombo and thence Batavia with the `debacle of Singapore’ still in the future.

The evening of 30/31 January 1942 saw the British troops breaching the causeway connecting Singapore Island to the mainland and withdrawing into their `safe’ fortress. February 3, 1942 saw a large convoy of British ships entering the Sunda Strait, escorted by two British cruisers and a destroyer, a Dutch cruiser, an Indian sloop and he Australian ships HMAS VAMPIRE and YARRA. After clearing the Strait, the convoy split, five ships, escorted by the cruiser HMS DANAE, HMIS SUTLEJ and YARRA for Singapore, the remainder for Batavia. All sips were crammed with troops and equipment: – a vulnerable target for the attacking Japanese who struck in a series of dive bombing and machine-gunning attacks. While fighting off enemy attack, the YARRA went to the rescue of the blazing troopship, THE EMPRESS OF ASIA, rescuing 1,804 men. Smaller numbers of survivors were rescued by the Indian ship SUTLEJ, the Australian corvettes HMAS BENDIGO and HMAS WOLLONGONG that was a total loss. HMAS YARRA towed HMAS VENDETTA from Palembang in Sumatra to Batavia Feb 8-10). February 27, 1942 orders were given to clear all remaining British auxiliary craft from Batavia. YARRA and the Indian sloop HMIS JUMNA escorted a convoy for Tjilatjap. Here, YARRA was ordered NOT to enter harbour but to proceed t Fremantle, escorting the convoy and JUMNA t proceeded to Colombo. En route, the YARRA picked up survivors on a raft from the Dutch ship PARIGI, sunk earlier by the Japanese.

At 6.30am on March 4, 1942, the topmasts of Admiral Kond’s heavy cruisers ATAGO, TAKAO and MAYA appeared. HMAS ANKING was first to go, sinking in less than 10 minutes. YARRA was set on fire, the Motor Minesweeper as on fire, the tanker FRANCOL sank about 7.30am and the YARRA was the last to go. The Japanese picked up one boatload of survivors from FRANCOL. A passing Dutch vessel, the TAWALI, rescued 57 officers and men from ANKING but failed to see survivors on two Carley floats from Minesweeper No. 51. The Dutch steamer TJIMANOEK picked these men up March 7, 1942 The Dutch submarine KII picked up 13 YARRA survivors on March 9, the rest, including a large boatload from FRANCOL, were never heard of again. Of YARRA’s total complement of 151, 138 including Captain and all officers, were killed in action or died subsequently on the rafts.

Source: http://www.navy.gov.au/spc/history/ships/yarra2.html

Recommended literature:: A.F.Parry (1980) `HMAS Yarra 1936-1942, The Story of a Gallant Ship’, Garden Island: The Naval Historical Society of Australia.

Date/Place of birth 09/09/1921/FREMANTLE WA

Son of Ernest John and Flora Jane MASON, CARMEL, WA and a descendant of the Benjamin Mason pioneering family of Kalamunda.

Next of Kin: MASON Lawrence.

Niece: Jan Mahy, 17 Camelot street, CARINE.6020.

Place of Enlistment: FREMANTLE, WA

Service No: 23577

Age 20.

Date/place of Death: 15/02/1942:SINGAPORE (bayoneted by Japanese while in Singapore Hospital with appendicitis).

Source: Niece: Mrs. Jan Mahy, CARINE, WA.

Commonwealth War Dead

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

ROLL OF HONOUR: Panel 73 Column 1 PLYMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL

DEVON, UNITED KINGDOM.

The memorial is situated centrally on the Hoe and looks directly towards Plymouth Sound. It is accessible at all times.

Visiting information: Copies of the Memorial Register are kept at the Tourist Information Office at Island House, 9 The Barbican, Plymouth, PL12LS and also in the Naval Historical Section at Plymouth Library.

ROLL OF HONOUR: Robert Melville Mason’s name is located at panel 9 Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial. Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=146-1340

ROLL OF HONOUR: KALAMUNDA WA.

Kalamunda’s Mason Road honours this man.

NORTH Geoffrey.

Nationality: Australian

Rank: unknown/W10924-AIF 2/28 Bn,

Age: 27

Son of: H.W. North of Bickley, no paycard, no listing on Record Search with W service number.

? same person as NORTH Geoffrey WX15068.

Battle engagements of the 2/28^th Battalion involved (July 1942) Ruin Ridge (for details see records of SMITH Harold William), (19-31 January 1944) Shaggy Ridge (see records of SPAIN/SHAIN Walter Daniel) and 10^th June, 1945 (Labuan Island, Brunei Bay. Labuan Island in Brunei Bay on June 10 and 16 in 1945 was the focal point in a struggle (to secure a land base) between invading allies and occupying Japanese.

Source: Gavin Long (1963) `The Final Campaigns’, Canberra: Australian War Memorial.

(? Same man) NORTH GEOFFREY. Rank Signalman/AIF/5.W.T.Sect

Age: 27

Date/Place of birth12/04/1915

Son of: Harry Walter and Gertrude Anne NORTH, MILLENDON, WA

Husband of Mavis Winifred LAMONT.

Service no: WX15068

Date/Place of death: 26/04/1942/ Kalgoorlie (accident).

North fought in the Middle East, was dispatched home to Perth, via Adelaide and while in Kalgoorlie, suffered a fatal accident.

Source: Sister, Mrs Ivy LAIRD, 14, Craig Street. BUSSELTON WA. 01/05/2007

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Memorial: 0.C.9 PERTH WAR CEMETERY AND ANNEX.

ROLL OF HONOUR: KALAMUNDA, WA.

PEGGS Robert James

Nationality: Australian.

Rank: pilot officer/ RAAF/77 Sqn RAF

Age: 20

Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=148-36562

RAF No. 77 `Lancaster’ Squadron was formed 1 Oct. 1916, for Home Defence, operating from Edinburgh, Whiteburn and New Haggerston. Used B.E.12, B.E. 12b, B.E.2c. 1917, D.H.6, R.E.8.1918, single-seat Avro 504, F2b, Oct. 1918, night-fighting from Penston. Disbanded 13 June, 1919. Reformed 14 June, 1937, at Honington from ‘B’ Flight of No. 102 Squadron with Audax, Wellesley 1 (ZL-). 1939, Whitley B.3. 1940, Whitely B.4, B.5 (KN-). 1942, shipping patrols with Whitley G.R.7(KN-). Oct. 1942. Halifax B.2/1, B.2/1a,B.3 b.5 (KN-, TB-). At Elvington, Full Sutton. 1944. Halifax B.6 (TB-), 1946. Renumbered 77 from No. 271 Squadron for transport in India with Dakota C.3,C.4 (YS-,.DV-, MOFB--). Reformed Aug. 1958 at Feltwell with Thor IRBM as first Missile Unit. C.O.G/CA.Villan.

Squadron Bases:

Edinburgh October 1, 1916

Dets. At:

Whiteburn

New Haggeston

Penston

Turnhouse 13 April 1917 Topcliffe 5 Oct 1940

Penston April 1918 Leeming 5 Sep 1941

To 13 June 1919 Chivenor 6 May 1942

Finningley 14 June 1937 Elvington 5 Oct 1942

Honington 7 July 1937 Full Sutton 15 May44

Driffield 25 July 1938 Broadwell 31 Aug 45

Kinloss 15 April 1940 Kargi Rd 01 Oct 45

Driffield 4 May 1940 Mauripur 22 Oct 45

Linton-On-Ouse to Nov 46

28 Aug 1940 Mansion 01 Dec 46

Waterbeach 10 Dec 47

To 01 June49

Feltwell 01 Spt 58

To 10 July 63

Source: James Halley, `The Squadrons of the Royal Air force & commonwealth 1918-1988’.

Date/Place of birth: 21/02/1924/PINGELLY, WA.

Source: http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=R&VeteranID=1059933

Son of: Robert William and Pathama Alice PEGGS, 39 Parke Rd. KALAMUNDA, W.A

(previously the abode of an archbishop and now a rose garden complex).

Source: Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Date/Place of Enlistment: 29/03/1942/KALAMUNDA.

Service No: 415913

Cause of death: Flying battle.

At the time of his death, PLTOFF Peggs was flying with No 77 Squadron Royal Air Force. He was flying a Halifax bomber and was probably on a mission to bomb Orleans in France when his aircraft was shot down. These missions were flown just before the date set for the Allied invasion of Normandy (6^th June 1944) to destroy the railways to prevent their being used by the German Army to move troops and supplies. Source: Office of air Force History, Tuggeranng. Personal file: www.naa.gov.au

Source: AWM 148 Roll of Honour cards, 1939-1945 War, Air Force.

Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=148-36562

Date/Posting on death 23/05/1944 /196 DGR

Source: http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=R & Veteran ID=1059933

77 Squadron Halifax V LL 138 KN-N Operation Orleons:

Took off 2340 Full Sutton to bomb rail facilities. Crashed at Seris (Loir-et- Cher), 23 km NE of BLOIS. Those who died in the crash rest in SERIS Communal Cemetery.

Sgt HALE was badly injured and died June 22. He was at Nantes (Pont-du- ) Communal Cemetery. W/O HAWORTH was repatriated arriving aboard the Letitia at Liverpool 2^nd February, 1945.

CREW: W/O G.T.HAWORTH POW

SGT R.A. ROSE RAF-killed.

SGT C.T. HALE INJURED.

F/O A.M. BEATTY RCAF killed.

SGT RJ PEGGS RCAF killed in action.

SGT J.D. TAYLOR POW

Source: page 238 RAF Bomber Command Losses of Second World War 1943

“My brother, Jim Peggs, was killed May 23, 1944 when returning from a bombing sortie over Germany. His plane crashed on the outskirts of SERIS in France. The town’s people of this village who still tend the graves buried the crew. I was in the army as an AWAS, my brother, Donald Charles, Leading Aircraftman, was in the RAAF and served overseas in the islands and my brother, Harold, was in the navy.”

Source: Gwen Corbett (nee PEGGS of 16 Croydon Ave, PERTH.WA)

CEMETERY: SERIS COMMUNAL CEMETERY, Loir-et-Cher, France. Reference/Mil.Plot.Grave 2

Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=148-36562

SERIS is a village and commune some 14 miles (23km) north-east of Blois. The cemetery is south-east of the village at the junction of the roads to Mer and Avaray. There are 4 Commonwealth burials of the 1939-45 war here, west of the entrance and north of the war memorial against the wall.

Source: Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

ROLL OF HONOUR: Robert James Pegg’s name is located at panel 128 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial.

ROLL OF HONOUR KALAMUNDA WA

PHILIP Charles Reid

Nationality: Australian.

Rank: able Seaman/RAN.

Date/place of birth: February 8, 1921/PERTHW A

Son of: Charles & Mrs. Reid, WALLISTON, WA. Brother to Llila.

Date/Place/locality of Enlistment: 10/03/1941/FREMANTLE/Wheelwright Rd, LESMURDIE, WA.

Service No: F3420

At the time of his death, he lived at Lesmurdie Rd. Lesmurdie.

Ref NAA K26/21/DVA] RAN

Source: http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=N&VeteranID=1155324

Charles Reid PILIP was drafted to the establishments/depots HMAS Leeuwin; HMAS Cerberus; HMAS Rushcutter; HMAS Penguin I and HMAS Lonsdale. Seagoing service in HMAS Yandra; HMAS Esmerelda; HMAS Bingera; SS Yunnan and SS River Clarence. Rank: Enlisted as Ordinary Seaman, discharged as Able Seaman. Date/Posting of Discharge: 28/10/1944/HMAS Leeuwin. Discharged ` Free’ on 28 October 1944, in order to help his father on the family orchard.

Source: Naval History Section Sea Power Centre-Australia Department of Defence.

Date of death: 10/02/1988 Royal Perth Hospital

ROLL OF HONOUR: KALAMUNDA, WA.

HMAS Rushcutter: RAN personnel underwent anti-submarine warfare training at HMAS Rushcutter.. The Rushcutter in 1940 was commissioned as a separate establishment and became central to the RAN’s training regime during the war, eventually embracing radar, WRANS and Fairmile instruction in addition to the A/S school. (RAN).

Source: David Stevens (2005) `The Royal Australian Navy in World War II’, Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, extracted from page 159.

Date/Posting of Discharge: 28/10/1944/HMAS LEEUWIN.

Source: http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=N&VeteranID=1155324

Literature: (highly recommended) David Stevens (2005) The Royal Australian Navy in World War II, Crows Nest NSW: Allen & Unwin.

RAHALEY Leonard Keith

Nationality: Australian.

Rank: Flight Lieutenant/RAAF/SQN 102 (4GP).

Date/Place of birth: 22/03/1910/ASCOT VALE, VICTORIA.

Date/Place/locality of Enlistment: 11/10/1942/PERTH/unknown.

Service Number RAAF 427939

Next of Kin: RAHALEY Mabel

Date/locality of discharge: 29/10/1945: Brook St, Kalamunda.

Date/Place on death: Andrew St. KALAMUNDA, W A refNAA K26/25 DVA] RAAF

No 102 Squadron. Motto: Tenate et perficite (Attempt and achieve). No 2 Squadron was formed at Hingham, NORFOLK, 9 August 1917 as a night bomber squadron with F.D.2bs and F.E.2d. Iin September moved to France where. Here it began a series of night raids on enemy supply bases, railways and airfields, railheads and billets, night reconnaissance and the machine-gunning of troops and transport. During its service on the Western Front the Squadron dropped a total of almost 365 tons of bombs, 317 tons of which were dropped between 21^st March, 1918 – the day on which the germans launched their spring offensive – and the Armistice. Trains were bombed on 93 occasions and transport on 113 occasions. On the night of 23^rd March, approximately 7 tons 8cwt of bombs were dropped, a record among two-seater night-flying squadrons for weight of bombs dropped in one night. The targets were German billeting villages in the northern area of the battlefront opposite the Third Army. . In March 1919, the squadron returned to the U.K. It was disbanded on 3^rd July 1919. On 1^st October, 1935, B Flight of No 7 Squadron at Worthy Down was renumbered 102 Squadron and on 13^th March 1936 became an independent unit. In July, 1936, the original batch of Heyford Iis was supplemented by Heyford IIIs and in September, the Squadron moved to its newly built base at Finningley. On 14^th June 1937, B Flight was detached to form No 77 Squadron and in October 1939 began to receive Whitleys which it took into action during the opening years of World War II. Leaflet dropping raids over Germany began on the day after war was decided. On the second night of the war _4/5^th September 1939- three of its Whitleys dropped propaganda leaflets on the Ruhr. When the next leaflet raid was made – again on the Ruhr – four nights later, two of the six crews involved failed to return. Subsequently it was learned that one of these crews had forced-landed in then neutral Belgium and had been interned, and that the other had force-landed in Germany and been made prisoners of war. The squadron’s first bombing attack of the war was made on 12/13^th December, 1939, when a Whitley engaged on a security patrol of Sylt attacked what appeared to be lights indicating a seaplane alighting area.

Italy’s declaration of war on 10/11^th June 1940 brought a swift reply. The following night seven of the squadron’s Whitleys set out from an advanced base in the Channel Islands (Jersey airport) to attack the Fiat Works at Turin. Thunderstorms and severe icing were encountered and five aircraft had to return early. The other two reached Turin, where one bombed the primary target whilst the other bombed an alternative target. Squadron 102 will always be associated with the name of Group Captain G.L.Cheshire, V.C. On the night of 12/13^th November 1940, Pilot Officer – as he then was-G.L.Cheshire was captain ofWhitley V P5005 “N-Nuts” detailed to attack an oil refinery at Wesseling, not far from Cologne. It appears that he arrived in the target area within a few minutes of the E.T.A. but owing to inter-com trouble was unable to discover his exact position until some twenty minutes later, by which time the target was blanketed by cloud. He decided to attack the railway marshalling yards at Cologne instead and while he was approaching this target his aircraft was suddenly shaken by a succession of violent explosions. The cockpit filled with black fumes and Cheshire lost control of the aircraft, which dived about 2,000 feet, with it fuselage on fire. Cheshire regained control, the fire was extinguished and the Whitley, with a gaping hole in its fuselage, was brought safely back to base after being in the air for 8 ½ hours. Cheshire gained an immediate D.S.O. He was later awarded the D.F.C. for operations with No. 102 Squadron.

But it was not until the German invasion of Norway that bombing operations got underway. In September 1940, the squadron was loaned to Coastal Command for convoy escort duties from Prestwick for six weeks before resuming bombing raids. In December, the first Halifaxes were received, the last Whitley operations being flown on 31-1-1942 and in May 1944, the Mark IIs were replaced by Mark IIIs which maintained the squadron’s contribution to Bomber Command’s strategic bomber offensive until the end of the war. On 8^th May, 1945, No 102 was transferred to Transport Command and in September moved to Bassingbourn to convert to Liberators for trooping duties to India which began in January, 1946, but On February, 1946 the squadron was disbanded.

Source: ‘The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force and the Commonwealth, 1918-1988’ by James Halley.

No 102 Squadron was a Royal Air Force bomber squadron in World War II. It operated a number of different aircraft and was under the command of different commands at different times of the war. 4GP probably refers to No 4 Group and would have been the headquarters that commanded the squadron. Basically, squadrons fly the aircraft on missions that are tasked by the group headquarters, which operates within priorities and flying rates that are set by the command headquarters. There are normally several squadrons in a wing and several wings in a group and a number of groups in a command, although this is not always the case. The command chain can change depending on the priorities of the commander.

In 1942 No. 102 Squadron re-equipped with Halifaxes and continued with aircraft of this type for the rest of European war. It took part in each of the three historic 1,000-bomber raids in May/June, 1942, and, later, in the battles of the Ruhr, Hamburg, and Berlin. It was well to the fore in the pre-invasion attacks on railway communications in Northern France and on the eve of D-Day sent 26 aircraft-the largest number it had yet despatched-to bomb an enemy gun battery on the coast of Normandy. In September/October, 1944, it undertook the trnasportation of petrol to Belgium for the Second Army and in just over one week carried 134,250 gallons without mishap. In the great day and night 1,000-bomber attacks on Duisburg in the closing stages of the war some of its crews made two round trips within twenty-four hours. During the Second World War No. 102 Squadron dropped a total of 14,118 ¼ tons of bombs and laid 1,865 mines. Among the awards gained by its personnel were 5 D.S.O’s, 115 D.F.C’s, two bars to the D.F.C., and 34 D.F.M’s.

Source: Office of Air Force History, Tuggeranong.

SMAILES Bernard Sydney: Timber mill worker.

Nationality: Australian.

Rank: Acting Corporal/AIF/2/32Bn/9^th Division

Date/Place of birth: 06/03/1920/ CANNING MILLS, WA.

Son of: Sydney and Edith Johanna SMAILES SMAILES MILL, PICKERING BROOK, WA.

Husband of Berniece Eileen SMAILES of Victoria Park, WA.

Source: Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Date of Enlistment: 1939; First to desert combat at Alamein, then jungle combat in New Guinea.

Service no WX9705

Date/Place of death 22-11-1943: killed by snipers while on patrol at Pabu outside Finschhafen.

Source: Brother Edward Smailes of Kalamunda 01/05/2007

ROLL OF HONOUR: Bernard Sydney SMAILES’S name is located at panel 60 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial.

AWM 147 Roll of Honour cards, 1939-1945 War, 2^nd AIF (Australian Imperial Force) and CMF (Citizen Military Force)

Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=147-21838

Grave: JJ.A.7LAE WAR CEMETERY, PAPUA NEW GUINEA .

SOURCE: Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Finschhafen is located on the eastern end of the Huon Peninsula, New Guinea. The 20^th Brigade of the 9^th Australian Division commanded by Brigadier Victor Windeyer, landed on Scarlet Beach, circa 10 km north of Finschhafen at 4.45am on September 22^nd, 1943. The landing’s goal was to capture Finschhafen to provide air and naval bases for the American Sixth Army. At the same time a battalion of the Australian 4^th Brigade was to march overland from Lae. 400 Japanese troops met the initial Scarlet Beach landing. However, daylight saw a heavy attack from 60-70 Japanese aircraft. At Bumi River, south of Finschhafen,, outflanking movements by the Japanese caused Windeyer to call for more troops which finally arrived September 30^th. After heavy fighting from the Japanese, the enemy was finally overcome on October 1, 1943. The Japanese withdrew from Finschhafen on the following day. The Finschhafen struggle cost 358 casualties to the 20^th Brigade (73 killed and 391 evacuated because of sickness). The Japanese losses were heavy. However, evacuation of Japanese troops to the west to contest the Australian gains at Sattelberg, contributed to depletion of the Japanese force.

Source: David Dexter (1961) The New Guinea Offensives, Canberra: Australian War Memorial.

PABU HILL After the fall of Lae, acting commanding officer, Major Millard accompanied Brigadier Porter and his Brigade Major to North Hill with its excellent view of what was later named Pabu Hill.

The object of a planned attack on Pabu Hill was to cut the Japanese supply route on the Gusika-Wareo track and relieve pressure on 26 Brigade operating further to the west. The terrain was a series of razor-back spurs and saddles separated by deep, rugged ravines. Pabu Hill was taken at 1.50pm, 20^th November. The following defence of Pabu Hill saw a number of men, killed or wounded. `The presence of the 2/32 was regarded as a thorn in the side of the enemy with its continuous barrage on the Japanese carrying parties. This disconcerted the Japanese and affected their timetable, with, however a subsequent ill effect on the Australian’s own supply system. An unsuccessful drop on 23^rd November provided a small amount of food and a good supply of ammunition. But November 22^nd saw the Japanese counter-attack and with it, its toll on the Australian troops.

Source: S. Trigellis-Smith (1993) `Britain To Bornea: A History of 2/32 Australian Infantry Battalion’ sydney: 2/32 Australian Infantry Battalion Association (extracted from pages 224-237).

Formation of the 2/32

The 2/32 Battalion was formed June 26, 1940, at Tidworth, Pennings, England. It comprised the first batch of AIF troops to be drafted into a formation outside their own country (Australia). Commanding Officer was Lieutenant-Colonel ASC Sparkes from 2/9^th Battalion. The majority of the recruits came from queensland, followed by NSW, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania. A selected number were sent to schools at Tilshead Lodge, Hythe Small Arms School and others, most of the schools being staffed by British army regulars recently returned from France. By september 3, the unit had 27 officers and 730 other ranks, with few having had any formal infantry training. Intensive training was followed by a move to winter quarters in Colchester, Essex The 2/32 became a unit officially n October 28, 1940, its colour patch being a circle of purple over red with the light grey surround denoting AIF. On board troopship, Franconia, the unit sailed on the night of January 11t^hfor Durban, disembarking March 10^th 1941 for the train journey to Palestine. Here, the unit was placed in the 7^th Division. Following the withdrawal of the 9^th Division away from the freshly arrived German Afrika Corps, two of the brigades in 7^th Division were ordered to move to the defence at Mersa Mairuh. The 2/32 went by sea to Tobruk to join 9^th Division where it remained until disbanded in 1946. By September 27, the unit’s 5-month stint at Tobruk was over. June 28 saw the unit destined for a defence line west of Alexandria. August 9 marked the end of the unit’s participation in the first battle of Alamein.

Following rest and recreation back home in Australia after three years away, the 2/32^nd embarked from Cairns for Milne Bay, New Guinea, on August 8, 1943, the ship’s route being heavily patrolled by RAAF Beaufort bombers. The November, 1943, attack on Pabu Hill was planned to cut the Japanese supply route on the Gusika-Wareo track and to relieve the pressure on 26^th Brigade operating further to the west. Commencing November 19, from Katika, the unit covered a terrain of deep, rugged ravines and razor-back spurs. It is recorded that the ten days’ engagement for the holding of Pabu contributed largely to the defeat of the strong Japanese offensive against Finschhafen(page 248). Lieutenant-General Hatazo Adachi, Commander of the Japanese 18^th Army, said: “And of all the causes of the Japanese defeat at Sattelberg and subsequent Japanese despondency, perhaps Pabu was one of the prime ones.”

Source: S. Trigellis-Smith (1993) `Britain To Borneo: A History of 2/32 Australian Infantry Battalion’, Sydney: 2/32 Australian Infantry Battalion association (extracted from pages 224-237).

ADACHI Hatazo, Lieu General (1890-194?) History of: 1933-35-Commanding Officer Kwantung Army Railroad Command; 1935-36-Chief of 6^th Section (Transport) 3^rd Bureau, General staff; 1936 Chief of 8^th Section (Transport) 3^rd Bureau General Staff; 1936-38- Commanding Officer 12^th Regiment; 1938 Attached to Kwantung Army H.Q.; 1938-40- Commanding Officer 26^th Brigade; 1940-41-General Officer Commanding 37^th Div;1941-42-Chief of Staff Northern China; 1942-45 General Officer Commanding New Guinea: 1947 Condemned to life imprisonment;1947-Suicide.

Source: http://www.generals.dk/general/Adachi/Hatazo/Japan.html

Memorial:Lae War Cemetery, JJ A, PAPUA, NEW GUINEA.

Lae is a town and port at the mouth of the Markham River on the Huon Gulf. Lae War Cemetery is located adjacent to the Botanical Gardens in the centre of Lae. Within the cemetery will be found the Lae Memorial, commemorating officers and men of the Royal Australian Army, the Australian Merchant navy and the Royal Australian Air Force who lost their lives in operations in the area and who have no known grave.

Historical Information: In the air Japan enjoyed a crushing superiority in the early months of 1942, and it was Lae and its neighbouring airfields that were the objects of the first Japanese attack on New Guinea. Lae and Salamaua were bombed on 21^st January 1942 by 100 planes, but the land forces did not enter the territory until 7^th March, when 3,000 Japanese landed at Lae. There were landings too, at Salamaua, followed on 21^st July by further landings at Buna and Gona on the east coast in preparation for a drive through the Owen Stanley Mountains across the Papuan peninsula to Port Moresby. The vital stage of the New Guinea campaign dates from that time. Lae became one of the bases from which the southward drive was launched and maintained until it was stopped at Ioribaiwa Ridge, a point within 60 km of Port Moresby. Lae War Cemetery was commenced in 1944 by the Australian Army Graves Service from whom it was taken over by the Imperial War Graves Commission in September 1947.

This 1939-45 War Cemetery contains the graves of men who lost heir lives during the New Guinea campaign. They were brought here from the temporary military cemeteries in areas where the fighting took place. The Indian casualties were soldiers of the army of undivided India who had been taken prisoner during the fighting in Malaya and Hong Kong. The great majority of the 420 who are unidentified were recovered between But Airfield and Wewak, where they had died while employed in working parties. Of the two men belonging to the army of the United Kingdom, one was attached to 2/9^th Australian Infantry Battalion and the other was a member of the Hong Kong-Singapore Royal Artillery. The naval casualties were killed, or died of injuries received, on H.M.Ships Kings George V, Glenearn and Empire Arquebus, and the four men of the merchant navy were killed when the S.S. Gorgon was bombed and damaged in Milne Bay in April 1943.

In this cemetery is the Lae Memorial which commemorates officers and men of the Australian Army, the Australian Merchant Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force who lost their lives in these operations and have no known grave. It takes the form of bronze tablets fixed to walls linking the end columns of the colonnade, upon which are engraved the names. Casualties of the Royal Australian navy who lost their lives in the south-western Pacific region, and have no known grave but the sea, are commemorated on Plymouth Naval Memorial in England along with many of their comrades of the Royal Navy and of other Commonwealth naval Forces.

Prior to the 1914-1918 War northeastern New Guinea and certain adjacent islands were German possessions, and were occupied by Australian Forces on 12^th September 1914. Several cemeteries in New Guinea contain the graves of men who died during that war. There is one such grave in Lae War Cemetery, containing bodies brought in from a burial ground where permanent maintenance could not be assured.

Source: Commonwealth War Graves Commission.