I was reading up on General Sir Henry (Harry) Chauvel 1865-1945 last night and came across this photo. A very interesting career and worth a read by the way. 1865 - Henry George Chauvel - Australian History During the Second World War, Chauvel was recalled to duty as Inspector in Chief of the Volunteer Defence Corps (VDC), the Australian version of the British Home Guard. General Sir Harry Chauvel (centre) with a group of officers for practice with Owen guns.
Hi spidge Very interesting pic. Note the Generals master hand on the pistol grip? With your reference to the VDC, There's a lot of general info (no pun intended) about the VDC but nothing specific about the different battalions. My Dad served in the VDC as a young man in his early twenties (protected industry - fitter and turner). Originally posted to 11Bn VDC then transferred to SFD Bn VDC (Sydney Fixed Defence Bn). Do you know where I can look for info on the different bns? Or do you have anything? I'm liking this site more and more.... Regards David
More photos here: https://www.awm.gov.au/search/collections/?mode=advanced&terms=phrase&field=related_units_text&categories[0]=photograph&q=Volunteer+Defence+Corps Great Thread Topic.
Something I had never heard of before: Australian War Memorial - RELAWM30192.001 - Maxim MG08/15 Light Machine Gun converted to .303 calibre Cheers Geoff
Waikerie, South Australia...........that's out in the sticks They weren't using them, only converting them. These type of areas in the major cities and towns would have been flat out with other war work you would imagine. The 1400 interests me. They say they were a collector's item for the Diggers. Did the Government confiscate them all when the Diggers came back? Cheers Geoff
Waikerie is a wheat farming area, and they were pretty good at banging things up. I would say they were weapons sent back after WW1 and stored, look at the amount of German Artillery pieces located at the local war memorials. 2/1 NAOU used Lugers due to a shortage of pistols/revolvers.