Little known Australians 1939 - 1945 Several thousand Australians served in locations remote from the main areas of Australian operations during World War II. They served in places like China, Russia, the Faroe Islands, Madagascar, Burma, the West Indies, Iraq, Kenya, the Azores and Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and Royal Australian Navy (RAN) personnel were the more likely to serve in far-flung locations. For instance, the crew of HMAS Perth spent the first six months of the war escorting tankers between Trinidad in the West Indies and Venezuela in South America as well as duties in the western Atlantic. HMA Ships Napier, Nizam and Norman participated in the invasion of Madagascar in 1942. Other RAN personnel served in British and Allied ships including convoy escorts from the South Atlantic to the Arctic and even a mini-submarine raid in Indo-China (Vietnam).............read the full story here Far Flung Australians
HMAS Hobart and POW's in Eritrea! our first POWs 'POWs in Eritrea' Captain 'Harry' Howden, the commanding officer of HMAS Hobart together with the deputy governor of Mocha and his retinue on board at the port of Mocha in the Red Sea. January 1940. [AWM 005384] During 1940, Australian ships were involved in two operations off the mainland of Africa. The first of these was in August 1940 when HMAS Hobart, then part of the Red Sea Force brought British troops from Aden to reinforce the beleaguered British garrison at Berbera in British Somaliland. On 8 August, some of the Hobart men flew the ship’s RAAF Walrus amphibian aircraft into action. After successfully bombing the Italian headquarters at Zeila, as well as some enemy machine gun posts, the crew landed safely in Berbera harbour. On 9 August, three volunteers from Hobart went ashore in response to an urgent request for artillery support for the hard-pressed garrison. Petty Officer Hugh Jones from Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Able Seaman William James Hurren from Sydney, New South Wales, and Able Seaman Hugh Charles Sweeny from Dalby, Queensland were landed with a 3-pounder Hotchkiss saluting gun on an improvised mounting, a reinforced 44-gallon drum. 'Dakar' The cruiser HMAS Australia in the foreground, escorts the Vichy French cruiser Gloire towards Casablanca to prevent her reinforcing the Vichy French force at Dakar. [AWM 305255] By early the next morning they were in position, manning the gun and dressed in military uniform on the main British defence line at Tug Argan Gap, some 60 kilometres south of Berbera. The fighting continued during the next five days but when the British evacuated between 15-19 August, the three Australian sailors were reported missing believed killed in action 15/8/40. Instead, they had been captured by the Italians, the first members of an Australian unit taken prisoner of war (POW) during World War II. Meanwhile Captain Howden, who had been put in charge of the evacuation from British Somaliland, mustered all vessels at his disposal to evacuate more than 7,000 soldiers and civilians from the path of the Italians. After Berbera had been cleared and anything of value demolished, Hobart’s guns pounded the shores before departing and leaving British Somaliland temporarily in Italian hands. The three POWs from HMAS Hobart were recovered from Adi Ugri in Eritrea on 29 April 1941 after Italian East Africa fell to the British. Able Seaman Hurren’s personnel file records the advice of their release: released and now safe in Massawa. Passage to Australia will be arranged first opportunity.
Far Flung Australians - cutting cables 'cutting cables' A section of underwater telegraph cable similar to the cable cut by the XE4 divers east of the Mekong River mouth, 31 July 1945. [Courtesy of Max Shean] Maxwell ‘Max’ Shean was studying engineering at the University of Western Australia when the news of the evacuation of Dunkirk inspired him to join the Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RANVR). In October 1940, Max was sent to Victoria to train at HMAS Cerberus and then on to HMAS Rushcutter, where he trained as an anti-submarine warfare officer. Sub-Lieutenant Max Shean, RANVR, Gibraltar, 1941. [Max Shean] In 1941 he sailed to England where he was attached to the Royal Navy and served in the corvette HMS Bluebell for 14 months. During this time, the corvette undertook the dangerous task of escorting convoys in the Atlantic. Max took part in 12 convoy missions from Liverpool to Gibraltar, five of which were attacked by U-boats, including one in which Bluebell attacked and sank a U-boat. Max was still serving in Bluebell when the Admiralty called for volunteers for ‘hazardous service’. Thinking that there couldn’t be many operations more hazardous than escorting convoys in the Atlantic, he decided to volunteer for what turned out to be submarine training. Max used copper strands from the Saigon-Singapore cable for the X-craft design on this ashtray. [John Newman] In September 1942, Max and four other Australians were accepted to train for a special mission. As part of the 12th Submarine Flotilla, they would operate special submarines, known as X-craft, that had a crew of four and were designed for operation in enemy ports. Max trained on the X-craft in Scotland and, in September 1943, took part in Operation ‘Source’, an attempt to sink the German battleship Tirpitz in Kaa Fjord in north Norway. The X-craft had to be towed to their target by another submarine and Max, the diver with X9, was on board the tow ship when they discovered X9 had broken the tow and disappeared. On the morning of 16 September, when X9 was due to surface as usual for ventilation, there was no sign of the submarine, only the slack tow line astern of the tow ship. The towline became caught in the port propeller and Max was sent out to clear the snag. Working without his usual diving suit, which was in X9, Max managed to clear the line, but X9 and its crew was never recovered. Two of the remaining X-craft submarines managed to attack Tirpitz and, although they did not sink the battleship, they inflicted severe damage. Another of the submarines was scuttled on the tow home. In all, six of the X-craft and nine men were lost during the operation. gallery Max continued to serve in submarines and in April 1944 commanded X24 in Operation ‘Guidance’. He and his crew entered Bergen harbour in Norway on a mission to sink a large floating dock. After being detected and shaking off their pursuer, X24 made it to the target area, but faulty intelligence and incorrect charts led them to lay their charges not on the floating dock, but on a large enemy ship nearby, which was sunk in the explosion. Nevertheless, the mission was regarded as a success and Max was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). Following D-Day, Max’s expertise was required in the Pacific. Leaving his new bride, Mary, in Scotland – they were married on 14 June 1944 - Max was posted to the submarine depot ship HMS Bonaventure and returned to the Pacific. X24 at HMS Dolphin in Scotland. [Max Shean] This time he was selected to lead a special mission, Operation ‘Sabre’, to cut two underwater cables off French Indochina. The submarine telegraph cables were part of the Japanese communications network, linking Singapore, Saigon, Hong Kong and Tokyo. The Allies had cracked the Japanese codes and could decipher their radio traffic but were not able to access communications sent via the underwater cables. Due to the difficult nature of the cables, the men spent some time in the workshop on board Bonaventure developing a grapnel hook that would catch the telegraph cables. Max’s engineering background was most useful and he developed a special flat grapnel for XE4 that was eventually used for the mission off the coast of Vietnam. The X-craft crewmembers took part in a number of training exercises in Hervey Bay in Queensland while they prepared for their mission and two of their most experienced divers, Lieutenant Bruce Enzer, RNVR and Lieutenant David Carey RN, both lost their lives during these exercises. view The Naval Board’s recommendation that Lieutenant Maxwell Shean, DSO, RANVR, be awarded the Bronze Star medal. [Item 66/301/183 A816 NAA] On 25 July 1945, Bonaventure with the X-craft sailed to Brunei Bay in Borneo and then on to Subic Bay in the Philippines where they were launched on their mission to Saigon. Max too had a narrow escape en route to Indochina. He was swept overboard and nearly drowned but ‘after swimming the fastest few strokes of my life’ he was able to swim back and climb aboard his craft, the XE4. At 12.29 on 31 July 1945, Australian diver Sub-Lieutenant Ken Briggs, RANVR, went into the South China Sea. According to the patrol report for the mission, 12.36 Diver cut Saigon-Singapore cable. 12.42 Diver in with short length of cable as evidence. The second cable, the Saigon–Hong Kong cable was cut by Sub-Lieutenant A K Bergus, RNVR. It took three attempts. He was forced to increase his dive depth using 10 feet (3 metre) increments until at 14.07 (2.07 pm) he finally cut the cable at a depth of 50 feet (15 metres). 14.52: Diver in with pieces of cable. Due to the four cuts, cable had fallen apart and several pieces of armoury were lost in the mud. However the diver had about one foot of the core as evidence. [Max Shean, Corvette and Submarine, 1992, pp 248-9] Max autographing a DVA V-E Day booklet. [DVA] It took the X-craft three days to return to the Bonaventure, which was waiting for them in Brunei Bay. Max was awarded a Bar to his DSO and the US Bronze Star. According to his citation, for service as CO of the submarine HMS XE-4 on her war patrol of 31st July 1945, conducted off Cape Jacques, off the coast of Indo China….Displaying outstanding navigational skills, Lieutenant Shean detected and picked up vitally important cables used by the enemy for communications between Saigon, and the cities of Singapore and Hong Kong.’ [Item 66/301/183 A816 NAA] Plans were being made for another series of attacks on Japanese ports when the war ended. Max returned to Australia and was demobilised in September 1945. Two months later Max and Mary were reunited in Western Australia where they settled and raised two daughters. Max returned to university to finish his engineering degree and after his graduation, he worked for the City of Perth Electricity and Gas Department, and the State Electricity Commission until his retirement in 1978. His book Corvette and Submarine details his wartime experiences and he has recently finished his autobiography. In May 2005, Max Shean joined the Department of Veterans’ Affairs VE Day mission to Europe.
Far Flung Australians - cutting cables 'cutting cables' A section of underwater telegraph cable similar to the cable cut by the XE4 divers east of the Mekong River mouth, 31 July 1945. [Courtesy of Max Shean] Maxwell ‘Max’ Shean was studying engineering at the University of Western Australia when the news of the evacuation of Dunkirk inspired him to join the Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RANVR). In October 1940, Max was sent to Victoria to train at HMAS Cerberus and then on to HMAS Rushcutter, where he trained as an anti-submarine warfare officer. Sub-Lieutenant Max Shean, RANVR, Gibraltar, 1941. [Max Shean] In 1941 he sailed to England where he was attached to the Royal Navy and served in the corvette HMS Bluebell for 14 months. During this time, the corvette undertook the dangerous task of escorting convoys in the Atlantic. Max took part in 12 convoy missions from Liverpool to Gibraltar, five of which were attacked by U-boats, including one in which Bluebell attacked and sank a U-boat. Max was still serving in Bluebell when the Admiralty called for volunteers for ‘hazardous service’. Thinking that there couldn’t be many operations more hazardous than escorting convoys in the Atlantic, he decided to volunteer for what turned out to be submarine training. Max used copper strands from the Saigon-Singapore cable for the X-craft design on this ashtray. [John Newman] In September 1942, Max and four other Australians were accepted to train for a special mission. As part of the 12th Submarine Flotilla, they would operate special submarines, known as X-craft, that had a crew of four and were designed for operation in enemy ports. Max trained on the X-craft in Scotland and, in September 1943, took part in Operation ‘Source’, an attempt to sink the German battleship Tirpitz in Kaa Fjord in north Norway. The X-craft had to be towed to their target by another submarine and Max, the diver with X9, was on board the tow ship when they discovered X9 had broken the tow and disappeared. On the morning of 16 September, when X9 was due to surface as usual for ventilation, there was no sign of the submarine, only the slack tow line astern of the tow ship. The towline became caught in the port propeller and Max was sent out to clear the snag. Working without his usual diving suit, which was in X9, Max managed to clear the line, but X9 and its crew was never recovered. Two of the remaining X-craft submarines managed to attack Tirpitz and, although they did not sink the battleship, they inflicted severe damage. Another of the submarines was scuttled on the tow home. In all, six of the X-craft and nine men were lost during the operation. gallery Max continued to serve in submarines and in April 1944 commanded X24 in Operation ‘Guidance’. He and his crew entered Bergen harbour in Norway on a mission to sink a large floating dock. After being detected and shaking off their pursuer, X24 made it to the target area, but faulty intelligence and incorrect charts led them to lay their charges not on the floating dock, but on a large enemy ship nearby, which was sunk in the explosion. Nevertheless, the mission was regarded as a success and Max was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). Following D-Day, Max’s expertise was required in the Pacific. Leaving his new bride, Mary, in Scotland – they were married on 14 June 1944 - Max was posted to the submarine depot ship HMS Bonaventure and returned to the Pacific. X24 at HMS Dolphin in Scotland. [Max Shean] This time he was selected to lead a special mission, Operation ‘Sabre’, to cut two underwater cables off French Indochina. The submarine telegraph cables were part of the Japanese communications network, linking Singapore, Saigon, Hong Kong and Tokyo. The Allies had cracked the Japanese codes and could decipher their radio traffic but were not able to access communications sent via the underwater cables. Due to the difficult nature of the cables, the men spent some time in the workshop on board Bonaventure developing a grapnel hook that would catch the telegraph cables. Max’s engineering background was most useful and he developed a special flat grapnel for XE4 that was eventually used for the mission off the coast of Vietnam. The X-craft crewmembers took part in a number of training exercises in Hervey Bay in Queensland while they prepared for their mission and two of their most experienced divers, Lieutenant Bruce Enzer, RNVR and Lieutenant David Carey RN, both lost their lives during these exercises. view The Naval Board’s recommendation that Lieutenant Maxwell Shean, DSO, RANVR, be awarded the Bronze Star medal. [Item 66/301/183 A816 NAA] On 25 July 1945, Bonaventure with the X-craft sailed to Brunei Bay in Borneo and then on to Subic Bay in the Philippines where they were launched on their mission to Saigon. Max too had a narrow escape en route to Indochina. He was swept overboard and nearly drowned but ‘after swimming the fastest few strokes of my life’ he was able to swim back and climb aboard his craft, the XE4. At 12.29 on 31 July 1945, Australian diver Sub-Lieutenant Ken Briggs, RANVR, went into the South China Sea. According to the patrol report for the mission, 12.36 Diver cut Saigon-Singapore cable. 12.42 Diver in with short length of cable as evidence. The second cable, the Saigon–Hong Kong cable was cut by Sub-Lieutenant A K Bergus, RNVR. It took three attempts. He was forced to increase his dive depth using 10 feet (3 metre) increments until at 14.07 (2.07 pm) he finally cut the cable at a depth of 50 feet (15 metres). 14.52: Diver in with pieces of cable. Due to the four cuts, cable had fallen apart and several pieces of armoury were lost in the mud. However the diver had about one foot of the core as evidence. [Max Shean, Corvette and Submarine, 1992, pp 248-9] Max autographing a DVA V-E Day booklet. [DVA] It took the X-craft three days to return to the Bonaventure, which was waiting for them in Brunei Bay. Max was awarded a Bar to his DSO and the US Bronze Star. According to his citation, for service as CO of the submarine HMS XE-4 on her war patrol of 31st July 1945, conducted off Cape Jacques, off the coast of Indo China….Displaying outstanding navigational skills, Lieutenant Shean detected and picked up vitally important cables used by the enemy for communications between Saigon, and the cities of Singapore and Hong Kong.’ [Item 66/301/183 A816 NAA] Plans were being made for another series of attacks on Japanese ports when the war ended. Max returned to Australia and was demobilised in September 1945. Two months later Max and Mary were reunited in Western Australia where they settled and raised two daughters. Max returned to university to finish his engineering degree and after his graduation, he worked for the City of Perth Electricity and Gas Department, and the State Electricity Commission until his retirement in 1978. His book Corvette and Submarine details his wartime experiences and he has recently finished his autobiography. In May 2005, Max Shean joined the Department of Veterans’ Affairs VE Day mission to Europe.
the Far East 'the Far East' HMA Ships Napier, Nepal and Nizam, used mainly for convoy, fleet protection and anti-submarine activities. [AWM 018892] Although the focus for Australia’s defence for most of 1942 was the south-west Pacific Area, numerous Australians fought the Japanese in Burma and the Indian Ocean. After invading Thailand and Malaya on 8 December 1941, Japanese forces advanced southward to Singapore and westward into Burma. A small number of Australians had been posted to Burma in 1941, including 45 officers and men of the 8th Division, Australian Imperial Force (AIF). Of these men, selected as members of a mission training Chinese guerrillas; all but three had gone to China as part of ‘Tulip Force’. Of the three remaining in Burma, one of the men was killed and another was captured. When Prime Minister John Curtin ordered the return to Australia of the 6th and 7th Divisions AIF from the Middle East, he only narrowly avoided losing the 7th Division in Burma. The Japanese continued advancing towards Rangoon and, without consulting the Australian Government, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill diverted the convoy carrying most of the 7th Division and ordered that it be landed in Burma. A war of words erupted, with Curtin refusing to permit the 7th Division to be landed in Burma, where it would almost certainly have been over-run, as it was needed for Australia’s defence. HMAS Vampire was attacked and sunk by Japanese aircraft off the coast of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) on 9 April 1942. [AWM 064464] Curtin did permit part of the 6th Division to defend Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The island’s naval base at Trincomalee was important to Australia, as a British fleet was based there and it was the principal refuelling point for convoys travelling between Australia and the Middle East and Europe. The 16th and 17th Brigades spent five months on Ceylon between March and August 1942, training and preparing defences. Trincomalee was attacked on 9 April 1942 by Japanese aircraft launched from aircraft carriers and several Australians flying Hurricanes flew in its defence, one of whom was killed and another died of wounds. Others flew in a low-level bombing attack against the enemy fleet in which nine Australians were shot down and killed. Later that day, an Australian destroyer, HMAS Vampire, and the British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes were sunk in the Bay of Bengal by enemy dive-bombers. Both ships were hit repeatedly and sank within minutes of the attack beginning. The Captain of Vampire, Commander William Moran and seven of his crew were lost together with more than 300 of the Hermes’ crew. The Royal Australian Navy maintained a presence in the Indian Ocean for the whole of 1942. At least 13 corvettes – all built in Australia – served with the British Eastern Fleet, sweeping for mines and hunting for submarines between Ceylon and the Red Sea. Some corvettes sailed down the east coast of Africa, where Australian destroyers, including HMA Ships Nizam and Quickmatch, hunted for German submarines attacking Allied convoys. This kukri and scabbard belonged to Squadron Leader M ‘Monty’ Cotton, RAAF, 17 Squadron RAF. [AWM REL25094] In Burma, Australians continued serving in British RAF squadrons for the rest of 1942. During that year the Japanese continued advancing against strong British and Indian resistance. At any one time, several hundred Australian airmen were serving in bomber, fighter, army cooperation, transport, reconnaissance and coastal patrol squadrons. Allied airmen shot down in Burma had to contend with the hostile Burmese jungle as well as the possibility of capture by the Japanese. Their survival equipment included maps, rations, basic first aid kits, jungle knives and cotton flying helmets designed especially for the tropical climate. During 1942-1943, when Squadron Leader ‘Monty’ Cotton DFC, was commanding officer of 17 Squadron RAF in Burma and India, pilots were issued with an escape kit, which included the kukri. Squadron Leader Cotton ordered that a fabric harness be made for his pilots to enable them to carry this equipment without it obstructing their movements in the cockpits of the Hurricane IIc fighter aircraft they flew. The kukri could be used to hack a way through the jungle if the plane was forced to land or the pilot had to bale out. Many of the aircrews also carried a 'blood chit' or message, written in various Burmese languages. The message asked for assistance in escorting airmen to safety and offered a reward to anyone who did so. Australians were scattered throughout more than 70 RAF squadrons in Burma. They flew fighters, bombers and transports More than 200 of them died there.
Australian Cameraman WW@ Parer's last reel http://www.ww2australia.gov.au/farflung/images/parer/memorabilia.pdf 'Parer's last reel' Damien Parer’s rosary, crucifix, watch and wallet are in the collection at the Mitchell Library. [Displayed with the permission of the Parer family, ML Realia 365, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales.] The Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, has received a report of the interment of one "Parren Damien", who was killed in action 17 September, 1944, by multiple mortar fragment wounds and was buried 19 September, 1944, in Grave 78, Section 2, U.S. Armed Forces Cemetery No. 1, Peleliu Island, Palau Islands’ [IC45/88/2/1 A1066, NAA] On 7 May 1945, General Alexander Vandergrift, Commandant of the United States Marine Corps wrote to Sir Frederic Eggleston, Minister for External Affairs in Australia. He believed that the report might refer to the Australian Paramount News photographer, Damien Parer. It did. Parer's grave and his remains were subsequently removed in 1945 to Morotai, in 1946 to Macassar and finally in 1961 to Ambon. Damien Parer, Australia’s most famous official war photographer, had been caught in an action fought between American and Japanese troops on Peleliu in the Pelau island group in the central Pacific Ocean. Parer, who had left the Australian Department of Information in 1943 to join the American Paramount company, was filming an attack on the island by US Marines when he was killed by mortar fire. One of the last photographs taken of Australian cameraman Damien Parer in which he is introducing a couple of US Marines to the 'delights of billy tea'. [AWM 044129] During 1944, Peleliu was an important link in the Japanese defensive line flanking the American Central Pacific advance towards the Philippines. When the US 1st Marine Division landed on Peleliu on 15 September they suffered heavy casualties from the well-defended beachhead. Damien Parer was killed two days later. More than a month of heavy fighting followed the US landing but Japanese resistance finally finished on 13 October. Peleliu continued to hide a number of Japanese soldiers during the next years, men who refused to believe that the war was over. Damien Parer on Bungan Beach, NSW, c1930s. Portrait by Max Dupain. [nla.pic-an23221303] Damien Parer had been brought up in a devout Catholic household and was expected to enter the priesthood. However, his plans changed after he was given a camera and instead he chose to become a photographer. He was advised to make stories ‘out of trivialities’ and so developed his own style. He worked first with the photographer Max Dupain and later in 1935 as a ‘rouseabout’ for the film director, Charles Chauvel. During an ABC interview he recorded with Chester Wilmot during the war Parer admitted that at times his hands had shaken too much to film effectively and that he shot his ‘first decent war pictures’ in Greece when he just set his camera up and filmed the ‘heartrending images’. video 'Hit and Run' from Men of Timor, a documentary Parer filmed for Army Public Relations in 1942. [AWM FO1615] Damien Parer joined the Department of Information Film Unit in August 1940 and was sent to the Middle East where he remained until March 1942. By the time he returned to Australia, he was well-known for his documentaries of Australians fighting in the Middle East and his films were featured on newsreels throughout Australia. In 1942 he accompanied Australian troops into the Pacific campaigns. He visited Timor in November 1942 and filmed the Australian guerrillas there and then spent most of the next ten months with Australian troops in Papua and New Guinea. His Academy Award winning documentary – Kokoda Front Line! brought Parer further international fame but his continued dissatisfaction with the regulations imposed on him by his employers at the Department of Information led him to resign in protest. He was immediately invited to join Paramount News to film American troops in the Pacific. Less than a year later he was killed ‘in action’.
