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Tobruk Diaries: At work and play…
25 July 2011 by Carlie Walker.
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1941, Tobruk,Tobruk diaries, Barassi, Bryant, Cosgriff, hospital, Tobruk
Bryant’s Diary: Friday 25th July 1941
A patient arrived from the 64th General Hospital (English) to share my room… Another convoy arrived from Tobruk in the afternoon. There were a lot of walking cases.
Cosgriff’s Diary: Friday 25th July 1941
Arose at 6:30 and Crouch drove me in for Mass. He thought this was like a hotel. Missa pro Defunctis [Mass for the Dead]. Casualties from 32nd who failed to get prisoners… But the Brigadier wanted prisoners for identification. No mail… Gardy brought in some breads. Shelling bad today and coming too close to the hospital in front and behind. C.C.S. left last night but Clarke was left here. Gordon Watson is R.S.M. now Jordon has gone back with bad eyes. Plenty of cigarettes and chocolate in mess now…
Bryant’s Diary Saturday 26th July 1941
There was an air raid early this morning… Went for a bit of a fling and decided to go A.W.L. from the hospital. Five of us ended up in a cabaret and being in our pyjamas we received plenty of attention, especially from the girls. I didn’t put Satan exactly behind – just a little to the side.
Cosgriff’s Diary: Saturday 26th July 1941
Good night… Missa T. Belli [Mass in Time of War]. Good rounds today. Met one Jeffrey… who remembered Fr. Mullins and Upoko Ariki. Jim Ryan – Randwick trainer – refused Confession and left in tears on a stretcher. Frank McGrath here in 17th Battalion and satisfied. Started chess ladder and I look like holding bottom place. Hospital bombed after tea – ward 10 hit – more killed – 6 shocked and all had ruptured spleens. Bombs landed so close that I found J. trying to climb up a wall. Mail in and letter from Goulburn, answered it on the spot…
Bryant’s Diary Sunday 27th July 1941
Spend plenty of time helping at the hospital and I find plenty to do. It is a pleasure to help them.
Cosgriff’s Diary: Sunday 27th July 1941
Shells during night and bombs at 6:30. Usual 3 Masses. Found Church bombed when I went over. Terrible mess but I cleaned it up and had two Masses with plenty of fresh air. Mail in but none for me. Always tired on Sundays now. No air raids during Masses today… John Devine left for 10th Batt – probably for good as he will go into an Ambulance as Major. Len McEwen (3rd Ambulance) gone back – without D.S.C. Have four sick patients in ward 1 but expect all to recover. Dodge ’em and Duck ’em… Hope no bombing tonight…
Cosgriff’s Diary: Monday 28th July 1941
Raid at bed time last night and it lasted a long time. New gun cuts out whistle of bomber. Idea was to put mines in the harbour. Missa T. B. Big round today but missed a few. No more chess with C.M.R. Took his queen three times and each time he changed the move. Mail today – letter from Pop which was due yesterday. Heard news in Sergeants mess – with hat on smoking uninvited and sitting on the table – fined – 9 gals beer. No shelling today and very little bombing. 43rd Batt got a Jerry prisoner last night – lost many casualties. Forestalled idea of moving Eyetie chaplain. Rumour that we dropped leaflets for Eyetie surrender…
Cosgriff’s Diary: Tuesday 29th July 1941
Raidless night but very hot. Missa T. B. Another long list today. Met Frank McBride who was at Springwood with us. Mail in. 9 letters – mostly overdue – Elsa, Bongie, Carrolls, Garveys, J. Griffin, Borromeo and Bubbles. Best mail for weeks. Steele in with new English chaplain – Gillespie – Scotch Franciscan – seems to be all right. Chas L back last night. Out of soft stuff in mess. Town being shelled tonight and church is in danger. Tale of million gallons of petrol unearthed. Ted, Dick, Ley on treasure hunt. He found the sewer. Saw direct hit (dint) on Cawthorne’s tin hat…
Bryant’s Diary Wednesday 30th July 1941
Four patients, including me, were taken for a drive and to tea by a resident of Alex. The drive and the time were not very long, but the break was very welcome.
Cosgriff’s Diary: Wednesday 30th July 1941
Good night but still hot. Missa T. B. Shell hit. A.A.W. concert last night – 11 casualties – only one for me and he is still in the wood. Mail in but I missed out – all my July stuff delayed. Jack Clark leaving tonight to join his C.C.S. which left him behind last week. C.C.S’s becoming mobile 2—bed hospitals without nurses. Received a new issue of fags from Merrigan today. C.W.B. Littlejohn very caustic in his learned discussions on the Holy Places – 5 min expert. After last night’s shelling the use of the Church is a bit risky but I will keep going while it is there. Eyeties being evacuated each night and their end is near. J.B.D. in with a tale of 200 surrenders…
Bryant’s Diary Thursday 31st July 1941
Went out again to Casino Bella Vista and had some very fine experiences. Tut, tut, Pete.
Cosgriff’s Diary: Thursday 31st July 1941
Blitz about midnight. Mines dropped – 2 killed and one was Ron Barassi. Mass for Ross Lewin. Doing without glasses today because having put them on the bed in the black out I laid on them and one piece became five – Leigh Norris trying to stick them together again. Good round today. Washed the altar linen but the water was not so good and the linen is not so white. Two air raids during the afternoon – Radio bloke says we have had 937 raids on Tobruk. B.D. in from 10th but he has not returned Horan’s razor yet. No mail today as the blitz and mines kept the destroyers out. A letter a day now…
Don’t forget me, cobber: the battle of Fromelles
19 July 2011 by Emma Campbell.
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News
It has become known as Australia’s blackest night.
On 19 July 1916, the troops of the 5th Australian and 61st British Divisions attacked a strong German position, at the centre of which stood the Sugar Loaf salient, near the small French village of Fromelles. The overnight assault – the first major battle fought by Australian troops on the Western Front – was mainly intended as a diversion to draw German troops away from the Somme offensive further south.
The attack failed, and losses were great: the 5th Australian Division suffered 5,533 killed and wounded; the 61st British Division suffered 1,547.
A Victorian farmer, Sergeant Simon Fraser, was a member of the 57th Battalion AIF – one of the 5th Division not in the initial “hop over” that night, but who were present throughout the battle of Fromelles. In a letter home dated 31 July 1916, Fraser tells of the battle, its preparations and its aftermath.
“I have been through the mill and came out without a mark,” Fraser wrote, “except for scratched hands through cutting and putting up wire entanglements. “I have been in the trenches since the 10th … for the first ten days, we were in Hell, bombardments of high explosives and shrapnel from both sides every day, but two nights in particular were ‘horries’.”
Fraser was sent out over several nights before the main attack “to get the barb wire ready for the charge over”. He had become something of an expert in cutting through the enemy entanglements, and was told he would be Mentioned in Despatches for his work – “though why I don’t know, but it is satisfactory to know that you have been appreciated.”
The 57th Battalion were “supporting” when the charge was made, he wrote, “and had to hold our old line; the battalions who went over, met with too hot a reception and suffered severely; the distance was too far: when we came up the artillery was mixing things up a bit; high explosives and shrapnel were flying everywhere. The bombardment kept up all night and a good few of my mates passed out that night; so far, three of my section have been killed and two wounded badly out of twelve.”
When the battle was over, Fraser and others began the dangerous and difficult task of retrieving the wounded from no man’s land. “I must say Fritz treated us very fairly, though a few were shot at the work,” he wrote. “Some of these wounded were game as lions and got rather roughly handled, but haste was more necessary than gentle handling and we must have brought in over 250 men by our company alone…It was no light work getting in with a heavy weight on your back especially if he had a broken leg or arm and no stretcher bearer was handy. You had to lie down and get him on your back then rise and duck for your life with the chance of getting a bullet in you before you were safe.”
Over three days the men made these missions to no man’s land, looking and listening for those still alive. “One foggy morning in particular I remember, we could hear someone, over towards the German entanglements calling for a stretcher bearer; it was an appeal no man could stand against so some of us rushed out and had a hunt,” Fraser wrote.
“We found a fine haul of wounded and brought them in, but it was not where I heard this fellow calling so I had another shot for it and came across a splendid specimen of humanity trying to wiggle into a trench with a big wound in his thigh: he was about 14 stone weight [90 kilograms] and I could not lift him on my back, but I managed to get him into an old trench and told him to lie quiet while I got a stretcher. Then another man about 30 yards [27 metres] out sang out ‘Don’t forget me cobber’. I went in and got four volunteers with stretchers and we got both men in safely.”
Fraser was not decorated for his great courage in retrieving the wounded from the battlefield; his efforts were just part of what had to be done. However, his heroism has since been recognised in a sculpture of him by artist Peter Corlett that stands in the Australian Memorial Park at Fromelles. More recently a copy of the sculpture was unveiled on Melbourne’s St Kilda Road.
The Victorian farmer never returned home: he was killed at the second battle of Bullecourt on 12 May 1917, aged 40. His body was not found.
Tobruk Diaries: Mass in the Time of War
18 July 2011 by Carlie Walker.
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1941, Tobruk,Tobruk diaries, Church Tobruk, Rats of Tobruk, Tobruk
Bryant’s Diary: Friday 18th July 1941
Another convoy from Tobruk came in.
Cosgriff’s Diary: Friday 18th July 1941
Usual 4 am raids but no harm to anyone. Missa Tempore Belli [Mass in Time of War]. Quietest morning ever in this hospital. Five casualties from last night’s raiding – 1 eyetie bayoneted. No report on success or otherwise. Beach hospital being moved because shells land a bit too close – patients here for term… Played chess in M.J room today. Planes over frequently this arvo and the shelling as usual. We expected them to get that gun last night…
Bryant’s Diary: Saturday 19th July 1941
There was an air raid last night and there was a hell of a row. We had a free talkie show through the good graces of the South Africans. Letters arrived today earlier than I expected.
Cosgriff’s Diary: Saturday 19th July 1941
More planes than usual last night and one bomb within hospital confines. Mass for Thos Colgriff R.I.P. Big mob of Communion today as all the beach patients are up. Cigarettes arrived from Merrigan but no envelopes. Well up for fags now… All the news now is hope – easily out of date. J. Horan has the general duty job of shifting the beach hospital while Ley and C.O. do nothing. We enjoyed John’s start when the shells came over this arvo. Losses in Syria – 297 dead. Ambulance bloke played 7 games of chess last night – won the lot…
Cosgriff’s Diary: Sunday 20th July 1941
5am blitz as usual. Regular occurrence now even with no moon but helped by shells. Usual three Masses – with raids on the way to the church and during Mass. Poor crowd and Church described as “death trap” by one lad. Madonna of Tobruk off her pedestal which was shattered by a bomb. Statue chipped and blackened and troops very indignant. Mail – from home only. John Horan returned and we are glad to have him back. Did a poor round today. Had envelopes and paper from Merrigan…attacked one pad but did not offer one of his five cakes in return. Beach hospital in transit. Eric wanted red crosses at the new site – playing ball with J.H…
Bryant’s Diary: Monday 21st July 1941
A batch of patients left for the con depot this morning. I thought I was certain to go.
Cosgriff’s Diary: Monday 21st July 1941
Usual morning blitz and more severe. Missa Tempore Belli with en-core from Horan. Good round but too many cases going to ward “Z” which should not visit. Mail in but none for me. Papers for Len. Eating one of his plum puddings this arvo and J.B.D just arrived too late! Rumour that Britain had invaded France cost me ten accas. Shelling this arvo caused some casualties – 1 serious 1 dead. C.O. of Air Force in M.E. is outrageous – incompetent and unconscientious – hope the new General outs him. Had picture of Steele from Tim driving my car. Heard German broadcast – weak especially on V for Victory…
Bryant’s Diary: Tuesday 22nd July 1941
A large batch in our ward left for El Kantara. They were the badly wounded men and most of them will go home.
Cosgriff’s Diary: Tuesday 22nd July 1941
Thank God for a quiet night at last. Missa T. B. Good round today 100%. C.C.S. have word that they are Alex bound. 16th M.A.C. bombed on boat and machine gunned on way down 4 killed. Red Cross bloke has presented a wireless to the mess – not so good when the news is on but perfect at other times. Few raids today and no shelling D.G. Eyetie prisoner buried today and buried by Fr. Borsorelli. Papers from home are hopeless on war news – always wrong and the bulletin fails too…
Bryant’s Diary: Wednesday 23rd July 1941
Blow me down if it isn’t another quiet day.
Cosgriff’s Diary: Wednesday 23rd July 1941
Another good night… Missa T. B. Good round today. Jack Clark disappointed as he is not to go with the C.C.S. to Alex – after 24 months of daily work. Cracked another of Len’s plum duffs today and J.B.D picked the right time. Thos Gard in to have a tooth filled. Gave him fags for Rice and himself. Bayoneted Eyetie dead yesterday – first bayonet wound in here. Thos Steele tossed the Ambulance chess crack. Few raids today and no shelling yet… No mail today. Accident to destroyer last night through hitting the wharf – no evacuation. All patients contained in this hospital now – easily…
Bryant’s Diary: Thursday 24th July 1941
Further batch left for the con camp this morning. The hospital is nearly empty. I went for a bit of a walk and saw some of the bombing damage. It can be very severe amongst closely packed buildings. One bomb caved in the walls of four large buildings.
Cosgriff’s Diary: Thursday 24th July 1941
Good night again…. Missa T. B. Casualties this morning from 24th and 43rd Batts. Both had patrolled out to get machine guns but failed. Two of mine very sick. Steele in today and we cracked the beer bottle and Len’s cake. He brought in wine and breads but not enough of either… Went out to the 1st Tanks (Crouch and Calling) for dinner. They are 2 miles past the eagle and in a wadi… Two bottles of whisky went next and I won three quid at poker. Slept in the open and felt quite safe…
An ancient Babylonian souvenir?
15 July 2011 by Dianne Rutherford.
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From the collection, Antiquities, First World War, Mesopotamia, Souvenirs
Souvenir purchased in Baghdad, believed at the time to be a Babylonian tablet (RELAWM09688)One of the more unusual items to be found in the Memorial’s collection is the item shown above. It was purchased by an Australian soldier, Eric Keast Burke, while he was serving with ‘D’ Troop, ANZAC Wireless Squadron in Baghdad, Mesopotamia in 1918-1919 and was originally identified as a piece of an ancient Babylonian cuneiform tablet.
25 000 images online – AWM78 Reports of Proceedings, HMA Ships and Establishments
12 July 2011 by Theresa Cronk.
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Collection,News
On Saturday 10 July 1911, King George V gave his approval for the Commonwealth Naval Forces to become known as the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). One hundred years have now passed since this event. To celebrate the centenary of the Royal Australian Navy, the reports of proceedings for fifty RAN ships and establishments are being made available online via the Australian War Memorial’s website. This is part of an ongoing project to digitise the Official Records series, AWM78 Reports of Proceedings, HMA Ships and Establishments.
Within these pages, some of the history of the Royal Australian Navy and its activities since 1939 is revealed. These reports of proceedings were submitted by Commanding Officers of RAN ships, administrative units and shore establishments. Depending on the creating agency, these files cover promotion tests; mess activities; accounting; training; exercises; social events; arrival and departures from ports; visits; official calls; operations; weather conditions and outstanding incidents. There is also a very brief summary of the performance of the ship’s machinery and other systems. Some also include photographs and newspaper articles.
The digitisation of AWM78 is currently being undertaken by the Research Centre. This project began with a pilot project to scan the files of HMAS Perth on 9 January 2009. HMAS Sydney, HMAS Vampire and HMAS Vendetta followed in quick succession. Since then, we have steadily been working our way through the remainder of the series in alphabetical order. To date, 25 191 images from this series have been scanned and are available online. The files for each new ship or establishment will be released online on a regular basis according to when they are scanned. The final figure for the project is expected to result in about 300 000 images.
Tobruk Diaries: ‘Tobruk essential for each side’
11 July 2011 by Carlie Walker.
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1941, Tobruk,Tobruk diaries, Blamey, El Kantara, hospital, Rats of Tobruk, Second World War, Tobruk
Bryant’s Diary: Friday 11th July 1941
I can get around on my own now. I feel a bit shaky, but I’m getting stronger. A convoy of wounded arrived from Tobruk during the night.
Cosgriff’s Diary: Friday 11th July 1941
Mosquitoes have me beat – worse than bombers. Missa Tempore Belli [Mass in Time of War]. Few casualties this morning from line change over 17th/32nd…To beach after lunch – two clients only – Dick Ley there now replacing Hore… Shelling again – 3 guns on harbour and cemetery region – two cases waiting when I returned. Millar died – boy who called for “Mum”. No breads yet…
Bryant’s Diary: Saturday 12th July 1941
Found Alan Nesbitt among new lot and he had mortar shrapnel in the left arm. Keith Bird was killed with the same bomb he told me.
Cosgriff’s Diary: Saturday 12th July 1941
Still sleeping through raids. Used ointment to combat mosquitoes and it worked all night. Mass for Millar (Mum). Hunt for Catholics because Goodman failed to write religions on cards… Only one air-raid…today – 700 during our day here. Pat Russell in here and Hore up from the Beach. Lendon has his majority and we celebrated – beer and roast beef. Two burials today and dusty as usual – grave diggers have dysentery…
Cosgriff’s Diary: Sunday 13th July 1941
Slept through raids in which 2 were killed and 3 injured. 3 Masses and congregation is smaller because of movements… Did all the penitents this afternoon. Wrote 4 pages home, Elsa yesterday. Big list of missing from Greece in mess – G.P Youll’s name is on it but I think he is safe. No raids during Masses today but plenty of harmless shelling today – One plane departing with a smoky posterior. Beer available again tonight in small doses. Chas Littlejohn in Cairo – dinner with Blamey…
Bryant’s Diary: Monday 14th July 1941
A large batch left the hospital today to go to El Kantara where is situated the Base Hospital. I’m coming on so well that it won’t be long before I go.
Cosgriff’s Diary: Monday 14th July 1941
Some raids but they did not get us up. Mass for Harnell R.I.P. Met 3 bad eggs this morning… the first I have met in the army. Today probably the hottest we have had… Russians reckon German casualties at a million. Men had a beer issue today – a bottle and two tins per man. Eric Cooper working up here now but he still sleeps at Ward 7. Had a wild man in ward 9… Beat the C.O. at chess…
Cosgriff’s Diary: Tuesday 15th July 1941
Drowsy night – too hot to sleep. Bombs dropped fairly close last night. Missa Tempore Belli. Good round this morning but a lot are at the beach. Frank Reynolds in and I had to share my wine with him. Everything scarce now… Tapestry got home ok and pleased everybody… Shelling this arvo on the harbour and no damage done… G.O.C [General Officer Commanding] here before lunch and he thinks Russia will throw it in before long. Tobruk essential for each side. Pictures by Frank Hurley not satisfying to A.G.H relations. People in Australia should know about Tobruk now…
Cosgriff’s Diary: Wednesday 16th July1941
Planes over but we weren’t out of bed. Missa Tempore Belli. All right on round this morning. Steele in this morning. Tim’s supplies have arrived. Back from Syria. Patrols out each night now and doing well with very few casualties. Madonna [statue] knocked off stand by bomb. Thomas (song-writer) back to 9th Batt tomorrow. G.O.C in for dinner – roast beef etc. C.O harped on the nurses but got nowhere. War here not static but something doing each night. Boys striking Eyeties mostly. Enemy using a searchlight at night now. That gun is making them think about shifting beach hospital…
Cosgriff’s Diary: Thursday 17th July 1941
Still planes coming over each night. Missa Tempore Belli. Round ok today – no patients in ward 9… Shelling again today. Brief but they put some close to the beach hospital. Thos Steele came to light with a writing pad. Another successful raid last night. Chess school becoming bigger now. 100 tins of beer over after ration – 1 tin to each 3 men. Cigarette issue today makes us well stocked. Wrote to Ross McGregor. News not so good about Russia and Japan at the cross-roads…
Beryl Maddock ‘Flying Sister’
04 July 2011 by Penny Hyde.
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News,Nurses: from Zululand to Afghanistan
While searching through the Memorial’s Research Centre collection looking for stories relating to the upcoming exhibition on nurses I came across the collection of Sister Beryl Maddock (nee Chandler), containing a typed memoir, newspaper clippings, letters and a scattering of photographs. Beryl’s story stood out to me as she was one of a small number of nurses selected to join the RAAF’s newly formed Medical Air Evacuation Transport Unit in 1944. As a nurse in the air rather than on the ground, Beryl’s wartime experience combined regular nursing duties with airsickness, altitudes of up to 18,000 feet, anoxia and medic pilots who wished they had been fighter pilots (and flew as such). read on
Tobruk Diaries: Planes, Mosquitoes and Heat
04 July 2011 by Carlie Walker.
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1941, Tobruk,Tobruk diaries, Edmondson, Second World War, Tobruk, VC
Bryant’s Diary: Friday 4th, Saturday 5th July 1941
Just the usual hospital routine, a pretty rapid improvement as a result.
The Battle of the Somme – 95 Years on
01 July 2011 by Emma Campbell.
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News
In the early morning of 1 July 1916, more than 100,000 British infantrymen were ordered from their trenches in the fields and woods north of the Somme River in France, to attack the opposing German line.
Within 24 hours, the British army would suffer almost 60,000 casualties, a third of whom were killed, and record the most costly day in its history.
Today marks the 95th anniversary of the start of the Somme offensive, a series of fierce and ultimately futile battles that consumed the British, Australian and Dominion forces for much of 1916. The offensive was eventually abandoned on 18 November with staggering troop losses and little ground gained. read on
