In The Bag: August 2020

Friday 28 August 2020

Ephemera

Definition: Ephemera - Items that were not expected to be retained or preserved.

Father Paul Juneau was a Quebecois Catholic priest who was captured/rescued after the ship on which he was a passenger was sunk. (Ian Nowell)

A sketch of Spittal-an-der-Drau drawn by Sgt Maj Allan Stockfeld, AIF, drawn during his stay in Stalag 18B before being transferred to Stalag 383 at Hohenfels. (18A website)

... provided by Ian Nowell

The following postcards are from Kevin Byrne's collection

Drawn by Driver Cyril May (Royal Army Service Corps)

Thursday 20 August 2020

The Russian Prisoners

Soon after Germany declared war on Russia, enemy soldiers were captured and transported to Germany. The first of these to arrive at Stalag 18A in Wolfsberg were from the Ukraine.

John Nowell gives his account of what occurred. It's possible that John didn't witness the event himself - he was interned at Klagenfurt at the time. However camp guard Walter Tollinger (click on Internal Link to refresh your memory of what happened to him) supplied photographs of the event and probably told John, with whom he had a good relationship, of what he witnessed.

The commentary below was written by John Nowell in October 1943. He carried this document until the end of the war. Please note that John's narative has been lightly edited.

When Hitler started his offensive against Russia in the spring of 1941, the first territory to fall to the Germans was the Ukraine. What Russians who were not killed were transported to Germany to work in slavery for the Reich, not only men but women and children some only 12 years old and some who were taken as their mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters lay dead in their home.

These photos were taken by a German guard at the British POW camp Stalag 18A in Wolfsberg, Austria and were done so at the risk of his own life as he was a bitter anti-Nazi. From Russia, these POWs were transported in railway vans through all the main towns and cities in Germany as propaganda. After a trip of many weeks they were eventually moved to Stalag 18A.

On the unforgettable morning the train arrived, British POWs were compelled to empty the trucks. Such a nightmare will never be forgotten. They were crammed like cattle 80 to a truck, no sanitation and had been without food or drink practically since leaving Russia. The ones who were alive were lying on the dead and the dying. After being in camp a short period, typhus broke out and many of them died; some falling and dying in the compound.

British POWs were given a horse and wagon as well as crude German coffins and so the British boys buried their unfortunate allies sometimes three and four to a coffin. I could not give a current estimate of the number of deaths but if I said 300 I’m sure it would not be enough. Thanks to the good health of our boys and the work of the International Red Cross no British POW lost their lives as a result typhus.

PS. The photographer who printed these photos (F. [sic] Tollinger of Klagenfurt) was later shot by the Gestapo for his pro-British feelings towards British POWs.

John Nowell's document

Thanks to Ian Nowell's who made this information and photos available to me.

Profile - John Nowell

Signalman John 'Jock' Nowell, WX501, was in the Australian Corps of Signals attached to the 6th Division. He was wounded at Kalamata, Greece on the night of 28 Apr 1941 and captured there the following day. He was 29 at the time.

In January 1945, John, along with E.W. 'Jock' Robertson and G.N. 'Snowy' Yates made a successful escape from the Klagenfurt Camp eventually joining up with 8th Army patrols (Kings Royal Rifles) at Udine on the Austrian/Italian border. A fluent German speaker (learned in the Camp), John acted as an interpreter for Kings Royal Rifles and 4th Royal Hussars during the conquest and occupation of Austria from Udine to Vienna.

John was born 11 Apr 1912 in Manchester, England. He emigrated to Australia with his family in 1928 as a 14 year-old boy.

After repatriation to Australia, John re-enlisted in the Australia Army and served in Korea with the Commonwealth Signal Squadron performing post-armistice service and ceasefire monitoring. He fell ill and was transferred to hospital in Japan for medical treatment. He died there on 24 Nov 1956, and was buried at the Yokohama War Cemetery. He was 44.

Profile - Gordon Yates

Private Gordon Yates was born in Bendigo on 29 May 1913. He was captured in Kalamata, Greece. His Corps is unknown however his unit is listed on his service record as being the "17th Infantry Brigade."

In the Klagenfurt POW camp where he was known as 'Snowey' Yates. In January 1945 he made a successful escape with John Nowell and E.W. 'Jock' Robertson.

When Gordon was discharged from the army he was diagnosed to be suffering from tuberculosis. He died on 11 Mar 1975 aged 61 at Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital in Melbourne.

Profile - E.W. (Jock) Robertson

Driver Jock Robertson was a member of the Royal Army Service Corps. He escaped in January 1945 along with Gordon Yates and John Nowell.

In the photo below, Jock is third from left on the second row.

Friday 14 August 2020

Friendly Fire Kills Six

As noted previously, Camp 10029/GW was located in the Klagenfurt suburb of Waidmannsdorf, about 3.5 km from both the CBD and the railway yards. By mid-1944, air raids had become a regular event in Klagenfurt. Under the terms of the Geneva Convention, anti-aircraft defenses were not permitted to be closer than 600 metres from a POW compound. This was precisely the distance between a gun pit containing a Bofors 40 mm ack-ack and the Klagenfurt camp.

About one kilometre from the camp there was a small hill covered by scrubby trees. Today's passers-by would see a few hectares of uncultivated scrub amidst an otherwise tidy light-industrial area. A closer look and some scrub-bashing would reveal a steel door covered in graffiti. In 1944, after Klagenfurt's first bombardment, a contractor using POWs and forced labourers from France, hollowed out the hill and constructed a bomb shelter. In the year that followed, it would be used by the local citizenry and sometimes by the POWs themselves.

This steel door is one of two points of entry to the bomb shelter near the Klagenfurt Camp. I am gratefull to Paul Angerer for taking me to this place.

On Monday the 19th of February 1945* the air raid sounded about noon and the men shuffled out of the camp to this very shelter - but not all left the camp. Some decided to stay in camp and take their chances. Kevin told me that some 40 men remained behind on that day, mostly because they were either fed up, depressed, or in the camp hospital. Some never believed that bombs would ever be dropped on the camp. None had fallen on the camp in the past, but this time they did.

In 2014, Australian journalist and television presenter, Barrie Cassidy, published a book called Private Bill. His father, Bill Cassidy, was also a POW in 10029/GW. Cassidy wrote:

Suddenly, a line of bombs tore open the ground along the fence line, near the camp’s front gates. Within seconds, more bombs landed and ripped through the barracks. As Bill dashed for the door, the giant stove in the centre of the room came crashing down, crushing a man beneath it – the prisoner let out a piercing squeal, then fell silent. Bill realised that nothing could be done for him and charged outside.

There was pandemonium throughout the camp as the full horror of the bombing hit home. Bill joined the group of men milling around a trench that he had been dug right outside the camp hospital. He learned that a bomb had blown out the sides of the trench, causing it to collapse on three patients. Just as he registered that that two men were wailing in pain and panic, he remembered that Alan Eason had been admitted to the hospital the day before. Then Bill heard Alan’s voice, calm and measured, informing his would-be rescuers from the bottom of the trench that he had been ‘badly knocked about.’ Alan could just be seen through the gap in the rubble. While the men dug feverishly, he asked for cigarettes to be passed down to him - he said he would be all right if they kept the smokes coming. Two hours later, the men were freed. Two of them survived, but Alan died from his injuries the following morning.

Six POWs, three Australians and three British, were killed. It was thought that a bomber was attempting to bomb the ack-ack gun but somehow the bombs were jettisoned, and inadvertently fell on the camp. Six men were killed, three Australians and three British.

When Kevin arrived home, he received this letter from a friend, Joan, who ran a newsagency in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond.

Newsagency,
162 Bridge Road
Richmond, Victoria

Sunday, 30th 1945

Dear Kevin,
First of all, I must tell you how glad I was to hear you are home and well after such a long time. Mary Cameron told me all about your “Welcome Home.” It must have been all very bewildering for you.

I am writing to you at the request of one of our customers. We have a photo framing agency here and one day a lady brought a photo into me to be framed. I noticed that the photo was of POWs and she told me it was taken at Stalag 18A and showed me her son in the group. When I was putting the photo away I noticed someone very familiar and it was you looking very fit and well.

I told her (about this) when she came back with the photo and she then told me her son Jeff never made it home, that he died whilst in Stalag. She asked me if I had your address and if so, could I write to you and find out something about her late son. His name was Jefferson Gilbert. I hope you don’t mind but I think she would just like to know whether or not you knew him, et cetera.

Jeff Gilbert was one of the men killed in the bomb raid. Kevin knew Jeff well. They were hut-mates and on occasions they were photographed together. Jeff was one of those who made the decision not to go to the bomb shelter. Kevin told me that Jeff refused to move from his bed as an act of defiance.

* It was my initial understanding that the air raid took place on Sunday, Feb 18 1944, which would explain why the men were in the camp and not working. However it has been confirmed by German documation accessed by Klagenfurt historian Paul Angerer that it definitely occurred on the Monday. It is possible that work was suspended on that day due to extremely cold temperature. However this is just a theory. If readers have an explanation I would be pleased if was passed on to me.

Those Killed

Signalman William Jefferson 'Jeff' Gilbert

Jeff was a member of 1 Corps Sigs in the Australian Corps of Signals. He was captured in Kalamata, Greece on 29 Apr 1941. Jeff was born in the Melbourne suburb of Northcote on 20 Aug 1919.

Jeff Gilbert is fourth from the left in the back row

On duty in the cookhouse. Jeff Gilbert is in the foreground.

Private Henry 'Froggie' French

Henry was a member of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps.on Sunday, 19 Feb 1945.

Driver Alan Eason

Alan served with 1 Corps Troops Supply Column in Australia's 6th Division. He was captured at Crete. Alan was an outstanding Queensland sportsman. As a 21 year-old he represented Queensland as a rugby union centre. He was born on 12 Nov 1917 in Brisbane.

The Australian Tug O'War team photo taken on the annual 'Empire Games' sports day. Bill Cassidy is seated first left and Alan Eason, a champion school boy rugby player from Sydney, sits in the middle with a towel around his neck. Alan died in the bomb raid.