They did everything they could to destroy the enemy in the best naval tradition, and had succeeded. The German Navy were aware of this tactic in the early stages of the war and equipped their later raiders such as the Kormoran with underwater torpedo tubes positioned at an angle of 125-135 degrees to cover this ‘safe spot’. They were all sent to a POW camp at Murchison in north western country Victoria, where they spent their first Christmas and New Year behind barbed wire. But there was also a lighter side of life being played out by a most unlikely bunch, in the most unlikely of places – German prisoners of war held in Australian camps. Burma Railroad and all, 1942-1945. German Raiders of World War 2. More than 4,070 Australians spent the war as prisoners. During WW2, the internment of enemy aliens in Australia fell under the control of the National Security Act 1939. 100%. EUR 4,92. Of these, 22,376 were Australians of whom 7,777 died. After the war the prisoners of Europe were largely forgotten, overshadowed by the greater tragedy in Asia. The officers were transferred to the ‘officers only’ camp at a homestead property at Dhurringile, about 10 miles from the Murchison camp, which had been converted into a detention camp. Men accepted unaccustomed responsibility: one Australian warrant officer became the de facto commanding officer of 11,000 Allied prisoners of war in Wolfsberg camp. The forgotten Australian prisoners of war experimented on by the Nazis. Frank Macdonough. NEW SOUTH WALES "Bathurst Internment Camp" at Bathurst Civil Gaol: Camp 6 - Hay Internment and POW Camp: Camp 7 - … He remained slightly crippled from his stroke and retired from the Kriegsmarine on a pension. Australians reached camps in Germany by three routes. The Gallipoli campaign saw the first of 217 Australians captured by Ottoman [Turkish] forces. Basic biographical information about all Australian servicemen and women is available on the Department of Veterans' Affairs Nominal Roll. Prisoners of the Italians in the Second World War make up less than 10 per cent, while prisoners of the Germans or the Ottoman Turks in the First World War, civilian internees of the world wars and prisoners in Korea make up a tiny percentage. Most were captured in a string of defeats in France, North Africa and the Balkans between 1940 and 1942. There were no secret police such as the Gestapo or Kempi Tai, but they also understood that because Australia was such a vast island nation, there was nowhere to go. Many were captured twice: taken to Germany after Italy’s surrender. Fearing the Germans might attempt to take over the ship, the Kormoran’s lifeboat was taken in tow until they reached the small Western Australian township of Carnarvon. They included airmen and soldiers of the 6th, 7th and 9th Divisions. Perhaps a sense of adventure to rekindle his Hilfkreuzer days or simply a final fling! Article 10 required that PoWs should be lodged in adequately heated and lighted buildings where conditions were the same as German troops. Though Germany generally observed the 1929 Geneva Convention governing the treatment of prisoners of war, in the often severe climate prisoners lived in spartan, and increasingly harsh, conditions. Many of those who were captured during WWII endured barbaric conditions and found it difficult on their return to discuss the experience. There were a number of Axis prisoner-of-war camps in Italy during World War II.The initials "P.G." He became the Camp Leader responsible (in cooperation with the military authorities) for the day to day running of four compounds and the historical Dhurringile mansion where the higher ranking officers and their batmen lived. All of us weak and suffering from diarrhoea, many with bleeding bowels and no sanitary arrangements whatsoever. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Canberra. They had tunnelled from a large crockery room, down to a depth of 14 feet in the sandy soil then out under the compound yard, under the perimeter fence and a good distance beyond the wire, a total length of 120 yards. 1. Canberra, ACT, Australia. We pay our respects to elders past and present. Ed. Detmers had carried out successful trials using the angled torpedo tubes so he certainly had the capability to use them. The forgotten Australian prisoners of war experimented on by the Nazis. No further survivors were found at sea but on 27 November at 08.30 the troopship Aquitania reported she had on board 26 German sailors from a rubber raft found off the West Australian coast just a day before the British tanker Trocas reported her rescue. A notable early exception is the section of the official history of Australia's participation in World War II by A.E. 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