[Image] The Fig Tree R.A.P.

30th September, 1941. Tobruk, Libya.

A wounded man arrives at the 'Fig Tree'.

This wounded Digger from the 2/17th Infantry Battalion is being carried into the mouth of the cave under the 'Fig Tree' Regimental Aid Post. Located just inside the Red Line, north of the Derna Road, the Fig Tree was the only feature in an otherwise barren desert. It was visible from both Hill 209 in the Salient and Carrier Hill behind that. As a result it was an easy target for the German Artillery and would be heavily shelled for several hours per day.

During the shelling men would be stuck underground in the cramped dirty conditions until it was safe to leave. It was a place to stabilise wounded before transferring them to the Australian General Hospital near the Harbour. It patched up the walking wounded and sent them back to the lines.

To this day the Fig Tree still stands in Tobruk.

The Entry from the inside.

Waiting in the cave for the shelling to stop.

images 021023, 021021 and 021026 Australian War Memorial.

[Image] 20th Brigade Colour Patches

2/13th Infantry Battalion

New South Wales.

2/15th Infantry Battalion
Queensland.

2/17th Infantry Battalion
New South Wales.

These are the felt colour patches worn by the members of the 20th Brigade of the 9th Australian Division. The felt colour patch is worn on the upper outer sleeve of the tunic on both the left and right arms. They differ from other patches that were worn by other members of the AIF in the Second World War in that they are shaped like the letter 'T' whereas members of the 6th, 7th (except the 18th Brigade) and 8th Divisions wore a patch in the shape of a diamond separated into a top half colour and a bottom half colour.

The significance of the colour patches as worn by the 9th Division and members of the 18th Brigade of the 7th Division is that the shape has been varied from the AIF standard diamond to that of the letter 'T' in tribute to the Battalion's involvement in the defence of Tobruk. It was a badge that the Rat's wore with pride. When on leave everyone knew they were the one's who stopped Rommel in his tracks for so long.

The grey outline signifies the 9th Australian Division, the green border belongs to the 20th Brigade and the 'T' shape is in the individual battalion colours, the 2/13th was black, the 2/15th was purple and the 2/17th was white.

The changing of the colour patch's shapes, in recognition of the men involved in the Siege of Tobruk, has only ever been done this once in the entire history of the AIF.

This is one of the best indications of the significance of the action that the 9th Division was involved in at Tobruk was not lost on the Army. The Army changed nothing in recognition of deeds performed during World War One. This to me is one of the highest honours that the Army ever placed on the 9th Division.

colour patch images General Collection Australian War Memorial.

[Memorial] Alamein 9th Division Memorial

22nd December, 2006. El Alamein, Egypt.

The 9th Division Memorial.

This is a modern photo of the 9th Division Memorial at Alamein. The site of the major battle's of 1942 has now been built upon, as evidenced by the buildings in the background. A 5 star hotel now stands on the site of the 2/17th's front line positions during the 2nd Battle of Alamein.

image by Acad Ronin from Wikipedia Commons. Click on the image for a high resolution shot.

[Image] The German MG34 Machine Gun

25th July, 1942. Tel el Eisa, Egypt.

A Digger and his captured MG34.

This unidentified soldier of the 9th Division proudly poses with a captured German MG34 Machine Gun. The Maschinengewehr 34 was accepted into service in the German army in 1934 and during the Western Desert campaign featured heavily in action with the Afrika Korps.

This particular gun is being used in a set up that was not originally intended. The MG34 was designed to be able to be used as both a light and medium machine gun. When deployed in LMG mode it was meant to use the barrel mounted bipod, as the one pictured does, and a 50 or 75 round drum magazine. In MMG mode it was meant to use linked 50 round belts, and one of two heavy tripods.

In practice, the Afrika Korps favoured the light weight and maneuverability of the bipod with the sustained firepower of the linked belt fed ammo, with as many as 250 bullets being able to be linked together at once. This Digger uses the MG34 in the exact same unofficial configuration as that favoured by the Afrika Korps in the field, leading one to think that this gun was set up this way when captured.

The MG34 was used extensively during the Siege of Tobruk and it was one such weapon that NX15705 Cpl Jack Edmondson V.C. of the 2/17th Infantry Battalion was mortally wounded by whilst capturing it during the Easter Battle. This action ultimately led to his death from wounds and the posthumous awarding of the Victoria Cross.

image E014847 Imperial War Museum.

[Image] The business end of the Panzer Mk IV.

El Alamein, Egypt, 1942.

The business end of a Panzer Mk IV.

This amazing photo was taken by a member of the 9th Division at Alamein in 1942. This tank is the Panzerkampfwagen MkIV, or more commonly known as the Panzer MkIV. The MkIV was a masterpiece of German engineering. It was heavily armed and armoured and with the main 75mm gun it could deliver devastating firepower quickly.

In the Western Desert campaign there was initially very little in the allied arsenal that could cause the MkIV any concern. It had 100mm thick armour that could withstand almost anything fired at it. Unfortunately for this Panzer and it's crew the troops that disabled this war machine targeted the most vulnerable part of the German tank, it's tracks. Whilst there was very little that could penetrate it's armour there was however, a number of weapons that were capable of disabling the tracks. This particular tank carries a number of sections of spare track mounted across the front of the armour plate. A machine gun (likely an MG42) is turret mounted in a forward hard point. The salvage division vultures would soon be there to take it away for further use against Axis forces.

It was tanks such as these that first probed the 9th Division's positions along the El-Adem road during the Easter Battle of 1941 at Tobruk. Around 20 tanks, including some MkIV's, approached the lines of the 2/17th Battalion and stopped approximately 30 yards from the Aussies in the defensive posts. The above photo, whist taken at Alamein and disabled, still for me conjures up a horrifying image of what it must have been like for men like my Grandfather who were the first Australians to engage the tanks of the Panzer Divisions. It was also these same men, in this same battle, that gave the allies their first ever victory over the Germans on land.

It is not a fact widely known that Australian troops of the 9th Division were the first allied troops to defeat the Germans in battle on land. The Easter Battle of 1941 at Tobruk was the first time the allies had repulsed a German attack in the war to date. The motto of the 2/17th Infantry Battalion is "What we have, we hold". On this occasion just like the many more to follow, the 2/17th held their ground and won a decisive victory against superior numbers and equipment.

image p04734.011 Australian War Memorial.

[Image] 2/17th troops try out an Italian flak gun at Alamein

4 Sec, D Coy, 2/17th Infantry Battalion

The Italian Breda Model 35 20mm Anti-Aircraft Gun.

Men of 4 Section, D Coy. have a bit of fun on a captured Italian Breda Model 35 20mm cannon. These flak guns were primarily used in an anti-aircraft capacity however they had some use against soft targets like trucks, cars and infantry.

This photo was taken at Alamein in 1942 by my Grandfather, NX17811 Pvt. L.J. McCarthy of the 2/17th Infantry Battalion. This particular gun was popular amongst troops of the 2/17th for posing on for photos to send home. I have seen a photo of Jack Barber, also of the 2/17th and author of "The War, The Whores and the Afrika Korps", trying out the same gun in the photos within his book.

Click on the image for a high resolution copy.

image from the author's personal collection.

[Image] 9th Division troops skylark at Alamein

4 Section, D Company, 2/17th Battalion

El Alamein, Egypt, 1942.

This is another of the great images that I received yesterday taken by my Grandfather at Alamein. The men shown are members of 4 section, D Company of the 2/17th Battalion.

If you look closely in the sand you can see the dugouts, or doovers, that the men lived in. Effectively they were a hole in the ground where you could supposedly be safe from enemy fire. Australians would go to great lengths to make their doovers comfortable earning a reputation as amazing scroungers.

The soldier skylarking in the German M35 steel helmet is NX60184 Cpl. Mervyn R. Lee.

image from author's personal collection.

[Image] On leave in Palestine, 1941.

NX17811 Pvt L.J McCarthy

2/17th Battalion

Palestine, 1941.

Today a parcel from my mother arrived that contained all the photos my Grandfather took from his time in active service with the 2/17th Battalion. This one is a classic photo postcard that I've scanned. On the back in my Grandfather's handwriting is the following;

"Tell-Aviv 1941. Les McCarthy. D Coy."

What I also realised when looking through the photos was that one of them stood out like I'd seen it before. It was of a bunch of diggers skylarking at Alamein, one of them wearing a German helmet. Try as I might I just couldn't think where I'd seen it before. I was certain it wasn't on the internet, but rather in a book.

I went and made a cup of coffee and read through the names of the soldiers on the back of the photo and one name stood out.

Jack Barber.

Then it hit me. I had borrowed his book "The War, The Whores, The Afrika Korps" from my local library about 18 months ago and enjoyed it alot. What I didn't know at the time is that alot of these stories in the book concerned his mates on leave. My grandfather was one of his mates. I now have photos of my Grandfather on leave with Jack Barber.

Oh shit. I hope my mum doesn't read that book.

image from the author's personal collection.

[Image] The Baby Faced 'Rat of Tobruk'

11th May, 1942. Beirut, Lebanon.

NX21849 Pvt. Elson Evered Bell on leave, aged 18 years.

If you are thinking that Pvt. Bell of the 2/17th Infantry Battalion looks young, that's because he was. Following in the time honoured Australian tradition of not being entirely truthful about your age to go to war Pvt. Bell bumped up his age by 5 years to meet the strict age requirements of the Second A.I.F.

Being only 16 years, 7 months old when he enlisted on 27th May 1940 (the day before my Grandfather) Pvt. Bell was the youngest man Mentioned in Despatches (MiD) at Tobruk.

The Australian War Memorial writes "Private K E Bell, A Company, 2/17th Infantry Battalion ... was aged 17 years when he was Mentioned in Despatches for bravery at Tobruk. During an offensive patrol he carried in his officer although wounded himself. The officer later died."

The Australian War Memorial credits this photo as being of Pvt. K. E. Bell of the 2/17th Battallion. My personal research has led me to believe that the baby faced Rat of Tobruk was actually Pvt. E. E. Bell who was, like the AWM states, a member of A Coy. 2/17th Battalion who was Mentioned in Despatches and wounded in Tobruk.

The nominal roll of the 2/17th Battalion shows only one soldier with a surname of Bell who was wounded at Tobruk, and no soldier with a name of K.E. Bell. The nominal roll of the 2/17th lists his service number as NX21849 and also mentioned was the fact that he was wounded not only at Tobruk, but also Alamein and New Guinea. He was discharged on 30th November, 1945 having just celebrated his actual 21st birthday the month before. How bizarre to think that Pvt. Bell fought a World War for 5 years and won all before his 21st birthday.

They don't make 'em like him anymore.

image 024225 Australian War Memorial

Nominal roll research from "What we have, we hold - A history of the 2/17th Australian Infantry Battalion", 2/17th Battalion History Committee, Sydney.

[Anecdote] NX60436 Cpl. Henry E. Zouch remembers unrecorded valour at Alamein

At the time of the following incident, Henry was a corporal of 18 Platoon, D Company 2/17th Battalion. He wrote of a remarkable feat by one soldier on the second night of the Battle of El Alamein as follows;

“The Battalion advanced without artillery support with D Coy forward left, 18 Pl 9 Sec on the extreme left flank, when I contacted A Coy 2/13th Bn and proceeded to dig in. At this moment, the RAF dropped bombs on our Bn HQ hitting an ammunition truck some 400 yards to our rear, which lit up the whole front.”

“Approximately 40 yards in front of my section, a number of enemy machine guns opened fire on our Bren Gunners, Bruce Hindson (NX58750) and Horrie Kennedy (NX59787). This post was very close and we were losing men because the rocky ground prevented us from digging in. The remaining enemy positions had no field of fire on our position as they ran along facing east. Also, 18Pl HQ had problems as Lt. Al Urquhart (NX22422) was badly wounded by machine gun fire, leaving Sgt. Ted Taylor (NX21402) in charge of the platoon.”

“It was decided that the position in front had to be taken under covering fire of the two Bren Gunners. Whilst waiting for the reserve 7 Sec to join us, out of the blue on my left ran a soldier. In the semi-darkness he looked like an English soldier in Tommy battle dress. He threw a number of grenades into the enemy machine gun post and then jumped in with his submachinegun. He worked away from us down the enemy positions, throwing grenades, until I lost sight of him in the darkness some 100 yards away. What happened to him we never heard as we were in the battle for another nine days and nights.”

“The machine gun post had 10 German soldiers and 8 Spandau (MG42) machine guns. What a remarkable soldier this man must have been. I wonder if his deeds were ever recorded. Noone knew where he came from, but enquiries indicated that he could have been a British Commando working independently.”

image composite of crop from 020286 Australian War Memorial and photo of Henry Zouch from my personal collection.

The anecdote is taken from one submitted by Henry Zouch to "What we have, we hold - a history of the 2/17th Australian Infantry Battalion 1940-1945" by the 2/17th Battalion History Committee. Published under fair dealing for review as allowed by the Copyright Act.

NX60436 Sgt. Henry Eddington Zouch passed away in 1999.

He was 79 years old.

[Image] Tobruk's Bush Artillery Reunited!

Reunion of "Tobruk's Bush Artillery"

This photo is the follow up piece to Lt. Thomas Fisher's famous "Tobruk's Bush Artillery" photo that featured my Grandfather, NX17811 Cpl L.J. McCarthy and his mates sitting on a captured Italian 75mm gun at Tobruk on 27th August, 1941. The men in the picture were actually member's of D Company, 2/17th Infantry Battalion and not cooks as the caption stated. See the original in my post called "[Image] Tobruk's Bush Artillery".

This photo was taken at Anzac Day at Sydney in the early to mid 1990's. I was stunned to find that a photo from my personal collection featured the same men as Lt. Fisher's photo. The two men on the outsides are currently unidentified but the others are exactly as posed in the original photo. My Grandfather is second from the right.

The beauty of this photo is in the fact that all 5 men survived the war, however not all of them unscathed. Of the three identified members only Henry Zouch was not reported wounded in action (W.I.A.). Both Charlie Lemaire and Les McCarthy were wounded at Alamein and Les McCarthy was further wounded in New Guinea in 1943 when a Private accidentally discharged his Bren Gun shooting my Grandad twice, once in the right thigh, the other in the right shin. This was a wound that took months to heal. The funny thing is that when the incident was originally reported to Senior Officers my Grandfather, a section Corporal, covered for the Private under his command and reported the wounds as having been received from a strafing Japanese Zero fighter plane. It wasn't until many months later with the potential for an army board of enquiry looming that the official record was amended to reflect that the wounds were received by "accidental discharge of section's Bren Gun". Amazing what information is in official service records.

To view the original post and photo about Tobruk's Bush Artillery click here http://9thdivvy.blogspot.com/2008/07/image-tobruks-bush-artillery.html

image from author's private collection.

[Image] Tobruk's Bush Artillery

27th August, 1941.
El-Adem Sector
Tobruk, Libya.

Members of the 2/17th Infantry Battalion man a captured Italian 75mm gun.

Australian War Memorial #020286. Photo by W.O. Thomas Fisher.

I first came across this photo under the heading "Tobruk's Bush Artillery" published on p.54 of "Active Service with Australia in the Middle East". "Active Service" was the first of a series of yearbook type campaign journals that were published yearly by the Australian War Memorial. The caption that accompanied that above photo in "Active Service" is reproduced below;

"The troops and the gun represent one of the features of Tobruk that gives the boys something to talk about and "Gerry" something to think about."

"They are the bush artillery - captured Italian guns manned by soldiers who are otherwise employed in cook-houses, messes and the like, who's job it is to reissue enemy shells to the enemy. They do it, fast and efficiently, but the enemy does not appreciate the service."

I found this caption rather interesting considering the fact that one of the men in the photo is my Grandfather NX17811 Pvt. L.J. McCarthy of the 2/17th Infantry Battalion. The men in this photo were all members of D Company, 2/17th Infantry Battalion and not cooks like the official record stated.

In fact when this photo was taken by Warrant Officer (later Lt.) Thomas Fisher, official photographer of the 9th Division Military History and Information Section the gun in question was only 4000 yards from the German front line. Further photos in the series show the same men firing the gun at the Germans. Kind of cool to have a photo of your Grandfather firing heavy artillery at the Germans during the Siege of Tobruk. What is even cooler is that I have a photo in my personal collection of the same 5 men standing in the same order taken at Anzac Day in the early to mid 1990's with all their medals. The two images are quite powerful when shown side by side.

The soldier in the middle is NX65985 Pvt. C.E. Lemaire. My granddad's best mate and a later recipient of the Military Medal for bravery in the field for action against the Japanese at Borneo in 1945. Second from the left is NX60436 Pvt. H.E. Zouch. The other two men on either end are at this stage unknown however research is ongoing in an attempt to name all five members of Tobruk's Bush Artillery.

The soldier who took this photo was Warrant Officer Thomas Fisher of the Military History and Information Section. Sadly W.O. Fisher (later Lt. Fisher) was the only photographer of the Military History and Information Section to be killed in action during WW2. Lt. Fisher died in action against the Japanese at Papua on 16th November 1942. He has no known grave. More from Lt. Fisher's work in later posts. Lt. Fisher is memorialised on the Roll of Honour at http://www.awm.gov.au/roh/person.asp?p=147-7633

[Hero] NX15705 Cpl John Hurst Edmondson V.C.

2/17th Infantry Battalion, 20th Brigade, 9th Division

Cpl John Hurst "Jack" Edmondson was born in Wagga Wagga, NSW in 1914. He enlisted on 20th May 1940 at Paddington, NSW. Here he joined the newly formed 2/17th Infantry Battalion of the 7th Division. Due to his previous militia service he was quickly promoted to Corporal.

When the 7th Division embarked for Palestine in Oct 1940 little would they know that for some of them they would be arrive to be members of the newly formed 9th Division. As the divisions for WW2 were formed and numbered in the order of enlistment and began with the 6th Division (the 1st to 5th Divisions having been previously allocated for WW1) the members of the 7th Division were amongst the second wave of mass enlistments that occurred in early to mid 1940. The men of the former 7th Division were horrified to find themselves a part of the 9th Division. These men were often incorrectly labeled "The Long Thinkers" by the men of the 6th Division, a reference to the time it took for the men to decide to enlist.


With the 9th Division's deployment to Libya to relieve the 6th Division who were pulled out for the defence of Greece, Cpl Edmondson and his battalion (of whom my grandfather was a member) first engaged the German's in what was to be later known as "The Benghazi Handicap", the hasty retreat back to the shelter of the city of Tobruk.


Not long after arriving from this harrowing journey Cpl Edmondson's section was deployed on the outer perimeter of Tobruk's defences at post R33 in the Red Line. This was the area that was first attacked by Rommel's Panzer Division in what was to be known as "The Easter Battle".

Cpl. Edmondson's Victoria Cross was awarded posthumously (as too many are), for action during The Easter Battle of 13-14th April, 1941. The passage in the London Gazette of 1 July, 1941, gave the following details of Edmondson's deeds:


"On the night of 13th-14th April, 1941, a party of German infantry broke through the wire defences of Tobruk, and established themselves with numerous machine guns, mortars and field pieces. Led by an officer, Corporal Edmondson and five privates carried out a bayonet charge upon them under heavy fire. Although wounded in the neck and stomach Corporal Edmondson not only killed one of the enemy, but went to the assistance of his officer, who was attacked by a German from behind while bayoneting another who had seized him about the legs. Despite his wounds, from which he later died, Corporal Edmondson succeeded in killing these two Germans also, thus undoubtedly saving his officer's life."


John Hurst Edmondson's Victoria Cross was the first of twenty received by Australian Forces in WW2. As a result it carried with it quite a bit of propaganda value for the Allies who were in need of good news. John Edmondson's V.C. is currently on display in the Hall of Valour at the Australian War Memorial. John Hurst Edmondson V.C. is buried in the Tobruk War Cemetery.