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Crossing The Wire
So wrote an Australian prisoner-of-war, Corporal Lancelot
Davies, only recently taken prisoner at the first battle of
Bullecourt, on 11 April 1917. For him – like another 1,200
Australians captured at Bullecourt – the future was indeed
‘blank’ and unpredictable. The experiences of Australian
prisoners of war (POWs) or Kriegsgefangeners held
captive in Germany has been largely forgotten or ignored–
overshadowed by the horrid stories of Australians
imprisoned by the Japanese during World War II. Yet, as
David Coombes makes known, the stories are interesting
and significant – not only providing an account of what
those young Australian soldiers experienced, and the spirit they showed in responding to captivity – but also for the
insight it provides into Germany in the last eighteen months of the war.
Drawing on previous inaccessible records – including interviews conducted by the late David Chalk as well as private
papers and unpublished manuscripts (all part of the Chalk Collection) – Coombes focuses on one Australian brigade,
the 4th Infantry, from its formation in 1914, through Gallipoli to its baptism of fire on the Western Front, culminating in
the first battle of Bullecourt – which, in turn, leads to the prisoner of war experience.
An unknown future was certainly what awaited those mostly young soldiers as POWs – whether it be exposed to their
own artillery fire while working for the enemy ‘behind the line’; in a hospital ward somewhere in France or Germany; or
behind wire, in a camp, in Germany. What remained constant, and gave them reason to stay alive, often in the most
horrendous circumstances, was their desire to be free – to get back to their family and loved ones in Australia.
Davies, only recently taken prisoner at the first battle of
Bullecourt, on 11 April 1917. For him – like another 1,200
Australians captured at Bullecourt – the future was indeed
‘blank’ and unpredictable. The experiences of Australian
prisoners of war (POWs) or Kriegsgefangeners held
captive in Germany has been largely forgotten or ignored–
overshadowed by the horrid stories of Australians
imprisoned by the Japanese during World War II. Yet, as
David Coombes makes known, the stories are interesting
and significant – not only providing an account of what
those young Australian soldiers experienced, and the spirit they showed in responding to captivity – but also for the
insight it provides into Germany in the last eighteen months of the war.
Drawing on previous inaccessible records – including interviews conducted by the late David Chalk as well as private
papers and unpublished manuscripts (all part of the Chalk Collection) – Coombes focuses on one Australian brigade,
the 4th Infantry, from its formation in 1914, through Gallipoli to its baptism of fire on the Western Front, culminating in
the first battle of Bullecourt – which, in turn, leads to the prisoner of war experience.
An unknown future was certainly what awaited those mostly young soldiers as POWs – whether it be exposed to their
own artillery fire while working for the enemy ‘behind the line’; in a hospital ward somewhere in France or Germany; or
behind wire, in a camp, in Germany. What remained constant, and gave them reason to stay alive, often in the most
horrendous circumstances, was their desire to be free – to get back to their family and loved ones in Australia.
- GenresHistory
483 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2011
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