Australian Pow Stories

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From Digger History and other named sources.

Cowra Prison Breakout

August 5 1944 On Saturday, 5 August 1944 Japanese prisoners at Cowra staged a breakout that resulted in the deaths of 4 young Australians and 231 Japanese. The camp, officially known as No.12 POW Group, was a complex of four individual camps separated by cross roads. Each camp was originally built to house 1,000 prisoners. No.12 POW Group, Cowra. Earlier, on Friday 4, in accordance with the Geneva Convention, notice was given of a transfer of all Japanese prisoners below the rank of Lance Corporal from Cowra to the Hay Prisoner of War Camp. At 0150 hours on Saturday 5 August 1944 an unauthorized bugle was heard in camp B and immediately thereafter up to 900 Japanese prisoners of war rushed from their huts and attacked the fences of the compound. The outer fence was stormed in two places, with the prisoners using blankets and baseball gloves to minimize the damage inflicted by the barbed wire fencing. Others set fire to eighteen of the camps twenty huts while those incapable of activity committed suicide by hanging or stabbing themselves, their bodies being burnt in the fires. Those that did not want to become involved were murdered by their comrades. Armed with a wide assortment of weapons, including knives, one group attacked the crew of a Vickers gun that was stationed outside the camp. Members of the 22nd Garrison Battalion opened fire, causing a large number of casualties. During the ensuring nine days 334 prisoners were retaken, of which 25 were dead. Of the dead, 11 were found hanging from trees and two had been killed by trains. In all, 231 Japanese POW's were killed and 108 wounded. One Australian Officer was killed along with three Australian other ranks, while four others were wounded. This made Cowra the largest POW breakout, eclipsing other well known Break-outs such as the "great escape" from Stalag Luft III.

THE JAPANESE Of all the prisoners housed in Australia during the war the Japanese were undoubtedly the most bitter and resentful. Under the Japanese rules of war (known as the Bushido code) prisoners were disgraced persons. Every soldier had an obligation to die for the Emperor and if the enemy succeeded in capturing him he was expected to kill himself. The Australian guards could not even pretend to understand this attitude and saw most of the Japanese prisoners as surly and fanatical. Things were not helped when late in the war information reached Australia about the way the Japanese were treating Australian prisoners. It was this mutual incomprehension between the two races which led to the 'night of a thousand suicides' when the Japanese in the Cowra prison camp attempted a mass breakout on 5 August 1944. As a result, 231 Japanese and four Australians were killed. The Australian guards thought the Japanese were attempting to take over the camp. Actually, they were attempting to kill themselves. Yet there is no evidence to suggest that the Australian authorities treated the Japanese prisoners any differently to any other group. Unlike the Italians they were not permitted to leave the camps to work on the farms but otherwise they received the same rations and were subject to the same discipline. At no time was there any attempt to wreak revenge on the Japanese for their treatment of Australian prisoners. Unfortunately this attitude was misinterpreted by some of the Japanese as weakness and on several occasions they pushed matters as far as they could by refusing to work when ordered, refusing to turn up on parades and refusing to salute Australian officers. Had Australian prisoners acted in the same fashion in Japanese POW camps their punishment would have been severe. Extract from Front Line Dispatches. Bay Books. ISBN 1 86256 287 3 Two Aussies were awarded the George Cross

Hardy B.G. (Private, 22nd Australian Garrison Battalion, A.M.F) Date of Action: 4-5 August 1944 Place of Action: Cowra, New South Wales

Citation: Private Benjamin Hardy and Private Ralph Jones were on duty at the No. 12 Prisoner of War Camp, as members of a Vickers machine gun crew, guarding the prisoner of war compound, in which were interned over 1,000 Japanese prisoners of war. On the night of 4-5 August 1944 the Japanese prisoners, armed with knives, baseball clubs, and other weapons, staged a mass outbreak, stormed over the perimeter and bore down on the machine gun crew. Privates Jones and Hardy stood their ground and continued to work the gun until bashed to death, displaying outstanding gallantry and devotion to duty in their fight against an overwhelming onslaught of fanatical Japanese. They met their deaths in the true British spirit of sacrifice for their country. (London Gazette: 1 September 1950.)

Citation: Private Ralph Jones and Private Benjamin Hardy were on duty at the No. 12 Prisoner of War Camp, as members of a Vickers machine gun crew, guarding the prisoner of war compound, in which were interned over 1,000 Japanese prisoners of war. On the night of 4-5 August 1944 the Japanese prisoners, armed with knives, baseball clubs, and other weapons, staged a mass outbreak, stormed over the perimeter and bore down on the machine gun crew. Privates Jones and Hardy stood their ground and continued to work the gun until bashed to death, displaying outstanding gallantry and devotion to duty in their fight against an overwhelming onslaught of fanatical Japanese. They met their deaths in the true British spirit of sacrifice for their country. (London Gazette: 1 September 1950.)

Jones R. (Private, 22nd Australian Garrison Battalion, A.M.F.) Date of Action: 4-5 August 1944 Place of Action: Cowra, New South Wales

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Prisoners of the Italians and the Germans.

PRISONERS OF WAR: EUROPE

Prisoners walking around the perimeter in the Exercise Area, Stalag Luft 3, overlooked by a watchtower, or Goon Tower as they were known. Note the thin boundary wire running at thigh-height, beyond which the prisoners were forbidden to go on penalty of being fired upon. Copyright: Special Collections Branch of the USAF Academy Library.

This page is dedicated to every sailor, soldier or airman who ever tried to escape, as the mere trying tied down thousands of enemy troops. To those that made it all the way can I say "bloody well done". Late in 1943 hundreds of locomotives drawing long lines of cattle trucks lumbered slowly into the foothills leading to the mountain barrier between Italy and the neighbouring countries of Austria and Switzerland. Except for some German troops clustered in the guard vans no sign of life could be seen. In actual fact the trains carried thousands of men, mostly Australian prisoners of war. In some of these trucks the chief occupation was tearing up floorboards. As night fell and the trains, every now and then, jerked to a halt, Australians would drop on to the tracks, climb up the truck's side, unlock the door from the outside and rejoin those in the vehicle. The result was that through the hours of darkness hundreds of Australians, under the noses of their German guards, disappeared into the Italian countryside and eventually found their way to freedom. At one wayside station an Australian darted from a rail truck, vaulted a fence and in full view of everyone grabbed a startled civilian by the arm. He then walked down the street with the man until he was able to slip away into the countryside. Another, sighting a railway official waving a red flag, leapt from the train, grabbed the flag and in an act of sheer bravado casually walked down the platform and out of sight. Yet another, seeing Italians unloading apples from an adjoining freight train, joined the workers, seized a case of fruit and disappeared into the night. More than 7000 men of the AIF became prisoners of war in Europe during World War 11, all of them captured during various campaigns in the Middle East. About 2000 fell into enemy hands in the aftermath of the disastrous Greek campaign while more than 3000 were left behind when Crete was taken by the Germans. Then in the deserts of Libya and Egypt, 1900 were captured when overrun by Rommel's Afrika Corps at places like Ruin Ridge, EI Ridge, El Regina, the Tobruk Salient and El Mechili. Those captured in the desert were held at various coastal ports before being sent to Italy. Their camps were primitive, conditions harsh and food short. But as their chief task was unloading stores they were often able to acquire extra rations. While most camps in Italy were well organised, others commanded by dyed- in-the-wool fascists were veritable hell-holes. Such a camp was at Gruppignani near the Yugoslav border where the sadistic commandant kept prisoners handcuffed for days in the punishment cells. Men still clad in light desert clothing were forced to work in freezing conditions while several were shot as a result of altercations with the guards. Many Australians made their escape from this camp and linked up with Tito's partisans, some continuing to fight until the end of the war. The other main Australian camp was at Bologna where in 1943 after hearing rumours of Italian capitulation, prisoners cut the encircling wire at several points in readiness for a mass breakout. But the plan came to nothing when in the pre-dawn darkness German SS troops moved in. Some captives made a run for it but the Germans, with sweeping bursts of submachine gun fire, cut down the vanguard and herded the rest back inside. Within days they were packed tightly into railway cattle trucks bound for Germany. It was during this journey that hundreds escaped. Some crossed the Alps into Switzerland, some fought with Italian partisans, others, after months of hide-and-seek, finally made the haven of the Allied lines. Meanwhile, those Australians captured in Greece and Crete were gradually being assembled in appalling conditions at Salonika in Greece. In this camp with little food and no sanitation, dysentery was rampant. Men collapsed and died, their bodies lying in a corner of the compound until prisoners were given permission to bury them. It was forbidden for prisoners to use the latrines after dark and the bodies of those shot while trying to do so were hung on the surrounding wire as a warning to others. After a series of escape attempts all Australians remaining at Salonika were crammed into cattle trucks bound for various camps in Austria, Germany and Poland. At Hohenfell in Bavaria, Leo Murnane, of the 2/2 Battalion, made several abortive attempts to escape. On one occasion he and his group spent months building a 100-metre-long tunnel. The men were congratulating themselves on progress when suddenly the section of the roof beyond the wire caved in. A small aperture at the tunnel's end could be seen and that inspired 30 men to risk making a break. Ten had scrambled out when a guard, noticing movement in the darkness opened fire. And that was the end of the escape attempt. Although all 10 men were recaptured Leo Murnane was soon free again. This time he fled from a work party and hid on the wooded foreshores of the River Danube. It was here Murnane met up with an American airman who was on the run after being shot down. Deciding to escape together, they waded down the river shallows until they came to a rowing boat. In their haste to examine it they disturbed a flock of geese which made such a racket a nearby farmer became suspicious and called the troops. The same day Leo Murnane was back inside Hohenfell camp. Late in the war when a rumour spread that the camp was to be evacuated in the face of the rapid Allied advance, Murnane and two others decided to get away before the prisoners were moved to another location. After sprinkling carbide on the floor to throw the camp dogs off the scent, the three men secreted themselves under a hut floor. They stayed there for several days before creeping out and threading a path through the loose German lines. That was when they were picked up by an American infantry patrol. Determined to hit back at their captors, the Australians stayed with the Americans for some weeks, fighting in several actions before being sent to the rear for evacuation to England. By this time thousands of prisoners were on the move over all the territory still held by the Nazis. Some were under guard but others roamed in leaderless mobs looking for the Allies to catch up with them. Half-starved and living off the land as best they could, they were constantly strafed by the Luftwaffe and the marauding hordes of American fighters who blasted anything that moved in Germany. Consequently untold numbers of prisoners died both from air attacks and hunger and cold. In April 1945 American tanks smashed the gates of Stalag VII D in Germany. The armistice was signed a few weeks later. Within weeks Australian prisoners had been collected from all over Europe and were on their way to transit camps in England. Then, as shipping became available and their health improved, they were gradually returned to Australia.

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my uncle was captured at Ruin Ride with the 2/28 infantry, like to find out what happened after that in particular was he on the nino bixo that was topedoed by the HM sub Turbulent?

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Can't help you with that however I found this interesting as he was captured at Ruin Ridge also.

http://www.liswa.wa.gov.au/treasures/stewart/index.htm