Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

In July of 1941, the 2/13th Battalion had just been relieved from their position at Ras El Medauur, right on the front lines of the Tobruk garrison. Daily shelling and sniping was now replaced with daily swimming parties, and free time!

The soldiers were still perilously close to the enemy, being only a few miles behind their previous position, but everyone's moods were lifted dramatically. The medical officer even noted in his diary of June 1941, that cases of ill health halved when the men were able to bathe and swim (AWM RCDIG1025059 pg.123).

In his own good mood, and with nothing better to do, Lt. Harold Thomas Graham of C-Company got creative. From the war diary:

"Lieut Graham, by means of divining rod, considers he has found water in C Coy area." So he rounds up some men - who by now are well practised at digging holes - and he sets them to work. "Digging commenced on the spot for water estimated to lie at depth [of] fifteen feet." (AWM RCDIG1025059 pg.139)

Unfortunately, since the war diary doesn't document the result, we may never know if water was found.

This story taken from the 2/13th official war diary, June-July 1941.