Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

TEXT FROM NORTH AFRICA AND SYRIA, PAGE 24 AND TRUCE AT TOBRUK BY JOHN STUART DOWIE, 1943.
On 2 August, in what effectively was the last major action involving Australians during the siege, another effort was made by the defenders to expel the Germans and straighten the line. It was a costly attack: two thirds of the attacking infantry became casualties, with twenty-nine killed and seventy-two wounded. The Geneva Convention was seldom dishonoured in the desert war, and next morning the vehicles of Sergeant Walter Tuit and stretcher bearers of the 2/43rd Battalion were allowed within 200 metres of the German positions. The Germans returned to the Australians four of the five wounded and fifteen of the twenty-eight dead who were recovered.

The Australian War Memorial holds a painting by Dowie of the occasion, unfortunately, only the opless, back of Walter Tuit can be seen.

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/ART26654/

As the story goes, Walter stood on the from of the vehicle holding a red cross flag while it was driven into the danger zone. While there Walter collected intelligence of the German position which is held within the Australian War Memorial