Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Paul was born in Sedan on the 12th May 1909 to Harry (Carl August Herman) and Caroline Auguste Anna Traeger Pfeiffer. At the time, Sedan was a busy railway town, settled in the mid 1800’s by German settlers. Paul’s father, Harry worked for the Lands Department, retiring in 1940 after 18 years of service.
With the outbreak of WWII, Paul, a plumber, enlisted at Berri, listing his wife, Connie as his next of kin. Paul had just turned 31 so was one of the older men to enlist in June ‘40. He was well known in the community and was nicknamed ‘Dank’ probably because of his occupation.
Murray Farquhar, in an early book written about ‘Diver’ Derrick, a Riverland young man, who also served with the 2/48th Battalion, commented that “Two companies, A and B, would include many members from Waikerie, Barmera, Berri and Renmark. The Todd brothers, Frank and Orville; Ike Jenkinson; Dank Pfeiffer; Snagger Reid and Bill Westleigh joined Tom Derrick and Bill Milde on that same frantic train ride to Adelaide.” He added “In June 1940 those train trips to the city were very exciting. Huge crowds farewelled the boys.”
On arrival, the new enlistees were housed in the Motor Pavilion of what is now the Royal Adelaide Showgrounds. There the ‘beds’ for the new enlistees were straw filled hessian on wooden pallets. The young men were later given kitbags with their names stencilled on them. Paul was allocated to the newly formed 2/48th Battalion with the number SX7242.
On subsequent days, the battalion headed to Woodside in the Adelaide Hills for preliminary training. Paul found out early how army rules worked. He went AWOL for half a day at the start of September and was immediately fined and received an admonishment. Following leave in October, Paul and his fellow members of the 2/48th Battalion then embarked on the Stratheden for the Middle East, on the 10th April ’41, arriving on the 15th May. The young men then marched to a Staging Camp until July before returning to their battalion. During those early days in the Middle East, besides regular army duties was the need to quickly adapt to the locals as well as soon being involved in intense conflicts where the reputation of the 2/48th Battalion for being the most highly decorated but decimated battalion was earned. He was to become one of the famed Rats of Tobruk.
In July the following year, Paul was wounded in action with a gunshot wound to his right arm and his thorax and was evacuated to hospital. At the time, his battalion was undertaking a change-over in the Salient. They came under heavy fire from machine guns, mortars and artillery. 25-year-old Private Jack Supple, SX6108 was killed in this encounter and several others were wounded, including Paul. Back home, the Chronicle reported those names, with the Murray Pioneer also carrying Paul’s photo and a caption that he had been wounded. It was not until the end of August that he was finally able to re-join his battalion.
In January ’42 Paul contracted a severe, painful and itchy rash, (psoriasis), which was probably exacerbated by the desert conditions. He continued to receive treatment for the remainder of the month, finally re-joining the 2/48th in mid-February. By July, Paul was promoted to Lance Corporal but at the end of October was again wounded in action with a gunshot wound, this time to his left arm. He was fortunate to survive.
That month, Montgomery had ordered the 9th Battalion to attack northward. This included an all-out attack on the strategically positioned Trig 29. Conditions were ever-changing and the fighting continuous. Paul’s 2/48th Battalion prepared for the second battle of El Alamein which began on October 23rd. The evening was described by John Glenn in ‘Tobruk to Tarakan’ as ‘an occasional burst from a machine gun disturbed the night of 24th October. Nevertheless, it was a busy time for the tired men. Little or no sleep could be had. A hot meal sent forward after dark was quickly swallowed. There was no time for yarning. Defences had to be improved, more digging and wiring done, and patrols sent out.’ He later added that ‘the 2/48th had stirred up a real hornets’ nest.’ On that night alone 9 of the Battalion were killed and 20 wounded in action. Of these 16 were from South Australia and the remainder from Western Australia.
Glenn explains they were ‘running into particularly stiff opposition to the west of the Trig point. It was only after hard fighting, with heavy casualties on both sides, that they were able to consolidate on their objective. Gradually the platoon, small in number to start with, was being whittled away and those remaining were being forced to go to ground.’ At the end of the night the battalion had just 41 men still standing. John Glenn best summarised the soldiers’ efforts. ‘Truly it can be said of these men, “They fought themselves and their enemy to a standstill until flesh and blood could stand no more, then they went on fighting.”
Kenneth Slessor the Official War Correspondent also wrote an article which was reproduced in several newspapers. This detailed the battle of El Alamein at the end of October. Referring to the outstanding work of the 2/48th Battalion on that occasion, Slessor wrote: ‘Within one week, in the last great battle of El Alamein, two men of the 2/48th Battalion won the Victoria Cross. Sgt. Bill Kibby, VC, and Pte. Percy Gratwick, VC, lie under the sand in soldiers’ graves today. Australia is far away over the rim of the world, and no one comes near the wooden crosses painted with their names except the wandering Bedouin and the little lizards of the desert.
‘But their battalion is rich in its pride and in its memories. They will never be forgotten. From the stories of their mates, those reluctant-tongued soldiers who fixed bayonets with them in the great offensive which drove Rommel from Egypt, come portraits of these two men in action which no other source could furnish.’
Back home the November issue of the Chronicle carried an extensive list of the cost to the soldiers involved in Paul’s battalion. SX11130 Pte. Ernest W S. Moore from Nth. Kensington and SX13756 Pte. Edward G. Davis, from Salisbury were killed in action. SX8096 A-Cpl. Henry D. Laughton, from King's Park was listed as Dangerously Wounded. Many others were listed as wounded in action including SX10316 Mjr. Geoffrey S. Edmunds, Toorak; SX9064 Lt. Hugh F. Treloar, Adelaide; SX8402 Pte. Arnold R. Dolan, Renmark; SX6910 Pte. Hoard Major, Woodville; SX6832 Pte. Walter J. Fennell, Berri; SX13701 Pte. Frank M. Lowe, Whyalla; SX7609 Pte. Colin H. Rickard, Penola; SX7411 Pte. Walter H. J. Hay, Murray Bridge; SX7122 Pte. Percival G. Bartholomew, Narrung; SX11828 Pte. Roy H. Winter, Thebarton; SX7242 Pte. P. A. Pfeiffer, Berri; SX7130 Pte. Eric A. Goold, Salisbury; SX6829 L-Cpl. Clement R. P. Billing, Pinnaroo; SX10501 Pte. Hedley K. Bonython, Burnside; SX7591 Cpl. Jack S. Bowers, Unley; SX7666 Pte. Eric J. Chuck, Kalangadoo; SX8810 Pte. Havard (Howard) R. Crabb, Whyalla; SX13683 Pte. Sydney L. Farrell Broken Hill: SX7657 Pte. Myers A. Geraghy, Pt . Macdonnell; SX7266 Sgt. Neil Gilchrist, Balaklava; SX9376 Pte. Harold H. Gogel, Moorook; SX11131 Pte. H. N. Headon, Adelaide; SX7642 Pte Donald J. Kerin, Burra; SX8837 Pte. Edgar V. W. Lynch, Adelaide; SX9445 Pte. Lawerence H. Mickan, Cummins; SX7025 A-L/Cpl. Paul B. Morrissey King's Park; SX9530 Pte. David R. Munn, Colonel Light Gardens: SX5030 Pte. Eric R. Olds, Adelaide; SX8239 Pte. Colin R. Parsons, Minlaton; SX8904 Pte. Keith Player, Warooka; SX6915 Cpl. Glyn H. Pope, Cheltenham; SX13012 Pte. Jack Ralla, Brompton; SX7410 Cpl. Robert F. G. Ranford, Davington; SX14283 Pte. John D Seebohm, Tantanoola; SX11302 Pte. Walter Sharp, Magill; SX7206 Pte. Ronald. C. Smith, Helmsdale; SX6894 Pte. Thomas V. Trish, Mile End; SX7221 Pte. William H. Vivian, Albert Park; SX7689 Pte. John E. Wakeman, Robe; SX11160 Pte. Samuel E. Welsh, Adelaide and SX7808 Sgt, Jack K. Weston, Appila.
The Advertiser also carried a brief article, sharing that ‘Mrs. P. A. Pfeiffer, of Berri, has been notified that her husband, L/Cpl Paul Alwin Pfeiffer, has been wounded in action in Egypt. L/Cpl. Pfeiffer enlisted in June, 1940, and left for overseas in November of the same year. He saw service in Tobruk before being transferred to Syria and then Egypt. He was wounded once before.’
He and his fellow 2/48th Battalion were finally able to leave the Middle East and return to Australia via Melbourne, arriving on the 25th February ’43. Paul headed home on leave in March to spend precious time with Connie and his family.
Training in Queensland followed as the battalion prepared to face a very different enemy in the tropical conditions of New Guinea. He arrived in Milne Bay in August ’43 but continued to be affected by the chest wound and was again hospitalised. With ill health continuing to affect his lungs, Paul left New Guinea for Australia via Brisbane. He was classified as being able to carry out duties which required restricted medical fitness.
By March ‘44, Paul was one of several local soldiers home on leave from New Guinea. He was finally discharged 14th June ’44.
Connie and Paul welcomed their daughter, Margaret Lee in August, 46 who was born in Berri.
Aged 84 Paul died on the 15th March ’94. He was buried in the Barmera Garden of Memory Cemetery in Section B D 20. Following his death, Connie applied to join Legacy, to have time with others whose husbands had also seen the worst of war. Also aged 84, she died five years after Paul, on the 27th April ’99 and rests with him.
Researched and written by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes SX8133 2/48th Battalion.