Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

/collections/home-page-stories/october-revolution-and-wwi

http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/Veteran.aspx?serviceId=A&veteranId=443461

https://vwma.org.au/collections/home-page-stories/java-1942--blackforce-and-the-loss-of-hmas-perth

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1548868

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=8022428

http://aircrewremembered.com/cawthorne-philip.html

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R2408851

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1948447

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=3163793&S=1&R=0

http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/AutoSearch.asp?O=I&Number=8377041

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=8093153&isAv=N

https://rslvirtualwarmemorial.org.au/research/home-page-archives/good-news-from-home

https://vwma.org.au/collections/home-page-stories/conflict-and-social-change

https://vwma.org.au/collections/home-page-stories/interned--prince-alfonso-del-drago-in-south-australia

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1925623

https://vwma.org.au/collections/home-page-stories/the-lonely-anzac

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article79787981

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=7370686

https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/awm-media/collection/AWM2019.8.270/document/7384901.PDF

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=8855618&isAv=N

https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/awm-media/collection/RCDIG1047674/document/5635345.PDF

/collections/home-page-stories/shoebox-of-portraits

https://ww1austburialsuk.weebly.com/kensal-green--all-souls.html

https://aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=325044

SINK THE ‘TERGESTEA’ from an article published HERE - https://www.key.aero/article/38-squadrons-wellington-torpedo-bombers The afternoon of October 26 was fine, with good visibility and little cloud. Three crews of Wellington torpedo-bombers, the leader Flt Lt Wiggins in HX633, Plt Off R H Bertran in HF595, and Sgt Viles in HF912, were briefed on a desperate attempt to stop the Tergestea reaching the safety of Tobruk harbour. Flt Lt Wiggins, 25, was from Middleton, South Australia, where he had worked as an auctioneer. He had enlisted in the RAAF in November 1940, and after going through the Empire Air Training Scheme, was posted to 38 Squadron in North Africa. The unit’s Wellington bombers were armed with two torpedoes each, while some were radar equipped to locate and attack targets at night from very low level. It was a role described by Wiggins as ‘not for the faint-hearted’. That description was particularly apt for the mission on that fateful afternoon in October 1942. To evade interception by German fighters and keep below enemy radar, the plan was for the three aircraft to first fly due north out to sea for about 60 miles, trying to keep as low as 100ft. Then they were to turn west and fly approximately parallel to the coast until they reached position some 60 miles northeast of Tobruk. At that point the formation was to turn onto a southwest heading and fly directly towards Tobruk to take the enemy air defences by surprise. By making their attacking runs out of a darkening sky, it was hoped to catch the Tergestea before it could dock. At 1540hrs Flt Lt Wiggins led the trio of aircraft into the air and brought them down towards the waves as they sped north out into the Mediterranean. If their raid was successful, it would paralyse Rommel’s Panzerarmee Afrika. THE LAST CHANCE Helped by excellent work from his navigator, Wiggins spotted the Tergestea only a few miles from Tobruk. In the first dusk attack ever attempted by 38 Squadron, the three aircraft headed straight for the vessel a tanker/freighter carrying cargo that included 1,000 tons of petrol, and 1,000 tons of ammunition. Wiggins’ bombers came in with fading light behind them, whereas their target stood out against the sun setting in the west. There were many destroyers escorting the tanker, but they were taken completely by surprise. It was not until the aircraft were beginning their run less than two miles from their target that frantic signaling took place from the escorting warships to the tanker. Ignoring the flak, Wiggins held his strike force dead on course. It was the last chance for the RAF to sink the tanker before it reached Tobruk harbour and its anti-aircraft defences – a second bombing run without the element of surprise, and in the dark, would almost certainly be unsuccessful. All three Wellingtons dropped two torpedoes each at a distance of around 500- 600 yards from the target. Of the six torpedoes launched, three ran well, striking the Tergestea and causing an enormous explosion. After dropping his salvo Wiggins chose to take his climbing aircraft straight over the top of the Tergestea attracting the greatest concentration of anti-aircraft fire from the escort destroyers. Despite his bomber suffering multiple hits, Wiggins was able to maintain his escape flight beyond the range of the defending guns. Plt Off Bertran banked his Wellington away to starboard and received lighter anti-aircraft fire. The RAF crews observed a huge column of black smoke, surging up from the Tergestea to an estimated 3,000ft. After releasing its torpedoes, Sgt Viles’ aircraft was seen to stagger, probably from receiving fire from the destroyers, and was last observed breaking away to port. Both Wiggins and Bertran completed their return flights safely to base by 2200hrs. A search sortie that night reported that there was no sign of Viles’ Wellington nor of the Tergestea, which must have sunk. Nothing remained of the convoy except for the tanker Proserpina, now settling low in the water and still burning after the earlier attack. ROMMEL LEFT POWERLESS The same evening, unaware of the attack on the Tergestea, Rommel wrote to his wife Lucia that the loss of the Proserpina made the supply situation critical. The next day, after hearing of the confirmed loss of Tergestea and its fuel supplies, Rommel wrote to Lucia again – in near defeatist mood he doubted he would survive. Starved of fuel, running out of other supplies, and powerless to withstand the Eighth Army’s renewed attack in Operation Supercharge, Rommel ordered a general retreat on November 4

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1700153

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-18/arnold-forrester-kokoda-veteran-dies-aged-100/11974770

59_JOHN-DRURY-Help-from-Afar-The-Adoption-of-Dernancourt-by-Adelaide-after-World-War-I.pdf

http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/43945/LOCKWOOD,%20RICHARD%20JACK

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=3026930

https://rslvirtualwarmemorial.org.au/research/resource-library/enlistment-and-embarkation-wwii

http://members.optusnet.com.au/dacoutts/Thirty_missions_John_Coutts.htm

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=8018099

https://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1522177/

/collections/home-page-stories/remembering-corporal-norley

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R2238376

https://aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=111882

/collections/home-page-stories/echoes-of-remembrance

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=5531409&isAv=N

http://aircrewremembered.com/bennett-kenneth.html

http://stories.anmm.gov.au/ae1/the-search-for-ae1/

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=8094244

https://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=sabmd&id=I344331

http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1458472/BROWN,%20ALEXANDER

http://aircrewremembered.com/langlois-eric.html

https://aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=195655

http://www.saam.org.au/south-australian-airmen-of-the-great-war/

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/168463400?searchTerm=n.%20j.%20thompson&searchLimits=l-title=828

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=1801789

https://emhs.org.au/person/hall/may_isabel