Clik here to view.
Jimmy Catanach and Heather Ebbott
I was very privileged to visit the Shrine of Remembrance on 20 October 2016 to consult the James Catanach Collection as part of my PhD research on the responses to captivity of the Australian airmen of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The James Catanach Collection: musings on a couple of scrapbooks
I was very privileged to visit the Shrine of Remembrance on 20 October 2016 to consult the James Catanach Collection as part of my PhD research on the responses to captivity of the Australian airmen of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
‘How deeply we feel his loss’: Condolences to William Mercer Catanach, on the...
I was privileged to visit the Shrine of Remembrance on 20 October 2016 to consult the James Catanach Collection as part of my PhD research on the responses to captivity of the Australian airmen of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
‘So another Kriegie Xmas passes’: Christmas in Stalag Luft III
I recently read that handwritten Christmas cards are rapidly becoming scarcities. Emails, text messages and social media posts take precedence when exchanging festive greetings. I don’t have a smart...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cornflowers in Belaria
The simplest things can evoke a memory.Today I worked on 'setting the scene' for the men of Stalag Luft III: the history of camp, why the site was selected and the particular features that made it...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hell, haven or heaven? Reactions to Stalag Luft III.
I am always interested in how people cope with a difficult situation, and especially how they make the most of it. Take, for instance, the reactions of the men of Stalag Luft III to their new...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Name, rank and service number. POW interrogation in Dulag Luft.
I’ve been looking at what the Australians of Stalag Luft III went through during interrogation, and how they responded. Not everyone had a bad time of it, but a good many did, and here are the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A woman's response to captivity
A little musing given today is International Women's Day. More often than not, the impact of war on women is forgotten or airbrushed out of the usual sort of military book. My aviation biographies have...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: 'Stalag Luft III. An Official History of the 'Great Escape' POW Camp
Given my current research I have been avidly awaiting my copy of Stalag Luft III. An Official History of the 'Great Escape' POW Camp, the history of the British and Commonwealth compounds at Stalag...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Albert Hake and Paul Royle: Australians in the Great Escape.
On 20 March 2017, during the week of the 73rd anniversary of the Great Escape, I presented this talk to the Deakin Combined Probus Club.Two hundred men tried to escape from Stalag Luft III on the night...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kriegie Easter
Given today is Easter Sunday, and I spent the morning stuffing my face with chocolate cake, I wondered how the air force prisoners I am studying spent their Easters in captivity. Interestingly,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Every night about this time: A kriegie's wife writes.
It’s easy to forget that the wives, fiancées and girlfriends of prisoners of war had it just as rough as their menfolk, but in a different way, of course.I am currently going through the letters of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
'Ever remembered'. James Catanach, Anzac Day 1944
Jimmy Catanach had been a prisoner of war for almost seven months before unburdening himself to his brother, Bill, on 28 March 1943. It had been a long journey from Melbourne, where he had been born on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
William Henry Edwards, an Australian in Stalag Luft III.
One of Stalag Luft III's Australians in the RAF was William Henry Edwards, known as Bill to the family. Born on 18 October 1915, Bill grew up in Leichhardt (Sydney) NSW. He applied for and was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A shout-out to the kriegie tin bashers of Stalag Luft III
Tin bashers such as Tony Gordon, who was noted by Bill Fordyce as North Compound’s ‘official’ tin basher, played a key role in Stalag Luft III’s physical comfort. (Caricature of Tony Gordon, by Bill...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Kriegie Commandments
Over the last few months, I’ve been delving into the place of religion in helping the airmen prisoners of war in Stalag Luft III cope with captivity. Some men had profound faith which provided much...
View ArticleClik here to view.
‘I Wanted Wings’: Donald Duck, Prisoner of War
The wartime log books of the Australian airmen prisoners of Stalag Luft III have many commonalities. The same images, poems and quotes appear time and again. One illustration that had wide appeal was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
‘I miss you very very much’: Another Christmas apart.
Charlie Fry and Beryl Smith had known each other for five or six years when he embarked for the UK in July 1937.(Photo with application for Point Cook cadetship, NAA A9300, Fry, C.H.) A graduate of 20...
View ArticleClik here to view.
‘“For you the war is (not) over”: Active Disruption in the Barbed Wire...
From Balloons to Drones, a web-based forum which explores the development of air power from the earliest days of flight to now and the future, recently published‘“For you the war is (not) over”: Active...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Marking the Occasion: Birthdays in Captivity
As I flip through another brochure assuring me I am now eligible to join an active 55+ community, my thoughts turned from wondering whether I would have chocolate cake or scones for my festive morning...
View Article