A push to remember overlooked theatre of conflict

Updated April 23, 2013 15:50:36

There are calls for greater recognition of an overlooked theatre of conflict for Australian forces in World War Two.

Australian efforts in Greece, North Africa, the Pacific, South-East Asia and in British fighters and bombers are well known.

Yet, the Indian Ocean was the only area where Australians faced German and Japanese forces, as well as the French acting for the Vichy regime.

In recent years, the Indian Ocean's rim states have been receiving increased attention strategically and economically from Australia.

Now there is a push for a distinct medal or monument remembering those who served there from 1939-45.

John Wallis joined the navy as a young man and was made a stoker, serving on the corvettes Launceston, and Gawler, and on the cruiser HMAS Australia.

He says it is a forgotten theatre.

"It's an important area because the Japs were making progress in Burma and if they'd got through there and got into India and that sort of thing well, the oilfields in the Persian Gulf weren't too far away," he said.

Mr Wallis remembers a major encounter when he was on HMAS Launceston.

"They got a very strong contact on the Launceston, and then we depth-charged this area and eventually there was debris and oil and that come up," he said.

"Mind you this was a favoured ruse of the submarine people to let you think you'd damaged the thing but there was an area spread around nine miles.

"With the ASDIC, or sonar, they were 'pinging' the thing, to use the term, that is echo-sounding it, and they kept on going across and going across and the sub was perhaps laying thus, and we got one that went straight down there and you could see the sub laying over on its side.

"Anyhow we departed the area eventually but later they sent divers down and ascertained it was a Japanese submarine and it was the RO110."

When asked if if he ever felt in danger, Mr Wallis almost brushes off the question.

"I suppose everything's dangerous in wartime but it's not like you were taking a convoy back in the Mediterranean to Malta where you had dive-bombers coming overhead," he said.

"Submarines were probably our biggest problem and possibly mines although we didn't strike any mines."

Mr Wallis says his war experience was "pretty much routine stuff".

Facing danger

Bernie Edmondson served on the corvette HMAS Toowoomba throughout the war.

The Toowoomba patrolled waters along the east coast of Africa, and faced off against French forces at and around Madagascar.

"There were a lot of problems going on at the time with the Vichy French, they were cutting cables for telephones," he said.

"There was a big submarine operating there, a big French submarine, which had a seaplane in the hangar behind the conning tower, and that plane used to fly over Mombasa at different times," he said.

"They tried to trace it and where the call was coming from, to someone on shore who was getting in touch with it but they never did find that out."

After a refit at Durban, Mr Edmondson says HMAS Toowoomba headed for Colombo to be based there.

"We spent one night chasing a submarine, we probably got rid of most of our depth charges and about 5:00 am, the stern of this thing came up and then it went down but we never got it," he said.

"I think it was a gimmick but it did get a few ships, there's no doubt about that."

He says the Toowoomba crew also knew of the danger of German submarines.

"Probably lucky, is the way we put it," he said.

"We did know that they used to fuel at a free port just outside the Gulf.

"They had a system where they shot out bubbles and the ASDIC would pick the bubbles up and the submarine would be over there laughing at you.

"They would load the torpedo tubes with clothes and everything else, tub of oil or whatever to make you think you'd got it."

Bernie Edmondson also says he didn't have much trouble in the war.

Mr Edmondson believes the efforts of he and his comrades in the Indian Ocean have not received proper recognition.

"No it's definitely not, it's something that should be recognised, I reckon," he said.

Crucial routes

John Wallis and Bernie Edmondson are not out calling for new medals to be struck-they already have several decorations, and both men have the Burma Star.

Like many a veteran, they're typically modest when telling their war stories but they put their lives on the line to secure crucial supply routes to China, and to Allied troops in Burma.

Even when these men weren't shooting or being shot at, they were preventing conflict simply by being stationed at places like Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), or by protecting convoys.

Some are doing their best to ensure that men like John Wallis and Bernie Edmondson receive their due.

Defence analyst and military historian Serge DeSilva-Ranasinghe has made a submission to a parliamentary inquiry calling for a battle honour or a dedicated monument.

"There's not a lot of commemorations specific to the Indian Ocean as actually a campaign in World War Two," he said.

"You'll clearly see that Australia's participation in the campaigns include the battles for British Somaliland, you had the invasion of Iraq and Iran in the Second World War, then you had the Battle of Madagascar in 1942, The Battle Of Ceylon and Australian participation in the Burma campaign, the Battle for India as well.

"I think the sense of direct threat to Australia came from the north and hence the Pacific campaign took precedence in our national psyche.

"It's also the fact that WA was considered part of the south-west Pacific area so it falls under a different command structure therefore our perception is necessarily northward looking rather than Indian Ocean looking,

The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee is looking into future relationships between Australia and Indian Ocean nations so the submission calling for a monument or medal is slightly outside of the committee's terms of reference.

But, the committee's chair Alan Eggleston says a medal or dedicated memorial is worthy of consideration.

"One of the interesting things from Western Australia's point of view is the fact that we used to have Calatinas based at Crawley that flew across the Indian Ocean to what is now Sri Lanka, Colombo, and that was the route to Europe," he said.

"They brought out many senior military people, politicians and diplomats during the Second World War and our troops fought in all sorts of theatres in the Indian Ocean.

"I really do think that is something that should be given consideration by form of a medal or some other form of recognition."

It is expected that the committee, which is due to report next month, would make such a recommendation to Defence.

Topics: world-war-2, veterans, sri-lanka, perth-6000, madagascar

First posted April 23, 2013 09:27:17