* The Second AIF’s pay was notoriously poor. An unmarried private made less than the dole, but he did get food and shelter.
* No amount of research has established a name for this wild captain. Ralph did not, or would not, recall his name.
* At this point still called ‘the New Zealand Division’ of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force.
* He never committed this detail to writing, nor was any documentation found during research.
* The song also appears at the end of a railway journey in Primo Levi’s Auschwitz account. There a band used it during inductions of new victims to the camp.
* The north-east region of Prekmurje was annexed by Hungary. The Sava was not the exact border – Germany took a buffer zone a few kilometres south of the river.
* They were dubbed ‘Wends’. Ironically just an old German world for Slav.
* Officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Slovenia (NOV in POS)
* Amorous relations between Western POWs and Germans, if discovered, resulted in a prison sentence for both parties. See Raffael Scheck’s Love Between Enemies for details.
* 100 pfennigs constituted one Reichsmark.
* His birth certificate lists a date of birth a year younger than that on his service record.
* The death toll was, on average, twenty-six per day.
* Sometimes hard to tell the difference between tactical retreat and running away.
* Slobodan Berberski and Žarko Jovanović, for example.
* Though families of known Partisans were now deported, not to Serbia or Croatia, but into the Reich.
* Though it’s not clear what the Gorenjska Partisans had done to deserve him.
* Technically, it was a ‘Central European Republic under Austrian leadership’ they referenced, not Austria-Hungary.
* Senior prisoners were first put on trial, but proceedings were by no measure fair.
* The division numbering included all the Yugoslav Partisans; there weren’t fourteen Partisan divisions just in Slovenia.
* Roughly equivalent to sergeant.
* Zbor was a Yugoslav fascist organization whose Serbian members had closely collaborated with the Nazis in Belgrade.
* Conjugated as Domobranci when referring to the actual soldiers, for simplicity we have used Domobranstvo when referring to both soldiers and organization.
* Day rate was 4.02 Reichsmarks per day. Fifty-six of the men had been working for two and a half years, another thirty for four months. This puts total earnings at just under 30,000 Reichsmarks. A considerable sum would have already been expended on excursions, food, and in early years of captivity on inflated prices for goods.
* That the arrival of Ashely and Peterson led Lindsay to signal MI9 his intention to stage a rescue is not confirmed, but is the most likely explanation.
* Not to be confused with Ivan ‘Efenka’ Kovačič, another Partisan officer of the same name.
* Dates from this point onwards are taken from the diary of British escapee Kenneth Dutt, written during the escape.
* One of these was probably Alma Karlin, the Austrian-Slovenian writer and one of the first women to solo circumnavigate the globe. She had been an early prisoner of the Slavic Section of Stalag XVIIID before later eluding the German authorities.
* Unsurprisingly, Ralph never committed this detail to writing.
* According to some accounts Stane was killed by a PIAT spigot mortar bomb, but the principle remains the same.
* Forces included the 13th and 19th SS-Police Regiments and the 18th Reserve Gebirgsjäger Division.
* The associate was Lieutenant Edward Parks. The works of Austrian historian Peter Pirker have more information about the MI6 missions in the area.
* The most infamous were the ‘Nagode’ trials targeting resistance members who had left the OF over opposition to the Communists, and the ‘Dachau’ trials targeting Party members who survived concentration camps.
* NSW Police recorded an RSL representative attended meetings of Lyenko’s ‘50 Club’, which NSW Police described as an ‘Antisemitic and extreme right’ organization.
Appendix: The Escapees
The authors have attempted to contact the families of all the escapees, and all those who assisted the escape – however, this was not always possible. If your relatives were involved, or you have further information on the escape, please email crowtalk@thecrowsflight.com.
Australians:
1. Stanley Broad, 2/15th Battalion, QX8000.
2. Leslie Bullard, 2/6th Battalion, VX3549.
3. William G. Bunston, 1st Australian Army Postal Corps, VX36694.
4. Kenneth G. Carson, 2/4th Battalion, NX9186.
5. Ralph F. Churches, 2/48th Battalion, SX5286.
6. John E. Douglas, 2/4th Battalion NX26868.
7. Donald Funston, 2/32nd Battalion VX29769.
8. Walter Gossner, 2/15th Battalion, PX10.
9. Alan H. Mills, 6th Australian Divisional Supply Column, NX1499.
10. Kenneth B. Rubie, 2/4th Battalion, NX5373.
11. Arthur D. Shields, 2/8th Battalion, VX29281.
12. Arnold E. Woods, 2/8th Battalion, VX6534.
British:
13. Leonard F. Austin, Royal Army Service Corps, VX41137.
14. Robert F. Barrs, Royal Engineers, 2013646.
15. Winston G. Belcher, Royal Engineers, 2003566.
16. Frank Brooker, Royal Artillery, 788115.
17. Joseph Caddick, Royal Artillery, 845921.
18. Leonard Caulfield, Royal Artillery, 830622.
19. Reginald Church, Royal Pioneer Corps, 2112047.
20. Samuel J. Copestick, Royal Engineers, 2093306.
21. Leslie G. Dale, Royal Corps of Signals, 2594702.
22. Percy Dean, Royal Corps of Signals, 2332410.
23. Kenneth Dutt, Royal Corps of Signals, 2333306.
24. Patrick Egan, Royal Engineers, 1942752.
25. Joseph Ferrznolo, 4th Hussars, 7910104.
26. Ewart A. Floyd, Royal Engineers, 1876919.
27. George E. French, Royal Army Service Corps, S/149447.
28. Ernest Gillbanks, Royal Horse Artillery, 832756.
29. William Greenslade, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, 1054772.
30. Daniel Griffin, Royal Engineers, 1894609.
31. Francis Gunn, Royal Horse Artillery, 902867.
32. Denis Haggerty, Royal Horse Artillery, 936966.
33. Andrew P. Hamilton, Royal Engineers, 1899026.
34. Leonard Hague, Royal Engineers, 1990171.
35. Robert Healey, Royal Artillery, 890192.
36. Harry Hughes, Royal Army Service Corps, T/111077.
37. Allen Hurden, Royal Engineers, 1879228.
38. Bertie D. Hutcheon, Royal Engineers, 2068083.
39. Robert Inglis, Royal Engineers, 1989155.
40. Walter Lacy, Royal Engineers, 1987390.
41. Leslie A. R. Laws, Royal Engineers, 2195978.
42. William E. G. Lloyd, Royal Army Service Corps, T/67908.
43. Donald W. Luckett, Royal Engineers, 1870492.
44. Frederick Maltby, Royal Engineers, 2002697.
45. Francis Marshall, Royal Engineers, 2005125.
46. Walter Martin, Royal Horse Artillery, 890656.
47. Frederick Mazingham, Royal Artillery, 1605015.
48. James McNally, Royal Horse Artillery, 877182.
49. John H. Mooney, Royal Horse Artillery, 898620.
50. Thomas Oddie, Royal Artillery, 1463570.
51. Clifford J. Orange, Royal Engineers, 2119798.
52. Ronald Pattinson, Middlesex Yeomanry, 2344137.
53. Richard Pennels, Royal Engineers, 1874271.
54. Joseph Perry, Royal Engineers, 2114485.
55. Edward Pool, Royal Horse Artillery, 1559608.
56. Stanley Reed, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, 5436591.
57. James Robson, Royal Engineers, 2077642.
58. Harry Rotherham, Royal Horse Artillery, 908045.
59. Frederick Russell, Royal Artillery, 1533418.
60. Allan Salisbury, Special Air Service, 3604977.
61. Robert Scoon, Royal Engineers, 1989052.
62. Clifford O. Smith, Royal Army Service Corps, S/126379.
63. Robert Swan, 4th Battalion Green Howards, 4752024.
64. John Thompson, Northumberland Hussars, 558139.
65. John Thomson, Royal Horse Artillery, 937049.
66. Alfred Valentine, Royal Engineers, 1905696.
67. Cyril Vickers, Royal Corps of Signals, 2331677.
68. Harold Warwick, Northumberland Hussars, 324627.
69. George Williams, Royal Artillery, 1568921.
70. Alwyne Wilson, Northumberland Hussars, 1557854.
71. Ronald V. Wollaston, Royal Artillery, 904582.
French:
72. Joseph Barre, forced labourer from Angers, Main-et-Loire.
73. André Bayol, forced labourer from Maillane, Bouches-du-Rhône.
74. Pierre Belin, POW status unknown, from Dijon, Côte-d’Or.
75. Orlando Businelli, forced labourer from Biganos, Gironde.
76. Marcel Chabaud, forced labourer from Saint-Raphaël, Var.
77. Albert Conseil, 100th Infantry Regiment, from Calais, 2945.
78. Marcel Duval, forced labourer from Terrasson-Lavilledieu, Dordogne.
79. Marcel Erre, POW status unknown, hometown unknown.
80. André Hirondelle, forced labourer from Châtillon-sur-Seine, Côte-d’Or.
81. Etienne Karne, forced labourer from Pfaffenheim, Haut-Rhin.
82. Paul Lafargue, forced labourer from Monclar-de-Quercy, Tarn-et-Garonne.
83. Jacques Leretour, forced labourer from Rouen, Normandy.
84. Fortuné Lillamande, POW status unknown, from Maillane, Bouches-du-Rhône.
85. François Marquier, POW status unknown, from Alzon, Gard.
86. Jean Pasquelin, POW status unknown, from Montreuil, Paris.
87. Charles Rouges, forced labourer from Cazes-Mondenard, Tarn-et-Garonne.
88. Jean Aroman Saint, forced labourer from Montauban, Tarn-et-Garrone.
89. Georges Sanz, 407th Pioneer Regiment, from Rue Guénot, Paris.
90. Jean Verleau, 70th Engineer Regiment, from Saint Dénis de Gilles.
91. Adelson Waroux, 33rd Infantry Regiment, from Ancône, Drôme.
New Zealanders:
92. Lindsay W. C. Anderson, 24th Battalion, 24990.
93. James Hoffman, 7th Anti-Tank Regiment, 29086.
94. Philip Hoffman, 18th Battalion, 29673.
95. Alfred G. Lloyd, 25th Battalion, 33528.
96. Robert C. McKenzie, 26th Battalion, 15569.
97. Colin J. Ratcliffe, 19th Battalion, 4785.
98. Griffin M. Rendell, 24th Battalion, 24255.
99. Phillip G. Tapping, 25th Battalion, 31727.
100. Henare Turangi, 28th Battalion, 26072.
Notes
1: Setting the Stage
1 Ralph Frederick Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, No. 1094, interview, 1 December 2003, part 1/10
2 Peter Morton, ‘Adelaide’, SA History Hub, History Trust of South Australia, 13 January 2015, https://sahistoryhub.history.sa.gov.au/places/adelaide
3 Wendy Lowenstein, Weevils in the Flour: An Oral Record of the 1930s Depression in Australia, Hyland House: South Yarra, 1978, p. 14
4 Colin Steel in ibid., p. 35
5 Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, part 2/10
2: Becoming a Soldier
1 Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, part 2/10
2 Ronte Churches, interview, 21 July 2021
3 Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, part 3/10
3: Greece
1 Craig Stockings and Elanor Hancock, Swastika Over the Acropolis: Re-interpreting the Nazi Invasion of Greece in World War II, Brill: Leiden, 2013, p. 37
2 Ibid., p. 62
3 ‘335 Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs to the Prime Minister of New Zealand, 25 February 1941’, in Documents Relating to New Zealand’s Participation in the Second World War 1939–45: Volume 1, Historical Publications Branch: Wellington, 1949
4 Michael Tyquin, Greece: February to April 1941, Australian Army Campaign Series 13, Big Sky Publishing: Sydney, 2014, p. 45
5 Stockings and Hancock, Swastika Over the Acropolis, p. 51
6 Alexandros Papagos, The Battle of Greece, 1940–1941, trans. Pat Eliascos, J. M. Sczacikis ‘Alpha’ Editions: Athens, 1949, p. 309
7 Andrew Cunningham in James Goldrick, ‘Cunningham: Matapan, 1941’, in Great Battles of the Royal Navy as Commemorated in the Gunroom, Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, eds. Eric Grove, Arms and Armour: London, 1994, p. 203
8 ‘Yugoslavia Joins the Axis Powers. And Then They Don’t’, World War Two, directed by Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson, Bernried am Starnberger See: Onlion Entertainment GmbH, Germany, 2020
9 Maria Hill, ‘The Australians in Greece and Crete: A Study of an Intimate Wartime Relationship’, thesis for PhD in History, Australian Defence Force Academy, University of New South Wales, Canberra, 2008, p. 124
10 Ibid., p. 116
11 Howard Greville, Prison Camp Spies: Intelligence Gathering Behind the Wire, Australian Military History Publications: Loftus, 1998, p. vi
12 Sydney Fairbain Rowell, Full Circle, Melbourne University Press: Carlton, 1974, p. 68
4: Debacle
1 Stockings and Hancock, Swastika Over the Acropolis, p. 159
2 Thomas Blamey in Ivan D. Chapman, Iven G. Mackay: Citizen and Soldier, Melway Publishing: Melbourne, 1975, p. 222
3 Keith Stewart in ibid.
4 Rowell, Full Circle, p. 72
5 David Horner, General Vasey’s War, Melbourne University Press: Carlton, 1992, p. 101
6 Norman D. Carlyon, I Remember Blamey, Macmillan Co. of Australia: Melbourne, 1980, p. 43
7 Rowell, Full Circle, p. 76
8 David Horner, ‘Britain and the Campaign in Greece and Crete in 1941’, National Institute for Defence Studies 2013 International Forum of War History: Proceedings (2013), p. 40.
9 Stockings and Hancock, Swastika Over the Acropolis, p. 402
10 W. G. McClymont, To Greece, Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945, Historical Publications Branch: Wellington, 1945, p. 400
11 AWM54 534/3/4, ‘Anzac Corps, Operation Order No. 2 – The Withdrawal from Greece of Anzac Corps (April 1941)’
12 Horner, General Vasey’s War, p. 104
13 Maitland Wilson in Carlyon, I Remember Blamey, p. 46
14 Ibid., p. 47
5: Stragglers
1 McClymont, To Greece, p. 401
2 A. W. Beasley, Zeal and Honour: The Life and Times of Bernard Freyberg, Winter Productions: Wellington, 2015, p. 6
3 Gavin Long, Greece, Crete, and Syria, Australian War Memorial: Canberra, 1953, p. 152
4 Ibid.
5 B883-QX4141, ‘Gaston Renard Charles Service Record’
6 McClymont, To Greece, p. 417
7 Peter Ewer, Forgotten Anzacs: The Campaign in Greece 1941, Scribe Publications: Brunswick, 2016, p. 278
8 Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, part 2/10
9 Ibid., part 3/10
10 AWM52-1/5/13/17, ‘Reports on Evacs from S and T Beaches During Period 24–28 April, 1941’, p. 1
11 Robert Kimber, Walking Under Fire: The 1941 Greek Campaign of Major Bernard O’Loughlin, AIF, Avonmore Books: Kent Town, 2018, p. 109
12 Long, Greece, p. 170
13 Kimber, Walking Under Fire, p. 175
14 McClymont, To Greece, p. 423
15 AWM52-1/5/13/17, p. 3
6: Rowing to Crete
1 Ralph Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
2 McClymont, To Greece, p. 443
3 Hill, ‘Australians in Greece and Crete’, p. 235
4 Ibid., p. 144
5 Carlyon, I Remember Blamey, p. 45
6 J. B. Stuart in McClymont, To Greece, p. 121
7 Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
7: Captive
1 AWM254-123, ‘Interrogation Report on Seven Prisoners of War who Escaped from German Hands in 1046 G. W. Maribor’
2 Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, part 3/10
3 Ibid.
4 Paul Rea, Voices from the Fortress: The Extraordinary Stories of Australia’s Forgotten Prisoners of War, ABC Books: Sydney, 2007, p. 36
5 Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
6 Ewer, Forgotten Anzacs, p. 295
7 Long, Greece, p. 180
8 Mike Carlton, Cruiser, Random House Australia: Sydney, 2010, p. 255
9 Long, Greece, p. 180
10 Ewer, Forgotten Anzacs, p. 296
11 Carlton, Cruiser, p. 260
12 Ibid., p. 298
8: The Corinth Cage
1 Francina Flemming, A P.O.W.’s Letters: Life, Love, and Resilience, Francina Flemming: Banora Point, 2019, p. 41
2 Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
3 James Crossland, Britain and the International Committee of the Red Cross, Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, 2014, p. 113
4 George Morley, Escape from Stalag 18a, Meni Publishing and Binding: Cranbourne, 2006, p. 11
5 Peter Monteath, P.O.W.: Australian Prisoners of War in Hitler’s Reich, Pan Macmillan Australia: Sydney, 2011, p. 102
6 Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
7 Thomas Stout, Medical Services in New Zealand and the Pacific, Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945, War History Branch: Wellington, 1956, p. 105
8 Barney Roberts, A Kind of Cattle, Australian War Memorial and William Collins Pty: Sydney, 1985, p. 35
9 Roberts, Cattle, p. 105
10 Greville, Prison Camp Spies, p. 9
11 Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
12 Greville, Prison Camp Spies, p. 17
13 Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
14 Ibid.
15 Time Ghost, 091: Invasion of Crete: A Bloody Mess – WW2 – May 23rd 1941, www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqv3IILkIqQ
16 Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
17 Time Ghost, 091: Invasion of Crete
18 Crossland, Red Cross, p. 82
9: Surviving to Thessaloniki
1 Monteath, P.O.W., p. 16
2 Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
3 Stout, Medical Services, p. 117
4 Roberts, Cattle, p. 42
5 Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
6 Stout, Medical Services, p. 117
7 Primo Levi, If This is a Man, Horwitz: London, 1963, p. 60
8 Crossland, Red Cross, p. 107
9 Monteath, P.O.W., p. 109
10 Charles Granquist, A Long Way Home: One POW’s Story of Escape and Evasion During WWII, Big Sky Publishing, Newport: 2010, p. 74
11 Monteath, P.O.W., p. 108
12 Stout, Medical Services, p. 110
13 Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
14 Granquist, Long Way Home, p. 76
15 Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
10: The Train to Maribor
1 Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
2 Monteath, P.O.W., p. 109
3 Roberts, Cattle, p. 45
4 Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7 Granquist, Long Way Home, p. 75
8 Monteath, P.O.W., p. 110
9 Henry Steilberg in Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
11: Occupation
1 Ernst L. Presseisen, ‘Prelude to Barbarossa: Germany and the Balkans 1940–41’, Journal of Modern History, 32 (1960), p. 369
2 Biljana Radivojević and Goran Penev, ‘Demographic Losses on Serbia in the First World War and their Long Term Consequences’, Economic Annals, 59: 203 (2014), p. 42
3 R. L. Knéjévitch, ‘Prince Paul, Hitler, and Salonika’, Royal Institute of International Affairs, 27: 1 (1951), p. 40
4 Michael R. Barefield, ‘Overwhelming Force, Indecisive Victory: The German Invasion of Yugoslavia 1941’, United States Army Command and General Staff College Monograph, 1993, p. 22
5 Ladislav Bevc, Liberal Forces in Twentieth Century Yugoslavia: Memoirs of Ladislav Bevc, Peter Lang: New York, 2007, p. 133
6 Gerhart Feine in Helga Horiak Harriman, ‘Slovenia as an Outpost of the Third Reich’, MA dissertation, Wells College, Aurora, 1969, p. 23
7 Ibid., p. 43
8 Adolf Hitler in Gregor Joseph Kranjc, To Walk with the Devil: Slovene Collaboration and the Axis Occupation, 1941–1945, University of Toronto Press: Toronto, 2013, p. 54
9 FO 536/6/3159/42, Miha Krek to George Rendel, p. 5
10 Erhard Wetzel, Dokument No. 2 (NG-2325), 27 April 1942, reprinted in ‘Generalplan Ost’, Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 6: 3 (1958), pp. 297–9
11 Harriman, ‘Outpost’, p. 13
12 Tone Kregar and Aleksander Žižek, Okupacija v 133 Slikah: Celje 1941–1945. Muzej novojše zgodovine: Celje, 2006, p. 70
13 Tomaž Teropšič, Štajerska vplamenih: Taktika, orožje in oprema štirih vojsk na Štajerskem v drugi svetovni vojni, Posavski Musej: Brežice, 2012, p. 42
14 Zorica Petrović, ‘The Roman Catholic Church and Clergy in the Nazi Fascist Era on Slovenian Soil’, Athens Journal of History, 4: 3 (2018), p. 238
15 Harriman, ‘Outpost’, p. 52
16 Galeazzo Ciano, The Ciano Diaries 1939–1943: The Complete Unabridged Diaries of Count Galeazzo Ciano, the Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs, 1936–1943, ed. Hugh Gibson, Doubleday & Company Inc: Garden City, 1946, p. 344
17 Božo Repe, ‘The Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation’, in Jože Pirjevec and Božo Repe (eds.), Resistance, Suffering, Hope: The Slovene Partisan Movement 1941–1945, trans. Breda Biščk and Manca Gašperšišč, National Committee of Union of Societies of Combatants of the Slovene National Liberation Struggle: Ljubljana, 2008, p. 37
18 Slovenski Poročevalec, 20 September 1941
12: All-You-Can-Eat Potatoes
1 Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
2 Roberts, Cattle, p. 53
3 Ibid.
4 Rea, Voices from the Fortress, p. 55
5 FO 916/25, Stalag XVIIID 1941, Red Cross Report, 21 July 1941, p. 1
6 Geneva Convention 1929, Section II, Chapter 1, Article 27
7 Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
8 Ibid.
9 Kregar and Žižek, Okupacija v 133 Slikah, p. 70
10 Roberts, Cattle, p. 61
11 Ibid., p. 67
12 Ibid., p. 68
13 Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
14 Ibid. and Roberts, Cattle, p. 56
15 Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
16 E. Stephenson, ‘Experiences of a Prisoner of War: World War 2 in Germany’, Australian Military Medicine, 9: 1 (2000), p. 30
17 John S. Bratton, ‘One Man’s War: Letters 1939–1945’, letter of 6 August 1941, from www.stalag-xviii-a.com
18 Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
19 Donald William Luckett, private papers, E. M. Thornton to Donald Luckett, 7 April 1944
13: Farmhand
1 Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
2 Daniela Münkel, Nationalsozialistiche Agrarpolitik und Bauernalltag, Campus: Frankfurt am Main, 1996, p. 170
3 Walter Steilberg in Ralph Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1986
4 Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
5 Frau Barta in Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1986
6 Ibid.
7 Piter Troch, ‘Education and Yugoslav Nationhood in Interwar Yugoslavia – Possibilities, Limitations, and Interactions with Other National Ideas’, PhD thesis, University of Gent, 2012, p. 92
8 Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1986
9 Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, part 5/10
10 FO 916/25, Stalag XVIIID 1941, Red Cross Report, 26 December 1941, p. 4
11 Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1986
14: Resistance
1 Tone Ferenc, ‘Wehrmannschaft: v Boju Proti Narodnoosvobodilni Vojski na Stajerskem’, Contributions to Contemporary History, 2 (1958), pp. 83, 86
2 Teropšič, Štajerska vplamenih, p. 154
3 Ferenc, ‘Wehmannschaft’, p. 89
4 Damijan Guštin, ‘The Partisan Army – Armed Resistance in Slovenia During World War II’, in Jože Pirjevec and Božo Repe (eds.), Resistance, Suffering, Hope: The Slovene Partisan Movement 1941–1945, trans. Breda Biščk and Manca Gašperšišč, National Committee of Union of Societies of Combatants of the Slovene National Liberation Struggle: Ljubljana, 2008, p. 51
5 Friedrich Rainer – Gauleiter von Kärnten, ‘Wandzeitung: Eine wichtige Feststellung’, 1942. With thanks to Luka Kolbl and his private collection
6 Amedeo Osti Guerrazzi, The Italian Army in Slovenia: Strategies of Antipartisan Repression, 1941–1943, trans. Elizabeth Burke and Anthony Mahanlahti, Palgrave Macmillan: New York, 2013, p. 37
7 Ibid., pp. 27, 37
8 Peter Starič, My Life in Totalitarianism 1941–1991: The Unusual Career of an Electronics Engineer, Xlibris Publishers: Bloomington, 2012, p. 57
9 Vida Deželak Barič, ‘Participation, Role and Position of Slovenian Women in World War II Resistance Movement’, Qualestoria. Rivista di Storia Contemporanea, 43: 2 (2015), p. 151
10 James Caffin, Partisan – John Denvir New Zealand Corporal Yugoslav Brigadier, Harper Collins: Auckland, 1945, pp. 76, 86
11 Teodora Just, ‘Partizanska Intendantska Služba Na Štajerskem Med NOB’, thesis, University of Ljubljana, 2008, p. 4
12 Vittorio Ambrosio in Guerrazzi, Italian Army, p. 39
13 Ibid., p. 53
14 Caffin, Partisan, p. 97
15 Guerrazzi, Italian Army, p. 54
15: Thoughts of Escape
1 Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, part 5/10
2 Ibid.
3 Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
4 Ibid.
16: The Extermination Camp
1 Lara Iva Dreu, ‘Stalag XVIIID (306) – Nacistično Taborišče Za Sovjetske Vojne Ujetnike v Mariboru’, Retrospektive, 3: 1 (2020), p. 38
2 Alan Slocombe, ‘A Prisoner’s Tale Retold: Chapter 1’, BBC WW2 People’s War, www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/81/a6955581.shtml
3 Alexander M. Connor, photograph collection, Australian War Memorial, ‘1941. Russians Captured by German Army in 1941’, item no. P00092.094
4 Dreu, ‘Stalag XVIIID’, p. 38
5 Janez Ujčič in STA, ‘Russian Ambassador Lays Wreath at Former Nazi Camp in Maribor’, Total Slovenia News, 9 May 2020, www.total-slovenia-news.com/politics/6202-russian-ambassador-lays-wreath-at-former-nazi-camp-in-maribor
6 Greville, Prison Camp Spies, p. 23
7 Captain Walter John Heslop in AWM119-A86, 1944
8 Christin Streit, ‘The German Army and the Policies of Genocide’, in Gerhard Hirschfeld (ed.), The Policies of Genocide: Jews and Soviet Prisoners of War in Nazi Germany, German Historical Institute/Allen & Unwin: London, 1986, p. 12
9 Ibid.
10 Valentina Oreh in Dreu, ‘Stalag XVIIID’, p. 39
11 Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, part 5/10
17: Vengeance
1 Peter Štih, Vasko Simoniti, and Peter Vodopivec, A Slovene History: Society, Politics, Culture, trans. Paul Townend, Inštitut za novejšo zgodovino: Ljubljana, 2008, p. 426
2 Taddeo Orlando in Guerrazzi, Italian Army, p. 65
3 General Mario Robotti in ibid., p. 44
4 Ibid., p. 56
5 Edvard Kocbek in Kranjc, To Walk with the Devil, p. 72
6 Caffin, Partisan, p. 121
7 Ibid., p. 126
8 Guerazzi, Italian Army, p. 68
9 Vanja Martinčič, Slovene Partisan: Weapons, Clothings and Equipment of Slovene Partisans, Muzej ljudske revolucije Slovenije: Ljubljana, 1990, p. 9
10 Jozo Tomasevich, War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Occupation and Collaboration, Stanford University Press: Stanford, 2011, p. 103
11 Guerazzi, Italian Army, p. 70
12 Stanko Petelin, Krajevna Skupnost Podpeč-Preserje v NOB, SZDL: Ljubljana, 1983, p. 200
13 Metod Milač, Resistance, Imprisonment, and Forced Labor: A Slovene Student in World War II, Peter Lang: New York, 2002, p. 233
14 In Uroš Košir, ‘When Violins Fell Silent: Archaeological Traces of Mass Executions of Romani People in Slovenia’, European Journal of Archaeology, 23: 2 (2019), p. 3
15 Robert Frank, ‘Formacija Brigad NOV in PO Slovenije’, thesis, University of Ljubljana, 2003, p. 13
16 Ferenc, ‘Wehrmannschaft’, p. 97
17 Erich Hribernik in Jim Paterson, Partisans, Peasants, and P.O.W.s: A Soldier’s Story of Escape in WWII, J. Paterson: Cottesloe, 2008, p. 176
18 Karl Čolnik in March to Freedom/Pot k Svobodi, directed by Tomaž Kralj, SBS and TV Ljubljana – Jugoslavija: Sydney and Ljubljana, 1985
18: The Crow
1 Eric Edwards, ‘For You the War is Over’, unpublished manuscript, 1995, p. 138
2 J. E. F. Stuckey, Sometimes Free: My Escapes from German P.O.W. Camps, J. E. F. Stuckey: Ashurst, 1977, p. 25
3 Luckett, private papers, British Red Cross Society Personal Parcels Centre to Donald Luckett, 11 February 1942
4 MP727/1-GO3/738, Harvey Harold Pepper to Australian General Staff (Intelligence), 24 September 1945
5 Roberts, Cattle, p. 75
6 Helen Fry, MI9: A History of the Secret Service for Escape and Evasion in World War Two, Yale University Press: New Haven and London, 2020, p. 11
7 Ibid., p. 15
8 L. B. Inch to Willian Fagan, Robert McKenzie, and James Arrol, ‘Re: L/Cpl Roy Nicholas Courlander’, 28 June 1949. With thanks to Geoff and Spencer Rendell for this letter
9 Ralph Churches in Bill Rudd, ‘Anzac Freemen in Europe’, 2017, www.anzacpow.com/welcome_letter, ‘Part 5, Chapter 8, The British Free Corps’
10 Stuckey, Sometimes Free, p. 35
11 Churches in Rudd, ‘Anzac Freemen’, Part 5, Chapter 8
12 Ralph Churches to ZZB NOB Maribor, 1972, in Letters and Diaries
19: El-Alamein, Stalingrad, and Slovenia
1 Guerrazzi, Italian Army, pp. 67, 91
2 Ibid., p. 92
3 In ibid., p. 84
4 Pietro Brignoli, Santa Messa Per i Miei Fucilati: Le Spietate Rappresaglie Italiane Contro i Partigiani in Croazia dal Diario di un Cappellano, Longanesi: Milan, 1973, entries 5 and 21 August 1942
5 Ibid., entry 20 August 1942
6 Štih, Simoniti, and Vodopivec, Slovene History, p. 429
7 Brignoli, Santa Messa, entry 25 August 1942
8 Bojan Godeša, ‘Introduction: Slovenian Resistance Movement and Yugoslavia 1941–1945’, in Jurij Perovšek and Bojan Godeša (eds.), Between the House of Hapsburg and Tito: A Look at the Slovenian Past 1861–1980, Institute of Contemporary History: Ljubljana, 2016, p. 104
9 Damijan Guštin, ‘Armed Resistance: Relationship Between the Yugoslav (NOPOJ) and Slovenian Partisan Army 1941–1945’, in Perovšek and Godeša (eds.), Between the House of Hapsburg and Tito, p. 127
10 Ferdo Gestin, Svet Pod Krimom, SAZU: Ljubljana, 1993, pp. 70–1
11 Caffin, Partisan, p. 142
12 Guerazzi, Italian Army, p. 108
13 France Filipič, Pohorski Bataljon, Državna Založba Slovenije: Ljubljana, 1979, p. 565
14 Ferenc, ‘Wehrmannschaft’, p. 104
20: In the Papers
1 Fry, MI9, p. 20
2 Hubert Speckner, In der Gewalt des Feindes: Kriegsgefangenenlager in der ‘Ostmark’ 1939 bis 1945, R. Oldenbourg Verlag: Vienna, 2003, p. 318
3 Leonard Frederick Austin, private papers, 1985
4 Connor, photograph collection, item no. P00092.082
5 Harriman, ‘Outpost’, p. 43
6 Kurt Pauli, ‘Alamein-Front zwischen Angriff und Abwehr’, Marbuger Zeitung, 2 November 1942, p. 1
7 ‘Der Italienische Wehrmachtbericht’, Marburger Zeitung, 7/8 November 1942, p. 1
8 Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
9 Ralph Churches to Edvard Vedernjak, 3 January 2010, in Letters and diaries
10 ‘Für Deutschland Gefallen’, Marburger Zeitung, 14 January 1943, p. 5
11 Ralph Churches to ZZB NOB Maribor, 1972, in Letters and diaries
21: The First Spies
1 Kranjc, To Walk with the Devil, p. 100
2 FO 536-6/42/3165, Report from German Occupied Territory, 28 October 1942
3 FO 536-6/43/3144C, E 3/44A/41/43, ‘Zavesa Report 12 July 1943’
4 Liberation Front of Slovenia, Dolomitska Izjava, 1 March 1943
5 In Guerrazzi, Italian Army, p. 116
6 Frank, ‘Formacija Brigad’, p. 29
7 Kranjc, To Walk with the Devil, p. 120
8 Milovan Đilas, Wartime, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich: New York, 1977, p. 338
9 Frank, ‘Formacija Brigad’, p. 31
10 Tone Ferenc, Dare Jeršek, Miroslav Luštek, and Lozje Požun, ‘Pregled pomembnejših dogodkov v letu 1943’, Prispevki za novejšo zgodovino, 4: 1–2 (1963), p. 157
11 ‘Political and Economic Intelligence Reports: Slovenia’, WO 204/9672A, YS/266/3, 1944, p. 4
12 Franc Miklavčič, in Janez Stanovnik (ed.), Narodnoosvobdilni Boj v Slovenskem Narodnem Spominu: Slovenski Zbornik 2007, ZZB NOB: Ljubljana, 2007, p. 243
13 WO 202/520, ‘Escaped British Prisoners of War’
14 In Matilda Maučec, ‘Lackov Odred’, Kronika, 8: 3 (1960), p. 141
22: The Combine
1 Dick Huston, ‘Memoirs’, year unknown, www.stalag18a.org/dickhuston.html#Markt_Pongau
2 Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, part 5/10
3 Len Austin, private papers, 1985
4 Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, part 6/10
5 PR86-103, papers of Alexander M. Connor, year unknown, p. 23
6 Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, part 6/10
7 PR86-103, p. 23
8 Edwards, ‘For You the War is Over’, p. 139
9 Ralph Churches, A Hundred Miles as the Crow Flies, Estate of R. F. Churches: Kensington Victoria, 2017, p. 26
10 Malte Zierenberg, Berlin’s Black Market: 1939–1950, Palgrave Macmillan: New York, 2015, p. 43
23: The Greatest Show in Maribor
1 PR86-103, pp. 16, 25
2 Churches, Crow, p. 26
3 Connor, photograph collection, item no. P00092.094
4 Eric Edwards, Australians at War Film Archive, No. 1538, 4 March 2004, part 7/9
5 CSDIC CMF/SKP/3805-3811 in AWM54 781/6/7
6 Edwards, ‘For You the War is Over’, p. 141
7 Austin, private papers
8 PR86-103, p. 26
9 Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, part 7/10
10 Connor, photograph collection, item nos. P00092.082 and P00092.085
11 Connor, photograph collection, item no. P00092.079
12 Mojca Šorn, ‘Life in Occupied Slovenia During World War II’, in Perovšek and Godeša (eds.), Between the House of Hapsburg and Tito, p. 160
13 Connor, photograph collection
14 Ralph Churches to Andrew Hamilton, 11 January 1980, in Letters and Diaries
15 Edwards, ‘For You the War is Over’, p. 148
16 PR86-103, p. 25
24: The March of the 14th Division
1 In Franklin Lindsay, Beacons in the Night: With the OSS and Tito’s Partisans in Wartime Yugoslavia, Stanford University Press: Stanford, 1993, p. 91
2 Caffin, Partisan, p. 175
3 Tina Toman, ‘14. Divizija: Pohod Oskrba’, dissertation, University of Ljubljana, 2007, p. 43
4 David Greentree, Gebirgsjäger vs Soviet Sailor: Arctic Circle 1942–1944, Bloomsbury: London, 2018, p. 36
5 Marjan Žnidarič, Na Krilih Junaštva in Tovarištva, Društvo piscev zgodovine, NOB Slovenije: Ljubljana, 2009, p. 118
6 Teropšič, Štajerska vplamenih, p. 375
7 Ibid., p. 72
8 Kranjc, To Walk with the Devil, p. 131
9 Ibid., p. 195
10 Mark Aarons, War Criminals Welcome: Australia, a Sanctuary for Fugitive War Criminals Since 1945, Black Inc: Melbourne, 2001, p. 347
11 Gregor Joseph Kranjc, ‘On the Periphery: Jews, Slovenes, and the Memory of the Holocaust’, in John-Paul Himka and Joanna Beata Michlic (eds.), Bringing the Dark Past to Light: The Reception of the Holocaust in Postcommunist Europe, University of Nebraska Press: Nebraska, 2019, p. 602
12 Lyenko Urbančič, ‘Sam ena pot – pot generala Rupnik’, Jutro, 29 June 1944
13 Kranjc, To Walk with the Devil, p. 154
14 Starič, My Life in Totalitarianism, p. 130
15 Teropšič, Štajerska vplamenih, p. 75
16 Žnidarič, Na Krilih, p. 158
17 Frank, ‘Formacija Brigad’, p. 44
18 Ibid., p. 150
19 Maučec, ‘Lackov Odred’, p. 143
20 Žnidarič, Na Krilih, pp. 168, 181
25: Bombs and Recreation
1 Kenneth Carson in Edwards, ‘For You the War is Over’, p. 144
2 Ibid.
3 PR86-103, p. 26
4 Paterson, Partisans, Peasants, and P.O.W.s, p. 182
5 J. Abel and J. W. Jack (eds.), ‘Prisoners of War Pamphlet’, Joint Council of the Order of St. John and the New Zealand Red Cross Society, No. 8, January 1943
6 Connor, photograph collection
7 Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, part 7/10
8 AWM254-123, Report 1944, p. 5
9 Edwards, ‘For You the War is Over’, p. 149
10 Zierenberg, Berlin’s Black Market, p. 41
11 Edwards, Australians at War Film Archive, part 7/9
12 Edwards, ‘For You the War is Over’, p. 141
13 Die Deutsche Wochenschau, No. 703, 10 February 1944
14 Franz Steindl, ‘Sie wollten die Untersteiermark “befreien” – Das Ender einer Bandendivision’, Marburger Zeitung, 7 March 1944, p. 1
15 Ralph Churches, A Hundred Miles as the Crow Flies, Estate of R. F. Churches: Kensington Victoria: 2017, p. 17
26: Thieves and Traitors
1 Churches, Crow, p. 22
2 Luckett, private papers, p. 67
3 Edwards, Australians at War Film Archive, part 7/9
4 Luckett, private papers, p. 69
5 PR86-103, p. 24
6 Ibid., p. 25
7 Churches, Crow, p. 17
8 March to Freedom/Pot k Svobodi
9 Ibid.
10 Captain Walter Heslop in AWM119-A86
11 John H. Waller, The Unseen War: Espionage and Conspiracy in the Second World War, Random House: New York, 1996, p. 318
12 Churches, Crow, p. 26
13 Edwards, ‘For You the War is Over’, p. 156
14 CSDIC 3805-3811 Appendix C in New Zealand Archives, file unknown
15 Ralph Churches in Rudd, ‘Anzac Freemen in Europe’, Part 5, Chapter 8
16 MP742/1-336/1/1277, report of death of Pte E. R. Black at Stalag XVIIIA
17 P3/66, statement of Ernst Stevenson in AWM54 781/6/7
18 CSDIC 3805-3811 Appendix C in New Zealand Archives, File Unknown
19 Ibid.
20 Adrian Weale, Renegades: Hitler’s Englishmen, Pimlico: London, 2002, p. 110
27: Looking for the Connection
1 Churches, Crow, p. 6
2 Edwards, Australians at War Film Archive, part 7/9
3 Austin, private papers
4 Churches, Crow, p. 37
5 Austin, private papers
6 ‘Angriff auf die französische Küste’, Marburger Zeitung, 7 June 1944, p. 1
7 Directive No. 22, 14 February 1942 in Charles Messenger, ‘Bomber’ Harris and the Strategic Bombing Offensive, 1939–1945, Arms and Armour Press: London, 1984
8 W. Hagemann in E. K. Bramsted, Goebbels and National Socialist Propaganda 1925–1945, Crescent Press: Michigan, 1965, p. 322
9 Ralph Churches to Pat Palmer, 24 August 1993, in Letters and diaries
10 Churches, Crow, p. 21
11 PR86-103, p. 24
12 Leslie Laws, ‘I Was There – Memoir Extract’, Escape Lines Memorial Society Newsletter, 46 (2018), p. 4
13 Luckett, private papers, p. 69
14 Huston, ‘Memoirs’
15 Seán Damer and Ian Frazer, On the Run: Anzac Escape and Evasion in Enemy Occupied Crete, Penguin Books: Auckland, 2006, p. 199
28: The Escape Network
1 WO 208/3250, ‘History of IS9: Central Mediterranean Forces’, p. 128
2 Lindsay, Beacons, p. 27
3 Ibid., p. 15
4 Matija Žganjar, Zomljena Krila: Reševanje Zavezniških Letalcev na Slovenskem Med Drugo Svetovno Vojno, Zveza Združenj Borcev za Vrednote NOB Slovenije: Ljubljana, 2012, p. 217
5 Lindsay, Beacons, p. 8
6 Michael R. D. Foot and J. M. Langley, MI9: Escape and Evasion, Biteback Publishing: London, 2020, p. 205
7 Lindsay, Beacons, p. 56
8 Ibid., p. 82
9 Ibid., p. 34
10 WO 202/457, Cuckold to Bari, 26 June 1944
11 Lindsay, Beacons, p. 89
12 AMW54 779/3/128, CSDIC/CMF(East)/SKP/5
13 WO 208/3250, ‘History of IS9: Central Mediterranean Forces’, p. 133
14 WO 373/46/226, Recommendation for Award, Losco, Andrew Anthony
15 Žganjar, Zomljena Krila, p. 431
29: A Partisan Agent
1 Leslie Laws in March to Freedom/Pot k Svobodi
2 Churches, Crow, p. 21
3 CSDIC 3805-3811 in AWM54 781/6/7
4 Laws, ‘I Was There – Memoir Extract’, p. 4
5 AWM119-A86, R. F. Churches Awarded BEM – Escaped POW
6 Johann Gross in Churches, Crow, p. 28
7 Ibid.
8 Leslie Bullard, Private Papers, 1940–45
9 Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, part 6/10
10 Churches, Crow, p. 29
11 Austin, private papers
12 In Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, part 6/10
13 Churches, Crow, p. 30
14 Edwards, ‘For You the War is Over’, p. 165
15 Arieh J. Kochavi, Confronting Captivity: Britain and the United States and the PoWs in Nazi Germany, University of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill and London, 2005, pp. 186, 212
16 Luckett, private papers, p. 69
17 Anton in Churches, Crow, p. 34
30: The Battle of Savinja Valley
1 Žnidarič, Na Krilih Junaštva, p. 190
2 Lindsay, Beacons, p. 132
3 Vili Kos in Ralph Churches, Lado Pohar, Tone Kropušek, Franc Črešnar, and Vili Kos, Vranov Let v Svobodo, Društvo piscev zgodovine NOB Slovenije: Ljubljana, 2000, p. 151
4 Lindsay, Beacons, p. 135
5 Franklin Lindsay in WO 202/309, in Thomas M. Barker, Social Revolutionaries and Secret Agents: The Carinthian Slovene Partisans and Britain’s Special Operations Executive, Columbia University Press: Boulder, 1990, p. 123
6 Žganjar, Zomljena Krila, p. 431
31: Getting Away
1 Churches, Crow, p. 35
2 Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, part 6/10
3 Austin, private papers
4 Churches, Crow, p. 38
32: Meeting the Partisans
1 Ibid.
2 Churches et al., Vranov Let v Svobodo, p. 144
3 CSDIC 3805-3811 in AWM54 781/6/7
4 Lindsay Rogers, Guerrilla Surgeon, Collins: London, 1957, pp. 171–2
5 In Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, part 6/10
6 Slovenian National Archive, file no. unknown, Štabu IV. Operativne zone NOV in POJ Operacijski Odsek. Vojaško poročilo – štab XVI. Divizije NOB in POJ Operacijski Odsek. 2 September 1944
33: Dutch Courage
1 Churches, Crow, p. 43
2 Ibid., p. 45
3 Captain Walter Heslop in AWM119-A86
4 Austin, private papers
5 Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, part 6/10
6 Andrew Hamilton to Ralph Churches, 21 January 1980, in Letters and diaries
7 Austin, private papers
8 Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, part 6/10
9 Jože Boldan in Churches, Crow, p. 46
10 Ibid., p. 47
11 Štab XVI. Divizije NOB in POJ Operacijski Odsek. Vojaško poročilo – štab XVI. Divizije NOB in POJ Operacijski Odsek. 2 September 1944
34: The Mass Escape
1 Churches, Crow, p. 48
2 Ivan Kovačič in March to Freedom/Pot k Svobodi
3 Ralph Churches in Luckett, private papers, p. 70
4 Churches, Crow, p. 53
5 Ronald Wollaston, ‘Gunner Ronald Victor Wollaston’, year unknown, www.pegasusarchive.org/pow/ronald_wollaston
6 Karel Vranjek in March to Freedom/Pot k Svobodi
7 Churches, Crow, p. 53
8 WO 208/3325/55 and WO 208/3325/56
9 Laws, ‘I Was There – Memoir Extract’, p. 5
10 Edwards, ‘For You the War is Over’, p. 168
11 Edwards, Australians at War Film Archive, part 7/9
12 In Edwards, ‘For You the War is Over’, p. 168
13 Edwards, Australians at War Film Archive, part 7/9
14 In Luckett, private papers, p. 73
15 Doug Gold, The Note Through the Wire, Allen & Unwin: Auckland, 2019, p. 236
16 In Edwards, ‘For You the War is Over’, p. 169
17 Štab XVI. Divizije NOB in POJ Operacijski Odsek. 2 September, 1944
18 Gold, Through the Wire, p. 239
19 Štab XVI. Divizije NOB in POJ Operacijski Odsek, 2 September 1944
20 Churches, Crow, p. 57
35: Into the Mountains
1 Laws, ‘I Was There – Memoir Extract’, p. 5
2 Kenneth Dutt, unpublished diary, 1944
3 Luckett, private papers, p. 74
4 Laws, ‘I Was There – Memoir Extract’, p. 5
5 Luckett, private papers, p. 72
6 PR86-103, p. 27
7 Cuckold to Force 399, 3 September 1944, in WO 202/457
8 WO 208/3250, ‘History of IS9, Central Mediterranean Forces’, p. 133
9 Franc Gruden in March to Freedom/Pot k Svobodi
10 Ibid.
11 Alojz Volern, ‘Memories of Alojz Volern: The Years Leading up to Joining and Serving with the Partisans, and the Years After the War’, Robert Posl: 2017, p. 47
12 Karel Čolnik in March to Freedom/Pot k Svobodi
13 In March to Freedom/Pot k Svobodi
14 Luckett, private papers, p. 75
15 Žnidarič, Na Krilih Junaštva in Tovarištva, p. 218
16 WO 202/224, ‘Operation Ratweek Results, Slovenia, September 1944’
17 March to Freedom/Pot k Svobodi
18 Wollaston, ‘Gunner Ronald Victor Wollaston’
19 Luckett, private papers, p. 76
20 Franc Gruden in March to Freedom/Pot k Svobodi
21 Churches, Crow, p. 69
22 Donald Funston in Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, part 8/10
23 Churches, Crow, p. 71
24 Vili Kos, maps and notes, 1985
25 AWM54 781/6/7, CSDIC/CMF/SKP/3880, Kenneth Carson interrogation report
26 Churches, Crow, p. 69
27 Dutt, unpublished diary
28 Luckett, private papers, p. 74
29 B883-NX5373, Kenneth Burke Rubie service record
30 Conversations with Aljoz Volern, April 2017
31 Ivan Nemanič in Churches et al., Vrano Let v Slobodo, p. 146
36: Across the Sava
1 Luckett, private papers, p. 72
2 Churches, Crow, p. 66
3 Ibid, p. 86
4 Ibid., p. 93
5 Kos, maps and notes
6 Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, part 8/10
7 Dutt, unpublished diary
8 Churches, Crow, p. 90
9 Research Institute Ljubljana, Allied Airmen and Prisoners of War Rescued by the Slovene Partisans, Research Institute Ljubljana: Ljubljana, 1946, p. 60
10 Churches, Crow, p. 91
11 Žganjar, Zomljena Krila, p. 295
12 Luckett, private papers, p. 74
13 Alma M. Karlin and Jerneja Jezernik (ed.), Dann geh ich in den grünen Wald: Meine Reise zu den Partisanen, Drava: Klagenfurt, 2021, with special thanks to Jerneja Jezernik
14 WO 202/224, ‘Operation Ratweek Results Slovenia, September 1944’
15 Lindsay, Beacons, p. 141
16 Dutt, unpublished diary
17 Petek, Jože, photographs of the 14th Division, 6 September 1944
18 Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, part 8/10
19 Churches, Crow, p. 97
20 Ibid., p. 95
21 Laws, ‘I Was There – Memoir Extract’, p. 6
22 PR85/371 – AWM419/19/42, Citations and Map of Sgt R. F. Churches
23 March to Freedom/Pot k Svobodi
24 Luckett, private papers, p. 75
25 Žganjar, Zomljena Krila, p. 13
26 Miha Svete, ‘Bojna pot 2: Domobranskega udarnega bataljona “Vuka Rupnika” ’, dissertation, University of Ljubljana, 2016, p. 40
27 Kos, maps and notes
37: The Chance to Become a Spy
1 Luckett, private papers, p. 76
2 Churches, Crow, p. 100
3 Ibid.
4 Morley, Escape from Stalag 18a, p. 77
5 WO 208/3259, ‘History of IS9: Central Mediterranean Forces 1943 November–1945 May’
6 Peter Pirker, Subversion deutscher Herrschaft: Der britische Kriegsgeheimdienst SOE und Österreich, Vienna University Press: Vienna, 2012, p. 324
7 Jack H. Taylor, ‘Dupont Mission’, OSS Archives, 1945, www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-dupont-mission-october-1944-may-1945
8 Svete, ‘Bojna pot’, p. 40
9 Research Institute Ljubljana, Allied Airmen and Prisoners of War, p. 42
10 Churches, Crow, p. 133
11 Svete, ‘Bojna pot’, p. 41
12 Dutt, unpublished diary
13 Churches, Crow, p. 112
38: Base 212
1 WO 208/3259, ‘History of IS9: Central Mediterranean Forces 1943 November–1945 May’
2 March to Freedom/Pot k Svobodi
3 Luckett, private papers, p. 78
4 Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, part 9/10
5 Luckett, private papers, p. 78
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid., p. 79
8 Churches, Crow, p. 122
9 Svete, ‘Bojna pot’, p. 41
10 WO 373/64/647, ‘Recommendation for Award for Heslop, Walter John’
11 AWM119-A86, R. F. Churches Awarded BEM – Escaped POW
12 Dutt, unpublished diary
13 Churches, Crow, p. 105
14 Ralph Churches, ‘Escape Memories’, Transcontinental, May 1985
15 Churches, Australians at War Film Archive, part 9/10
16 Churches, ‘Escape’, Transcontinental
39: The Journey Home
1 Laws, ‘I Was There – Memoir Extract’, p. 6
2 Churches, Crow, p. 132
3 B883-NX5373, Kenneth Burke Rubie service record
4 Churches, Crow, p. 133
5 Žganjar, Zomljena Krila, p. 306
6 AWM54 781/6/7, CSDIC/CMF/SKP/3880, Kenneth Carson interrogation report
7 B883-NX5373, Kenneth Burke Rubie service record
8 In R20107912 NZ Interrogation Section – Unit Historical Records
9 Ralph Churches in March to Freedom/Pot k Svobodi
10 Ralph Churches to Andrew Hamilton, 10 January 1980, in Letters and Diaries
11 AWM119-A86, R. F. Churches Awarded BEM – Escaped POW
12 Churches, Crow, p. 146
13 Luckett, private papers, p. 82
14 Ralph Churches, unpublished manuscripts, 1945
15 Ronte Churches in Churches, Crow, p. 155
40: Greater Escapes?
1 In B883-SX5285, Ralph Churches service record
2 WO 202/456, Bari to Cuckold, 15 September 1944
3 WO 208/3259, ‘History of IS9: Central Mediterranean Forces 1943 November–1945 May’, p. 160
4 WO202/457, Cuckold to Bari, 18 September 1944
5 Sebastian Ritchie, Our Man in Yugoslavia: The Story of a Secret Service Operative, Routledge: London, 2005, p. 80
6 Blaž Torkar, Mission Yugoslavia: The OSS and the Chetnik and Partisan Resistance Movements, 1943–1945, McFarland & Company Inc.: Jefferson, 2020, p. 62
7 Žganjar, Zomljena Krila, p. 469
8 WO 202/457, Force 399 to Cuckold, 17 November 1944
9 Teropšič, Štajerska vplamenih, p. 79
10 WO 202/457, Force 399 to Cuckold, 15 November 1944
11 Lindsay, Beacons, p. 206
12 Cuckold to Force 399, December 9th, WO202/457
13 AMW54 781/6/7, CSDIC AIS/CMF/SKP/4678
14 Lindsay, Beacons, p. 321
15 WO 202/457, Matthews [Losco] to MI9, 21 December 1944
16 WO 202/456, MI9 to Matthews [Losco], 24 December 1944
17 Ritche, Our Man in Yugoslavia, p. 123; Žganjar, Zomljena Krila, p. 304
41: The War’s End
1 Štih, Simoniti, and Vodopivec, Slovene History, p. 436
2 Jože Pirjevec, Tito and His Comrades, University of Wisconsin Press: Madison, 2018, p. 114
3 PRO FO 371/48811, R57176/92 in Barker, Social Revolutionaries, p. 155
4 Marica Malahovsky in Bojan Godeša, Kdor Ni z Nami, Je Proti Nam: Slovenski Izobraženi Med Okupatrji, Osvobodilno Fronto in Protierolucionarnim Taborom, Cankarjeva Založba: Ljubljana, 1994, p. 317
5 Starič, My Life in Totalitarianism, pp. 139–40
6 Keith Lowe, Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II, Viking: London, 2012, pp. 234, 243
7 Volern, ‘Memories of Alojz Volern’, p. 89
8 Božo Repe, ‘Changes in Life Style and Social and National Structures in Slovenia after World War Two’, in Zdenko Čepič (ed.), 1945 – A Break with the Past: A History of Central European Countries at the End of World War Two, Institute for Contemporary History: Ljubljana, 2008, p. 200
9 Velimira to Boris Kidrič in Aleš Gabrič, ‘Opposition in Slovenia 1945’, in Čepič (ed.), 1945 – A Break with the Past, p. 183
10 Ibid., p. 151
11 Ales Gabrič, ‘Slovenian Language and the Yugoslav People’s Army’, in Perovšek and Godeša (eds.), Between the House of Hapsburg and Tito, p. 217
12 Tomasevich, War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, p. 759
13 Josip Broz Tito in Pirjevec, Tito and His Comrades, p. 167
14 Ibid., p. 166
15 Tomasevich, War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, p. 759
16 A12091, R95-96, Colnik Karol, Australian Immigration File
17 Repe, ‘Changes to Life Style’, p. 200
18 Pirjevec, Tito and His Comrades, pp. 232, 237
19 Štih, Simoniti, and Vodopivec, Slovene History, p. 402
20 Igor Tchoukarina, ‘Yugoslavia’s Open-Door Policy and Global Tourism in the 1950s and 1960s’, European Politics and Societies and Cultures, 20: 10 (2014), p. 13
Epilogue
1 WO 373/103/444, ‘Recommendation for Award for Steilberg, Walter Henry Chrestense’
2 WO 417/96/2, ‘Army Casualty Lists 17 August – 8 September 1945’
3 Ronald Corson to Griffin Rendell, 15 June 1949
4 Weale, Renegades, p. 120
5 Ralph Churches, diary, 1985, in Letters and diaries
6 Lindsay, Beacons, p. 345
7 WO 373/63/54, ‘Recommendation for Award for Laws, Leslie Arthur Robert’
8 AWM88-AMF19, ‘Citation SX5286 Private Ralph Frederick Churches’
9 Ronte Churches, interview, 9 August 2021
10 G. L. Kristianson, The Patriotism of Politics: The Pressure Group Activities of the Returned Services League, ANU Press: Canberra, 1966, p. 103
11 Kristy Campion, ‘The Ustaša in Australia: A Review of Right-Wing Ustaša Terrorism from 1963–1973, and Factors that Enabled their Endurance’, Salus Journal, 6: 2 (2018), pp. 48–9
12 NSW Special Branch, ‘Australian Action Co-Ordinating Committee “The 50 Club” ’, 7 September 1966, in A6119-2332
13 ‘A Zealot Fights the Communist Conspiracy’, Sydney Morning Herald, 29 September 1984
14 A. J. Kliner to Ralph Churches, 1 June 1986, in Letters and diaries
15 Ralph Churches to Uroš Zavodnik, January 2001, in Letters and diaries
16 Laws, ‘I Was There – Memoir Extract’, p. 5
17 Andrew Hamilton to Ralph Churches, 21 January 1980, in Letters and diaries
18 AWM119-86 and Andrew Hamilton to Ralph Churches, 21 January 1980, in Letters and diaries
19 Research Institute Ljubljana, Allied Airmen and Prisoners of War
20 Lowe, Savage Continent, p. 263
21 Vida Deželak Barič, ‘Pregled mrliških matičnih knjig za ugotovitev števila ter strukturežrtev druge svetovne vojne in neposredno po njej’, Inštitut za novejšo zgodovino, 2012, p. 12