Embedded: The Australian Red Cross in the Second World War Jonathan A. Spear Submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy February 2007 Department of History The University of Melbourne Produced on archival quality paper Abstract This thesis will demonstrate that the Australian Red Cross was embedded with the Australian government, military and civilian ‘home front’ during the Second World War. The legal basis, structure, leadership and administration of the Society were closely integrated with the official war effort of the Australian government and military. The Red Cross societies of other combatant nations were similarly organised to contribute to the logistical firepower of their respective governments and militaries. The Second World War revitalised the Australian Red Cross and caused the Society to forge even stronger links with the Australian government. The Society was integrated as a paramilitary branch of the Australian military forces and provided logistical support to the military in Australia and overseas by means of its Field Force. The pervasive presence of the Red Cross resulted in the embedding of the Society on the Australian civilian ‘home front’. The integration of the Australian Red Cross with the Australian government was for the purpose of supporting the war effort of the Allies in Australia and overseas. However, the active participation of national Red Cross societies in the war efforts of nation-states came at a cost to prisoners of war, Allied governments and the international Red Cross movement. The successful delivery of humanitarian relief to prisoners of war could only occur if the national governments involved recognised a reciprocal benefit in doing so. The extremely close relationship between the national Red Cross societies and their governments resulted in the interests and actions of national Societies being aligned with those of governments. When this alignment was combined with practical challenges and the lack of a practical incentive to humanely treat prisoners of war, the Red Cross principle of reciprocal treatment foundered. This thesis will establish that while the integration of the Australian Red Cross with the military power of the nation was of tangible benefit to the Australian government, the Society’s fundamental principles and humanitarian objectives were undermined by political and logistical imperatives. i Declaration This is to certify that (i) the thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD. (ii) due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used. (iii) this thesis is less than 100,000 words in length, inclusive of tables, maps, footnotes, bibliographies and appendices. ii Acknowledgements Many thanks are due to Kate Darian-Smith, Charles Schencking and John Lack, of the University of Melbourne’s History Department and Australian Centre, who have provided critical counsel in the planning and execution of this thesis. Sharon Pimm and Noel Barrow, of the Australian Red Cross National Office, provided me with unprecedented access to the Society’s National Archives. Without such access and the assistance of Sharon and Noel, this thesis would not have been possible. Fabrizio Bensi and the staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross Archives in Geneva provided similarly helpful access and assistance. The University of Melbourne’s History Department and Arts Faculty provided financial grants which allowed me to travel to Geneva. The Melbourne universities War History and Military Studies Group provided me with constructive comments and inspiration. My employers, Slater & Gordon Lawyers and the Victorian Department of Justice, have provided me with the time necessary to conduct archival research. My family, in particular Lilian, Laetitia and Luelle have consistently supported me throughout this project. iii Table of Contents Abstract i Declaration ii Acknowledgements iii Table of Contents iv Abbreviations v Table of Figures vi Introduction – Embedded 1 Chapter One – The Embedding of the Australian Red Cross within the Australian Government and Society 30 Chapter Two – The Australian Red Cross’ Support of the Allied War Effort 67 Chapter Three – The Embedding of the Australian Red Cross within the Australian Military 119 Chapter Four – Prisoners of War: Holy Grail or Poisoned Chalice? 182 Conclusion – The Australian Red Cross and the Nation State 243 Bibliography 255 iv Abbreviations AIF Australian Imperial Force ARC Australian Red Cross ARCAR Australian Red Cross Annual Report, Series NO13, ARCNA. ARCNA Australian Red Cross National Archives, Melbourne AWM Australian War Memorial, Canberra ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross ICRCA International Committee of the Red Cross Archives, Geneva. MCC Minutes of Australian Red Cross Central Council, Series NO14, ARCNA. MCCEC Minutes of Australian Red Cross Central Council Emergency Committee, Series NO14, ARCNA. MCE Minutes of Australian Red Cross Central Executive, Series NO14, ARCNA. MNC Minutes of Australian Red Cross National Council, Series NO14, ARCNA. MNE Minutes of Australian Red Cross National Executive, Series NO14, ARCNA. NAA National Archives of Australia POW Prisoner of War Second AIF Second Australian Imperial Force v Table of Illustrations John Nimmo in Mubo, New Guinea 1 Australian Red Cross Recruitment Poster 30 Diagrammatic Outline of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement 37 Australian Red Cross Recruitment Poster 67 Tin Australian Red Cross Fundraising Sign 73 Deputy Assistant Commissioner John Fleming 119 Colonel Cohen in Alexandria 143 Colonel Cohen at Gaza Ridge 149 Australian Red Cross Prisoner of War Relief Parcel 182 Brigadier Langley 196 Repatriated Prisoner of War is Processed 202 Hope for All Mankind in War and Peace 243 vi Introduction Embedded Indigenous New Guinea stretcher bearers (popularly known as ‘fuzzy wuzzy angels’) carry a wounded soldier from 2/7th Infantry Battalion on a stretcher down a muddy track through the jungle to Wau. The 2nd Field Ambulance was situated at Wau. The Battalion had been attacking a Japanese stronghold between Wau and Mubo when the soldier was wounded. The stretcher bearers are escorted by John Nimmo (later Sir John) who was a searcher for the Australian Red Cross, left, and Corporal Alf Bray, probably from the Australian Army Medical Corps (AAMC). (New Guinea, 1943, P02110.001, AWM). 1 As he reached the Australian Army 2/7th Infantry Battalion’s position at the top of a mountain ridge, John Nimmo collapsed. He was covered in mud and exhausted after a long climb through jungle in the Mubo area of New Guinea. It was 1943 and Japanese forces were close. In fact, they were closer than John Nimmo realised. As he attempted to recover his breath, an officer of the Battalion grabbed him and pulled him over the crest of a nearby hill. The officer explained that Nimmo’s chosen place of rest may well have been his last. The same location was the target of frequent Japanese machinegun crossfire. Grateful for this timely advice, Nimmo rested. His rescuer was shot dead the next day.1 Given John Nimmo’s location at the front line of combat and his muddy Australian Army uniform, one could be forgiven for assuming that he was an Army officer. Close inspection of Nimmo’s uniform, following a thorough wash, would have revealed a number of badges emblazoned with a red cross on a white background.2 He was not a regular Army officer. In fact, Nimmo was one of the most successful Field Force officers of the Australian Red Cross. His role in New Guinea was to search for missing soldiers and provide comfort to the sick or wounded While embedded with Australian military forces. Nimmo’s motivations in volunteering for service and his wartime experiences, however, were similar to many of the 600,000 Australians who undertook voluntary duties with the Australian Red Cross during the Second World War.3 1 “Sir John Nimmo Interview 12 December 1990 & 25 March 1991 for the Keith Murdoch Sound Archive of Australians in the War of 1939-45,” S01038, AWM, 26-27; “High Morale in Mubo Area (Red Cross Commissioner J.A. Nimmo),” The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 June 1943, 7. 2 Sir John Nimmo Interview, 6-7. 3 By the conclusion of the war, the Australian Red Cross boasted an active membership of 600,000 volunteers – “Minutes of 31st Annual General Meeting 19 November 1945,” Series NO14, ARCNA, 6. The total membership of all branches of the Australian defence forces throughout the war amounted to 990,900 personnel - Joan Beaumont, ed., Australian Defence - Sources & Statistics (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2001), 306; Peter Charlton, The Thirty-niners (South Melbourne: Macmillan, 1981); Peter Karsten, ed., Recruiting, Drafting and Enlisting - Two Sides of the Raising of Military Forces (New York: Garland, 1998). 2 The son of a railway engine driver, John Nimmo was born in Ballarat, Australia, on 15 January 1909.4 Nimmo attempted to abandon his successful legal practice and enlist in the Australian Army shortly after France capitulated to Germany in June 1940.5 His motivation for doing so was simple. Nimmo explained that: It was a matter of patriotism. I felt that the Allied cause was a very genuine and real cause and that every man who could make a contribution should be in it.6 Nimmo was disappointed when he was rejected for active service due to his blindness in the left eye – the legacy of an air rifle accident as a boy.7 Undeterred, he then sought employment as an Army legal officer. Before