Chapter 5 Wireless War in Tobruk; Base Area Signals; AA Sigs in the ME; Defenders

WIRELESS WAR IN TOBRUCH

Webmasters note. All through this book the Editors have used the 1941 spelling of "Tobruch" as opposed to the modern "Tobruk". In most cases I have made the alteration but on this article I have left it in the original form.

THE silent group of men, squatting on their haunches in the dark bleakness of the desert night, huddled round the nearest available wireless set as they mentally devoured the text of the B.B.C. news. The modulated tones of a practised announcer's voice droned on in the hushed silence.

"....enemy aircraft were again active over Tobruch today. Harbor installations and Artillery batteries were among targets attacked. . . ."

To the ears of the listening men came the unmistakable mmm-mmm-mmm superimposed on the announcer's voice. "Jerry" was on the prowl again.

German planes were writing still more lines in the story of their unmolested air sallies against the dusty, barren fortress.
War in the air . . .

Inside a long tunnel bored out of a-rocky escarpment a small group of men were fighting another war of the air. Their weapons were not of the explosive variety. To the eye they were harmless, though complicated. Wireless sets-useful in peacetime for the mixed delights of market reports and Bing Crosby-potent in time of war for the transmission of vital communications. The brain child of Marconi proved that it was never intended to be limited to national boundaries nor restricted by racial ideals. Since 1939 it has disproved the old adage by serving two masters-the Allies and the Axis. The war of the air in Tobruch took account of these facts and increased in intensity.

Immediately the siege of Tobruch began Signalmen of the 9th Division commenced a ceaseless war against their German and Italian counterparts. Wireless sets were the weapons chosen. The Australians intercepted the enemy's messages and sent them away to be deciphered. However, the principal form of amusement-and a valuable one-was to "jam" the enemy's reception.

This jamming was particularly valuable whenever a Henschel reconnaissance plane was observed spotting for the German Artillery shelling the town. The procedure was to try to discover on what frequency or wave length the operator in the plane was working. After discovering it, our operators started to transmit on that wave length in such a way that the German operator back at his battery could not receive the plane's message because of the high-pitched squeal that drowned every other sound. When jamming, the operator' would rapidly turn the oscillator back and forth over the enemy's frequency. When this was done the Henschel became useless as a spotter and the hostile battery was silent until the Henschel moved to another frequency. The same procedure was used oil enemy counter-battery work.

Of course, the boot was sometimes on the other foot. The enemy possessed directional finding apparatus for plotting the approximate area of our transmitters so that he could fire on them. Taken all round the odds were in our favor. In the small area of the fortress, lines could be used to their full extent, but the Germans and Italians with their long lines of communication had to resort to wireless-a much more suitable avenue for interception.

By the end of April, when our Signals system was working at its top first-class operators not engaged in normal work were given tank wireless sets and told to try their hand at intercepting enemy messages. They soon learnt the German and Italian procedures and were able to pick out messages of importance. For instance, they could tell whether messages of instruction were being passed from H.Q. to rear units or to tank formations. These they took down and handed to cipher experts for deciphering. The powers-that-be were so pleased with this work that they asked for more and more intercepted messages.

During the defence of Tobruch, much of the enemy's own material was used against him and the operators did most of their interception work on a German tank wireless set. The Poles, too, were experts in radio work and they constructed all kinds of wireless gadgets to carry on the Signals way when the Australians left.

BASE AREA SIGNALS-9000 MILES FROM BASE

As the A.I.F.'s strength in the Middle East rapidly mounted during 1940 and 1941, its lines of communication spread their tentacles through Palestine and Egypt. A special Signals unit was necessary to cope with this growth-hence the birth of 1 Aust. Base Area Signals (M.E.) in February 1941.

Major D. A. Hall, then 2 i/c Signals 7 Aust. Div., was given the task of raising this new unit on the 12th of February. A month was allowed for the collection of sufficient personnel to provide the necessary communications.

On the 18th of February, Major Hall started to approach all units then in Palestine for recruits and reinforcements. Signals 7 Aust. DIv. supplied eighteen N.C.Os and O.Rs of various trades, including three telegraph operators, Signalmen Bennett, Platt and Cosgrove. This number was later raised to twenty-three. Capt. E. Lambert and Lieuts Aitchison and Ward were allotted to the new unit. Base Area Signals was then organised with a H.Q., two operating sections and a section each of linemen, despatch riders and wireless operators. 0.,1 the following day, Signals 7 Aust. Div. under notice to move to Egypt-recalled its personnel. Every man raised by Base Area Signals was then rushed into the Signals Office to fill the gaps.

Sgt J. Love and a small detachment of Signals 9 Aust. Div. were unearthed at Julis and pressed into service. On the following Thursday, seven days after the starting date, the Gaza Signals Office was planned entirely by Base Area Signals. The new unit had to battle against difficulties such as a complete lack of trained reinforcements and technical stores. When Signals 7 Aust. Div. suddenly left Palestine, Area Signals was called upon to provide all Australian Army communications in Palestine. On the 5th of March, the unit's communications spread from Gaza to the Gaza Airport, Gaza Ridge, Deir Suneld, Dimra, Beit Jirja, Barbara, Julis, QastIna and the new camps at Hill 95 and Khassa. Even then preparations were in hand for the opening of Hill 69, Nuseirat and Mughasi. Later still, detachments were sent to A.I.F. H.Q. at Alexandria.

The wireless section was not functioning as the unit possessed only three operators and no wireless sets. Fifteen men were then allotted to the section and started a three weeks' operators' course. On the fourth week these men, who had no previous knowledge of the Morse code, were sent into the Gaza Signals Office to sit alongside an operator during his shift. By the sixth week, nine of them were capable of taking over alone and two of them passed the twenty words per minute operator's test. During this six weeks' training period, the three regular operators, Bennett, Platt, and Cosgrove, maintained communications over four telegraph circuits for twenty-four hours daily.

During the first three months of its life, there was a continuous struggle to find enough men for all the tasks required. Men were extracted from training battalions and various non-Signals units and trained. About twenty-eight men were selected from the newly-formed Signals 9 Aust. Div. and transferred to Base Area Signals. This brought the unit up to eighty per cent strength, but sand fly fever and other disabilities suffered by the medically "B" class men reduced this percentage. The only personnel who did not have to do a shift in the Signals Office or work with the line section and despatch riders were some of the H.Q. office staff and the cooks. Brigade switchboards were frequently manned for twenty-four hours daily by only two operators, who also had to cope with D.R.L.S. traffic. When one man went sick at Khassa, Ins partner carried the whole task on his own for four days. Needless to say, he was a weary and hungry man when his dilemma was discovered and rectified.

By sending its own operators into the Jerusalem Signals Office, the unit increased co-operation with the Royal Corps of Signals, who were working there, with a resultant increase in the clearance of traffic. The lines officer succeeded in persuading the P.M.G's department to allow Base Area Signals to do all the constructional maintenance work in the area. This was a great saving in time but a heavy strain on the linemen who had to operate with borrowed or improvised equipment.

At this stage, Major Hall relinquished command to Major W. B. Murrel, who shortly afterwards was given an increased establishment and promoted to lieutenant colonel. Throughout, the unit maintained quite a high esprit de corps even though it had not assembled once on a parade ground. Base Area Signals (M.E.) carried out its responsible role until the last of the A.I.F. troops had returned to Australia where the personnel formed the nucleus of a new L. of C . unit.

HAVE you heard the song of the cables,

The song of the whirring drum,

The leap and the laugh of the wire,

The joy of its singing hum?

'Tis the men who work on the cables,

Who sing the song of the line;

They sing the song of the cables,

Though the weather be wet or fine.

Have you heard the song of the Norton

The base of the engine's whine,

The smile on the face of the rider

Bringing his message on time?

The whirr of the wind fast rushing,

The cylinders throbbing along,

'Tis the sweetest music in Signals

The joy of the Don R's song.

Have you heard the song of the wireless,

The messages whistling through,

The rhythmic beat of the Morse key,

When the -X's- are many or few?

Know you the song of the netting,

And the climax of this great song,

Is the thrilling song of the wireless,

When they pass the traffic along.

Then you know the song of the Signals,

The orchestra's urging beat,

The climax of key and cable,

The thrilling tune of our feat.

'Tis the urging rush of the music

So pass the message along,

Signals provide the music

For Victory's final song.

G. C. BINGHAM.

A.A. SIGNALS IN THE MIDDLE EAST

SIGNALS 2/1st Australian A.A. Brigade commanded by Major H. C. Foulkes, E.D., came into being early in 1940 and was the first unit of its kind in Australia. In those days little was known of the role which Signals would have to play in A.A. warfare. Communications required by the A.A. gunners varied considerably from the orthodox procedure for field Artillery as laid down in the Signals manuals of the time. Close co-operation with the men on the guns was necessary to understand their peculiar problems.

At the end of 1940 the unit moved to Balcombe for final training before embarkation for overseas service. This camp did much to improve the physical fitness of the men and the benefits were felt during the campaigns that followed.

The second chapter in the life of this unit began in the Middle East in early 1941 when the 1st Australian A.A. Brigade, under the late Brig. H. B. Sewell, M.C., assumed control of A.A. defences for Western Desert Force. Under his command were also British and South African gunners. Their Signals sections came under the command of the Australian unit.

At the time, guns were very scarce, even though all airfields between Halfaya Pass and Fuka had to be protected. This meant that the guns had to be rapidly moved wherever required for the protection of the R.A.F's fighter and bomber dromes and advanced landing fields. Signals had to work fast to provide communications in the constantly swaying fortunes of desert warfare.

Much had to be learnt about the latest methods of aerial warfare and of the signals requirements necessary to combat Gun Operating Rooms required communications to permit the A.A. to work in conjunction with fighter aircraft. New methods of radio detection of hostile aircraft which we now know as Radar were being introduced and these had to be included in the communication system.

Simultaneously with the war in the Western Desert, the 2/2nd Australian A.A. Regiment's Signals section was serving with its unit in defence of Palestine's airfields and harbor installations. Destruction of the vital oil tanks at Haifa was prevented more than once by the regiment's heavy A.A. guns. Communications for these guns formed part of the main British defence system at Haifa and it was here that Australian signalmen gained their first experience with the A.A. defence of a large port. The experience in Egypt and Palestine helped to solve many later communication problems.

When Syria was occupied by the Allies, much had to be done towards the A.A. defences of the important ports of Beirut and Tripoli and the airfields at Rayak and Damascus. This, together with the defence of the flying boat base at Tiberias and airfields in Palestine, fell to the lot of' the Australian gunners. Signals moved farther north with their brigade to do these jobs. Communications for A.A. expanded to embrace the Navy, Army and Air Force. The need for new Signals equipment to keel) pace with the changing conditions resulted in the Signals section doing much valuable research and developmental work. During this period the command of the unit passed to Major L. J. Bruton.

While in Syria, the brigade was expanded by the raising of the 4th Australian Light A.A. Regt and the Signals section was commanded by Lieut. J, M. Sheppard. This regiment remained in the Middle East when the remainder of the brigade returned to Australia and distinguished itself with the 9th Division at El Alamein. Prior to embarkation, the brigade's Signals unit was placed under the command of Major L. L. Scorer, M.B.E.

The third chapter in the unit's life began on the return to Australia. In April 1942 Major D. S. Smith rose from Adjutant to Commanding Officer and his 2 i/c and Adjutant was Capt. C. W. Woodward. The brigade was allotted the task of improving the defences of Australia's eastern ports. Signals sections of the unit were sent to remote parts of the long coastline where similar defences were being rapidly installed.

Though the unit was well versed in Middle East conditions, new problems for the impending jungle operations had to be solved. The originals were split up to provide trained men for the new A.A. Signals sections which were being formed. Many were absorbed by the 2nd A.A. Brigade Signals under the command of Capt. F. T. B. Thomas, with Lieut. B. F. Dimmack, M.M., as Adjutant. This unit took
over the control of A.A. defence communications in New Guinea.

June 1942 marked the introduction of members of the A.W.A.S. to A.A. Signals in Australia. After intensive training, the number of A.W.A.S. personnel grew rapidly and it was due to the splendid work of these signalwomen in A.A. communications in rear areas that many trained men were released for forward operational work.

The original unit carried on with the A.A. communications on the mainland and many new recruits were taken into its ranks. In January 1943 the command of the unit passed to Major C. L. D. Meares. Capt. R. W. Sawyer had shortly before taken over the role of Adjutant. Late in the same year, the 1st and 2nd Brigade Signals units lost their identities in the reorganisation which took place at the time. Signals sections for composite A.A. regiments and light A.A. regiments were formed for operational work in the field, whereas all static A.A. installations were amalgamated with Coastal Artillery communications under fortress methods.

DEFENDERS OF THE WEST

1 Aust. Armd Div. came into being at Bonegilla on the 28th of July 1941. However, much planning and forethought had gone into the organising of the unit, as indeed was the case in all units of the Armored Division, and as far back as October 1940 plans were being prepared.

Lt-Col. H. J. Chardon, an original officer of Signals I Aust. Corps, who had met with an unfortunate accident in Australia and was not able to accompany Corps Signals overseas, was selected to command Signals 1 Aust. Armd Div. and he in turn chose Capt. F. J. Creasy as his Adjutant.

A nucleus of officers and N.C.Os from various Signals units throughout Australia began to organise a three months' wireless course for the first batch of students at the Wireless Wing of the Australian Armoured Fighting Vehicles School.

At the same time, courses were commenced at technical colleges for instrument mechanics, electricians and fitters.

There were over 750 wireless sets in the division and these together with battery charging equipment would require expert maintenance if the division, which relied on wireless for its communications, was to function efficiently with, as was then planned, the other A.I.F. divisions in the Middle East.

During September, a move was made to Puckapunyal and many saw for the first time the American light tanks which a year later were to make a name for themselves in New Guinea. Training intensified as rumors of embarkation spread.

The entry of Japan into the war at the year's close knocked all hope of embarkation out of everyone's mind. During the early stages of the succeeding mobilisation. many members of Signals I Aust. Armd. Div. were detached to A.H.Q. Signals for vital communication work.

During January 1942, the 1st and 2nd Armored Brigade Signals Squadrons left their parent unit and joined their respective armored brigades at Tamworth and Puckapunyal. A month later the Support Group Signals Squadron was raised. It was originally intended to raise this squadron in the Middle East.

In April, Lt-Col. D. A. Cormack, fresh from the Middle East, arrived as C.O. During manoeuvres in September, the 2/6th Armd Regt, together with its Signals troop, received sudden orders to prepare for tropical service. Technical maintenance personnel worked feverishly to overhaul all the regiment's wireless sets and make their tank installations as perfect as possible. Five months later, the press announced that an Australian tank unit had been in action in New Guinea and Signals I Aust. Armd Div. then knew that their erstwhile comrades had seen action.

Meanwhile the division was concentrated in New South Wales-back of Bourke-for large-scale manoeuvres. Everyone slept under the starlight for two months and looked as fit as fiddles at the end of their sojourn on the banks of the Namoi and among the open spaces of the western plains. For many it was a period of new experiences. Even a cattle drover admitted that he never expected to have his way barred along a stock route by a regiment of General Grant tanks. On the other side, many members of the division said that they had never seen so much potential bully beef on the hoof at the one time.

Tank men had their first taste of being bogged in the black-soil plains. At times, the D.Rs' jeeps were the only moving vehicles in a normally mobile division. It is suspected that the division's sobriquet - "The Anchored Div." - was inspired about this time. However, this title has not stuck. The men of the division have traversed Australia from east to west and from north to south and many have served in New Guinea where they have set a standard that would be hard to surpass.