Interesting article Jo, but full of speculation. I don't know where the crew or families of HMAS Sydney would currently stand in respect of the Veterans' Entitlement Act (VEA) but if sunk by the German Kormoran, I would expect that the Government extend the VEA and the families would be covered, unless the sinking was in Australian territorial waters (near Christmas Island?)in which case they would not be covered by the VEA.

If the Sydney was sunk by the Japanese and the crew murdered as you state, then this would be an act of piracy, crime or terrorism. Because we were not at the time at war with Japan, the crew would not be covered by the VEA.

In my opionion Australia's greatest shame is the treatment of our Nuclear Veterans, but that's a different story.

I was so suprised that nobody here had already made a comment, but thinking about it, it was obvious the reason why.

The Liberal and Labor party's had no respect for these soldiers that have represented our contry, democracy.

It is change that will fix this as will Labors pathetic excuse of a vet affairs policy is only a speech, and what do they give back.

They only give back a couple off those things which they took last time in office.

If you want to see respect and what is right look at the vet affairs policy posted at www.tapp.org.au

This party is about the people with the boss knowing about respect and the disrespect that comes from labor and the liberal party's.

You all can keep talking but those rights that these men and women have stood and fought for are about the freedoms that you have, and to disrespect them is to disrespect your freedoms and rights.

Members and candidates wanted

www.tapp.org.au
swulrich@bigpond.net.au

Ulrich S.L
BDR
238594

Batch nice post but you forget these people were doing their job just like with atomic testing

you cannot pick and chose.

they were doing their duty.

You should be aware of vea and mcrs and the whole mess.

It time to do the right thing and be respectful.

check tapps vet affairs policy it may even suprise you.

ww.tapp.org.au

tapp - you are starting to sound like the christian sheep on this forum; forever bleeting the same monotonous message.

I don't agree with the authoress but I do know that her perspective is reasonable in the circumstances. As someone who has lost a very close family member in a violent accident, I can understand the need to keep questioning the circumstances of a loved one's death. The fact that these families were unable to bury their dead and start dealing with their loss; is one of the most savage aspects of war.

Having said that, I have read quite a few books on this subject and no doubt there are a lot of books that I haven't read. But there certain indisputable facts about this continued controversey. Firstly, the Sydney was light cruiser, designed with speed and the hitting power of 6" guns. As with all cruisers of her class she was not designed to withstand a close encounter with a relatively heavily armed German raider. Secondly, a naval board found that certain design faults existed in the command and control aspects of her armanents which if damaged, quickly rendered her unable to synchronise her main armanents on the enemy ship.

For me the only question is why did the Australian Captain compromise his tactical advantage and close with the raider to distance that would allow the raider to deal such a killing blow to the ship and crew? I realise that there are discrepency in various accounts but until the ship is found and examined, we simply don't know the type of damage that was inflicted. Without that information, we can only speculate and I don't know that it helps those many families whose lives were scarred by this tragic wartime loss.

Jo, a bit of speculation however, many valid points as well.

Have you read the book "The Lady Was Not A Spy" by "Jungle" Jim Davies, he was a well respected Perth reporter.

With the Japanese using Jurien Bay as a forward operating base (It was used in WW1 by our Japanese allies as a base)from early in the commencement, of hostilities it is possible that, the Kormoran could have been in company with a Japanese submarine however, personally I doubt it. All Japanese submarines have been accounded for for this period.

My opinion is that, the Kormoram was still flying the Dutch flag when she fired underwater torpedos. If ever they find the Sydney, hull damage will tell the full and true story. Were the Sydney survivors murdered, I believe so.

Even when HMAS Hood's magazines exploded, there were survivors.

I also believe thet the Kormoran entered Gage Roads prior to the battle.

One big question remains, Why did DNI (Department Of Naval Intelligence) destroy many reams of offical records after the war.

Regards
Noel

Tango Alpha 18India,

Your statement that you believe "that the Kormoran had entered Gage Roads [off Fremantle] prior to the battle" is intriguing in relation to the claim in the article that "Using high-frequency direction-finding equipment, the [Sydney, NSW, and Pearce, WA, special radio tracking] team intercepted an enemy ship’s transmissions for 10 nights before the Sydney-Kormoran encounter". Sydney left Fremantle on 11 November, only 10 days before she was reported sunk: these intercepts were therefore going on from the time Sydney left for the Sunda straits.

In the light of the acceptance of the night of 19/20 November as the time of Sydney's loss, could the expectation of Sydney's "return to Fremantle by November 20 at the latest." be an indication that the engagement took place further south than has been claimed?

Is there reason to believe that a second claim in the article that “We intercepted the raider’s traffic every night and were told that the Sydney was coming down from the north to meet it." meant that it was the same vessel as may have been in Gage Roads prior to the battle? Was Sydney being shadowed as she left Fremantle?

It is interesting to note the claim in relation to the sinking of the Afric Star by HSK Kormoran on 29 January 1941 that "Among the items taken from Afric Star were radio code tables that enabled the Germans to read all British signals".See http://www.bismarck-class.dk/hilfskreuzer/kormoran.html The quote is from the section headed "Additional Info about the Ships engaged by Hilfskreuzer Kormoran - 3 December 1940 to 19 November 1941".

Could this loss of codes have been part of elaborate British disinformation, transmitted via Germany, directed at emboldening Japan to attack the US? Could the price of the sustenance of such postulated deception have been suppression of knowledge of German-Japanese naval co-operation in the Indian Ocean in attempts to frustrate the reinforcement of Malaya prior to the attack on Pearl Harbour?

The ship (and Division) that never was?

Jo,

I'm disappointed that you, with your extensive acedemic qualifications, in your recent article on HMAS Sydney, repeatedly misspelt ANZAC.

The word ANZAC is an acronym for Australia New Zealand Army Corp

Irrespective of current academic interpretation and dictionaries it is written in upper case, ANZAC.

The NZ stands for New Zealand which is not spelt new zealand.

Will Australia now be spelt australia?

Ted McEvoy - Vietnam 1967/68