Deutsches Afrikakorps & Gebirgsjager at Crete Photographs

[David Goody]

My brother & I have been bequeathed our late great uncle’s effects including his personal military diaries & photograph albums from his service in the Second World War. Included in the albums are photographs taken by German soldiers in North Africa and Crete. We have decided to display them here so that they are not lost to history. By way of background our great uncle was Private Thomas William Cure NX15442, A Company, 2/1 Australian Headquarters Guard Battalion. His company was assigned to the headquarters of the 9 Australian Division. He served from 17 May 1940 to 19 November 1945 in Palestine, Libya including the siege of Tobruk, Syria, Egypt including the battles of El Alamein, New Guinea & Netherlands East Indies. We don’t know how he obtained the photos, & some of his captions I suspect are not accurate. We invite any feedback on the photos.

[David Goody]

[David Goody]

[hucks216]

Some nice images. Are the actual albums German or just the photos that were placed in the album by your great uncle? It looks like white writing has been rubbed out from under the photos and replaced with English descriptions.

[David Goody]

Thank you. The albums are primarily photos & postcards of Australian soldiers in the Middle East & North Africa. Looking at the albums it appears there were captions in pencil that were overwritten in pen. The albums are definitely Australian, I suspect he obtained the German photos from perhaps Intelligence Officers at the HQ he was guarding, the battle field or perhaps at one of the POW ‘cages’ he guarded. Unfortunately there are no clues in his war diaries which I have transcribed.