Sydney Burns History - Final Draft
Sydney Burns History - Final Draft
Sydney Burns History - Final Draft
Like the majority of men who returned home after the end of the Second World
War, Sydney1 did not talk much about his experiences, especially of the period when he
was a prisoner-of-war (POW). Over time, however, he did loosen up to share a few
memories but by the time the listener was aware what he was talking about, he had
finished and no amount of cajoling would make him repeat what he had just said. So,
family members had to be both patient and alert in order to capture any such
reminiscences should they reappear. And reappear they did, like his skill at two-up, the
number of times he was fined for breaches of military discipline and also the total time
he was confined to barracks all with a chuckle in his voice and a smile on his face.
There were other memories but for the want of a biographer, such pearls of
wisdom are not ours to share. On the other hand, Sydney was a keen writer and many of
the letters that he wrote while a POW to Pomsie and Dina (Joyce and Diana) and his two
elder sisters Dorothy and Lil, are now held at the National Library in Wellington. He
also kept a diary, carefully recording daily events probably to break the monotony of
capture and probably (this is pure guesswork) to write his memoirs at some future point.
This was a dangerous pursuit but he persevered and was hugely disappointed
when on the eve of being freed, the diary disappeared. His suspicions as to the loss
were not assuaged, even when it was suggested that perhaps the diary, which started life
as a roll of toilet paper ended up serving that purpose. For once, his voice lost its
characteristic chuckle.
The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939 1945, 23
Battalion by Angus Ross. Finally;
His note to Joyce and Diana to advise that he had been captured.
Sydney enlisted on 11 January 1939 and marched into Burnham Military Camp
eleven days later to start military training. As he was not only born but also still resided
in South Canterbury, it was preordained that he would be a member of 23 rd Battalion (23
Bn) a brand new unit especially created as part of the New Zealand Division, (Second
New Zealand Expeditionary Force), i.e. NZ Div (2NZEF). While 23 Bn was not
affiliated to any unit that served in the previous war and therefore had no tradition to
compare with or against, the unit quietly set about establishing its own imprint on the
military history of the nation. When hostilities ended, 23 Bn had achieved that objective
to be as highly regarded as any other unit of NZ Div, the accolade they enjoyed the most
being the nickname The White Horis, a comparison with the 28th Maori Battalion a
unit they were yet to meet but which they ended up fighting alongside on many
occasions. Sydney would not have been aware of any of this for the first 3 months
would have been the busy ones of drawing gear, medical checks, responding to
commands without question, and the hundred and one things needed to become an
effective soldier.
Training would have been a challenge for the country was no more ready for this
war as it was for its quite recent predecessor.
commissioned officer (NCO) level would have needed to be at their ingenious and
inventive best to keep the minds and energies of these new recruits focussed on the
business of learning about and preparing for war. There were a few times where
Sydneys mind wandered from the task(s) at hand as his disciplinary record shows with
the first entry dated 4 March 1940 where he was fined 10 shillings (a lot of money in
those days) and forfeited two days pay. The actual misdemeanour is not recorded but
probably fell into the conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline
category where the list is seemingly endless and includes such issues as refusing to obey
a lawful command from a superior officer (a list that starts at lance-corporal rank). All
part of the conversion process to change civilians into soldiers.
23 Bn embarked on the Andes on 1 May 1940 and sailed to link up with other
ships in Cook Strait the following morning before crossing the Tasman as a convoy
(under navy escort) to be joined off the Australian coast by ships carrying Australian
troops. Sydney remembered the Andes with great fondness and, no wonder as this
description from the official history states: Since no structural alterations had been
made to their luxury liner, the men were well pleased with conditions aboard the Andes.
On this voyage 76 officers and 1323 other ranks were carried. With the exception of
214 men for whom hammocks were supplied, all soldiers found themselves in cabins
with private bathrooms. Swimming baths, excellent dining rooms, wide deck space for
training and recreation, wet and dry canteens where beer and spirits sold for
approximately half the usual New Zealand prices, and friendly sailors all these made
for happy voyaging and good morale.2
The convoy stopped briefly at Fremantle, Perth, long enough for one soldier (not
Sydney) to miss the departure. It was on to Capetown, South Africa with a rumour
circulating that instead of heading to Egypt, the destination point of the first echelon of
New Zealand troops, the second echelon was instead to sail directly to Britain. This
would have been heady news making the 26 to 31 May stop-over even more tantalising,
spurring Aussie and Kiwi soldiers to intermingle, fraternise and/or fight. Perhaps it was
here that Sydney became proficient at two-up, however, in the final analysis the
Capetown chief of police was moved to say: We have loved having both you and the
Australians, but pray God, you never both come back together again. 3 The convoy
sailed on to Freetown, Sierra Leone where they were now well and truly in the tropics
and energy levels were drooping to the stage that physical training (PT) was suspended.
Nor were troops allowed to disembark during this stop, in case they caught malaria.
Then it was on to Gourock, the Firth of Clyde for disembarkation on 16 June. A journey
of 17,000 miles of ocean had been safely completed and while they would have fond
memories of the Andes, Sydney and his friends would have been relieved to be on terra
firma once again.
It was back to formal training with a vengeance and becoming part of the
network of land defences in the event that the air phase of the Battle of Britain failed
and the country was invaded from the sea. As history shows the air battle was won and
so by the end of that year, troops were as ready as they could be and were restless for
battle. An extract from the official history sums up precisely the gains from this period:
The period the 23rd spent in Britain was of great importance in its moulding. The
2
The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939
1945, 23 Battalion by Angus Ross. P. 10
3
Ibid. p. 12
sharing of so many experiences-travel on ship and train, visits to the same places,
training under the same stirring conditions before the Battle of Britain and literally
under the air-war, living together alternately in bivouacs and mansions-gave the men a
common background and a fuller understanding of one another. Since they constituted
the only South Island battalion to serve in England, they developed a spirit of
exclusiveness, which was partly pride in the 23 rd and its record and partly the result of
being nicknamed Cooks Tourists and the Glamour Boys by those units that had gone
straight to Egypt.4 Now it was forward to the serious stuff of walking the talk and
Sydney would have been as nervous and as excited as every other soldier in his unit.
One way of summarising the Battle of Greece from a New Zealand perspective
would be to say; arrived Piraeus Harbour (the port of Athens and the chief port of
Greece) on 27 March and departed on 25 April 1941, nothing to report. The official
history opens its Campaigning in Greece chapter thus: When the 23rd arrived at
Katerini, the stage was practically set and the curtain was about to rise on a modern
Greek tragedy. 5 It then describes exactly why this description was so apt.
The main reason was that the Germans had allocated 20 divisions to the task of
subduing Greece and the allied forces (the main elements being an Australian division,
NZ Div and a British Armoured brigade) as well as various Greek units totalling no
more than 3 divisions, were clearly out-numbered from the very start. Sydney and his
comrades would not have known this as they set out to confront whatever and whoever
lay ahead. Off they would have marched (images of the Grand Old Duke of York and
his 10,000 men come to mind) until they contacted German forces, turned about and
under constant and heavy pressure, fought their way back to Piraeus.
Whereas
disembarkation was orderly, loading of ships this time was frantically quick and it
would have been a frustrated, bitterly angry, desperately tired and wounded (mainly in
spirit) group of men that eventually sailed to the next destination. The fact that it was
ANZAC Day would have escaped them and the final word in the units official war
diary sums up this phase appropriately by saying: In Greece, we lived amongst the gods
at Olympos, held the Pass at Thermopylae and ran for Marathon.6
4
Ibid. p.19
Ibid. p.27
6
Ibid. p.54
5
The NZ Div landed on the island of Crete that same afternoon (25 April) and
was to leave, once again under pressure from the Germans, a month later. This time,
however, there were significant differences as the Battle for Crete began with the
defenders giving a very fine account of their fighting abilities.
An invasion was
expected and an invasion (by airborne not seaborne forces) did eventuate. There are
many stirring accounts of this battle available elsewhere and is recommended reading
for those with an interest in military history. What is worth mentioning here are two
facts: fact one; the Germans were not to employ airborne tactics again throughout the
war and, fact two; the New Zealanders showed that they could fight.
The official history says: In the 23rd, those men who had lasted out till 31 May had
every reason to be proud of their stamina and courage. To the end, they had remained a
fighting unit and provided rearguard after rearguard. The officers and men fought a
great action against hopeless odds. They did everything that was required of them and
more no matter what odds were against themcontinually bombed and machinegunned from the air, at no time were there complaints or any suggestion of downheartedness and never a thought of surrender.7. Where was Sydney at this time? An
earlier extract stated: The battalion casualties in Crete were not known at the time but
were later officially listed as 56 killed or died of wounds, 187 wounded and 114
prisoner of war, of whom 58 had been wounded a total of 299 casualties. 8. Sydney
was soon to be confirmed as missing in action.
According to his military records, Sydney was listed as missing on 2 June to be
then posted as a POW the same day. Only those who have experienced the chaos and
confusion of the closing stages of the Crete campaign, know precisely what traumas
have to be faced and the fears an unknown, troubled and turbulent future would
generate.
We imagine that he would have been quite fearful as, along with his
comrades, they were marched away by his captors. The sudden change from soldier to
prisoner could hardly be expressed in this terse message that he was allowed to write: 9
Ibid. p.96
Ibid. p.93
9
Held in National Library, Molesworth Street, Wellington.
8
Stalag VIIIB, before he was released and Joyce advised he was safe in
After his release from Stalag prison (the manner and date are not known) Sydney
was to spend a brief period of time in a US Army General Hospital where he was treated
for cuts to three fingers of his right hand. This stay within a US military establishment
clears up a mystery that the photo below caused familiar with the equipment issued to
British Forces:
Where and how did Sydney get hold of American (inner) helmet and it can be safely
assumed that he borrowed one during his stay in the US Army military hospital.
Sydney left Britain on 31 August 1945 and arrived in New Zealand on 30
September. He was declared medically unfit and was discharged on those grounds on
11 January 1946. To be discharged on medical grounds is perfectly understandable,
given the length of time Sydney spent as a POW. Diana/Dina recalls hiding behind a
settee on Sydneys return to Timaru, wondering who this huge man was and where he
came from, not surprising for at age 7, she was meeting her father for the first time.
A summary of the key dates of Sydneys career in the Army, are collated below.
11 January 1940:
22 January 1940:
01 May 1940:
23 June 1940:
27 March 1941:
25 April 1941:
25 April 1941:
02 June 1941:
02 June 1941:
04 June 1945:
Left England;
31 August 1945:
30 September 1945:
11 January 1946.