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Fighting in New Guinea produced all sorts of problems, not the least being the terrain over which the troops had to travel. Heavy rain often turned tracks into quagmires and made progress hazardous to say the least.
Tanks in particular had problems in the mountainous regions, and this combined with cunningly hidden Japanese mine fields caused a number of vehicles to come to grief.
Our picture shows Calamity Jane, a Matilda infantry support tank of C Squadron, 1st Australian Army Tank Battalion which had ground to a halt when it hit mines and lost a track during the drive north of Finschhafen.
The tank's crew included Lt Sam Johnson (commander), Corporal Des Lloyd (gunner), and Trooper J Bramston (driver). "It took a great deal of hard work to dig the damaged track out of the mud," Des Lloyd recalled. "We then had to repair and replace the track." But just as they started up and moved off, they hit other mines which had lain undetected under the tank. It became a write-off but luckily no one was hurt in the explosion.
In the photograph are Jack Bramston, Snow Irvine, Alf Voight, Ken Jacob, Sam Johnson, Des Lloyd, Tom Russell and Neil Sharp.
The material for this article was supplied by Des Lloyd of New South Wales
08/01/2002
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