Hya everyone
Just interested, i have read many times of the story of at least 6 Australians serving in the Waffen SS that were captured by the Soviets in the Battle of Berlin, i just want to know if this is true, and if so actually how may if at all Australians served in the Waffen SS.
Thanx Muchly
Australians in the Waffen SS
Re: Australians in the Waffen SS
Its not true.Roddoss72 wrote:Hya everyone
Just interested, i have read many times of the story of at least 6 Australians serving in the Waffen SS that were captured by the Soviets in the Battle of Berlin, i just want to know if this is true,
There were 2 Australian members of the 29 strong British Free Corps, which was part of the Waffen SS.
and if so actually how may if at all Australians served in the Waffen SS.
Thanx Muchly
However, like the rest of the BFC they did not see any active service.
Hello, all of the Australians lived to an old age, and one of them, Chipchase is still alive in Perth. Stokes did a year in prison after the war for aiding the Germans.
You could maybe check with a newspaper archive at your local library, and see what turns up. I heard that Chipchase has been interviewed a few times by reporters so you might turn up something interesting. If you do make sure to post it here!!!
Cheers, Rand.
You could maybe check with a newspaper archive at your local library, and see what turns up. I heard that Chipchase has been interviewed a few times by reporters so you might turn up something interesting. If you do make sure to post it here!!!
Cheers, Rand.
Hya RandRand wrote:Hello, all of the Australians lived to an old age, and one of them, Chipchase is still alive in Perth. Stokes did a year in prison after the war for aiding the Germans.
You could maybe check with a newspaper archive at your local library, and see what turns up. I heard that Chipchase has been interviewed a few times by reporters so you might turn up something interesting. If you do make sure to post it here!!!
Cheers, Rand.
I'll check it out and see if there is anything i can find and if i do i'll keep you posted.
Regards Roddoss72
Thanks for the heads up.... I look forward to what you can find. Currently I'm working on bios of all the men who were part of the British Free Corps, sometimes I work more on this then my college papers! 
Hope to get alot of them done over Christmas break, but here is a very rough bio of Robert Chipchase.
Surname Forename Alias
Chipchase Robert Bill Jones
Nationality Rank
Australian SS-Schutze
Robert Chipchase was born in Guisborough, England on July 19th, 1916. While Chipchase and fellow BFC member Albert Stokes did not know each other before the war, they volunteered on the same day (March 4th, 1940), were medically examined the same day, and joined the Australian Army on the same day in the Nicholson Street recruiting office in the Perth, Western Australian suburb of Subiaco. Chipchase was given army number WX 1755.
Chipchase and Stokes served together in Palestine, Egypt, Libya, and Syria. On July 17, 1942 the two men (and possibly Australian BFC member Lionel Wood) were part of a group of 22 men from the 2/32 Australian Infantry Battalion who were captured in a battle for the Makh Khad ridge at El Alamein when German tanks overran two Australian platoons. Chipchase, Stokes, and Wood would all end up in POW camps at Benghazi and Tripoli waiting to be transferred to the European mainland. The three would all met once again at a POW camp at Gruppiggnano in North-East Italy. When Italy capitulated, the POW’s at Gruppiggnano hesitated to escape, allowing the Germans time to surround the camp and evacuate the POW’s to Stalag XVIII-A/Z at Spittal in Southern Austria.
During this time at Spittal, a group of POW’s consisting of Chipchase, Wood, Stokes, Thomas Freeman, and Theo Ellsmore agreed amongst themselves to join the BFC as means to try to reach Russian lines. The group would receive permission from RSM Jim Mantle, the camp leader at Arbeitskommando 99, to join the BFC. The group of men would all join the unit during the period of February and March 1944 at ???where???? Chipchase, however, was only a member of the BFC for a few days before demanding to leave, and was sent to the isolation camp, Stalag III-D, at Dronnewitz. ????Date???He was to be captured there at the end of the war by British troops. There is no evidence that Chipchase was prosecuted after the war, but he did testify along with Wood at fellow Australian BFC member Albert Stokes’ court-martial trial in 1945.
Chipchase was interviewed briefly for the BBC documentary “The Brits Who Fought for Hitler” in 2001, and was believed at that time to be the only living Commonwealth member of the BFC.
Hope to get alot of them done over Christmas break, but here is a very rough bio of Robert Chipchase.
Surname Forename Alias
Chipchase Robert Bill Jones
Nationality Rank
Australian SS-Schutze
Robert Chipchase was born in Guisborough, England on July 19th, 1916. While Chipchase and fellow BFC member Albert Stokes did not know each other before the war, they volunteered on the same day (March 4th, 1940), were medically examined the same day, and joined the Australian Army on the same day in the Nicholson Street recruiting office in the Perth, Western Australian suburb of Subiaco. Chipchase was given army number WX 1755.
Chipchase and Stokes served together in Palestine, Egypt, Libya, and Syria. On July 17, 1942 the two men (and possibly Australian BFC member Lionel Wood) were part of a group of 22 men from the 2/32 Australian Infantry Battalion who were captured in a battle for the Makh Khad ridge at El Alamein when German tanks overran two Australian platoons. Chipchase, Stokes, and Wood would all end up in POW camps at Benghazi and Tripoli waiting to be transferred to the European mainland. The three would all met once again at a POW camp at Gruppiggnano in North-East Italy. When Italy capitulated, the POW’s at Gruppiggnano hesitated to escape, allowing the Germans time to surround the camp and evacuate the POW’s to Stalag XVIII-A/Z at Spittal in Southern Austria.
During this time at Spittal, a group of POW’s consisting of Chipchase, Wood, Stokes, Thomas Freeman, and Theo Ellsmore agreed amongst themselves to join the BFC as means to try to reach Russian lines. The group would receive permission from RSM Jim Mantle, the camp leader at Arbeitskommando 99, to join the BFC. The group of men would all join the unit during the period of February and March 1944 at ???where???? Chipchase, however, was only a member of the BFC for a few days before demanding to leave, and was sent to the isolation camp, Stalag III-D, at Dronnewitz. ????Date???He was to be captured there at the end of the war by British troops. There is no evidence that Chipchase was prosecuted after the war, but he did testify along with Wood at fellow Australian BFC member Albert Stokes’ court-martial trial in 1945.
Chipchase was interviewed briefly for the BBC documentary “The Brits Who Fought for Hitler” in 2001, and was believed at that time to be the only living Commonwealth member of the BFC.
Absolutely brilliant Rand, next week sometime i'll search on the web on Perth news papaers for any subject concerning Chipchase and the others.Rand wrote:Thanks for the heads up.... I look forward to what you can find. Currently I'm working on bios of all the men who were part of the British Free Corps, sometimes I work more on this then my college papers!
Hope to get alot of them done over Christmas break, but here is a very rough bio of Robert Chipchase.
Surname Forename Alias
Chipchase Robert Bill Jones
Nationality Rank
Australian SS-Schutze
Robert Chipchase was born in Guisborough, England on July 19th, 1916. While Chipchase and fellow BFC member Albert Stokes did not know each other before the war, they volunteered on the same day (March 4th, 1940), were medically examined the same day, and joined the Australian Army on the same day in the Nicholson Street recruiting office in the Perth, Western Australian suburb of Subiaco. Chipchase was given army number WX 1755.
Chipchase and Stokes served together in Palestine, Egypt, Libya, and Syria. On July 17, 1942 the two men (and possibly Australian BFC member Lionel Wood) were part of a group of 22 men from the 2/32 Australian Infantry Battalion who were captured in a battle for the Makh Khad ridge at El Alamein when German tanks overran two Australian platoons. Chipchase, Stokes, and Wood would all end up in POW camps at Benghazi and Tripoli waiting to be transferred to the European mainland. The three would all met once again at a POW camp at Gruppiggnano in North-East Italy. When Italy capitulated, the POW’s at Gruppiggnano hesitated to escape, allowing the Germans time to surround the camp and evacuate the POW’s to Stalag XVIII-A/Z at Spittal in Southern Austria.
During this time at Spittal, a group of POW’s consisting of Chipchase, Wood, Stokes, Thomas Freeman, and Theo Ellsmore agreed amongst themselves to join the BFC as means to try to reach Russian lines. The group would receive permission from RSM Jim Mantle, the camp leader at Arbeitskommando 99, to join the BFC. The group of men would all join the unit during the period of February and March 1944 at ???where???? Chipchase, however, was only a member of the BFC for a few days before demanding to leave, and was sent to the isolation camp, Stalag III-D, at Dronnewitz. ????Date???He was to be captured there at the end of the war by British troops. There is no evidence that Chipchase was prosecuted after the war, but he did testify along with Wood at fellow Australian BFC member Albert Stokes’ court-martial trial in 1945.
Chipchase was interviewed briefly for the BBC documentary “The Brits Who Fought for Hitler” in 2001, and was believed at that time to be the only living Commonwealth member of the BFC.
Thanx muchly Roddoss
Re: Australians in the Waffen SS
Old thread but I've always been curious about this matter. This article offers some extra information -
"Story of Private Albert Stokes
Albert James Stokes was born in Fremantle, Western Australia on 3 August 1917. He enlisted in the 2nd AIF on 4 March 1940 at Subiaco in Western Australia. After training he served with 2/32nd Battalion in Egypt and Syria. (8) He was taken prisoner by the Germans on 17 July 1942 at the battle of El Alamein. He was handed over to the Italians and held initially in prisoner of war camps at Benghazi and after Tripoli. In December 1942 he was transferred to Camp 85 in Italy. When Italy capitulated he was transferred to Stalag XVIII at Spittal in Austria. (9)
After a few weeks at the Stalag Stokes was sent out to a working commando at Bruck-Muir where he was employed on the staff at the camp until March 1944. He was taken to Berlin and a location called Zehlendorf. He was interviewed by a soldier in a field gray uniform. He identified himself by the surname of Courlander. According to Stokes he stated that he was a member of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and a member of the British Free Corps.
Courlander said that the BFC was being led by a British Officer, Major Stranders and that it would sabotage German lines of communications under the guise of fighting against the Russians on the Eastern Front. Stokes asked for a few days to think over Coulander's offer but subsequently agreed to enlist in the BFC. (10) 10
Then in March 1944 Stokes with four other recruits from the camp were transferred to BFC which was stationed at the SS Nordic Study Center in Hildesheim, Germany. Stokes along with his fellow traitors assumed false names. Stokes assumed the name of Gordon. The use of false names does cast doubt on Stokes suggested rationale for joining the BFC. It suggests that all the members of the BFC were aware of the possible ramifications if Germany did not win the war and their respective parts in the Waffen SS were revealed.
For the next few months the members of the BFC spent their days learning German and listening to lectures on ideology. The lectures were intended to supply the members of the BFC with persuasive arguments to recruit other POW's to the unit. The recruitment exercise continued at a pace across German controlled territory.
BFC as a combat unit
The BFC had grown to 27 members when the unit was moved to Dresden-Neusstadt to under go combat engineer training in September 1944. Given the small number of recruits when considered against the energy expended in recruiting it can only be concluded that the recruitment campaign was ultimately a failure. A training schedule was drawn up which included: language lessons, ideological lectures, infantry and pioneer training.
Infantry and pioneer training followed the standard German pattern, with theoretical and practical instructions imparted by German instructors. The infantry training included lectures on the standard German rifle and machine- gun. The unit also undertook their share of sentry duty during this period. (11)
In October 1944, the commander of the BFC, Hauptsturmfuhrer Johannes Roggenfeld was replaced by Captain Dr Wenzel Rebus formerly of the Propaganda Ministry. However, the daily running of the unit fell to his deputy, Lt Willy Kumcarre, a veteran of the Eastern Front. The BFC under went pioneer training at Dresdan until the Allied firebombing of the city in February 1945. The unit was then transferred out of the city and some members used it as a chance to escape. On 8 March the remaining members of the unit were offered the option to either fight at the front or be sent to a disciplinary camp at Droennewitz. The members of the unit who chose the front were issued with a MP 44 and a magazine with thirty six rounds. Albert Stokes elected to go to the front but he stated with the intention of escaping. (12)
The BFC was transferred to Stettin and assigned to the III SS-Germanische Panzerkorps 11, SS Panzergrenadier Division Nordland. On 22 March the BFC reported to SS Major General Joachim Ziegler at Angermuende, 35 kilometres south of Stettin. They were placed with a armoured reconnaissance battalion in the village of Schoeneberg. The unit were issued with shovels and proceeded to dig themselves in. They came under Soviet mortar and artillery fire but sustained no casualties.
The BFC had been split into two groups with Stokes in one group with four others (Nixon, Nicholls, Russler and Cameron). (13) The command of the unit passed to an NCO Archie Webster who received orders to report to the Third Armoured Corps at Steinhoefel. Webster sort an interview with Obergruppenfuhrer Felix Steiner. Steiner did not trust the BFC in the line so he immediately reassigned them to various duties, including as medical orderlies at Templin. Templin was 44 kilometres to the west of Stettin.
The Russian offensive over the Oder River obliged the remaining members of the BFC including Stokes to flee in a convoy towards Schwerin. The Americans were reported to be 30 kilometres from Schwerin so Stokes and Cameron changed into civilian clothing and proceeded to walk towards the American lines. They were met be a British officer outside Schwerin and they identified themselves as escaped POWs. They stopped in the camp for five days and later transported to Luneberg. They were repatriated on 9 May 1945. (14)
After the War
The members of the BFC received a variety of penalties from British justice after the war. In the case of John Amery, he was sentenced to death by hanging. In the case of Albert Stokes, he was court-martialled on 17 August 1945 and found guilty of having been made a prisoner of war voluntarily aiding the enemy. Stokes received the relative light sentence of to be reduced to the ranks and to be imprisoned with hard labour for one year. The maximum sentence available to the military court in Stokes case was life imprisonment. (15)"
https://www.thefreelibrary.com/British+ ... 0137872267
"Story of Private Albert Stokes
Albert James Stokes was born in Fremantle, Western Australia on 3 August 1917. He enlisted in the 2nd AIF on 4 March 1940 at Subiaco in Western Australia. After training he served with 2/32nd Battalion in Egypt and Syria. (8) He was taken prisoner by the Germans on 17 July 1942 at the battle of El Alamein. He was handed over to the Italians and held initially in prisoner of war camps at Benghazi and after Tripoli. In December 1942 he was transferred to Camp 85 in Italy. When Italy capitulated he was transferred to Stalag XVIII at Spittal in Austria. (9)
After a few weeks at the Stalag Stokes was sent out to a working commando at Bruck-Muir where he was employed on the staff at the camp until March 1944. He was taken to Berlin and a location called Zehlendorf. He was interviewed by a soldier in a field gray uniform. He identified himself by the surname of Courlander. According to Stokes he stated that he was a member of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and a member of the British Free Corps.
Courlander said that the BFC was being led by a British Officer, Major Stranders and that it would sabotage German lines of communications under the guise of fighting against the Russians on the Eastern Front. Stokes asked for a few days to think over Coulander's offer but subsequently agreed to enlist in the BFC. (10) 10
Then in March 1944 Stokes with four other recruits from the camp were transferred to BFC which was stationed at the SS Nordic Study Center in Hildesheim, Germany. Stokes along with his fellow traitors assumed false names. Stokes assumed the name of Gordon. The use of false names does cast doubt on Stokes suggested rationale for joining the BFC. It suggests that all the members of the BFC were aware of the possible ramifications if Germany did not win the war and their respective parts in the Waffen SS were revealed.
For the next few months the members of the BFC spent their days learning German and listening to lectures on ideology. The lectures were intended to supply the members of the BFC with persuasive arguments to recruit other POW's to the unit. The recruitment exercise continued at a pace across German controlled territory.
BFC as a combat unit
The BFC had grown to 27 members when the unit was moved to Dresden-Neusstadt to under go combat engineer training in September 1944. Given the small number of recruits when considered against the energy expended in recruiting it can only be concluded that the recruitment campaign was ultimately a failure. A training schedule was drawn up which included: language lessons, ideological lectures, infantry and pioneer training.
Infantry and pioneer training followed the standard German pattern, with theoretical and practical instructions imparted by German instructors. The infantry training included lectures on the standard German rifle and machine- gun. The unit also undertook their share of sentry duty during this period. (11)
In October 1944, the commander of the BFC, Hauptsturmfuhrer Johannes Roggenfeld was replaced by Captain Dr Wenzel Rebus formerly of the Propaganda Ministry. However, the daily running of the unit fell to his deputy, Lt Willy Kumcarre, a veteran of the Eastern Front. The BFC under went pioneer training at Dresdan until the Allied firebombing of the city in February 1945. The unit was then transferred out of the city and some members used it as a chance to escape. On 8 March the remaining members of the unit were offered the option to either fight at the front or be sent to a disciplinary camp at Droennewitz. The members of the unit who chose the front were issued with a MP 44 and a magazine with thirty six rounds. Albert Stokes elected to go to the front but he stated with the intention of escaping. (12)
The BFC was transferred to Stettin and assigned to the III SS-Germanische Panzerkorps 11, SS Panzergrenadier Division Nordland. On 22 March the BFC reported to SS Major General Joachim Ziegler at Angermuende, 35 kilometres south of Stettin. They were placed with a armoured reconnaissance battalion in the village of Schoeneberg. The unit were issued with shovels and proceeded to dig themselves in. They came under Soviet mortar and artillery fire but sustained no casualties.
The BFC had been split into two groups with Stokes in one group with four others (Nixon, Nicholls, Russler and Cameron). (13) The command of the unit passed to an NCO Archie Webster who received orders to report to the Third Armoured Corps at Steinhoefel. Webster sort an interview with Obergruppenfuhrer Felix Steiner. Steiner did not trust the BFC in the line so he immediately reassigned them to various duties, including as medical orderlies at Templin. Templin was 44 kilometres to the west of Stettin.
The Russian offensive over the Oder River obliged the remaining members of the BFC including Stokes to flee in a convoy towards Schwerin. The Americans were reported to be 30 kilometres from Schwerin so Stokes and Cameron changed into civilian clothing and proceeded to walk towards the American lines. They were met be a British officer outside Schwerin and they identified themselves as escaped POWs. They stopped in the camp for five days and later transported to Luneberg. They were repatriated on 9 May 1945. (14)
After the War
The members of the BFC received a variety of penalties from British justice after the war. In the case of John Amery, he was sentenced to death by hanging. In the case of Albert Stokes, he was court-martialled on 17 August 1945 and found guilty of having been made a prisoner of war voluntarily aiding the enemy. Stokes received the relative light sentence of to be reduced to the ranks and to be imprisoned with hard labour for one year. The maximum sentence available to the military court in Stokes case was life imprisonment. (15)"
https://www.thefreelibrary.com/British+ ... 0137872267
Re: Australians in the Waffen SS
And another -
"An early volunteer for the BFC was Lance Corporal Roy Courlander of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2 NZEF).
Roy was born in London, England, on 6 December 1914 and was greatly influenced as a boy by the attitudes and opinions of his Lithuanian stepfather, who had married his mother in 1920. When his parents divorced in 1933, the 19 year old Roy went to Vanuatu in the Pacific where he worked with his father on a copra plantation. At some stage, Roy had moved back to New Zealand and in 1939, he was living in Napier, where he was convicted of breaking and entering as well as an assault charge. On 3 October 1939, Roy enlisted in the 2 NZEF and went off to Egypt with 18 Battalion and because of his knowledge of German, he was attached to the Intelligence Section.
In May 1941, now a Lance Corporal, Roy was captured during the retreat through Greece. As a prisoner of war in Stalag XVIIIA, Roy became the camp interpreter and soon after volunteered to fight for the Germans against Russia. In June 1943, Roy went to a special camp just south of Berlin where he broadcast propaganda for the German foreign radio service. It was at this time that Roy was issued his German SS uniform.
In April 1944, Roy was promoted to Unterscharfuehrer (Waffen SS Sergeant) and he began touring prison camps trying to recruit others, especially New Zealanders. He succeeded in persuading six men from 28 Battalion to volunteer, but they were eventually turned down by the SS. During one recruiting visit he was punched in the face by an outraged New Zealander.
Despite its grand title the BFC was never more than 30 strong and the Allied invasion of Europe in June 1944 signalled its demise. As the Allies advanced, the BFC began to disintegrate, with its members deserting or trying to rejoin the ranks of liberated prisoners of war. At the end of September 1944, Unterscarfuehrer Roy Courlander surrendered to the Allied Forces in Belgium.
Lance Corporal Courlander was arrested and tried by court martial by the New Zealand military authorities in Margate, England, and on 3 October 1945, six years to the day after enlisting, Roy was sentenced to 15 years in prison. In 1946, he was transferred to Mount Eden prison in Auckland, New Zealand, until his release in 1951. It is believed that Roy Courlander left New Zealand in the 1960's and that he died in Australia in 1970."
http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-con ... h_free.htm
"An early volunteer for the BFC was Lance Corporal Roy Courlander of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2 NZEF).
Roy was born in London, England, on 6 December 1914 and was greatly influenced as a boy by the attitudes and opinions of his Lithuanian stepfather, who had married his mother in 1920. When his parents divorced in 1933, the 19 year old Roy went to Vanuatu in the Pacific where he worked with his father on a copra plantation. At some stage, Roy had moved back to New Zealand and in 1939, he was living in Napier, where he was convicted of breaking and entering as well as an assault charge. On 3 October 1939, Roy enlisted in the 2 NZEF and went off to Egypt with 18 Battalion and because of his knowledge of German, he was attached to the Intelligence Section.
In May 1941, now a Lance Corporal, Roy was captured during the retreat through Greece. As a prisoner of war in Stalag XVIIIA, Roy became the camp interpreter and soon after volunteered to fight for the Germans against Russia. In June 1943, Roy went to a special camp just south of Berlin where he broadcast propaganda for the German foreign radio service. It was at this time that Roy was issued his German SS uniform.
In April 1944, Roy was promoted to Unterscharfuehrer (Waffen SS Sergeant) and he began touring prison camps trying to recruit others, especially New Zealanders. He succeeded in persuading six men from 28 Battalion to volunteer, but they were eventually turned down by the SS. During one recruiting visit he was punched in the face by an outraged New Zealander.
Despite its grand title the BFC was never more than 30 strong and the Allied invasion of Europe in June 1944 signalled its demise. As the Allies advanced, the BFC began to disintegrate, with its members deserting or trying to rejoin the ranks of liberated prisoners of war. At the end of September 1944, Unterscarfuehrer Roy Courlander surrendered to the Allied Forces in Belgium.
Lance Corporal Courlander was arrested and tried by court martial by the New Zealand military authorities in Margate, England, and on 3 October 1945, six years to the day after enlisting, Roy was sentenced to 15 years in prison. In 1946, he was transferred to Mount Eden prison in Auckland, New Zealand, until his release in 1951. It is believed that Roy Courlander left New Zealand in the 1960's and that he died in Australia in 1970."
http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-con ... h_free.htm