Editor's Comment - RECONNAISSANCE Autumn Issue 2023
Welcome to the Autumn 2023
issue of Reconnaissance.
The daily scenes of death
and destruction from Ukraine on our television sets seem to have heightened our
awareness of war’s brutality. In particular there is a wave of revulsion
against the gratuitous murder of civilians, including children, and horrific
torture and mistreatment of POWs. For some it is hard to believe such things
can still happen in today’s world.
This disturbing turn of
events may have prompted the two war crimes related articles presented in this
issue of Reconnaissance. First, our cover feature by Dr Andrew Wilson
exposes a long hidden episode from the Second World War to belated scrutiny.
Enraged by Nazi inspired racial hatreds, Wehrmacht troops invading
France in May 1940 subjected French colonial troops of African origin to
inhuman savagery. Dr Wilson describes how various regiments of Senegalese Tirailleurs,
with a proud record in French service, were denied the rights of POWs and
summarily massacred in large numbers.
Second, lawyer, author and
campaigner James Unkles has refocused on a new subject. James previously
campaigned to win a pardon for ‘Breaker’ Morant and his co-accused, themselves
condemned for the war crime of murdering prisoners. In this issue of Reconnaissance
he tackles the related topic of Lord Kitchener’s record and reputation.
Kitchener was implicated in the Morant story for meddling in the legal process
leading to the imprisonment or execution of the accused. As James shows,
however, Kitchener had larger skeletons in his closet when it comes to breaches
of law and human rights. His famous campaigns against the Mahdists in Sudan and
the Boers in South Africa were marred by gross infringements of the laws of war
in the treatment of POWs and civilians.
Australian troops served
under Kitchener in the Boer War and the fledgling Commonwealth Government
subsequently invited him to inspect and advise on the country’s state of
defence preparedness. Some councils and government agencies memorialised
aspects of Kitchener’s tour of Australia in 1909-1910. James argues that in
light of contemporary knowledge about Kitchener’s human rights record, such
memorials should now be removed. While we don’t endorse the practice of
removing historical monuments, his powerful indictment of Kitchener deserves
consideration.
Also in this Reconnaissance,
well-known military historian Tom Lewis tells a poignant tale of five
Australian posthumous Victoria Cross recipients who have no known resting
place, lying in unmarked graves. We remember Private Thomas Cooke, around
Pozieres, Lance Corporal Alexander Burton, somewhere in Gallipoli, Captain
Alfred Shout, the seas of the Dardanelles, Corporal Walter Brown, near
Villers-Bretonneux, and Teddy Sheean, the waters off Timor, by telling their
stories.
In this issue’s militaria
feature, Dr Andrew Wilson traces the history J. Godet & Sohn, jewellers to
the Kings of Prussia and Kaisers of Germany, whose unsurpassed artistry in the
production of decorations like the Iron Cross and Pour le Mérite earned
them the mystique that comes with perfection.
Finally, I thank David
Martin and John Hall for their excellent reviews, respectively, of Brett
Mason’s Wizards of Oz: How OLIPHANT and FLOREY helped win the war and
shape the modern world and Dr Jan McLeod’s All the Broken Soldiers: Private Kennedy's War.
Feel free to contact me if
you are interested in contributing to forthcoming issues.
I hope
you enjoy the magazine.
Editor,
Reconnaissance
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