Oaklands, a small town in the New South Wales Riverina, had a population of about 500 in 1936. My father, Kevin Byrne, began working there as a clerk for his maternal uncle, Kevin Rourke, a skilled salesman and auctioneer. However, after turning 21, Dad felt it was time to forge his own path. Perhaps, not wisely though. His first step toward independence was enlisting in the Army.

After completing basic training, Kevin was assigned to the Australian Army Service Corps as a truck driver in the 6th Division's 17th Brigade. By October, he joined approximately 5,000 Australian and New Zealand soldiers and sailed to the Middle East. Their mission was to relieve troops who had been battling Italian and German forces.

Instead, the 6th Division was redirected to Greece to defend against a looming German invasion. British strategists doubted the Allies could succeed in their mission, but they hoped the effort might at least delay Germany’s invasion of Russia.

For Kevin, the outcome of this strategy was irrelevant. The Allies were sent to Greece without sufficient logistical or air support, leading to their eventual defeat. Kevin was among the 8,000 Allied soldiers captured by the Germans.

Kevin endured captivity in camps located in Corinth and Thessalonica before being subjected to a harrowing train journey in a cattle wagon to Austria. He was eventually sent to Camp 10029/GW in Klagenfurt, Austria.

During his internment, Joan Dunston, a woman Kevin had dated a few times, wrote to him regularly. In 1943, Joan moved to Melbourne, where she met someone else, fell in love, and got married. This news was hidden from Kevin—a decision made jointly by Joan and Kevin’s family. Despite her new life, Joan continued to write him letters.

Camp 10029/GW was located in Klagenfurt’s Waidmannsdorf suburb, about two miles from the city center and its key railway yards. By mid-1944, air raids had become a frequent occurrence. According to the Geneva Convention, anti-aircraft defenses could not be positioned within 600 meters of a POW camp. In response, the Germans placed a Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun exactly 600 meters from the camp.

Roughly one kilometer from the camp stands a small hill. Today, this area is an overgrown patch of land amidst an industrial zone. If you look closely from the road, you’ll notice a steel door covered in graffiti. This door leads to a cavern large enough to hold around 250 people—if they were all standing.

In early 1944, following the first air raid on Klagenfurt, contractors—assisted by Allied POWs and French forced laborers—excavated the hill to construct a bomb shelter. The shelter was designed to protect the small civilian population and the POWs.

***

On Sunday, February 18, 1945, most of the POWs at Camp 10029/GW were enjoying their rest day. A few men, including Kevin, had been forced to work that morning in the bitter cold but returned to the camp by 11 a.m. Typically, POWs worked for local contractors six and a half days per week. During the warmer months, Sunday afternoons were spent playing sports or relaxing. But in February—Klagenfurt’s coldest month—they were confined indoors, passing the time gathered around heaters, chatting, playing cards, or resting on their bunks.

That Sunday took an unexpected and tragic turn. Around noon, air-raid sirens suddenly blared. The POWs were quickly assembled, and most were marched to the bomb shelter beneath the hill. However, about 40 men chose to stay behind—some too frustrated or disheartened to move, while others were incapacitated by injury or illness. The camp had never been targeted before, and many felt a false sense of security. But that day, the unthinkable happened—bombs rained down on the camp for the first time.

***

In 2014, Australian journalist and television presenter Barrie Cassidy published a book titled Private Bill, recounting his father Bill Cassidy’s experiences as a POW at Camp 10029/GW. He wrote:

“Suddenly, a line of bombs tore through the ground along the fence near the camp’s front gates. Within seconds, more bombs struck, ripping through the barracks. As Bill dashed for the door, the central stove in the barracks toppled over, crushing a man beneath it. The prisoner let out a piercing squeal and then fell silent. Realizing there was nothing more he could do for the man, Bill ran outside. Chaos erupted across the camp as the full horror of the attack set in. Bill joined the men gathered near a trench outside the camp hospital. A bomb had collapsed the trench, trapping three patients beneath the dirt. Among them was Alan Eason, who had been admitted the day before. Bill could hear Alan’s calm voice calling from the rubble, informing his would-be rescuers that he had been ‘badly knocked about.’ Despite his injuries, Alan requested cigarettes to ease his suffering while the men dug feverishly to free him. Two hours later, the men were pulled from the debris. Two survived, but Alan succumbed to his injuries the next morning.”

***

Six POWs—three Australians and three Brits—lost their lives in the bombing. It was believed the bomber had been targeting the anti-aircraft gun, but the bombs were mistakenly released over the camp. When Kevin finally returned home, he discovered that Joan had married and was living in Melbourne. A few months later, he received a letter from Joan Dunston.

 

Newsagency,
162 Bridge Road, Richmond, Victoria

Sunday, 30th
Dear Kevin,
First of all, I must tell you how glad I was to hear you are home and well after such a long time. Mary Cameron told me all about your “Welcome Home.” It must have been all very bewildering for you.
I am writing to you at the request of one of our customers. We have a photo framing agency here and one day a lady brought a photo into me to be framed. I noticed that the photo was of POWs and she told me it was taken at Stalag 18A and showed me her son in the group. When I was putting the photo away I noticed someone very familiar and it was you looking very fit and well.

I told her (about this) when she came back with the photo and she then told me her son Jeff never made it home, that he died whilst in Stalag. She asked me if I had your address and if so, could I write to you and find out something about her late son. His name was Jefferson Gilbert. I hope you don’t mind but I think she would just like to know whether or not you knew him.

Six men were killed in the Sunday bomb raid. Jeff Gilbert was one of them. Kevin knew Jeff well. They were hut-mates and on occasions they were photographed together. Jeff was one of those who made the decision not to go to the bomb shelter. Kevin told me that Jeff refused to move from his bed as an act of defiance.

28 Mar 2025

 

Kevin Byrne is first on the left in the back row. Jeff Gilbert is fourth from the left in the same row.

On duty in the cookhouse. Jeff Gilbert is in the foreground, Kevin is in the deep background.