Ronald Bonner Jones
20th Jan 1919 – 19th
Oct 2002
20th Jan 1919 – 19th
Oct 2002
I first came into contact with Ron Jones through my father's surgery.
As
a patient of my father's, Ron used to often tell him about his wartime experiences. I had a vague understanding of what these
experiences entailed, namely that Ron owed his life to some resistance fighters
and two smugglers who had helped him escape from Nazi-occupied
As I listened to what Ron had to say during four hours of conversation in the kitchen at his home, I was amazed at both the content of the story and the dignity of the man describing it. Despite his advancing years, Ron was able to recount his experiences in incredible detail, supported with various books and memoranda. At times he was very outspoken, adamant that the Italian people did not support fascism (a view shared by many historians) and that the Germans where not all evil Nazis. Occasionally he was very reminiscent, reflecting on the changes in fortune during his epic escape and military service. It all added up to a fascinating story, which I became dedicated to presenting in the best possible way.
I spent hours on the Internet and consumed in books related in any way to Ron's experiences, with the goat of presenting a comprehensive overview of background information so the reader might gain a better understanding of the political and social climate of the day. Ron's time spent as a prisoner of war gave me the chance to salute the work of the International Red Cross during the Second World War, a remarkable humanitarian effort that saved the lives of thousands of Australians.
This assignment transported me back to the past, and I am grateful for the experience.
My thanks to Mr. Ron Jones he is a remarkable man.
"Fellow Australians. It is my melancholy duty to inform you officially that, in
consequence of the persistence by
No harder task can fall to the lot of a democratic leader than to make such an announcement. Great Britain and France, with the co-operation of the British Dominions, have struggled to avoid this tragedy. They have, as I firmly believe, been patient; they have kept the door of negotiations open; they have given no cause for provocation. But, in the result, their efforts have failed, and we are therefore, as a great family of nations, involved in a struggle which we must at all costs win, and which we believe in our hearts we will win.”
2 / 13 Battalion
When
war was declared on 3 September 1939, Ron Jones was put through full-time
military training as an instructor. In
February 1940 he was seconded from the regular army to the recruit-training
depot at Liverpool Army Camp. He became
a corporal section leader, and with friend Stan "
Ron
soon found that he was in the company of veterans of the First World War. One morning an instructor reprimanded a
veteran soldier for his slow reaction time during a routine bayonet fighting
exercise. The man returned the next day
wearing a Victoria Cross, the
Ron Jones fondly remembers an incident at Liverpool Army Camp during a musketry test, when a recruit challenged him to shoot at the target. 'Bones Jones' as he was called, had developed a reputation of being a skilled marksman, but what happened next surprised even him. “I got down there and I thought I'll show 'em. I squeezed the trigger. 1 .... 2..... 3...... 10 shots, 10 bull’s-eyes. Now that's a possible - that means it is possible but it's not practical, no one can shoot 10 shots one after the other from 300 yards with a bull’s-eye the size of a dinner plate. I got more respect after that day.”
Ron Jones successfully gained entry into the 2nd Australian Imperial Force, (AIF) which had established itself as one of the most legendary fighting units of the First World War. He became a member of the 2/13 Battalion, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel (later Brigadier) F.A. Burrows D.S.O., M.M., E.D., Polish Cross of Velour. A veteran of the First World War Lt. Col. Burrows had served in Gallipoli and France.
He was Affectionately known as “The Bull” and “...seemed to know everybody personally”. Ron Jones recalled one encounter with his commander after Ron threw up at a brigade parade. "The But (had just had his appendix removed. He was sitting nearby on his little stick chair and he came straight over to me: “What's wrong with you corporal, got pains in your stomach?” He motioned for Ron to join him and sit out the parade. “He was quite concerned, he was that sort of a guy - to bugger with the parade, he would move over to attend to a soldier if there was something wrong with him.” Ron's battalion was called 'Bull burrer's Bomb happy Boys' after their commander and 'The Devil's Own' because they were the 13th battalion of the 2nd Australian Imperial Force.
Second
in command of the 2/13 Battalion was Major N. W. Simpson. "He was the Red Fox. He was a strict disciplinarian but mainly on
paperwork. -'Under his direction, the battalion marched from Ingleburn Camp to
The uniform worn by members of the Battalion was standard issue. “We wore tong pants but no putty. We still had English garters, bullet poaches and a back pack.” Ron has never had a high opinion of the traditional Australian Army slouch hats. “They were useless. When they get wet they hang around your ears and chin. Turned up at the side the wind catches them - it really is ridiculous. Where are you going to put them if you want to kiss a girt?”
Shortly after the epic march to
Ron
first saw action on the 6 March 1941 on the frontline at the
Ron
Jones’ ‘doomsday’ was April 4, 1941.
This was the first occasion that Australian land troops met and fought
German land troops in the Second World War.
Armoured divisions of Afrikakorps (Germans) were in
A gully ran down from the escarpment were it was possible to see the flat desert surface. "From the left horizon to the right horizon were just rows and rows and rows of hundreds of tanks. There were Armoured Personnel Carriers full of German soldiers, kicking up dust as they went and going over the sides as they were blasted by Bren gun fire. At the time Ron didn't even know whom they were up against. “We moved into the frontline and there was nobody between us and the enemy, who ever they were down there - we presumed they were Italians.”
The Afrikakorps were forced to halt and a heavy battle was imminent. The plan was for “I /2 company with transport would return after dark to rescue us and take us back. However, the German Afrikakorps deployed artillery and then tanks at our front.”
“British Horowitzes were already firing. Two Royal Horse Artillery had 25 pounders and a couple of German tanks were moving up really close. The British were firing at them but they couldn’t fire into them and they (the tanks) were heavy Armour and allot of the bullets used to bounce off. We needed a big shelf to hit the tank and open it up. We had small arms and we'd fire the Brens or rifles at the guys inside the tanks. They were busy trying to shoot us with cannon guns.”
Ron soon faced the prospect of being gunned down. “It was a strange feeling when I was suddenly in action. He was a rotten shot, unless he didn't want to wound me, I don't know. He probably wanted to find out who we were because there were only a handful of us...” The Germans strategically sent a battalion around to the rear of the Australians and they soon found themselves surrounded.
Bayonets Abroad wrote: “The main advantage he (the enemy) gained was by means of his encircling movements which caused casualties and led to the capture of many of our men.
Because of the confused fighting and the absence, to a great degree, of communications, a detailed account of the 2113th's initial battle with Rommel's men will perhaps never be clearly given... It was not possible to discriminate between the battle casualties of Er Regima and those sustained during the retreat.”
By nightfall the Germans started “lobbying the fort with shells.” The Australians were blasted with mortars and machine gun fire, as star shells floated down from the sky in tiny parachutes fighting everything like day. The Germans captured several soldiers and moved them towards their own tines, all the white continually closing in on the Australian’s position. “Our platoons were in an extreme forward position. People were coming towards us with their hands in the air!” The enemy began shouting for the Australians to put their hands up, telling them not to worry and praising them for their fighting ability. Ron immediately disposed of his camera, fearing the Germans would suspect him of being a spy. “Obviously they weren't trying to kill anybody, which was strange. I suppose they wanted information.”
Ron Jones remembers the Germans as “mostly young looking blokes with peachy complexions. They hadn't been that long in the desert to get a suntan. The fellas who captured us were very friendly and courteous and thoughtful. They spoke English quite well and they chatted to us, telling us that while we might be POW's today they could easily be POW's themselves tomorrow. They were very eager to impress us. It reminded me of how futile war is - we were killing each other but we could still carry on a conversation. It was ridiculous.”
He laughs when he recalls one aspect of the conflict
in
Those captured were held in custody by the Germans
and taken across the top of
One morning there was a line outside the
toilet, which was effectively just a big hole in the ground outside the compound. An Italian soldier threw a hand grenade into
the toilet, sending rock and metal flying in all directions. Ron was hit on the right cheekbone, and the
blast left him with a permanent ‘groove’ just below the eye. He was escorted to the medical unit where an
Italian doctor secured the area with metal clips instead of stitches.
During the journey, Ron was to witness an unprecedented act of generosity. A German officer approached the prisoners and began to make conversation in English. The men complained they had no water or food. The officer smiled and with a snap of his fingers had men running in all directions getting things for them. He later asked his company to donate half of their daily rations of food so they could eat. "Every time we passed a group of German soldiers they'd all spring to attention and salute - they were trained to respect their enemy. A German broke came up to us and said 'We are not allowed to search you but we are asking you if you have any arms concealed because it's going to be serious if we find it. We are not allowed to search you and if we are caught robbing the dead we are shot immediately by the person who finds us.' This was summary execution.
The prisoners eventually reached
Instead of being executed, Ron was sent to hospital
to recover from dysentery. “Every night
up would go the blooming sirens followed by the anti-aircraft fire. There was so much stuff flying around and
holes in the wall that you didn't want to move.” After the war, a cousin told
him that the bombing came from Australian and British fleets. “My cousin was Captain James Benson O.B.E. He
commanded the HMAS Waterhen in the
Mediterranean Fleet at that time - little did he know when they were shelling
Once out of hospital, Ron boarded the
Upon arriving at the Sulmona station, the soldiers
were made to march to the P.O.W. compound.
Other P.O.W.’s who ‘showed us the ropes’ and gave them a cup of coffee
and some cookies met the men. The
Sulmona compound housed troops of seven nationalities, some of whom were
Irish. Ron became confused when he
learnt they were from the
Ron and others who had been captured at Er Regima
were eventually transferred from Sulmona to the camp of
Life in the prison camp was hard, and Ron and his colleagues received Red Cross parcels on a weekly or fort nightly basis. “The English packs had a lot of variety - little tins of spreads, meat and vegetables, a block of chocolate... English cigarettes were separate issue, fifty cigarettes in a tin.” Many captured soldiers gave the cake of soap to the Italians, with instructions to give it to their daughters. This simple gesture, according to Ron “...would start the Italian bloke off and he'd immediately cry.”
Under international agreement all prisoners of war received two tire per day The Italians were a smart people, according to Ron, and “... immediately set up a canteen to get the money back.” “A loaf of bread was a daily ration to the men which weighed 120 grams. This important possession “became the currency.”
The Australian prisoners found other uses for the
food parcels. “Food parcels sent from
The camp confirmed Ron Jones’ earlier belief that the Italians did not want to be involved in World War Two. He remembered that some of Mussolini’s elite regiments wore “a Fascist symbol on their collar, of a bundle of sticks with an axe through the middle. It showed authority - the axe for decapitating people and the sticks for beating them if it was just an ordinary crime.” Ron would go for a walk in the morning within the prison grounds. These organized walks were more or less a routine march.
Armed Italian soldiers marching along the sides and rear of the ranks guarded the men. “The guards would nudge you with their elbow and say 'Mussolini' and give you the sign to cut his throat.”
Ron Jones saw many unsuccessfully attempts at escaping from the prison camps. “There was an escape committee and you had to put your proposal to them.” The camps were often fenced off in a maze of trip wire and razor sharp barbed wire. In addition, the grounds were lit up by hydroelectricity and were frequented by sentry boxes. This led Ron Jones to conclude that at the present time you could not get out. “I thought about it all the time but the system of guarding made it impossible.”
Apart from providing life-sustaining food supplies, the parcels delivered by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) allowed prisoners of war to create some ingenious devices.
Ron Jones regarded himself as 'a clever sort of bloke' and he took full advantage of this extra avenue of recreation, relishing the chance to relieve the boredom of the camp and get in touch with his creative side. “You could put your hands to anything. Those Red Cross parcels were good stout cardboard. We used to have stage shows and I've always been interested in the production of props - so I used to tend my hand at that. In the prison camps I had to make clothing, which I did with the help of a team of blokes who could sew - we put on all sorts of shows and we needed women's dresses which we made out of bags.”
“Once there was a heap of soccer jerseys which
came with some soccer balls from the Red Cross through
Ron reached the height of his fame when he made
a compass from the simplest materials.
This is how he designed the compass in his own words:
“Toothpaste comes in a little aluminium container with a lid. I thought that was just the thing - because aluminium is non-magnetic. I Got one cleaned out ... in the bottom was a disc of cardboard and a broken needle stuck up through it to a point. The ordinary patent fastener is two pieces that go together - if you put that through the cardboard it left a little dome and the needle just fitted through the dome and the dome balanced on the needle. We had a complete bearing from this cord which was marked 360 degrees right around. You could make a site and get a bearing, just like an army prismatic compass. A razor blade underneath was required to magnetize the compass. Once you put the lid on the toothpaste everything was stationary and didn't get knocked about. "
Ron Jones used his effective instrument “to make maps of the whole district.” He later gave the compass and his maps to a group of men attempting to escape from the Gruppignano P.O.W. camp. He never saw his map or compass again
Ron Jones’ thumbnail sketch
After three months at the P.O.W. camp of
Ration for P.O.W.
Prigionere d'Guere
# Daily
Bread - 120 grams
Vegetables - a small amount
Rice or macaroni - 60 grams
# Weekly
Cheese - 60 grams
Meat, fat and bone - 60 grams
# Monthly
Sugar (beet) - 60 grams
Oil (olive) - 60 grams
At Campo 57, Ron Jones discovered a major campaign was underway to lead the prisoners to freedom. “Something was going on. I was doing some drawing one-day and I heard ticking. I went past someone and he said ‘if you heard anything, you didn't hear anything, you get me?’ They were digging a tunnel... it didn't go just a little way, it went about five hundred meters. They had a little railway down there, just like in the films."
One day two men who asked for his assistance so the men could escape via the tunnel confronted Ron Jones. “They came up to me and said ‘we are from the escape committee and we want your compass and your map.” Ron had spent weeks making the compass from a toothpaste tin and gave it to the men knowing it would be of great use should they find freedom. “The only people who got compasses as standard issue were those involved with intelligence.” This ambitious escape plan ended with the recapture of 19 men who had managed to flee into the nearby rice fields via the tunnel.
Ron Jones left Campo 57 on Anzac Day 1943 in charge
of a detachment of 120 men who were sent to work in the rice fields on the
plains of
Varicella is only 80 kilometres from the Swiss border. Many Australian prisoners transferred to Varicella from Gruppignano contemplated escape into the mountains, but this only became a possibility after Italian surrender in September of 1943. After the Italian capitulation, Italian soldiers dressed as civilians and fled for home. One Australian prisoner who set off for freedom during this time recalled: “Our Italian guards were as anxious to get home as us, and the small outside working camps ceased to operate.”
Ron Jones’ work in the rice fields came to an abrupt end. One night a member of Ron’s group spat in a guard’s face. The soldier reacted by picking up his rifle and firing shots straight through the window. Ron had a towel hanging on a piece of string which got a hole right through it, rendering him ‘shot in the towel.’ “The WO (warrant officer) came in and said ‘somebody spat at the guard.’” No one would claim responsibility for the incident, even though saliva was clearly visible swinging in the breeze on the bars of the window. The Italians suspected Ron’s friend Gordon Putland, and so he and Ron were sent to a detention camp at Sati.
Ron and the other prisoners had nothing to do at the
detention camp and soon became very bored.
On 3 September 1943 the news reached the camp that the Italians had
capitulated to the Allies, who had reached the mainland less than two months
after the successful invasion of
Despite the change in circumstances, the prisoners
were told to stay at the camp until they could expect to be liberated by
British troops heading north. However,
the prisoners soon became conscious of the large number of German Nazis who
were quick to occupy
Prisoners and guards began to simply disappear from the Sati camp, most with the common goat of reaching home by any means they could find. Other Australian prisoners who escaped from camps close to the Swiss border chose to assist Italian partisans fighting against the Germans. “A friend of mine served right through with the partisans,” Ron remembers. “He was a very quiet sort of a bloke in the prison camps. After being in this business with the partisans he was quite a changed man. He’d been through a hell of a lot there and killed a few people really close-up, including one of his own men he shot because he tried to sell information. As it was we went different paths.”
With the camp virtually deserted, Ron and Gordon decided to head south with the intention of crossing the Po River and joining the British fleet. They moved off dressed in civilian clothes supplied by a friendly priest. Ron had originally made a deal to hand over his service dress but the Italians feared that he may be shot as a civilian - at least with his uniform the enemy had the option of taking him to a POW camp rather than executing him. Dressed in their new clothes, the only thing which identified the prisoners as escapees were their British army boots and Ron conceded they must have looked ‘rather unusual.’
During their time on the run, Ron and Gordon kept off
roads and stayed on tracks and paths to avoid meeting with German patrols. On the way south they came into contact with
other POW’s who had made an unsuccessful attempt at crossing the Po River. They were informed that the Po River had
broken its banks and that any attempt to cross it would result in certain
capture - Germans now patrolled every bridge on the river. There was now nothing for Ron or Gordon to do
but turn around and head north for
Ron and Gordon had no idea how tong they would be on the run from the Nazis. The two men resolved to find work at a farm in exchange for lodging and food. The farm’s owner, who later reversed his decision, initially refused their request. “He jumped on his bike and came after us calling ‘Halt!’” The escapees later discovered that he had served alongside the British in the First World War. Even though they told him they were Australians, he still came to regard them as Englishmen - accommodating them would be his way of thanking the British for their services during the last war. Ron and Gordon accepted his apologies and were offered a bed in the attic.
It was suggested to the two men that they rendezvous
with a group of Italian partisans and ex-POW's gathering near the border with
Ron’s first challenge lay in crossing a highway
patrolled by German convoys at San Germano.
The men waited in a ditch by the side of the road for hours before Ron
lead the men safety across. Their joy
was short-lived when they discovered an established German camp no more than
100 yards away. “We didn't notice them
earlier because we were so intent on getting along this road. The canal was on our right and on our left
was a tong watt.” The POW’s stood eye to eye with German soldiers tined up for
mess parade. “Fellas were pushing each other in the queues and banging their
The men eventually reached their destination - the
The group walked through the night along a winding country road before they reached Paronga. The village had a stream running through it and people occupied the forests, which were dotted with mushrooms. Ron was told to stay in one of the huts white some Italians went searching for food and guns, but they never returned to the village. Ron’s suspicions were confirmed one morning when children began shouting ‘Tedesci! Tedesci!’ (Germans!) On hearing machine-gun fire, Ron, Gordon and a man called Ted Kent ran for the protection of the scrub.
The three men found them selves on a large hairpin bend being shot at from both directions. Across the base of the hairpin was a cordon of men waiting to arrest anyone who emerged from the camp. Seizing the moment, the men moved silently in single file through the scrub. The Germans continued to shoot across the clearance at each other unaware that the men had already left the area.
Ron and his companions had been fortunate enough to find a bush track, and they were running along it when they came face to face with a young German soldier no more than ten meters away. “He saw me the moment I saw him.” The soldier's rifle was stung over his shoulder and he was wearing a dark blue service uniform and ski cap. He knew immediately who the men were and his mouth dropped open in surprise. “I can still picture the eyes popping out of his head.” He stared at them in amazement and fumbled as he tried to get his rifle into firing position. For a moment Ron thought about rushing the guard but decided against it in case the young man cried out in alarm, which would have alerted anyone nearby. Instead, the three men simply turned and ran for their lives - not a word was spoken nor a shot fired.
The men had started running in the opposite direction and sought shelter amid some boulders. During a break in German patrol movements they slid over the rocks and down to the road. By this time it was raining so heavily that visibility was reduced to about four of five meters ahead. Ron led the way as they climbed hills and valleys, aiming to put as much distance between themselves and the Germans as possible. Once they felt that this had been achieved, they rested in a small hut by a creek.
The group was soon spotted by three women, one of who came to talk to them. She was a tall blonde who introduced herself as Clara and asked if the men were English. Ron told her they were Australians “... involved in the bust up with the Germans this morning.” She bought them food and told them not to venture out of the hut, although on occasions they went by the creek to catch yabbies. “At the drop of a hat you had to get moving and hide somewhere because you had people around who were for the fascists of course, the people knew who they were.”
Clara set about securing the men safe passage into
Ron, Gordon and Ted began to climb up the mountain. On the way they met up with nine other Australians who had escaped from their camp after German soldiers raided it. Planes flew overhead at various times and the three men decided that a group of twelve would be too easily spotted. However, the other men became increasingly reluctant to leave and so they all moved off as one.
They reached their final destination and were greeted by some partisans. “At the partisan camps in the mountains there was nothing there at all. It was rocky and they were living in caves and we couldn't see what they were doing. There were no tents - that could be seen from the air. The Germans had Storks, they were like a helicopter and could almost stand still.... Looking around to see what was underneath.” The partisan's leader was a man called Dante. Dante told Ron that only he could be taken across the border. “He was adamant it would only be me.” Ron found this situation unacceptable and so declined the offer. Instead, Ron decided that the men must split up. “I had to insist on this move.” Ron, Gordon and Ted headed back to see Clara again. It snowed on the mountains as they made their way ‘home.’
With escape via the partisans now virtually impossible a new plan had to be formulated. Ron suffered an attack of appendicitis one night after eating salted fish. The risk of taking Ron to a hospital was too great and so Gordon was left to bathe his side in ice-cold water till Ron made a full recovery. “We really had a bad time of it there. We were like blooming rabbits hiding all the time. Many times they (the girls) would have to come down and tell us ‘Get move!’ and we would disappear for a day or two and arrange to come back and then they'd give us some food.”
It was arranged for the three men to be transported by vehicle to the border by an anti-fascist businessman. At the agreed time, a three-wheel truck stopped at the side of the road. “The front part of it was actually the front part of a motorbike. It had a wheel and two handlebars with a cover over it and a windscreen - the back part of it was like a Ute.” An Italian jumped out and motioned for the men to move to the rear of the vehicle. He removed a bale of hay and it became immediately obvious that the hay load was hollow. The men stepped in and the hay was replaced before they drove away. At no stage during the journey was the truck stopped by a German patrol. The partisans prided themselves on knowing the exact movements of the enemy and their trademark saying became “Gali Tedesci non venghono qua.” (“The Germans don't come here.”)
When the truck finally stopped the men found
themselves at the town of
The small group started their ascent, at one time passing directly above the German border patrol. They stopped at a monastery where they were given intelligence on the present situation in the mountains. An aircraft pilot called Beepo from the Italian Marine Air Force, also fleeing the Nazis, was added to the group. They continued the climb, the snow getting thicker and thicker the higher they moved. It was now that Ron became grateful for years of climbing experience as a boy with the scouts. However, he soon realised that this was something altogether different. “It was my first experience with high mountains in my life.”
The men eventually reached a ridge 3,500 meters above
sea level between the peaks of
Beepo led the way to a black mass. It was a big slope with a huge mass of black rock - the peak of an old mountain covered in snow." All the while the continued to make their way down the mountain. “We walked over the top of a glacier without knowing that it was deadly to walk on because if you slipped through you'd go straight through a crevasse. You could throw a fair sized bungalow down those crevasses and it would disappear.” They reached a certain point near an icefall when the Italian simply sat and slid down the ice. For a moment Ron, Gordon and Ted thought the airman had died on failing, but he soon sprang back to life. “You, have to slide, it's the only way,” he told them, ‘Venire! Venire he cried out!’
With his mind made up, Ron went down the mountain in the same manner. He burnt his hands due to the friction caused when his hands touched the snow. “I came down alright but I certainly gave myself a bit of a jolt.” Ted came next but Gordon was reluctant to follow. He started to climb down in the opposite direction only to lose his footing and end up sliding down on his stomach.
All the men found they were now at the bottom of the
mountain. The temperature could not have
been more than ten degrees Celsius. A
hundred yards away a Swiss guard dressed in grey and wearing no jacket called
“Halt!” The men were taken to the guardhouse for questioning and were given a
cup of tea to toast their newfound freedom.
“Don't say anything, but we should have been up there patrolling the
mountain,” one of the guards told them.
“Welcome to
In many respects Ron Jones’ adventure was only just
beginning following his remarkable escape from the Nazis into neutral
territory. He soon met up with other
POW’s who had escaped from
Ron was keen to learn and took the advice, which was
at his disposal. “They told us if you
really want to learn climbing you do it with your four limbs your two hands and
your two feet.” Ron quickly established himself as a climber of ability. “They sent me and a few of the others that
were good mountain climbers down to Rosentauie to the Bergsteiger Schule (a
mountain climbing school) where Sir Edmund Hillary later went to.” By the end
of his time in
While in
Ron Jones arrived back in
The two men at the centre of Ron's journey to freedom
are now living in different parts of the country - Ted Kent in southeast
Victoria and Gordon Putland on the west coast of
Ron exchanged letters with Clara for many years
following his escape, of which she played a large part. Her passing several years ago has left Ron
with little contact with people in
Ron ventured into photography in the years preceding
the war and made it his livelihood, eventually owning studios in Glen Innes and
Perhaps the most astonishing chapter in this
incredible tale occurred forty-six years after the war ended. Ron suggested that surviving members of the
2/13 Battalion get together to re-enact the epic march from Ingleburn to
But Ron had other ideas.
Shunning the bus, he set off alone on foot. “I walked all the way to
“Prisoners
of war must at all times be humanely treated. Any unlawful act or omission by the
Detaining Power causing death or
seriously endangering the health of a prisoner
of war in its custody is prohibited, and will be regarded as a serious breach of the present Convention. Measures of reprisal against prisoners of
war are prohibited. In particular, no prisoner of war may be subjected to physical mutilation or to
medical or scientific experiments of
any kind, which are not justified by the medical, dental, or hospital treatment
of the prisoner concerned and carried
out in his interest.
Likewise,
prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or
intimidation and against insults and
public curiosity.
Measures of
reprisal against prisoners of war are prohibited.”
Geneva
Convention, Article 13
The Red Cross, born of a desire to bring assistance without discrimination to the wounded on the battlefield, endeavours - in its international and national capacity - to prevent and alleviate human suffering wherever it may be found. Its purpose is to protect life and health and to ensure respect for the human being. It promotes mutual understanding, friendship, cooperation, and stable peace amongst all peoples.
It makes no discrimination as to nationality, race, religious beliefs, class, or political opinions. It endeavours only to relieve suffering, giving priority to the most urgent cases of distress.
In order to continue to enjoy the confidence of all, the Red Cross may not take sides in hostilities or engage at any time in controversies of a political, racial, religious, or ideological nature.
The Red Cross is independent. The national societies, while auxiliaries in the humanitarian services of their governments and subject to the laws of their respective countries, must always maintain their autonomy so that they may be able at all times to act in accordance with Red Cross principles.
The Red Cross is a voluntary relief Organisation not prompted in any manner by desire for gain.
There can be only one Red Cross society in any one country. It must be open to all. It must carry on its humanitarian work throughout its territory.
The Red Cross is a worldwide institution in which all societies have equal status and share equal responsibilities and duties in helping each other.
During the Second World War approximately 8,650
Australians became prisoners of war in
The basis for the International Committee of the Red Cross’ humanitarian work was The Geneva Convention of 27 July 1929 Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. It consists of a total of 97 articles, which establish that all captives should be treated in a manner befitting their position as human beings.
The Geneva Convention instituted laws regarding such
matters as the Organisation of camps, food and clothing for prisoners, hygiene,
and discipline inside camps, prisoners’ financial resources, prison labour and
prisoners’ mail. Most importantly, it
meant that the ICRC had the right to enquire as to the whereabouts of prisoners
of war and make suggestions as to how to improve their living conditions. This
would explain why American Red Cross officials would not allow the planned
execution of Ron Jones and his companions in
In September 1939 The International Committee of the Red Cross founded The Central Agency for Prisoners of War. In April 1945, 2,585 of the ICRCs total staff of 3,921 people worked for the Agency. Half of these people volunteered their services.
The Agency was made responsible for collecting and forwarding all information relating to prisoners to the relevant parties and maintaining contact between the prisoners and their families. Its rote was set out in Article 79 of the Geneva Convention:
“A Central Agency of information regarding prisoners of war shall be established in a neutral country. The International Red Cross Committee shall, if they consider it necessary, propose to the Powers concerned the Organization of such an agency.
This agency shall be charged with the duty of collecting all information regarding prisoners which they may be able to obtain through official or private channels, and the agency shall transmit the information as rapidly as possible to the prisoners' own country or the Power in whose service they have been. These provisions shall not be interpreted as restricting the humanitarian work of the International Red Cross Committee.”
The Agency relayed messages to POW’s families through the use of “capture cards” and “individual identity cards”. Information on these cards included the POW’s name, rank, service number, unit type, race, dates of report (when captured and released) and the detaining power.
Where possible, an effort was made to also forward correspondence directly from the prisoners themselves back to their families. In the six years of conflict, The Central Agency for Prisoners of War completed 25 million
“Individual identity cards” and passed on over 120 million messages. For many POW'S, this extensive communication line served as one of the few links they possessed with the world outside the detention camp.
The lives of millions of prisoners of war depended on the monthly delivery of food and clothing parcels from Allied Red Cross organizations.
At first, the parcels were transported by sea through
Australian POW’s in
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
coordinated the mass distribution of food parcels from its headquarters in
Train and or car moved a total of 430,000 tons of supplies each month. By the end of the conflict it was calculated that the branches of the ICRC had travelled 16 million kilometres by ship, train and car to deliver the parcels, the equivalent of 400 trips around the world.
Evidence of how much ICRC improved the quality of
health in European POW’s can be found in comparisons made with Australians held
captive in
The most telling statistic of all in comparing the
treatment of POW's in Europe and
Benito Mussolini once described the idea of fascism in the following way: “Fascism was not the nursling of a doctrine worked out beforehand ... it was born of a need for action and it was itself from the beginning practical rather than theoretical.”
The Italian dictator was referring to a political
ideology, which developed during the early years of this century from the
principles of Napoleon 1, who ruled
Almost all fascist governments shared common characteristics. The most striking feature of fascism was extreme nationalism, or an intense feeling of pride in one's nation.
Many fascist governments of the past rose to power following a period of economic depression. The people's leader often promised to restore a nation to its former glory by the use of force. Central to this idea was the belief that fascist countries were superior to other nations in all areas of life.
Fascism usually involved total government control of
political, economic, cultural, religious and social activities. Propaganda was employed extensively to
influence the opinion of the masses. In
addition, propaganda sought to depict Fascist leaders in
“They wore a
Fascist symbol on their collars an helmets of a bundle of sticks with an axe through
the middle. It showed authority - the axe for decapitating people and the sticks for beating them if it was just
an ordinary crime.”
Benito Mussolini became dictator
of
As head of the government in the
1930's, Mussolini had conquered
The Italian Army suffered several
major defeats in
Increasing
resentment of Mussolini and his government led to the formation of resistance
fighters within
Like other resistance movements across occupied
“They really
did a lot of undercover work
and some of them didn’t last very long.”
-Ron Jones
“For me the masses are nothing but a herd of sheep as long as they are unorganised... It is faith that moves mountains, not reason. Reason is a tool, but it can never be the motive force of the crowd... Everything turn’s upon one's ability to control the masses like an artist.”
-Benito Mussolini, 1932
In January 1943 in
On July 26, 1943 the Fascist Grand Council voted to
dismiss Mussolini from the leadership.
King Victor Emmanuel III told Mussolini: “
Ron made his escape to freedom shortly after the
Italian capitulation, enlisting the help of partisans in
The number of resistance fighters increased during
this time but conditions remained largely the same. Unlike their counterparts in
In Ron’s experiences, the partisans were hampered by a distinct lack of radios, which resulted in limited means of communication. Many of their arms were old rifles, some dated to before the First World War. Ron thinks that the will to fight came from an intense dislike of everything associated with Fascism. “They didn’t like the Fascist movement because that wasn’t their way of life. Italians are so casual and warm-hearted and loving people. They’re concerned with you and not the glorification of the world or anything like that.”
“Everywhere there was a blank space on the wall there would be a big picture of Mussolini with his big chin and helmet.”
-Ron Jones
Arguably, the Italian partisans greatest success was the capture of Mussolini himself.
Prior to his arrest by Communist partisans, German
paratroopers had managed to rescue Mussolini from a mountaintop where he had
been imprisoned by the new Italian government.
Indebted to Hitter, Mussolini was sent to establish a new fascist
republic known as the ‘
In April 1945, Mussolini fled towards
The bodies of Mussolini and
Claretta Petacci were taken to
Ron Jones’ story raised several interesting points, which challenged my own opinions and attitudes about matters relating to the Second World War.
The first of these was his testimony relating to the
German soldiers. Many of the books I had
read told of men so devoted to the Nazi cause that they lost all sense of
humanity. Ron contradicted this view on
several occasions, particularly when he spoke of the German soldier who asked
his company to donate half their daily rations to feed the prisoners. The Germans also seemed to have a mutual
respect for the Australians. “Every time
we passed a group of German soldiers they’d all spring to attention and salute
- they were trained to respect their enemy.” However, there were still times
when they were treated badly, especially when the prisoners were made to starve
while being transported across
Even before I interviewed Ron, I suspected that
I had frequently heard of the horrors endured by
Australian prisoners of war at the hands of the Japanese, but tittle relating
to those Australians held captive in
Before my meeting with Ron, I was completely unaware of the large
contribution made by partisans in
I was amazed at the ingenious ways in which prisoners entertained themselves in the prison camps - something you can only fully appreciate once you have heard it from the men themselves. Ron assured me that his compass was just one example of resourcefulness from a prisoner of war. The detail in which he describes life in the camps is quite remarkable, although Ron says that incidents, which occurred there “left an imprint in my mind.”
After completing research on the International Committee of the Red
Cross, it was clear that the humanitarian work of that Organization saved
thousands of lives. Even now I am still
struggling to comprehend the full extent of the operation - 29 million food
parcels worth nearly 3 billion Australian dollars delivered over six years to
prisoners of war in
Ron is just one of millions of people who lived in an era when the world was engaged in a terrible conflict which resulted in enormous loss of life and damage to property. Almost all of these people have a tale to tell and the opportunity to talk to them candidly about their experiences is running out I hope that by documenting just one man’s story that I have created a legacy for future generations.
The Jones Family would like express their thanks
to Mr. Oliver Mendoza, for his time & patients in putting together ‘Ronald
Bonner Jones, A Soldier’s Odyssey’ with Ronald Bonner (Bones) Jones prior his
death in October 2002.
Phillip Jones
Mayfield NSW 2304
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