1st AIF Transit Camp UK

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Brief History

A sub unit of the HQ 1st AIF Reception Group UK, it was formed in June 1944 at Camp Pell, Victoria in the expectation that the Normandy invasion would soon bring the release of POWs held by the Germans. The 1st AIF Transit Camp UK had the role of receiving and documenting the soldiers who would then be allocated to one of four reception camps to be established to hold them for up to six months before shipping home might be available. The unit left for the UK in July, arriving at Hazelmere in Buckinghamshire in August 1944. In September they relocated to Eastbourne in Sussex.

However, large numbers of released POWs were not seen until March 1945, and by then there regularly available shipping was available. As a result only two of the four reception camps became operational, with the 1st of them activated in October 1944, and the 2nd in March 1945. Staff from the 3rd and 4th reception camps were absorbed into the two operational camps in May 1945. Task completed, the 1st AIF Transit Camp UK closed in August with most staff returning to Australia and the rest absorbed into the Australian Army Staff UK in September 1945.

Liberated POWs

• Stanley Rudolph Jarvis 24 Nay - 4 Jul 1945

Notes

Content has come from The Unit Guide - Volume 6 - The Australian Army 1939-1945, page 6.440 & 6.441 - Graham R McKenzie-Smith - Big Sky Publishing - 2018