The story of Reg Saunders, a remembered Australian war hero who evaded the Nazi’s on Crete during WWII with the help of local partisans, is the subject on the ‘In Black and White’ podcast.
Over two episodes called ‘Evading the Nazi’s’, part one and two, host Jen Kelly speaks with author Craig Collie about his new book, Where the Flaming Hell Are We? published in August 2023. The novel tells the stories of young Australians and New Zealanders who fought the Germans in Greece and Crete.
On the podcast, which shares the untold stories of some of Australia’s most courageous ancestors, Kelly and Collie discuss Saunders heroic escapades as the first Aboriginal Australian to be commissioned as an officer in the Australian Army.
Collie is one of Australia’s leading writers of military history and author of the critically acclaimed The Path of Infinite Sorrow, Nagasaki, The Reporter and the Warlords, Code Breakers and On Our Doorstep.
In the podcast, and book, Collie recounts the details of how Saunders and his comrades were among about men who went on the run to evade capture from the Nazis.
Before arriving in Greece, Saunders fought in Libya. He was evacuated to Crete to be part of the bayonet charge at the Battle of 42nd Street that killed almost 300 Germans and stalled their advance.
Read the article in the Greek Herald.