unlikely Japan. The Dresden was a substantial cargo/ passenger ship of 11,000 tons, and before the war had been used on the Hamburg / Argentina route. She was under the command of Captain Jaegar, with whom Mother got on well, although our Captain Stratford found him very overbearing. Probably he had an antipathy to Australians, because he had during the First World War been imprisoned first in Darlinghurst gaol N.S.W. under a very harsh regime, but he was later at Berrima where he had been well treated with happy recollections. Also as a passenger was a Major Willhelm Meisner (little Willy) who was travelling to assist the military Attache in Tokyo. He had a small fox like face wore rimless glasses that were the fashion amongst the German officers, and was always over correct in dress and mannerisms, but otherwise he was quite pleasant and was also well educated and could converse well. On both the Raider and the Regensburg, Mother had little social contact with the officers, but here on the Dresden we shared the same deck, swimming pool etc. and so one was in constant contact with them all for the weeks that we were aboard. Mother as a child had been brought up speaking German at home, both with her German Nanny, and less often with her Mother who was Austrian. However from the age of nine when she had come to England as a child, she had never again spoken German, but now 36 years later, her childhood fluency re-emerged and she could once again start to make conversation. She got very friendly with Jaeger and they spent a lot of time chatting together, so much so in fact that after the War was over, she would post him food parcels to him and his wife who were starving amongst the ruins of Hamburg. I too became very friendly with the sailors, who would invite me down to their quarters where we would play chess, rummy and other card games. There was always a gramophone playing a whole variety of German tunes, but what also I found very surprising, were English records like “ We’ ll hang all our Washing on the Siegfried Line”. But of course by far the most popular record was the haunting waltz of “Lili Marlene” so beloved by the forces of both sides but not sung by Marlene Dietrich then, quite one of the best songs the war for its wide nostalgic appeal. Pin ups were everywhere especially those of Marlene Dietrich regardless of the fact that during the war she was resident in America. She was still the No.1 hit for her looks, poise and elegance with all the sailors. Everyone was very kind and their general philosophy was “You are our captives now. Tomorrow it could be us as prisoners of the Royal Navy. Also at least we are spared the horrors of the Russian front”. All spoke about the Russian campaign, with the cold, and its ruthless brutality with a dreadful fear and repugnance.. One day in their quarters, playing cards and, I became totally inebriated on Becks beer for the very first time in my life, and was eventually carried up asleep by one of the sailors to my Mother and dumped back on my mattress. She was completely unperturbed, and next day, she laughed about the incident and my terrible hangover and said: “That is a good experience for you to learn on drinking too much beer!” In fact this little incident epitomises the quick growing up that I was passing through at the time, from thinking and acting purely as a child to now sharpening my wits in order to survive. I was learning fast to start and think like a grown up through being in constant adult company. Also the whole war with its daily action packed incidents and the ever constant change of scenery, all of which was a surprise and the strangeness of my new life, all played a part in my rapid development. Throughout our life aboard all the different ships that we were to travel, Mother was always around in the background, but I was always left very much on my own, to go out making friends with members of the crew and our fellow prisoners and having

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Pages From My diary.