1. Harry Orr By Nelli

2. Introduction Harry Orr is related to my Gran. He is my Gran’s uncle. He served in ww2 Harry Orr is related to my Gran. He is my Gran’s uncle. He served in ww2

3. Joining the army When war broke out Harry and his brother Jack went directly to Albury to enlist in the A.I.F. Because he was already with the CMF he was made a Sergeant in the 2nd/23rd Battalion, 9th Division. 2nd A.I.F. affectionately known as "Albury's Own". Jack was drafted into the 2nd/24th Battalion. They left for the war in November, 1940 and on arrival Harry was sent on a Tactical Training Course, was promoted to Lieutenant and fought in North Africa at Tobruk and El Alamein.

4. Jack Harry’s brother gets sick https://www.awm.gov.au/unit/U56067/ Victoria's 2/24th Infantry Battalion was raised in Wangaratta in July 1940. The 2/24th trained at Bonegilla before sailing for the Middle East in November. In early 1941 the 26th Brigade, along with the rest of the 9th Division, moved into Cyrenica to complete its training. However, despite the successes of the British offensive at the start of the year, when the German Afrika Korps led the Axis counter-attack the 9th Division fell back to the Tobruk - colloquially referred to as the "Benghazi handicap". The 2/24th entered Tobruk on 10 April and helped defend the "fortress" for the next eight months. The 2/24th saw extensive service at Tobruk, manning the Red Line at a number of different locations and participating in the bitter fighting in the Salient. The Red Line was Tobruk's outer line of defence and consisted of a series of concrete pillboxes forming a semi-circle around the town. In October the majority of the 9th Division, except the 2/13th Infantry Battalion, was evacuated by sea. The 2/24th was evacuated on the night of 20 October, sailing to Alexandria. The division was transferred to Palestine and Syria for rest and garrison duties. At the end of 1941 he became severely ill in Palestine with pneumonia and meningococcal encephalitis. In February, 1942 it was thought that he would not live and Jack was transferred to the 2nd/23rd Battalion so that he could be with his brother. However he did recover and astonishingly he was returned to active service

5. DANGEROUS https://www.awm.gov.au/unit/U56066/ The division's orders for the first attack were issued on 7 July. The 26th Brigade advanced along the coast, driving a wedge between the sea and the German positions by capturing the feature known as "Tel el Eise", which ran north-west between the railway line and the sea. During the main offensive from 23 October to 4 November the 26th Brigade and, further south the 20th Brigade, crossed the Australian start line south of Tel el Eisa and moved in a sweeping arc towards the sea. The heaviest fighting occurred at the "Saucer". By the end of the October the 26th Brigade had suffered heavily and was relieved by the 24th Brigade on 1 November. The 2/23rd had 29 killed, 172 wounded, and six missing. He used to lead raiding parties into the German lines at night- time. Instead of trenches, the Germans had dug rows of fox holes about 50 yards apart. Harry and his men (including Jack) would infiltrate these rows, shooting into each one as they went. They believed they would not sustain much return fire because the Germans would be concerned about the danger of shooting their own men.

6. PRISONERS "On the right "D" Company, with Captain Eric McRae in charge, walked 1nto heavy small arms fire shortly after crossing the cutting. The first to get picked off were the four signallers, then the company commander was wounded. Lieutenant Harry Orr took charge of the company. Heavy machine-gun fire from the right flank caused the leading platoons to diverge right and left, then without warning they were moving through a mine field liberally laced with ant-personnel mines. Losing casualties all the way, the mine field was negotiated, but fire increased as the platoons got to within 30 yards of enemy positions. Casualties were heavy in the forward sections and Lieutenant Orr was severely wounded. Survivors from each platoon went to ground and continued the fight from whatever cover they could find. There they were shelled and mortared, suffering more casualties as they tried to dig in. During the afternoon Lieutenant Orr and other badly wounded men were taken prisoner. On 21st July,1942 (only a few months after his severe illness) he was badly wounded in an action to regain Tel El Eisa Ridge. This is an account of how he came to be wounded: