Reginald William Winchester Wilmot (21 June 1911 – 10 January 1954) was an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

war correspondent A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories first-hand from a war, war zone. War correspondence stands as one of journalism's most important and impactful forms. War correspondents operate in the most conflict-ridden parts of the wor ...

who reported for the

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and the ABC during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After the war he continued to work as a broadcast reporter, and wrote a well-appreciated book about the liberation of Europe. He was killed in the crash of a BOAC Comet over the Elba island.

Early life

Wilmot was born in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

, a suburb of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

; he was the son of Reginald Wilmot, a sports journalist, and grandson of surveyor JGW Wilmot. He attended

Melbourne Grammar School Melbourne Grammar School is an Australian private school, private Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican Day school, day and boarding school. It comprises a co-educational preparatory school from Prep to Year 6 and a middle school and senior s ...

which he captained in 1930. He then took an arts degree at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

, majoring in history and politics under Sir

Ernest Scott Sir Ernest Scott (21 June 1867 – 6 December 1939) was an Australian historian and professor of history at the University of Melbourne from 1913 to 1936. Early life Scott was born in Northampton, England, on 21 June 1867, the son of Hannah ...

(BA 1935), followed by a law degree ( LLB 1936). He resided at Trinity College and represented the university in

debating Debate is a process that involves formal discourse, discussion, and oral addresses on a particular topic or collection of topics, often with a moderator and an audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for opposing viewpoints. Historica ...

in 1932–33 and 1935. He established a friendly rivalry with Alan Moorehead. As a president of the Students' Representative Council in 1936, he supported the vice-chancellor Raymond Priestley and was instrumental in the formation of the

National Union of Australian University Students The Australian Union of Students (AUS), formerly National Union of Australian University Students (NUAUS), was a representative body and lobby group for List of universities in Australia, Australian university and college of advanced education st ...

. He was invited to address the

Australian Broadcasting Commission The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is a ...

. In September 1938, during the Munich crisis, he visited Berlin, Nuremberg and Vienna in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

on an international tour with the University of Melbourne's debating team, and attended a Nuremberg Rally. He began to work as an articled law clerk at the insistence of his family in February 1939.

War reporter

After a brief legal career of a few months, the outbreak of the Second World War led Wilmot to join the Australian Broadcasting Commission. He was sent to the

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in September 1940 and reported from

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Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, pioneering broadcast interviews; he was in

Tobruk Tobruk ( ; ; ) is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District (formerly Tobruk District) and has a population of 120,000 (2011 est.)."Tobruk" (history), ''Encyclop� ...

during the siege of 1941. When

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

entered the war, Wilmot returned to Australia, then went out to cover the

war in the Pacific The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast As ...

. He reported from Papua during the Japanese invasion in 1942, including the

Kokoda Track campaign The Kokoda Track campaign or Kokoda Trail campaign was part of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign consisted of a series of battles fought between July and November 1942 in what was then the Australian Territory of Papua. It was primar ...

, where he walked up to the forward area, around Abuari and Isurava, with fellow war correspondent Osmar White and cinematographer Damien Parer. Wilmot regarded General Sir

Thomas Blamey Field marshal (Australia), Field Marshal Sir Thomas Albert Blamey (24 January 1884 – 27 May 1951) was an Australian general of the First World War, First and Second World Wars. He is the only Australian to attain the rank of field marshal. Bl ...

as incompetent and protested at his sacking of Lieutenant General Sydney Rowell. Blamey cancelled Wilmot's accreditation as a

in October 1942 for spreading a false rumour that Blamey was taking payments from the laundry contractor at Puckapunyal. Wilmot was reinstated, but on 1 November 1942, Blamey again terminated Wilmot's accreditation, this time for good.

BBC work

There Wilmot wrote a book about his experiences in Tobruk, and narrated a documentary film called ''Sons of the

ANZAC The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was originally a First World War army corps of the British Empire under the command of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. It was formed in Egypt in December 1914, and operated during the ...

s''. In 1944 Wilmot transferred to the BBC where he was one of the principal reporters for

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

, flying in a glider with the

6th Airborne Division The 6th Airborne Division was an airborne infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who m ...

. He was present at and reported from the field for most of the actions during the liberation of Europe. In October 1944, he entered the

Herzogenbusch concentration camp Herzogenbusch (; ) was a Nazi concentration camp located in Vught near the city of 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. The camp was opened in 1943 and held 31,000 prisoners. 749 prisoners died in the camp, and the others were transferred to othe ...

in the Netherlands with the

British Second Army The British Second Army was a Field Army active during the World War I, First and World War II, Second World Wars. During the First World War the army was active on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front throughout most of the war and later ...

and reported on it for the BBC, which removed his account of Frits Philips's assistance to fellow Jewish inmates. He also covered the

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen (), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, ...

in April 1945. When the German high command surrendered, Wilmot was present to report on it.

Military historian

After the end of the war Wilmot remained in England, where he wrote articles on the recent war as well as a book about World War II, '' The Struggle for Europe''. He conducted interviews for it with ex-Nazi military commanders, such as Hans Speidel and Günther Blumentritt, who were now involved in the development of the ''

Bundeswehr The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...

''. When it appeared in 1952, the book was favourably reviewed, and it is well regarded by military historians (

John Keegan Sir John Desmond Patrick Keegan (15 May 1934 – 2 August 2012) was an English military historian, lecturer, author and journalist. He wrote many published works on the nature of combat between prehistory and the 21st century, covering land, ...

wrote, "Wilmot effectively invented the modern method of writing contemporary military history"). One of his articles criticizing the Allied plan to occupy Germany appeared in ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'' magazine.Wilmot, Chester, ''Allies Handed Stalin His Victory'', Life Magazine, 10 March 1952 Wilmot was selected to write a volume on the

Siege of Tobruk The siege of Tobruk () took place between 10 April and 27 November 1941, during the Western Desert campaign (1940–1943) of the World War II, Second World War. An Allies of World War II, Allied force, consisting mostly of the 9th Division ...

and Battle of El Alamein for the Australian official history of the war, but was killed in the Comet crash; see

Australia in the War of 1939–1945 ''Australia in the War of 1939–1945'' is a 22-volume official history series covering Australian involvement in the Second World War. The series was published by the Australian War Memorial between 1952 and 1977, most of the volumes being edi ...

Broadcaster

Wilmot was part of the television commentary team for the coronation of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

. For Christmas 1953, Wilmot was sent by the BBC to Australia to participate in a round-the-world broadcast on Christmas Day, where he narrated ''The Queen's Journey'', telling the story of recent royal visits. The Queen herself was in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

for Christmas.

Death

Wilmot was en route back to Britain from that assignment on BOAC Flight 781 when his plane, a Comet 1, broke up following

explosive decompression An uncontrolled decompression is an undesired drop in the pressure of a sealed system, such as a pressurised aircraft cabin or hyperbaric chamber, that typically results from human error, structural failure, or impact, causing the pressurised v ...

over the Mediterranean Sea; all aboard were killed. He had first boarded the flight in Rangoon.
clipping
from

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Books

*''Tobruk 1941, Capture - Siege - Relief'', Angus & Robertson Ltd, 1945. *''The Struggle For Europe'' (written in part by Christopher Daniel McDevitt), 1952. Reissue: Wordsworth Editions Ltd, Ware, Hertfordshire, 1997. .

Notes

References

Australian Dictionary of National BiographyBiography
at the Australian War Memorial *Obituary, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', 13 January 1954. * * *