An unknown Kiwi soldier sits at the back of a German tank after being captured in 1941. Photo / Supplied
An unknown Kiwi soldier sits at the back of a German tank after being captured in 1941. Photo / Supplied
Head bowed, hands hanging loosely in his lap, a captured Kiwi soldier sits on the back of a tank, a high-profile German commander standing in a hatch a few feet away.
The officer's name is known.
He was Oberst (Colonel) Hermann Balck, a decorated armoured warfare commander who served in both world wars, was himself later a prisoner of war [POW] and spent 18 months in jail after he was found guilty of murder in 1948 for the summary judgement and execution of a fellow German officer found drunk on duty after his unit failed to provide support artillery fire.
The identity of the Kiwi soldier, however, is an 80-year-old mystery Christchurch biochemist, amateur historian and part-time author Jeff Plowman wants to solve.
Plowman found photos of the Kiwi soldier's capture online while researching the Battle of Greece, in which his father served and was also taken prisoner.
An unknown Kiwi soldier, left, sits at the back of a German tank after being captured during 1941's Battle of Greece. At centre is Oberst (Colonel) Hermann Balck. Photo / Supplied
The soldier's glum expression and the unusual nature of the capture - a solo soldier by a tank unit - caught his eye.
"Why is this guy sitting on the back of a tank? He must've come out of the bush somewhere. Usually [POWs] are marched out with infantry. Tanks usually don't round up people. [He's there] up on the tank of the commander.
"And he looks a bit disheartened. It's kind of like it's just happened and he's like, 'That's it. How long will I be a POW?'"
The photos were taken on April 16 1941 at Platamon Castle near the village of Panteleimonas, 400 kilometres north of Athens, Plowman said.
Soldiers from 21st Battalion, an infantry battalion formed of volunteers from the upper North Island between Northland and Taupō, was the only Allied force fighting in the area at the time.
A Kiwi soldier's glum expression after being captured by the Germans during the Battle of Greece in 1941 caught the eye of Christchurch amateur historian Jeff Plowman. Photo / Supplied
War records showed five Kiwi soldiers were taken prisoner by German forces on April 16 1941, but that they were captured on the coast rather than the nearby hills where the photos were taken.
It was possible the photographed soldier was among those listed as POWs, but also possible his capture wasn't included in records at the time, Plowman said.
Names of three of the five captured soldiers are known - Private Cecil John Bosworth (born Auckland, died Hamilton), Corporal Herbert Clement Howe (born Hunterville, died Waihi), and Corporal Jack Gardner (born and died in Auckland).
The battle in the Panteleimonas area over four days in April was probably one of the most significant in the Battle of Greece, he said.
The 21st battalion managed to - just - defend a vital passage of escape through a gorge, allowing many Kiwi and Australian soldiers to escape the Germans, although the German Army ultimately won the Battle of Greece two weeks later, capturing 7000 New Zealand, Australian and British soldiers in the process.
The Kiwi soldier on the tank was one among many, but he wanted to put a name to the forlorn face in the photo, Plowman said.
He hoped a relative or descendant might recognise him.
