Basil Alexander Greshner

Russian spelling Василий Александрович Грешнер

Born 31.01.1896    Place Kibarty, Lithuania    Ethnic origin Russian    Religion Russian Orthodox

Father Greshner, Alexander Basil    Mother Greshner (née Dmitrieff), Olga

Arrived at Australia

            from Russia  on 10.01.1915    per Gunda   disembarked at Geelong, Victoria

(arrived together with Favst Leoshkevitch, Armen Rowehl, and Edwin Nicholas Rowehl as members of the crew)

Residence before enlistment Victoria, Linda Valley, Queens Town, Tasmania

Occupation 1916 seaman; 1924 lineman, 1932 electrician

Service

service number 7424   enlisted 25.01.1916   POE Claremont, Tasmania

unit 8 Field Company Engineers; 14th Field Company Engineers   rank Private, Sapper

place Western Front, 1916-1919

awards American DSM; Mentioned in Sir Douglas Haig's despatch

final fate RTA 22.05.1919       discharged 24.10.1919

Naturalisation 1924

Residence after the war Sandy Bay, Tasmania, Melbourne, New Guinea, Salamoa, Wau, Bulolo, Rabaul, 1932-34 travelled abroad visiting England and Russia, since 1934 lived in

 Melbourne

Family wife Elizabeth (Lena) Greshner (née Stoodilin), married ca 1927, son Alexander Basil b. 1941; stepchildren Olga, b. 1922, Valentine b. 1923.

Died 10.05.1980 Surrey Hills

Materials naturalisation (NAA)

digitised service records (NAA)

application for passport (NAA)

digitised recommendations for award 1     2     3   (AWM)

manuscripts by Basil Greshner -  Alexander Basil Greshner' s archives, Nikenbah, Qld

    From childhood on [Memoirs]

    My trip to Russia

    Seven Weeks with the Cattle at Sea

From Russian Anzacs in Australian History:

    Basil Greshner’s version comes from his memoirs and takes up from when they’d just unloaded the ship [Gunda], ‘World War I was on at this time and [we Russians] considered that we were lucky to reach safety’. Greshner claims that, as the ship was not leaving Australian waters again, the sailors all had to leave it — and ‘my mates decided to go to Melbourne. So I took to the bush … I was fortunate on my two weeks as a swagman doing odd jobs for meals and a night’s sleep in the barn. I eventually found my way to Winchelsea and was picked up by a horse-riding farmer who took me to his farm, he made me understand that his son had enlisted early in the war and that he could do with some help. I had to work with him clearing scrub from sunrise till dark. The old lady at the farm was like a mother to me, I had a room to myself and every evening before we went to bed and on weekends she made me read papers, and she explained pronunciations, she also dictated to me and made me write names of everything that she pointed to in the house. …

    ‘After about three months I felt I would like to go to Melbourne to see my cobbers, so I told my boss and he offered to take me to Geelong and put me on the train, he bought me a suit and underwear and gave me £6.00 and bought my ticket. He said he was sorry to see me go but wished me well. … In Melbourne at the Russian Consulate I got the addresses of my Russian mates. All of them had found temporary jobs. The Russian consul told us that it was impossible to send us home to Russia and told us that it would be a good idea if we learn to speak and write English and perhaps we could join the Australian Army. [...]

    [...] On the following day (1 September [1918]) the 5th Division entered Péronne. Basil Greshner, who was serving in the 14th Field Company of Engineers, was ahead of the advancing troops. His commander wrote, ‘this sapper was one of a party detailed to bridge the moat to enable the attacking Infantry to enter the town. After brilliant work on the almost completed bridging, this sapper, on his own initiative, pushed on with the first wave of the attacking troops to make a reconnaissance. Heavy Machine Gun and Rifle fire hampering his work, he proceeded to mop up single handed, capturing 30 of the enemy, and conducting them safely to the rear. His early report of the situation to his Section Officer was of the utmost value and importance.’ Greshner was awarded the American Distinguished Service Medal.

    [...] Greshner had been working as a linesman and electrician in New Guinea since 1929, and in 1932 from there he set off on the most perilous journey of his life — to see his mother and other relatives left behind in Russia. He had a visa, which was for a foreign specialist desirous of work in Soviet Russia, although he knew he was potentially at risk as the son of a czarist secret-police chief. As soon as he arrived in Leningrad he was taken to the headquarters of the OGPU (predecessor of the KGB) for interrogation. ‘I decided never to show any fear. … To be able to get away free from them I had to pretend Communist sympathies’, he wrote. ‘I was determined to see more of Russia by all means, and not from a prison cell.’ [...]

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