Private Arthur Gurney, 2/48th Australian Infantry Battalion, was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry and unselfish bravery during an attack on a strong German position at Tel el Eisa on 22 July 1942. Official historian Barton Maughan described Gurney's heroic actions: Private Gurney leapt up and charged across the bullet-swept ground, killed the three Germans manning a machine-gun post with his bayonet, then dashed on to a post 30 yards away, bayoneted two more Germans and sent back a third prisoner. Then a grenade hurled at Gurney blew him off his feet, but he got up, picked up his rifle, and charged a third post. He was bayoneting more Germans when a burst from another machine-gun killed him. (AWM 100639)
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