3rd Kings Own Hussars Grave in Ambon ?

Discussion in 'RAC & RTR' started by The Guardroom, Feb 5, 2008.

  1. The Guardroom

    The Guardroom Senior Member

    Trying to find out more on a Tpr Reginald Ernest Cotterell, Royal Armoured Corps - 3rd KOH.
    Surprised to find that his grave in on Ambon island in Indonesia and that as far as I have seen he is the only RAC man to be buried there..

    Why is he the only man to have died there out of all his regiment ?
    As a Tpr, I would guess that he was not on his own, as assigned to reinforce another unit.

    Just seems very strange for such an unusakl regt. Altough there are some RAF and RA graves, most are Australian graves.

    Any thoughts welcome.

    Thanks,
    Alan
     
  2. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    3rd The King's Own Hussars
    1941,
    B squadron went to Java where they were all captured .
    54 died as pows.


    British 3rd Hussar Tank Squadron in the Dutch East Indies, 1942
    ‘B’ Squadron was chosen, and Major William-Powlett was allowed to pick the men to go with him. The seven officers and 138 NCOs and men left for Egypt on January 7, 1942, and at the end of the month they sailed through the Suez Canal, towards the Dutch East Indies

    British and Dutch (KNIL) Armoured Units in the Dutch East Indies, 1941-1942


    Little bit more on Java campaign.
    COFEPOW - The Armed Forces - The Java Campaign


    Beheaded at whim and worked to death: Japan's repugnant treatment of Allied PoWs | the Daily Mail
    A trooper of the 3rd Hussars, being beaten by a guard with a rifle, raised an arm to ward off blows and was accused of having struck the man. After several days of beatings, he was tied to a tree and bayoneted to death.


    Lots more out there , just google "3rd.hussars java"
     
  3. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

  4. The Guardroom

    The Guardroom Senior Member

    Owen, Thanks have just picked up. Getting a bit confused with all the different names and regts of the men on the memorial. Taking a more structured approach now, with both eyes on the road....
    Thanks for bringing to my attention, as I may still have missed later.
    Rgds,
    Alan
     
  5. Jack Bolton

    Jack Bolton Member

    Hi all,

    I know I’m a bit late to the party but I was wondering, are there any pictures around of the 3rd Hussars in the Far East? Have only seen a lone photograph of a Mark IV tank at a dockside.

    Thanks.

    Best,

    Jack
     
  6. Uncle Target

    Uncle Target Mist over Dartmoor

    The 3rd The King’s Own Hussars
    Is this book of interest from a small publisher in Worcestershire.
    https://www.aspect-design.net/product-page/the-forgotten-squadron
    This book started out as an attempt to follow the history of one member of B Squadron, my late father-in-law, Alfred Hall. The 3rd The King’s Own Hussars.

    Also: https://www.aspect-design.net/product-page/lest-we-forget
    This book is a graphic account of the author’s experiences as a Japanese prisoner of war on the infamous Railroad of Death.
     
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  7. Jack Bolton

    Jack Bolton Member

    Thank you so much! Will definitely pick both of these up!
     
  8. davidbfpo

    davidbfpo Patron Patron

    Just remembered that Post 16 in the following thread states:
    Link: 'Top Secret' till 1996: March 1946 Japanese surrender on Bali

    Was this officer part of the 3rd The King's Own Hussars? i did try some research and came up blank.
     
  9. The_Stonker

    The_Stonker Active Member

    I've been digging into the story of B Sqn recently, and dropped into this thread to see if it shed light on an Ambon grave for a B Sqn casualty whose death coincided with the Suez Maru sinking that claimed so many others from B Sqn.

    I think it likely that you've already located the only photo of B Sqn 3 KOH in Java. They were not there very long, and were not accompanied by any extraneous bodies (like photographers)

    Some men may have taken pictures, but could have had no opportunity to get them developed and printed. Then the Surrender occurred, and the Sqn Comd (his diary is availlable online) gave his troops the option of captivity, or of escape, and some 60% of them slipped away into the jungle. The remainder went into captivity. It's unlikely the escapees would have carried excess weight like a camera, and the first thing the Japanese did was to strip their captives of pretty much everything they possessed, except for their headwear. So that's that, IMHO.
     
  10. davidbfpo

    davidbfpo Patron Patron

  11. Warlord

    Warlord Veteran wannabe

    Mate, how much of the book is devoted to combat operations on the island?
     
  12. The_Stonker

    The_Stonker Active Member

    I'm going to guess "not much", given that Combat Operations started on 1 March, and were done by 6th March, and B Sqn were employed, throughout, as the rearguard for the main body of BLACKFORCE.

    FWIW, I have recently stumbled on a digital version of the Diary of the Aussie Brigadier who commanded BLACKFORCE. It's hard going, because it's only available as pictures, not as transcripts, but if you're interested I could backtrack to it, and supply links.
     
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  13. Warlord

    Warlord Veteran wannabe

    Please do, mate. I have always been interested in Blackforce, and asked considering that I have an ebook (do not remember the name right now) that is split roughly in half between ops and POW life. Let me find it, and I can gladly trade it for said diary, if you do not already own it.
     
  14. The_Stonker

    The_Stonker Active Member

    I may not get to it between now and Remembrance Day, but get to it I will.

    If yon e-book deals with POW life in Ambon, which seems to be where the whole of the B Sqn contigent were sent, I'm definitely interested.

    Stand by.
     
  15. The_Stonker

    The_Stonker Active Member

    I found it/them more easily than I'd expected. Three links to Australian War Memorial site

    #2 and #3 are shown in #1, but #1 has value in its own right.

     
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