Yes it was? Not sure what you want to say with this. From Geoffrey Armstrong's "The sparks fly upward" Our Regiment [136th], our sister "Jungle" regiment 139, 33 Bde HQ and Queens battalion, formed, for want of a better word, our own local "Box", and some of our guns were moved around as mentioned above At that time, Armstrong was a CO of 136th Field Regiment and regiment was placed in the area named for some reason as "Happy Valley". B Echelon of 136th and probably some men who found themself for some reason at the area of the "Admin Box" were there. For example, F.C. Walker from 136th Field Regiment was awarded MC while he was in "Admin Box" but he was there because he was evacuated to the hospital due malaria.One mortar battery of the 139th, was at Sinzweya too. At least one battery of 6th Medium Regiment was at "Admin Box". Map in Patrick Turnbull's "Battle of the Box", place it on the paddy fields, to the North of Ammunition Hill. Not much info except that, sorry
Does anyone know how many tanks there would have been in the two squadrons from the 25th Dragoons that were in the Box? My Grandfather was in one of them and I'm trying to find out if it's possible to find out the names of other crew members. I've read quite a bit about the battle but haven't come across specific numbers of tanks... Any info on the 25th Dragoon involvement would be much appreciated.
Hello ED, There a couple of people on another site, I hope I am allowed to name that site here, if not I apologize to Admin, It is a Facebook page called Burma WW2. research, 2 ladies come to mind Mary Cole and Sue Pickles they are very knowledgeable and one if not both have family who were with the Dragoons during The Admin Box attack... Hope it is helpful.. Good Luck.
Hi Ed. I looked in some of the books I have and unfortunately none of them is giving exact number of tanks available to 25th Dragoons in "Admin Box". But at that time, tank squadron in Burma usually had an HQ troop with 4 tanks and 4 troops with 3 tanks each for total of 16 tanks per squadron. Squadrons also had some spare tanks but one the books mention that both squadrons left their spare tanks and crews with 5th Indian Division before mowing to Sinzweya. Regiment HQ also had additional 4 tanks. So, there should be some 32 to 36 tanks but not sure if this is correct. Hope someone will be able to provide exact number.
Hi Ed, From the Book "Some Letters From Burma - The Story of 25th Dragoons at War" by Tom Grounds on Page 163 he states that on 27th February 1944 Lt. Col Frink CO of 25th Dragoon Guards had 52 tanks plus 3 FOO tanks under his command. Regards, Will.
Hi Ed, my father was in the 25th Dragoons in B Squadron, he was a Troop Leader in charge of three Lee Grant tanks, Following on from the Battle of the Admin Box, he and the 25th were posted to Cocinada to train in Shermans fitted with canvas skirts for an amphibious landing in Malaysia and I have his Troop roll book with names of his crew. However these crews were not the same as those in his Troop in the Admin Box. The Japanese surrendered before the planned invasion. What was your grandfather's name and rank? Interesting but unrelated is that Col.Frink's daughter was Elisabeth Frink, the famous expressionist English post war sculptor. I don't often follow this site, hence my late reply.
My father was Lt.A.D.Baker 1912-2000. He was with the 6th Medium RA at the Admin Box. He hardly spoke of his time in Burma, but I'll tell you what I know. Unsure how many 5.5 Howitzers made it into the box before they were cut off. Possibly just the one battery. How many started out, also unknown to me, but in his photo album of his time out there is a snap of one of them after suffering a breech blow. The barrel had the shape of a peeled back banana. He said another battery was lost to the mud. I have all his books about Burma. He wrote comments in the margins where his unit was involved. One of them, 'Last Stand - by Bryan Perrett - Cassel Military Classics', has the 6th Med position to the east of Ammunition Hill, 'B' Sector. After that action he was involved in the pursuit to Ramree. As I said, Dad never talked much about it. Hope what little I've written is of some interest.
Hello, I am the grandson of Cpl George Cormack 66th Indian Field Ambulance. Although at the time 07/02/44 he was not a Cpl he was promoted 1 week later. His MDS was run over but I have no idea how he survived. When he returned to the UK I can see from his service records he had false teeth pain returning at catterick. As a child he would sometimes say the were knocked out by a Japanese Soldier although I have no way of confirming this.
Edward, Zeezee has not logged on here since January 2015. You could try a PM to him, assuming the email address used on joining remains valid.
Ha wow that's really impressive. Imagine they made comics like this now. It rather accurate also. Thank you for posting this
