The Battle of Kohima April/May 1944 - 70 Years On

[ap1]

So previous service with No 5 Commando, any idea of the period of his service with them Richard?

[Aled Roberts]

Can't say Al. Just shows his name.

http://www.commandoveterans.org/node/1206

And No5 were in the right theatre :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._5_Commando

[ap1]

i'm wondering if I have him pinged at the wrong place. No 5 were in Burma during Kohima. Would his CWGC grave be inscribed "Commando" if he was KIA with them?

[ap1]

Possibly a coincidence. No 5 Commando were fighting along the Maungdaw–Buthidaung road, as were our 2nd Bn. All the RWF dead from that action were buried at Rangoon or Taukkyan War Cemetery. Kohima because of its remote location seems to be the preserve of those who fought there. Sometime in April 5 Cdo moved to Silchar, still some distance from Kohima, closer to Imphal. Unless we obtain his service record we won't know, but I do think its possible he was by now, back with the RWF.

[Aled Roberts]

Not sure about the headstones Al - But I concur with you in that he was back with RWF

[ap1]

I did a random check on a Lt Smalley who is on 5 Cdo ROH. His CWGC entry lists him as Manchester Reg

[ap1]

Battle of Kohima: Sitrep 1RWF 17 Apr 1944. At 0730 Alpha Company + tanks pushed east along the highway to Jotsama. This is the village that 161 Indian Brigade had been trapped at on the 6th April, after the enemy closed the door on the West Kents who are still under siege in Kohima. By the afternoon Alphas had been joined by the remainder of the battalion and digs in.

They are now under command of 6 Brigade.

Jotsama.jpg

[ap1]

Battle of Kohima: Sitrep 1RWF 18 Apr 1944 0915hrs. During the night en patrols harassing the battalions defensive positions. As a result 1 x Officer killed, 3 x OR's wounded. Lt DEJ Lawrence, aged 31. A married man, he came from Tottenham.

This morning the battalion commenced taking over defensive positions from the 1/4 Rajputs. Work continues to improve the location.

They are still based at Jotsama, a short distance west of Kohima.

Lt Lawrence 17:4:44.jpg

[ap1]

The Battle of Kohima. Notes. There are discrepancies on some of the dates of death on the CWGC Certificates. Therefore we use the battalions war diary as the authoritative source. However under the extreme circumstances they will later be in, its also possible that diary entries relating to dates of specific actions or incidents of note are sometimes incorrect.
The fog of war!

[Drew5233]

I've just checked the 5 Commando War Diary for April and annoyingly it's missing !