searching for the truth

searching for the truth!
hi everyone. best introduce my self. my name is paul holder and i am looking,and hoping, to try and get some information about ww2.

well here goes.....My grandfather was in ww2 in the tank corps although i dont know what section/regiment if thats the right terminology. Unfortunately he passed away when i was only 7 and i never got to ask him about his time in the army.

After talking to various family members i have managed to obtain some sketchy details about his service. They are as follows:-

served in tank corps
was apparently stationed, at some point, in BURMA
was captured and held as a pow in a japanese camp(don't know which one!)
He was missing for some 3 years
and was allegedly rescued/or escaped and hidden by an italian family before managing
to get back to the uk.

I have searched the internet but can not varify any of this or understand how he would have managed to get back to uk?

I have recently contacted Army Disclosures and am awaiting information from them about his history but was wondering if anything that i have been told is feasable?

His name was Victor Walter Dodwell and the only pow list i can find with that name on it is from germany, stalag 4b in mahlberg.

As you can see it seems all a bit mixed up.

can anyone help

 

Welcome aboard,

The first step would be getting a copy of his Army Service Records.

See link: service records army

 

have contacted them and now waiting for paperwork to arrive so i can apply for his records.
they have told me there is a 9 month wait due to backlogs?

i was just wondering really if its possible for a soldier to be captured by japanese and then somehow end up being hidden by an italian family?

 

Welcome aboard Paul.

I have just conducted a search on Children & Families of the Far East Prisoners of War, for your grandfather and only came up with one Dodwell, who wasn't your grandfather.

It is possible that there is some mix-up in locations - which will be corrected after your nine month wait. Unless someone here comes up with something.

Mark

 

Paul,

I just carried out a search on Ancestry, and got the following information:

Name:V. W. Dodwell
Rank:Trooper
Army Number:7884508
Regiment:Reconnaissance Corps
POW Number:77241
Camp Type:StalagCamp Number:IV-B
Camp Location:Mühlberg/Elbe, Brandenburg
Record Office:Royal Armoured Corps and Reconnaissance Corps Record Office, The Drill Hall, Barnet, HertfordshireRecord Office Number:3


Which I assume is what you already have.

Also on Ancestry, in the UK, Military Campaign Medal and Award Rolls, 1793-1949, database I found;

Name: V W Dodwell
Campaign or Service: India - NW Frontier
Service Date: 1936-1937
Service Location: India
Regiment or Unit Name: 6th Light Tank Company RTC
Regimental Number: 7884508

This may clear up some of the 'Burma' Confusion.

Mark

 

Paul/ BFBSM
Looks a bit dodgy as he was in India with the 6th Light Tank battalion of the Royal Tank Corps - way before Burma- then in a German POW camp from a RECCE regiment of the Royal Armoured Corps ....?

not too many heavy Tank Battalions in Burma as the Indians had an Armoured Corps there until the 7th Armoured bde were sent out there after El Alameim.....then back to Syria and Egypt to reform the 7th Armoured bde with 2nd RTR - 6th RTR and 8th RTR and sent to Italy in '44 where he might have been captured and cared for by a Italian family as he perhaps escaped and was repatriated to the Uk via Switzerland - if he was injured in any way -

So - very interesting case until we get all the facts from his records- underlines once more to learn to listen to us old 'uns.....
Cheers

 

never had any of those details so thank you very much for that. i had found the pow record but as family said he was in burma it kind of threw me a bit.

am not sure what other records i will get from disclosures but i cant wait to find out
i can only assume from what has been posted is that he changed from the 6th light tank to recon during his career.
do you know if any of the 6th lt went to burma?

 

Paul,

Take a look at this PDF, http://www.army.mod.uk/documents/general/RAC_History_Royal_Tank_Regiment.pdf, from British Army Website, which shows the History and a simple structure of the RTR in chart form.

 

Sorry this is coming in bits and bobs, have a look at posts associated with this one http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/weapons-technology-equipment/16253-wd-number-query-excellent-vehicle-photographs-5.html#post161879 in the thread
WD Number Query (and excellent vehicle photographs). here on ww2talk, for information on light tanks.

 

BFBSM-
you will note - and I haven't studied the chart too well - that in an about 1937 the RTC with regiments was changed to the RTR with battalions and stayed that way all through ww2 - and stayed that way even though amalgmated with the Royal Armoured Corps as was the RECCE later in the war and that the llght RTR units in India were reinforced by another six units for that period.
Cheers
it is of course likely that he was transferred to RECCE at some point and only the service records will substantiate those facts

 

Well done Mark

 

Welcome to the forum


Cheers
Paul

 

hi again all, have been speaking to my mother recently and she has told me that she has got pictures of my grandfather in a desert? i am currently waiting for them to arrive and when i get them will post them here and maybe someone will be able to shed some more light on where he was.
am not sure if any vehicles are in the picture will have to wait and see

 

Excellent Paul, I for one am looking forward to seeing them.

Mark

 

Also on Ancestry, in the UK, Military Campaign Medal and Award Rolls, 1793-1949, database I found;

Name: V W Dodwell
Campaign or Service: India - NW Frontier
Service Date: 1936-1937
Service Location: India
Regiment or Unit Name: 6th Light Tank Company RTC
Regimental Number: 7884508

The years 1936 and 1937 saw the lengthy operations against the notorious Fakir of Ipi, who at one time or another inflamed the whole of the North-West Frontier. ... the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and part of the 11th Light Tank Companies were all involved in these operations.
The Tanks Vol I 1914-1939 by Liddell-Hart.

Desert could definitely be the North-West Frontier.

 

record but as family said he was in burma it kind of threw me a bit.


Hi Paul, I was in the same boat as you recently waiting for my Gt Uncles MSR records. His daughter had told me he was in Burma amongst other things, but this was way of the mark. I know he constrained the information he shared, and the family didn't always have the full picture. It looks like you have an interesting story to unravel and I wish you all the best in doing so.

 

Hi Paul, I was in the same boat as you recently waiting for my Gt Uncles MSR records. His daughter had told me he was in Burma amongst other things, but this was way of the mark. I know he constrained the information he shared, and the family didn't always have the full picture. It looks like you have an interesting story to unravel and I wish you all the best in doing so.

My grandfather was the same. He would only ever give sketchy details about what he went through during the war hence why no one really knows what happened and thats why i am doing this research.

I am really hoping to find out such things as when he joined, where he was posted, his promotions, and when he went missing as i know from what family has said that his parents recieved a letter saying that he was MIA presumed dead! then he turns up in stalag 4b pow camp and then, somehow, managed to get back to uk before the end of the war.

All very complicated!

 

The Tanks Vol I 1914-1939 by Liddell-Hart.

Desert could definitely be the North-West Frontier.

do you know if their is any way that i could find out what medals he would have been awarded without waiting for info from historic disclosures?
would like to know where the 6th rtr went and what they did.

have looked but cant seem to find any info on that?

 

do you know if their is any way that i could find out what medals he would have been awarded without waiting for info from historic disclosures?


My understanding is the medal rolls are held at National Archives (Kew), but I also think you can get these online at ancestry.com. I know thats where I got my Gt Uncles WW1 MIC. Someone correct me if Im wrong.

 

The records available on Ancestry do not include those for the Second World War, but for other campaigns around it, and before, including Waterloo and the First World War. I have managed to get records for one of my great uncles prior to and after the Second War but not for the War itself.

Hope that was clear.