T/14656349 Victor Stanley COLES, RASC: 17/03/1945 Op Varsity, Odd casualty - any ideas?

Discussion in 'RASC' started by alberk, Oct 21, 2020.

  1. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    Coles VS.JPG
    Casualty Details | CWGC
    In the context of “Operation Varsity” I am currently researching the circumstances of the death of Driver Victor Stanley Coles, 716 Airborne Light Coy, RASC (Service No. 14656349). He died on March 27th, 1945 – Long after the fighting on the LZs and DZs was over. Engagements on that day took place around the edges of the airborne landing area – quite far from the area where he was killed. He was buried in a single grave, grid reference 191474 – that is on the southern tip of LZ “P”. I marked the spot on the two maps attached by a small red dot. My working hypothesis at the moment is: He was trying to recover material/supplies and could have been killed by … a mine? Unexploded ordnance? An accident?

    Marked single grave Coles LZ P.jpg
    Marked Coles VS burial site_191474.jpg
     
  2. Temujin

    Temujin Member

  3. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    Hello Temujin,
    thank you very much - I believe you solved the riddle. And my question is answered comprehensively. Amazing! This forum is such a great way of connecting with knowledgeable people!
    With best regards
    Alex
     
  4. Temujin

    Temujin Member

    Your welcome Alex, glad I could solve your problem.....but don’t know if I’m “knowledgeable”.....I”m just lucky that at my age I can “remember anything”...BUT, with the wonders of “bookmarks”,, everything I find I bookmark, and then it’s just remembering “in which bookmarked document is that information stored”....

    Cheers
     
    alberk likes this.
  5. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    ...clever information management makes knowledgeable people... it is usually not a matter of knowing things off the cuff but rather a matter of knowing where to look up things...
     
  6. S Hayward

    S Hayward Well-Known Member

    Possibly worth noting if you are not already aware:

    The name of the injured officer, and further documentation of this is recounted here: 716th Light Composite Company, RASC

    Page 4 of the Reminiscence document by Captain D S Bremner also refers to the "heavily mined" position in which 716 LCC were located. link: 716 (Airborne) Light Composite Company RASC | ParaData

    Anecdotally a family member of mine also spoke of having his trailer destroyed by a landmine in an incident in this area, however this was unrelated to the event as described in the war diary's, as in that specific case, nobody was injured.
     
    alberk likes this.

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