Australian Captain in British 7th RTR RAC killed 21/5/1940 St Omer

Discussion in '1940' started by spidge, Sep 19, 2009.

  1. LondonNik

    LondonNik Senior Member

    Deleted
     
    Last edited: Sep 16, 2017
  2. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    Hi Scott,
    He most certainly was as far as Army was concerned.

    The first KiA was Wing Commander Ivan McLeod Cameron RAF.

    28 September 1939


    Cheers

    Geoff
     
  3. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    Interesting detail Nick - Thank you.

    Cheers

    Geoff
     
  4. Waddell

    Waddell Well-Known Member

    Geoff,

    As an officer would his service records be available from the British National Archives like the First World War ones?

    Nick,

    What is a bus bar? Is it an electrical circuit breaker?

    Scott
     
  5. KevinBattle

    KevinBattle Senior Member

    Nik, thanks for corrections, I'm not steeped in this, just trying to fit snippets together to try and make some coherent timeline/details.
    The named tanks were mentioned as it seemed to fit descriptions of 7 RTR tank losses, from your correction that obviously wasn't correct.
    Pratt was mentioned unfavourably in the WD and the infantry late assembling was also referred to. In my ignorance, I didn't make the connection that the Infantry and the tanks went in without supporting each other, clarification makes it easier to understand the local commanders frustration, albeit perhaps without knowing the wider picture as to why the infantry were late.

    The purpose of posting was to make a fuller picture from all the varied contributions to this thread.
    I had no idea that Tucker Jones had it wrong, again thanks for clarifying.

    What now seems clear is that (thanks to spidge who started it all) we appear to have traced the first Australian in the British Army as a casualty, which may create more interest dahn unner than here.

    The badly copied newspaper item seems to say that Capt Kauter would have been 31 and that his parents came to Bathurst when he was 2. He entered Duntroon Military College in 1921 to study the work of the tank Corps and on leaving in 1929 was selected with 2 other men for positions in the British Army. (Pratt's influence?) and he left Australia in February 1930. He spent two years as Aide de Camp to the Governor of Bihar and Orissa (and married his daughter) which ties in with the Quetta earthquake.

    I still don't understand the phrase "hit the busbar" but understand it to mean "he trod on the gas and disappeared, that's the last we saw of them..."

    My purpose was to help research into WW2 Names on the Hailsham War Memorial, and his Name struck me as being so unusual that I was bound to find out something. Little did I know he'd be the first Australian army casualty.

    My thanks to all, as all I have done is try to fit the snippets into one story of one man.
    I'd like to do that for every casualty I come across but some seem to have nothing, which is such a shame if Every Man can't be Remembered.
     
  6. KevinBattle

    KevinBattle Senior Member

    TAKE 2 (hopefully now as correct as I can make it.... !!!!
    There is currently an ongoing project to produce a Memorial to the players of Hailsham Town FC in WW1 and WW2.
    Obviously it's unlikely that Kauter played English football, I simply chose an unusual Name to start with and found this wealth of information.
    I hope that is a better representation of the life and death of a brave man.

    McGillvray details
    McGILLIVRAY, HENRY ROY WOOD. Rank: Trooper. Service No: 882174. Date of Death: 21/05/1940. Age: 29.
    Regiment/Service: Royal Tank Regiment, R.A.C. 7th Bn.
    Grave Reference: Plot 8. Row B. Grave 7. Cemetery: LONGUENESSE (ST. OMER) SOUVENIR CEMETERY.
    Additional Information:Husband of Muriel McGilliray.
    (the grave next to Kauter)
     
  7. LondonNik

    LondonNik Senior Member

    Deleted
     
    Last edited: Sep 16, 2017
  8. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    Thank you to Kevin for bringing this back to the top and Nick for his positive corrections that have tidied up this story of "possibly" (I suppose I have to say that) the first Australian (British Army) to be killed in Action in WW2.

    The family will now have a credible history of the bravery of their relative which was previously not known.

    I have saved this word file in the Longuenesse (St Omer) Souvenir Cemetery file as nine RAAF Australians from one Australian and seven different British squadrons were interred there later.

    Regards

    Geoff
     
  9. Waddell

    Waddell Well-Known Member

    Had some time recently to locate a better copy of the Captain Kauter article that appeared in the Bathurst Advocate in August 1940. The people at the NSW State Library were very helpful, obtaining an original copy.

    For those interested a complete transcription is attached.

    I will also send a copy of the transcription to Trove.

    Was he the only Australian serving with the British Army at Dunkirk?

    Scott
     

    Attached Files:

  10. DaveB

    DaveB Very Senior Member

    Nice work Scott
     
  11. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    Hi Scott,

    Well done with the information on Captain Kauter.

    A very easy question to ask however difficult to know how many Australians were actually in England in 1940 working, studying at Cambridge and Oxford etc. My RAAF research has come up with 250 who were killed in the RAF. Many were on Short Service Commissions from the RAAF eventually joined the RAF. After 9 years or research, I thought I had most of them at the end of last year, then tripped over a block of RAF service numbers and found another 10. Group Captain down to Flight Lieutenant with some being test pilots.

    We did come across an Army lad with the British however he was killed in the Far East. He was an officer and gave a good account of himself.

    Although Air Force, the previous poster Dave, just advised me he came across another Australian in the RAF who was shot down over Norway on 9/04/1940. The Crew Captain/Pilot was another Australian, Sgt Jack Clifford Carpenter. The crew of 9 of the Sunderland of 210sqn were the first Allied casualties in the defence of Norway, the day of the German invasion of that country.

    I am resigned to the fact that I/we will never know how many Aussies, joined or were already in British services including the Merchant Navy and how many of them actually survived the war.

    88 Australians in the RAF were killed between 3/09/1939 and 31/12/1940.

    Cheers

    Geoff
     
  12. Waddell

    Waddell Well-Known Member

    Thanks for that info Geoff.

    I will let you know if I come across any others during my research.

    Scott
     

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