Tuesday 24 April 2012

Captian John Mitchell - An Obituary


John Mitchell was my great uncle. He married my grandfather's sister, Christine Rapson and had three children, who now all have families of their own in Canada. 



"CAPTAIN JOHN MITCHELL, who has died aged 79, won the Military Cross when commanding a squadron of the 13th Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers in Java in 1946.
Shortly after the surrender of the Japanese in August 1945, a group of Indonesian nationalists proclaimed their independence from Dutch rule. The declaration was not recognised by the Netherlands, which attempted to restore its pre-war control of the islands.
The withdrawal of the Japanese troops to their barracks had created a power vacuum which soon resulted in a widespread breakdown of law and order. Of particular concern to the Allies were the thousands of prisoners of war and civilian internees who were at risk from the increasing violence.
The first British troops were parachuted into Kemayoran airport early in September 1945. Armoured support for the military intervention was provided by two Indian Army tank regiments, one of them the 13th DCO Lancers, which arrived in Java in November to face a rapidly deteriorating situation.
One squadron was sent to Surabaya to support 25th Indian Division, the other two squadrons to Batavia (now Jakarta) and Semarang to support 23rd Indian Division.
The regiment's Stuart medium tanks proved invaluable in supporting convoy movements and in keeping open lines of communication; and they were frequently in action against Indonesian forces which were equipped with Japanese weapons.
On March 10 1946 a supply convoy from Buitenzorg (now Bogor) to Bandung had been ambushed by the Indonesians as it entered Sukabumi. The following morning "A" squadron, commanded by Mitchell, was ordered to come to its support with all possible speed.
The road from Buitenzorg to Sukabumi, a distance of about 50 miles, proved to be mined and obstructed by a series of road blocks, made from huge trees or deep ditches. Progress was slow and hazardous.
Fifteen miles west of Sukabumi the squadron and its escorting infantry were caught in a defile in the dark and ambushed by Indonesian forces. The squadron fought its way through but a large number of casualties was sustained and most of the tanks were damaged.
Even during the ambush, there were lighter moments. A cook, tied up in the back of a lorry because he had made continual threats to desert, managed to hobble across the road before tumbling into the comparative safety of a drainage ditch. He was discovered in this refuge by one of his comrades, and his bonds were quickly removed.
"You always wanted to run away, you miserable so-and-so!" the soldier bellowed in the cook's ear as bullets kicked up the dust around them. "Now is your chance!"
The next day repairs to the tanks were held up by the constant threat from the Indonesians, who had surrounded the tank harbour; but by 9.30 am the squadron successfully joined the supply convoy and the column was back on the road to Bandung by noon.
They met with sporadic sniping from the kampongs along the way but were able to reach the convoy's dispersal point by the evening of March 14. Mitchell later paid tribute to the courage of the infantry and the fighting qualities of his Pathans. He was awarded the MC for his gallantry and leadership during the operation.
William George John Mitchell was born at New Malden, Surrey, on January 27 1922 and educated at King's College, Wimbledon, where he played rugby for the first XV.
He enlisted in the Middlesex Regiment in 1941 but transferred to the 13th Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers the following year and was posted to Bisitun, near Kermanshah in Persia.
In November 1942 the regiment joined the 31st Indian Armoured Division in Shuaiba and then Quaiyra, Iraq.
In Baghdad the Humbers were replaced with Staghound armoured cars before the regiment's move to Burg-el-Arab in Egypt in 1943. At Damascus, in 1944, the regiment was converted into an armoured reconnaissance unit equipped with Shermans and turretless Stuart tanks.
One morning, on first parade, Mitchell was disconcerted to find a scorpion in his shorts. Even the most tentative of military movements seemed likely to try the creature's patience; and the command "Stand Easy!" appeared to take little account of his circumstances. Mitchell was compelled to make a rapid tactical withdrawal.
After a further six months in Aleppo and Innsariya in Syria, the regiment moved with the division to Tripoli before joining the 50th Indian Tank Brigade at Ahmednagar.
In India it became involved in drawing up plans for Operation Zipper, the invasion of Malaya, but these preparations were rendered redundant when VJ day was declared on August 16.
The regiment was involved in the fighting in Java until August 1946 when they returned to India to join the 31st Indian Armoured Division at Secunderabad.
Mitchell left the Army later that year and went back to England to take up a position with the British Motor Corporation at Longbridge. In 1953 he emigrated to Canada, although he continued to work with BMC at Hamilton in Ontario.
In 1963, Mitchell went to George Brown College in Toronto as campus manager. He would remain there until 1985, playing a key role in managing the building projects and day-to-day operations of a busy community college.
An enthusiastic supporter of the college Scouts, he enjoyed leading canoeing and winter camping expeditions. In retirement, in North York, Toronto, he and his wife travelled widely.
John Mitchell married, in 1945, Christine Rapson, who survives him, together with one son and two daughters."

Source: Unknown. (2001). Captain John Mitchell. Available: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1358372/Captain-John-Mitchell.html. Last accessed 25th April 2012.

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