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Auction: 9022 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 81

x Three: Warrant Officer K.G. Cottrell, Royal Air Force 1939-1945 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; War Medal, extremely fine, together with the following related material &c.: - Card box of issue for the Awards, addressed to K.G. Cottrell Esq., 26 Eastcote Lane, South Harrow, Middlesex - Air Council enclosure and medal entitlement slip - Four cloth badges - 158 Squadron lapel badge - A large quantity of research, including photocopies from the recipient´s Flying Log Book, the recipient´s account of his time as a Prisoner of War, and two letters from the recipient, dated September 1978 (3) Estimate £ 200-240 1272556 Warrant Officer Kenneth George Cottrell, born 1902; enlisted in the Royal Air Force, 1942; trained as Wireless Operator at the Signals School, Yatesbury, Wiltshire; posted to 102 Squadron (Halifaxes), Pocklington, Yorkshire; Operations aver Baltrum (Minelaying), 6.2.1943 "first taste of operational flying- fairly uneventful"; and Lorient, 7.2.1943; transfers to 158 Squadron (Halifaxes); Operations over St. Nazaire, 28.3.1943; Berlin, 29.3.1943 (returned from Denmark on three engines); Stuttgart, 14.4.1943; Pilsen (Skoda works), 16.4.1943; Dortmund, 23.5.1943; Dusseldorf, 25.5.1943; Essen, 27.5.1943 "a great success- Krupps works took a hell of a hammering"; Wuppertal, 29.5.1943 "attacked by night-fighters over Holland, starboard engines, wing, and fuel tanks caught fire. The pilot called over the intercom ´´we´´ve had it lads, get out´´ which just gave me time to grab my parachute pack and clip it onto the harness- pilot put the aircraft nose down in a vertical dive from 30,000 feet to about 10,000 feet but when he levelled out the fuel tanks exploded, tearing off the starboard wing. The Engineer and I must have been sucked out through the hole. The rest of the crew went down in the aircraft and were killed at Maastricht, Southern Holland" (recipient´´s hand written account refers) Prisoner of War "I landed in a field by a river with a broken leg. It was just before midnight and I rolled myself up in the chute and slept fitfully until dawn when a Dutch farm worker found me, who fetched help from a nearby village. Quite a crowd turned out and I was carried on a stretcher to the local pub where the landlord gave me brandy and coffee. After about 20 minutes a lorry arrived outside, I head a lot of guttural shouting, the door burst open, and in marched a German Sergeant carrying an automatic rifle. I was taken to Venlo Luftwaffe Base- my leg and ankle were set and plastered, and I was put in a small ward with several German airmen. The one next to me was a Corporal from Berlin, and a very friendly character- he shared his home made cakes and jam with me. Very civilised! Moved to Amsterdam, by train, to a hospital, before moving to Frankfurt Dulag Luft. We had previously been warned that this was an interrogation centre, so I knew what to expect. A German Air Force Major appeared and told me I was the Wireless Operator of ´´R´´ Robert, 158 Squadron. I enquired how he was so sure. He replied ´´My dear boy, we haven´´t been in this War for four years without learning anything. We have a little joke about your Squadron letters NP- they stand for No Petrol!´´ He then showed me lists of all the RAF Squadron letters with the bases and groups they made up. He was right too! I was then transferred to Obermasfeld, which was a Prisoner of War Hospital in Saxony. Then by passenger train from Saxony right across Germany and Poland to Lithuania. We arrived at our camp, Stalag Luft 6, at Heydekrug, after three days´´ travel. The day we arrived there had been an escape- the usual tunnel under the barbed wire fences. The place was in a state of complete chaos. When the Russian advance was about 50 miles from us the Germans saw fit to evacuate us, first by train to the Baltic port of Memel, and then in the hold of a coal ship for four days across the Baltic to Stettin- conditions were pretty grim. When we docked we were caught up in a daylight bombing raid- fortunately it was the US Air Force, who, as usual, hit everything but the target- we were tied up alongside a light cruiser at the time. We were put into cattle trucks and taken to Gross Tychon in Poland. From there we spent 6 weeks on the road, arriving at Stalag 357 Fallingbostel, not far from Hamburg, to find that the British Army had crossed the Rhine and were well on their way towards us. On 16th April an armoured car of the Guards Armoured Division drove through the gates of the camp and we were officially liberated. After all we had seen and been through to be liberated by the British was marvellous. The reception once back in Britain was quite overwhelming- welcome home signs, tables of tea and cakes, scrambled egg, and Air Marshals to greet us- the lot. Then supper in the Sergeants Mess served by WAAFs who seemed to us to have been hand-picked!" (recipient´´s account refers). Cottrell was promoted whilst a Prisoner of War, and returned home as a Warrant Officer. On his return he was given six weeks´´ leave, and was able to spend VE and VJ days at home in Shepherd´´s Bush, London. His mother and girlfriend had heard through the Red Cross that he was a Prisoner of War about six weeks after he had been shot down- "Knowing them I bet they had a bit of a celebration!" (recipient´´s letter refers). Cottrell later married his War-time Sweetheart. Of his other crew members George Ayton, the flight Engineer, was made a Prisoner of War, and survived hostilities; the other five members were all killed and are buried side by side in Jonkerbos War Cemetery, Nijmegen, Holland. Provenance: Spink, April 1990.

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£520