In Memory Of
BAGSHAWE, ARTHUR LEONARD
Service Details
Age:
38
Date of Birth:
1906-07-20
Rank:
Major
Regiment:
Northern Rhodesia Regiment
Date of Death:
1944-10-29
Cause of Death:
Killed in action, after a month of heavy road-mending work the Battalion was suddenly ordered forward on 10th October 1944 and it trudged through the mud passing a helpless column of trucks and guns that was deeply bogged down. At Brigade HQ it was learned that the other two Brigades in the Division were advancing south down the Kabaw Valley towards Kalewa but 21st Brigade was to capture Mawku which lay on a track running to the east. The Battalion advanced on the Mawku track to Chinmagale and experienced Japanese "Jitter patrols" who appeared every night hoping to draw fire so that the Northern Rhodesians' automatic weapon positions could be located. 'A' Company under Major Arthur Leonard Bagshawe MC, received most of the grenades thrown and rounds fired by the enemy. Near Chinmagale the Battalion took over from the Ugandans who had experienced a challenging time, losing 19 men killed and 102 wounded during the capture of Japanese positions on Leik Ridge. Whilst supporting a 4 KAR attack Lieutenant K.L. Mortlock of the 1 NRR Mortar Platoon acted as a mortar fire controller and was wounded by a Japanese sniper. An immediate task for the Battalion was to support 2 KAR in an attack on Hill 500 that lay east of Leik Hill and nearer to the Chindwin River. Advances up the track to the hill were met with showers of grenades and accurate bursts of machine gun fire. Finally 'A' Company worked its way to the summit and Lieutenant R. Hogg's platoon came into close contact, Hogg being wounded by a grenade splinter. Arthur Bagshawe came forward to see the situation and was wounded by another grenade before being shot dead by a sniper concealed behind a tree root. At that point the enemy troops withdrew abandoning most of their equipment.
Commemoration
Grave Reference:
Face 103.
Cemetery:
RANGOON MEMORIAL
Country:
Myanmar
Additional Information
Decorations:
M C
Citations:
LG Sup 7 February 1941 - "For distinguished services in the field of Somaliland"
Son of Arthur Clement Bagshawe, C.M.G., and of Mary Angelina Bagshawe (nee Majendie); husband of Julia Bagshawe (nee Frankau), of Kitale, Kenya. On St. George's College War Memorial, Harare, Zimbabwe
