NEW SOUTHLAND COMMANDER

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23798, 18 November 1942, Page 2

NEW SOUTHLAND COMMANDER

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL A. R. COCKERELL APPOINTMENT RECALLS HISTORIC FEAT The appointment of LieutenantColonel A. R. Cockerell to command a battalion of the Southland Regiment which is announced in the latest Gazette, is an appropriate one. for he was serving with Southland troops in the last war when he won the immediate award of the Distinguished Service Order for a remarkable feat. It is considered by those with close knowledge of the circumstances that if he had not been an officer he would have been awarded the Victoria Cross. He was one of the very few subalterns in the whole British Army to receive the D.S.O. He was mentioned once in dispatches in the last war, and twice in this war. The exploit which won him the D S.O. is described in the official history of the Otago Regiment as one of the most remarkable on record. During the Passchendaele Battle in 1917, the Otago Regiment was attaching Bellevue ridge, and, largely because of difficulties in getting guns into position for proper artillery preparation, ran into intense enemy fire. After Captain K. H. Nicholson had been killed, Second-Lieutenant Cockerell found himself in command of the Southland company. He had a nominal strength of two platoons , under his command, but he soon found that he was alone. Undaunted, he advanced towards two block-houses from which heavy enemy fire had been coming. Just before the first block-house ne reached a trench containing 40 Germans. They had run out of ammunition and he captured all of them. Hr went on to the block-house and bayoneted six Germans as they came out. The remainder, also without ammunition, surrendered. SeconaLieutenant Cockerell was then joined by Private G. Hampton, and together they advanced on the second blockhouse garrisoned by two officers and ’3O men. There were two machine-guns in the enemy post, but here again the ammunition supply was exhausted and all the Germans surrendered. Contact was made with an officer and six other Australians, and it was decided that a strong point should be established in the second block-house and that a runner should go'back to the New Zealand lines to explain the situation and suggest turning the flank of the German Bellevue ridge positions. Private Hampton made the first attempt, but was killed. Three Australians tried in turn, but met the same fate. When night fell SecondLieutenant Cockerell himself essayed the crossing of what was virtually no man’s land. He found the remnants of his battalion scattered over a line little in advance of its starting point. He took command and reorganised it. Next morning the two Otago battalions could muster only 310 of all ranks, and the attack on the ridge was abandoned. Second-lieutenant Cockerell, a Main Body man who served on Gallipoli, had been commissioned in the field and he was promoted to lieutenant before the end of the war. Returning to New Zealand, he decided to follow a military career, and was eventually appointed area officer at Invercargill. At the outbreak of the present war he joined the overseas forces, leaving New Zealand with the advance party. He had a good deal to do with the estaolishment of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force base camp in the Middle East. After a period of service in the Middle East he was recalled to join the instructional staff of the New Zealand Staff College. He held several staff appointments before being appointed to his present position.