Pte. John Henry Cobb
The medal condolence slip of Pte. Cobb.
3779347 Pte. John Henry Cobb was the son of John and Grace Cobb from Liverpool in Lancashire, England. John Henry was an original member of the 13th King's that travelled aboard the troopship 'Oronsay' to India on the 8th December 1941.
Pte. Cobb was part of A' Company within the battalion, which was converted into Chindit Column 5 after the men were handed over to Brigadier Wingate in late June 1942. John Henry was then posted into Lieutenant Philip Stibbe's Rifle Platoon 7 and began his jungle warfare training at the Saugor Camp in the Central Provinces of India.
Generally, Stibbe’s Platoon was used as a rear guard to protect both Column 5 and on occasions Wingate's own Brigade Head Quarters. It also did more than its fair share of perimeter duty during the operation, guarding the sleeping Chindit bivouac at night. They also supplied perimeter protection while the demolition experts from Column 5 went to work on the railway and bridge at Bonchaung on the 6th March. This demolition work was to be the column's major contribution to the operation in 1943, where it successfully destroyed the railway bridge across the gorge.
Column 5, commanded by the effervescent Major Bernard Fergusson, did not have the best of fortune on Operation Longcloth, often being asked to perform decoy manoeuvres for Northern Group and quite often missing out on their share of rations from the Brigade supply drops.
During the third week of March 1943, Column 5 had been given orders to create a diversion for the rest of the Chindit Brigade, which was now trapped in a three-sided bag between the Irrawaddy and Shweli Rivers to the west and north and the Mongmit-Myitson motor road to the south. Brigadier Wingate had instructed Fergusson to "trail his coat" and lead the Japanese pursuers away from the general direction of the Irrawaddy and in particular the area around the town of Inywa, where Wingate had hoped to cross.
By March 28th the column had reached the village of Hintha which was situated in an area of thick and tight-set bamboo scrub. Any attempt to navigate around the settlement proved impossible, reluctantly, Fergusson decided to enter the village by the main track and check for the presence of any enemy patrols. He unluckily stumbled upon such a patrol and a fire-fight ensued.
Fighting platoons led by Lieutenant Stibbe and Jim Harman entered the village in an attempt to clear the road of Japanese. These were met in full force by the enemy and several casualties were taken on both sides. Stibbe, himself now wounded, returned to the base position of the column and reported to the Major that the situation was getting very hot and that the Japanese were making any forward movement extremely difficult.
From his own book, 'Return via Rangoon', Lieutenant Philip Stibbe remembered the 28th March 1943:
We did not have to wait many seconds before machine-gun fire started from somewhere down the left fork of the "T" junction; the Major told me to take my platoon in with the bayonet. My platoon were in threes behind me, facing down the the track in the direction of the firing. It was impossible to see much in the dark, but there was no time to waste, so I shouted "Bayonets" and told Corporal Litherland and the left-hand section to deal with anything on the left of the track and Corporal Handley and Corporal Berry with the right-hand section to deal with anything on the right.
Corporal Dunn was in the centre immediately behind me with his section and I the told him to follow me and deal with anything immediately in front. All this took only a moment; the Major shouted "Good luck", I gave the word and we doubled forward.
It is difficult to realise what is happening in the heat of battle and even more difficult to give a coherent account of it the afterwards, but I remember seeing something move under a house on our left as we went forward and firing at it with my revolver. Then machine-gun fire seemed to come from several directions in front of us and I hurled a grenade at the nearest gun and we got down while it went off.
I was standing up to go forward again when something knocked me down and I felt a pain in my left shoulder-blade. The platoon rushed on past me. What was happening in the darkness ahead I could not tell but there was a confused medley of shots, screams, shouts and explosions.
Stibbe was seriously wounded at Hintha, so much so that within a few short hours he realised he could not continue to march and had to be left by the column in the scrub jungle close to the village. He later became a prisoner of war, surviving almost two years in Rangoon Jail before he was liberated in late April 1945. Pte. John Henry Cobb was with the section led by Corporal Dunn and was killed in the action at Hintha that day.
Seen below are two maps showing Column 5's position leading up to and during the engagement at Hintha. Please click on any image to bring then forward on the page.
Pte. Cobb was part of A' Company within the battalion, which was converted into Chindit Column 5 after the men were handed over to Brigadier Wingate in late June 1942. John Henry was then posted into Lieutenant Philip Stibbe's Rifle Platoon 7 and began his jungle warfare training at the Saugor Camp in the Central Provinces of India.
Generally, Stibbe’s Platoon was used as a rear guard to protect both Column 5 and on occasions Wingate's own Brigade Head Quarters. It also did more than its fair share of perimeter duty during the operation, guarding the sleeping Chindit bivouac at night. They also supplied perimeter protection while the demolition experts from Column 5 went to work on the railway and bridge at Bonchaung on the 6th March. This demolition work was to be the column's major contribution to the operation in 1943, where it successfully destroyed the railway bridge across the gorge.
Column 5, commanded by the effervescent Major Bernard Fergusson, did not have the best of fortune on Operation Longcloth, often being asked to perform decoy manoeuvres for Northern Group and quite often missing out on their share of rations from the Brigade supply drops.
During the third week of March 1943, Column 5 had been given orders to create a diversion for the rest of the Chindit Brigade, which was now trapped in a three-sided bag between the Irrawaddy and Shweli Rivers to the west and north and the Mongmit-Myitson motor road to the south. Brigadier Wingate had instructed Fergusson to "trail his coat" and lead the Japanese pursuers away from the general direction of the Irrawaddy and in particular the area around the town of Inywa, where Wingate had hoped to cross.
By March 28th the column had reached the village of Hintha which was situated in an area of thick and tight-set bamboo scrub. Any attempt to navigate around the settlement proved impossible, reluctantly, Fergusson decided to enter the village by the main track and check for the presence of any enemy patrols. He unluckily stumbled upon such a patrol and a fire-fight ensued.
Fighting platoons led by Lieutenant Stibbe and Jim Harman entered the village in an attempt to clear the road of Japanese. These were met in full force by the enemy and several casualties were taken on both sides. Stibbe, himself now wounded, returned to the base position of the column and reported to the Major that the situation was getting very hot and that the Japanese were making any forward movement extremely difficult.
From his own book, 'Return via Rangoon', Lieutenant Philip Stibbe remembered the 28th March 1943:
We did not have to wait many seconds before machine-gun fire started from somewhere down the left fork of the "T" junction; the Major told me to take my platoon in with the bayonet. My platoon were in threes behind me, facing down the the track in the direction of the firing. It was impossible to see much in the dark, but there was no time to waste, so I shouted "Bayonets" and told Corporal Litherland and the left-hand section to deal with anything on the left of the track and Corporal Handley and Corporal Berry with the right-hand section to deal with anything on the right.
Corporal Dunn was in the centre immediately behind me with his section and I the told him to follow me and deal with anything immediately in front. All this took only a moment; the Major shouted "Good luck", I gave the word and we doubled forward.
It is difficult to realise what is happening in the heat of battle and even more difficult to give a coherent account of it the afterwards, but I remember seeing something move under a house on our left as we went forward and firing at it with my revolver. Then machine-gun fire seemed to come from several directions in front of us and I hurled a grenade at the nearest gun and we got down while it went off.
I was standing up to go forward again when something knocked me down and I felt a pain in my left shoulder-blade. The platoon rushed on past me. What was happening in the darkness ahead I could not tell but there was a confused medley of shots, screams, shouts and explosions.
Stibbe was seriously wounded at Hintha, so much so that within a few short hours he realised he could not continue to march and had to be left by the column in the scrub jungle close to the village. He later became a prisoner of war, surviving almost two years in Rangoon Jail before he was liberated in late April 1945. Pte. John Henry Cobb was with the section led by Corporal Dunn and was killed in the action at Hintha that day.
Seen below are two maps showing Column 5's position leading up to and during the engagement at Hintha. Please click on any image to bring then forward on the page.
Lieutenant Stibbe's story continues:
The firing continued intermittently and the Major sent Jim Harman and the Commando Platoon to try to attack the Japs down the little track we had seen leading off to the left. Alec Macdonald went with them. While this was being done, the Major came over to speak to Corporal Litherland and me but he had hardly begun when a Jap grenade landed beside us.
The Major only just had time to throw himself on the ground before it went off; he was on his feet again in a moment and I did not know till long afterwards that he had been hit in the hip by a fragment. Corporal Litherland was wounded in the head and arm but not as badly as a nearby private soldier who had a terrible head wound and started begging me to shoot him to put him out of his agony.
Fortunately Doc Aird came up with some morphia. By some miracle, although the grenade had landed scarcely an arm's length from me, I was untouched. By this time I was so covered in blood that the Major was convinced I had been hit again. Meanwhile the Commandos had put in their attack down the little track and we were all stunned when the word came back that Alec Macdonald, who had led them in, had been killed with Private Fuller. Jim Harman, who was with him, had been hit in the head and arm but he and Sergeant Pester went on with their men and cleared the track.
The firing now flared up again in our direction, but my platoon, who had remained calm and steady throughout, only fired when they saw a definite target. It was during the burst of firing that Doc Aird came up with one of his orderlies and dressed my wound. Shots were whistling just over their heads and I offered to move under cover while they did it, but they carried on where they were as calmly as if they had been in a hospital ward.
The bullet had gone in through my chest just below my left collar bone, leaving only a very small hole which I had not noticed; the hole at the back where it came out was considerably larger and it was from this that I was losing all the blood.
We were safe at the "T" junction as long as it was dark, but it would have been an exposed position by daylight and dawn was breaking. We did not know how many Japs we had killed but it was obvious that their casualties had been far heavier than ours. I was not able to check up on my platoon's casualties but I discovered afterwards that we had lost Corporal Handley, Corporal Berry, Lance-Corporal Dunn and Private Cobb, while Corporal Litherland and one or two others had been wounded. The news then came that a way had been found through the jungle at the side of the track, so the Major ordered Brookes to blow the second dispersal call on his bugle. This was the signal for the column to split up into groups which were then to make for the pre-arranged rendezvous.
To see John Henry Cobb's CWGC details and to read more about Lieutenant Stibbe and his platoon, please click on the following links:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2507594/COBB,%20JOHN%20HENRY
Stibbe's Platoon
The graves for the casualties at Hintha were never recovered after the war was over and so these men are remembered upon the Rangoon Memorial located within Taukkyan War Cemetery. This memorial is the centre piece structure of the entire cemetery grounds and contains the names of some 27,000 casualties from the campaign who have 'no known grave'.
Seen below, is a final gallery containing images in relation to the story of Pte. John Henry Cobb. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
The firing continued intermittently and the Major sent Jim Harman and the Commando Platoon to try to attack the Japs down the little track we had seen leading off to the left. Alec Macdonald went with them. While this was being done, the Major came over to speak to Corporal Litherland and me but he had hardly begun when a Jap grenade landed beside us.
The Major only just had time to throw himself on the ground before it went off; he was on his feet again in a moment and I did not know till long afterwards that he had been hit in the hip by a fragment. Corporal Litherland was wounded in the head and arm but not as badly as a nearby private soldier who had a terrible head wound and started begging me to shoot him to put him out of his agony.
Fortunately Doc Aird came up with some morphia. By some miracle, although the grenade had landed scarcely an arm's length from me, I was untouched. By this time I was so covered in blood that the Major was convinced I had been hit again. Meanwhile the Commandos had put in their attack down the little track and we were all stunned when the word came back that Alec Macdonald, who had led them in, had been killed with Private Fuller. Jim Harman, who was with him, had been hit in the head and arm but he and Sergeant Pester went on with their men and cleared the track.
The firing now flared up again in our direction, but my platoon, who had remained calm and steady throughout, only fired when they saw a definite target. It was during the burst of firing that Doc Aird came up with one of his orderlies and dressed my wound. Shots were whistling just over their heads and I offered to move under cover while they did it, but they carried on where they were as calmly as if they had been in a hospital ward.
The bullet had gone in through my chest just below my left collar bone, leaving only a very small hole which I had not noticed; the hole at the back where it came out was considerably larger and it was from this that I was losing all the blood.
We were safe at the "T" junction as long as it was dark, but it would have been an exposed position by daylight and dawn was breaking. We did not know how many Japs we had killed but it was obvious that their casualties had been far heavier than ours. I was not able to check up on my platoon's casualties but I discovered afterwards that we had lost Corporal Handley, Corporal Berry, Lance-Corporal Dunn and Private Cobb, while Corporal Litherland and one or two others had been wounded. The news then came that a way had been found through the jungle at the side of the track, so the Major ordered Brookes to blow the second dispersal call on his bugle. This was the signal for the column to split up into groups which were then to make for the pre-arranged rendezvous.
To see John Henry Cobb's CWGC details and to read more about Lieutenant Stibbe and his platoon, please click on the following links:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2507594/COBB,%20JOHN%20HENRY
Stibbe's Platoon
The graves for the casualties at Hintha were never recovered after the war was over and so these men are remembered upon the Rangoon Memorial located within Taukkyan War Cemetery. This memorial is the centre piece structure of the entire cemetery grounds and contains the names of some 27,000 casualties from the campaign who have 'no known grave'.
Seen below, is a final gallery containing images in relation to the story of Pte. John Henry Cobb. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
On the 21st of November 2012, the medals of John Henry Cobb were sold on eBay. Sadly, I was not aware of this auction in time to make a bid.
Copyright © Steve Fogden, January 2015.
Copyright © Steve Fogden, January 2015.