- George Arthur Knowland
George Arthur Knowland VC (
16 August 1922 -31 January 1945 ) was an English recipient of theVictoria Cross during theSecond World War , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.He was born on
16 August 1922 inCatford , Kent and attended Elmwood Primary School inCroydon . He joined theBritish Army , theRoyal Norfolk Regiment , in 1941 as a private and was commissioned before the end of the year.At 22 years old, and a
lieutenant in the Royal Norfolks but now attached to No. 1 Commando in Burma, he took part in an action that won him the VC.On
31 January 1945 nearKangaw , Burma (now known as Myanmar), Lieutenant Knowland was in command of a forwardplatoon of a troop which was being heavily attacked - some 300 of the enemy concentrating on his 24 men. During the attacks he moved among the men distributing ammunition and contributing with rifle fire and throwing grenades at the enemy. When the crew of one of his forwardBren light machine gun s had been wounded, he rushed forward to man it himself. The enemy was only convert|10|yd away but below the level of the trench so to fire into them he stood up. He continued to fire until the casualties had been evacuated. A replacement gun team that had been sent for were injured while moving up and he stayed with the gun until a third team arrived. In a subsequent attack he took over a 2 inch (51 mm) mortar which he fired from the hip directly into the enemy. He returned to the trench for more ammunition and fired the mortar from out in the open. When this was used up he fired his rifle. The enemy were now very close and without time to reload his rifle, he picked up a "Tommy gun" (sub machine gun) and used. He killed more of the enemy but receiving mortal wounds. Despite over 50% losses in the platoon the remainder held on. By the time they were relieved the men had held the ground for 12 hours; preventing the enemy from advancing further on that hill.His grave is in the
Taukkyan War Cemetery , Burma.References
*
British VCs of World War 2 (John Laffin, 1997)
*Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
*The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)External links
* [http://www.norfolkbc.fsnet.co.uk/archive_collection/vc/vc_index.htm The Royal Norfolk Regt in WW2]
* [http://www.victoriacrosssociety.com/sample_articles.htm the Victoria Cross Society]
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