Robin Gordon “Bob” Haddow

Sergeant · NZ #295641

What this roll records

Online Cenotaph record found in August 2026 by searching the service number. Almost everything on it is already on this card. The one thing it adds is that HE EMBARKED AS A PRIVATE with an Infantry Brigade in 1943 (2NZEF Nominal Roll 11, p.52) — so he went overseas a Private and was a Sergeant by Levita later the same year. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph, record 101393.

New Zealand (A) Squadron, Levitha (24 Oct 1943): prisoner of war. Source: Roll of New Zealand (A) Squadron Casualties on Levitha, Brendan O’Carroll, "The Long Range Desert Group in the Aegean".

Prisoner-of-war camp: Stalag 357 (code 357), POW No. 35883. Source: Germany & German-Occupied Territories Imperial POW Alphabetical List, Section 4 (N.Z.), 2NZEF. Transcription via Zenodo (DOI 10.5281/zenodo.3632116, CC BY 4.0).

The Kiwi Scorpions (Brendan O'Carroll): Sgt R. G. Haddow — film booker, Wellington; born NZ, 9 Jul 1921; wounded and prisoner of war 25 Oct 1943; J Force 1946.

Sting of the Scorpion (Brendan O'Carroll) — the assault on Levita: Levita, 23–24 Oct 1943: wounded in the stomach and legs; taken prisoner, later recovering as a POW.

Severely wounded in the stomach on Levita (24 October 1943); recovered as a prisoner of war. Source: ‘Invasion of the Dodecanese Islands’ (Battle of Leros / Assault on Levita), Episodes & Studies Vol. 1 (NZ official war history).

Film booker, of Wellington; born NZ, 9 Jul 1921. Wounded and prisoner of war 25 Oct 1943; J Force 1946. Source: Episodes & Studies Vol. 1 (biographical notes).

New Zealanders in the Levita action, 24 October 1943: taken prisoner of war. Source: Brendan O’Carroll, ‘The Kiwi Scorpions’ (Appendix IX, New Zealanders in the Levita action).

The prefix NZ has been added to his service number, on the authority of the Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph record already linked on this card — the Museum holds him as a New Zealand service person. The digits are unchanged. This roll formerly left the number unmarked, which made it look like a British number to anyone reading the field rather than the card.

See him in the full roll →

Where this comes from

• AKA added from the LRDG Preservation Society’s Troopers roll (missing information).
• Listed in the LRDG Preservation Society’s Troopers roll.

In collaboration withThe Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) Preservation SocietyTo add information about this man, or note a correction, please post in the Society’s Facebook Group →

This page is part of the Long Range Desert Group roll of members at lrdgarchive.org. If you hold rights to anything on it and would like it credited differently, or taken down, please see Sources and Copyright. It will be dealt with promptly.

Not By Strength But By Guile