Peter Vernon Redesdale Mitford

Trooper · NZ #12002 · T1 Patrol

What this roll records

Full name Peter Vernon Redesdale Mitford. Born 16 May 1916; died 13 July 2006, aged 90. Buried at Taruheru Cemetery, Gisborne (Block RSAAS, Plot 226). Prisoner of war: captured 25 October 1942; held at Stalag 357 (No. 2), Thorn (Torun); POW serial 35798. A shepherd in civilian life; served with the 2nd NZ Divisional Cavalry Regiment. The Gisborne Herald (1 Dec 1943) reported him previously missing and then a POW, having served with the LRDG hundreds of miles behind enemy lines before being reported missing on 7 November. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph.

Cenotaph record linked. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph.

March 1942 roll (courtesy Tarek el Mahdy)

Barce Raid, Sept 1942 (courtesy Tarek el Mahdy): driver W/T — Picked up by S2

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. 35798. 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).

Capture-date note: Imperial POW roll shows capture 25 Oct 1942 — the year appears to be an error (Levitha was Oct 1943). Master retains 24 Oct 1943. Source: 2NZEF Imperial POW rolls (Zenodo, CC BY 4.0).

Took part in the Barce Raid with T1 Patrol, 13/14 September 1942. The patrol was largely captured; he was taken prisoner of war. Source: Brendan O’Carroll, ‘The Kiwi Scorpions’ (Appendix VIII, T1 Patrol members who took part in the Barce Raid, September 1942).

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).

Embarkation detail from his Cenotaph record: he embarked as Trooper, 2nd N.Z. Div Cav, Nominal Roll 3 p. 332, Third Echelon. This agrees with the rank held on this card. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph, record 120629.

See him in the full roll →

Where this comes from

• Missing info added from the LRDG Preservation Society’s Troopers roll.
• Additional sources (AWMM Online Cenotaph). Nominal Roll 2NZEF No. 3, p.332. Unit history: Loughnan, R. (1963). Divisional Cavalry; Mason, W.W. (1954). Prisoners of war. External links: Germany imperial POW list, section 4 (Zenodo): https://zenodo.org/records/3955186 Also cited: List of 2NZEF Prisoners of War 1941-1945, AWMM Library MS 2009/8; Gisborne Herald, 1 December 1943, p.4.

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