Alan Henry Cornelius “Alan” Nutt

Lance Corporal · NZ #14550 · T1 Patrol

What this roll records

HE IS NAMED IN A COMRADE’S LETTER HOME, WITH HIS SERVICE NUMBER. Trooper Ray Porter #14265 photographed a group leaning against a truck on the CAIRO–ALEXANDRIA ROAD, MARCH 1941, returning from GIARABUB, and wrote the names on the back for his mother. Nutt is on the right, given as “Allan Nutt (14550)” — the number is exact. WHY IT CARRIES WEIGHT: this is not an archivist reading faces years afterwards. It is one of the men in the photograph naming the others, within days, in a letter to his mother, who had no reason to be misled. The message on the back, in Porter’s hand: “Dear Mum, This snap was taken on the Cairo-Alexandria road when we were returning from Gierabub, Mar ’41. Reading from left to right: Self [Ray Porter (14265)], Martin Crawford (in background), Jack Job (508), Bill Forbes, Jack Shepherd and Allan Nutt (14550). Love Ray xxx” THE PICTURE IS NOT COPIED ONTO THIS SITE. The museum marks it “this image may be subject to copyright”, so this roll quotes the words and points at the original, exactly as it does with newspapers it cannot licence. It is on the Online Cenotaph record for Job, and you can see it here: https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C36002 Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph, record C36002 (photograph and inscription contributed to that record); read 2 September 2026.

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

Barce Raid, Sept 1942 (courtesy Tarek el Mahdy): Jeep T gunner — POW

Captured in North Africa: T1 Patrol, 14 Sep 1942, Barce. escaped Italy 1943. Source: "Names of LRDG NZ personnel captured in North African campaign" (per Brendan O’Carroll).

Full name Alan Henry Cornelius. POW at P.G. 85, Tuturano, Italy. Farmer in civilian life. Embarked/served with 2nd Divisional Cavalry Regiment. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph.

The Kiwi Scorpions (Brendan O'Carroll): L-Cpl A. H. C. Nutt — farmer, Motukarara; born Christchurch, 25 Aug 1911; prisoner of war 14 Sep 1942; escaped Sep 1943.

The Kiwi Scorpions (Brendan O'Carroll): T2 Patrol: one of the men who returned to base in the sole surviving truck, T10, after four of the patrol's five vehicles were destroyed by Stukas near Karkur Murr, January 1942.

During the break-out from Barce (13–14 September 1942) left the jeep to help the men in Wilder’s stricken truck, and was taken prisoner. Source: ‘The Barce Raid’, Episodes & Studies Vol. 1 (NZ official war history).

Farmer, of Motukarara; born Christchurch, 25 Aug 1911. Prisoner of war 14 Sep 1942, escaped Sep 1943. Source: Episodes & Studies Vol. 1 (biographical notes).

Took part in the Barce Raid with T1 Patrol, 13/14 September 1942. Source: Brendan O’Carroll, ‘The Kiwi Scorpions’ (Appendix VIII, T1 Patrol members who took part in the Barce Raid, September 1942).

Farmer in civilian life. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph.

BEFORE THE WAR HE WENT TO LONDON FOR THE CORONATION. Alan Nutt was a member of the NEW ZEALAND CONTINGENT AT THE CORONATION OF KING GEORGE VI IN 1937, serving then in the Territorial Force, and he went as a representative of the CANTERBURY YEOMANRY CAVALRY. That is the same mounted Canterbury tradition the Divisional Cavalry drew on, and it puts him in uniform three years before the Long Range Desert Group existed. HE WAS ALSO AN OLD BOY OF ST ANDREW’S COLLEGE, CHRISTCHURCH. Source: Daryll Fell, contributed through this site, 2 September 2026.

See him in the full roll →

Where this comes from

• Missing info added from the LRDG Preservation Society’s Troopers roll.
• AKA added from the LRDG Preservation Society’s Troopers roll (missing information).
• Additional sources (AWMM Online Cenotaph). Nominal Roll 2NZEF No. 3, p.355. Unit history: Loughnan, R. (1963). Divisional Cavalry; Mason, W.W. (1954). Prisoners of war. External links: Italy imperial POW list, section 4 (Zenodo): https://zenodo.org/records/4560909 Also cited: List of 2NZEF Prisoners of War 1941-1945, AWMM Library MS 2009/8.

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Not By Strength But By Guile