The Soldier's Details
- Surname:
- Bessell
- First Name:
- Philip Mowbray Frank
- Nick Name:
- Bill
- Rank:
- Pte
- Regimental #:
- WX7639
- Company:
- D Coy 2/3rd MGB
- Enlisted:
- 10.08.1940
- DOB:
- 27.11.1914
- Place of Birth:
- Thames England
- Father's Name:
- Bessell J H
- Religion:
- C of E
- Pre-war Occupation:
- Unemployed
- Cause of Death:
- Presumed Dead, executed.
- Place of Death:
- Java
- Date of Death:
- 30.04.1942
General Description
Review WX7639 Philip Bessell’s military records held at NAA.
Bill Bessell was executed 30 April 1942 Java.
Private Philip Bessell was awarded the Commendation for Gallantry for actions following capture by the Imperial Japanese Army in March 1942 until his execution as a result of an escape attempt in about April 1942. Pte Bessell and five other men escaped, making for the coast of Java by hiding among Royal Air Force POWs. The group continued their escape from Djokjakarta but were recaptured by Japanese forces, interrogated and taken away to Taskimalaja. Pte Bessell and five others from 2/3rd are reported to have been executed near Taskimalaja about April 1942.
‘Thirty-six Australian troops were killed and sixty wounded in the battle for Java. More than one-quarter of the 2796 captured would die as prisoners.
No. 1 Squadron RAAF, which had done all it could to harass the enemy convoys, was caught up in the defeat. Its last three Hudsons were flown out on 5–6 March with all the crew they could carry, but 160 members went into captivity.
On 3 March, sixteen flying boats that were being used to rescue people from Java were sunk by nine Japanese Zeros at Broome in Western Australia; about seventy people were killed, including many Dutch women and children.
On 4 March, the corvette HMAS Yarra was escorting a convoy south of Java when it became caught in a hopelessly one-sided fight against three heavy cruisers and two destroyers; all but thirteen of her crew died. Other vessels escaped to Australia, including the Vendetta, towed all the way from Singapore to Fremantle by HMAS Ping Wo. From the western Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean coasts of the Malay barrier, the Japanese controlled the sea.
Japan had thus, by the second week of March 1942, occupied the perimeter that had been the objective of its huge offensives launched in December 1941. It had achieved in three months what it had planned to do in six. It had suffered almost negligible losses; its navy for example, lost just thirty-eight transports and merchant ships, eight destroyers and seven submarines. One of those submarines, the I-124, had been sunk near Darwin on 20 January in an action in which the corvette HMAS Deloraine took a significant part. Such Allied triumphs were rare in the dark period of December 1941 to March 1942—a period which ended with Japan’s armed forces perilously close to Australia.’
We wish to acknowledge the above information from Anzac Portal ‘Japanese Advance 1941-1932.
Below: Bessell along with WX7928 Jack Victor Jones, WX4609 Sgt Howard Thomas Manning, WX6574 Corp. Kenneth Stewart, WX4113 Corp Henry Francis Thompson and WX4758 Sgt Henry Whitton were all recommended for Gallantry.
They were awarded for gallantry in 2018.
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