Brigadier John Randle, officer who won an MC leading an attack under heavy fire in Burma in 1945 – obituary
From an exposed position he directed men in an assault on Japanese machine-gun posts, and he was later ambushed by murderous dacoits
Brigadier John Randle
Credit: family
Brigadier John Randle, who has died aged 99, won a Military Cross in 1945 in the last weeks of the Burma Campaign.
On April 30 1945 Randle, then a captain, commanded a company of 7th Battalion, 10th Baluch Regiment (7/10 BR), which had been ordered to attack a strongly defended enemy position at Pegu Hill, north-east of Rangoon.
The Japanese were securely established on three small hill features in bunkered positions containing machine-gun posts which poured out a relentlessly accurate fire. These had to be silenced and Randle put in an attack covered by his mortars.