In Memory Of

LUPKE, PRESCOTT REUBEN

Service Details
Age:
 32
Date of Birth:
 1911-09-04
Service No:
 243045V
Rank:
 Lance Corporal
Regiment:
 Natal Mounted Rifles, S.A. Forces
Date of Death:
 1944-06-06
Cause of Death:
 Killed in action, at 07h00 hours, the 6th South African Armoured Division entered the streets of Rome. Regimental Headquarters together with B Squadron NMR and a Company of WR/DLR supported by a Troop of Sherman tanks was tasked to clear the roads to Foiano Romano. Contact with the enemy was soon made and the South African force came under intense German Nebelwerfer Rocket fire, 75mm anti-tank fire and were engaged by Mk IV Tiger Tanks. The South African Artillery joined in the fray with heavy shelling of the area. Heavy losses were inflicted on the German force with two Mk IV Tiger Tanks being knocked out, two 75mm anti-tank guns destroyed, a German Machine-gun nest wiped out and a building providing cover for the enemy forces was destroyed. One Sherman tank and a Stuart Honey tank were hit and abandoned but were later recovered by advancing South African Forces.
Commemoration
Grave Reference:
 II. G. 14.
Cemetery:
 BOLSENA WAR CEMETERY
Country:
 Italy
Additional Information
Husband of Mrs. M. J. Lupke, of Townbush Road, Pietermaritzburg. Born in Pietermaritzburg. A railworker with the South African Railways.