Lt Col Arthur Marrable

2 Oct 1909 ◐ – Aldershot 22 Feb 1954 ◐

Lt Col Arthur Trevor Marrable, DSO, RAMC (67301) (London Gazette, 20 September 1945, p. 4683)

About: Commanding officer of 181 Airlanding Field Ambulance at Arnhem, then head of the administrative wing of the British hospital in the Willem III barracks at Apeldoorn, which Murphy escaped from on 6 October 1944 (Walsh; Apeldoorn and the escape); Warrack, who commanded the hospital, put him over its administrative wing (Warrack, Travel by Dark, p. 62).

Unit or role: ◐ Royal Army Medical Corps from 1936 (London Gazette, 11 February 1936); ✓ Lt Col (temporary) in 1945 (Gazette, 20 September 1945); commanding 181 Airlanding Field Ambulance, 1st Airborne Division, 1944–45 (Honour to the Airborne, snippets).

Where: Croydon, by the Gazette's DSO list; Oosterbeek (the Schoonoord); Apeldoorn (the Willem III barracks); Obermassfeld, Germany; the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst; Aldershot.

Evidence: ✓ Warrack's Travel by Dark (1963); ✓ the London Gazette (his DSO, 1945; his permanent commission, 1941); ✓ James Hardy's report; ✓ his recommendation for Lionel Bryson (WO 373/144/184); ◐ his German POW card, in Kew's catalogue (WO 416/246/379).

◐ The London Gazette has an "Arthur Trevor MARRABLE" given a temporary commission as a lieutenant in the RAMC on 2 February 1936 and made lieutenant on probation, "from temp. commn. R.A.M.C.", on 23 April 1936 (11 February 1936, p. 909; 8 May 1936, p. 2982). A. T. Marrable was confirmed in the rank, his short service appointment antedated to 27 October 1935, and made captain on 23 April 1937 with seniority from 27 October 1936 (26 February 1937, p. 1330; 23 April 1937, p. 2628; 21 January 1938, p. 437). ✓ On 23 April 1941 "A. T. Marrable (67301)", one of the RAMC's short service captains, was given a permanent commission (supplement of 25 April 1941, p. 2349); 67301 is the number on his DSO and his POW card. The 1936 and 1937 entries carry no number, so ◐ they are tied to him by his full name and the RAMC.

Honour to the Airborne lists the unit's commanding officers:

1941 Lieut-Colonel N. G. Hill, M.C., T.D. 1942 Lieut-Colonel G. M. Warrack 1944 Lieut-Colonel A. T. Marrable 1945 Lieut-Colonel I.C. Gilliland (3/45 - 7/45) 1945 Lieut-Colonel A.T.Marrable (7/45 …

— Honour to the Airborne · the Internet Archive's search snippets, not read on the page, the snippet ending there

Martin Middlebrook's history of the battle gives the unit at Arnhem in its order of battle:

181 Airlanding Field Ambulance, RAMC (Lt-Col A. T. Marrable, prisoner of war) Based at Stenigot House and Martin. Flew in 12 Horsas from Down Ampney. Went in: 137 men; died: 5; probably none evacuated;

— Martin Middlebrook · Arnhem 1944: The Airborne Battle · the Internet Archive's search snippets

Col. Graeme Warrack, the division's senior medical officer, names him among the field ambulance commanders in the air on the first day, "Lt. Col. Arthur Marrable and his 181st (Air-landing) Field Ambulance" (p. 18). On the second day Marrable "appeared on his way to reconnoitre a site on the road to Arnhem for his dressing station. The village of Oosterbeek was the place proposed", and he, Warrack and Maj. Jimmy Miller chose the Schoonoord Hotel; "Marrable then left to organize the evacuation from the dressing station at Wolfheze" (p. 23, bottom) (Warrack, Travel by Dark; page images read from the Internet Archive's lending copy).

During the siege Warrack writes:

• When he heard orders shouted in German in the street outside, "I had a talk with Arthur Marrable and decided that I had better try to escape notice, so I removed my red tabs and rank badges and did my best to look like a nursing orderly" (p. 28).
• "Arthur Marrable and Simon Frazer were magnificent" (p. 30).
• Later, "When I got to the Schoonoord I had a talk with Arthur Marrable and settled that he should look after all the buildings in his area and that I would look after the Tafelberg area" (p. 35).
• On the day of the withdrawal, "At Schoonoord I found Arthur Marrable and the Germans co-operating over the evacuation" (p. 47), and "At 11 o'clock that Monday night I had a glass of the German brandy with Arthur Marrable and settled down underneath the stairs of the Schoonoord Hotel" (p. 49).
• ✓ Warrack's diary, written up in the barracks after he arrived on the evening of 26 September (by his foreword, "while they were still fresh in my memory"), calls him by his first name only, "ARTHUR", which Warrack's own key names as "Lt Col A T MARRABLE", 181 (A/L) Fd Amb (the officers' list, p. 48).
  • On 25 September Warrack had the other dressing stations cleared "along to ARTHUR's DS so that they can be sent back to ARNHEM to hospital", and that night he "Bedded down in the main DS at the crossroads with 181 Fd Amb. Had supper and a drink of eau-de-vie. Then a chat with ARTHUR" (Warrack's diary, pp. 22–24).

Other accounts of the dressing stations name him too (⚠︎ unread snippets, all from the Internet Archive's full-text hits, not read on the page):

• Honour to the Airborne has the Schoonoord captured, "but Lt-Colonel Alford and Lt-Colonel Marrable were given permission to continue to work with a full staff. The hotel was recaptured in the evening by elements of the 4th Parachute Brigade" (Honour to the Airborne).
• Middlebrook has the Schoonoord, the Vreewijk and a house at the Utrechtseweg crossroads as the first main dressing station: "Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Marrable of 181 Field Ambulance was in charge here, but the Germans had taken away all the surgeons" (Middlebrook).
• Stuart Mawson's Arnhem Doctor has Mawson's section fetch up "in the Dressing Station established in the Schoonoord by Lt-Colonel Marrable with the 181st Field Ambulance of the glider-borne Airlanding Brigade", and, under Tuesday 19 September, "the reception counter behind which Colonel Marrable was ensconced, like a spider in the middle of his web"; Mawson put a plan to him there "while Marrable drew on his pipe" (Mawson).
• John Waddy has "Lieut Col Arthur Marrable CO of the Airlanding Field Ambulance" seek out "the senior German officer" to point out "that he must keep all his staff, if the many wounded, which included some Germans, were not to suffer", which "was agreed", though the Germans "wrecked the operating theatre in another house" (Waddy, A Tour of the Arnhem Battlefields).
• Antony Beevor has "the imperturbable Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Marrable, still puffing gently on his pipe, said to his staff, 'Good show, chaps. Don't take any notice of'" the rest being cut off in the hit (Beevor, Arnhem).

◐ The recommendation made in his name, which has him in its "Recommended by" column and no signature of his own, says of the dressing stations:

This warrant offr landed by glider at Arnhem on 17 Sep 44. He was RSM of the 181 Airlanding Fd Ambulance which set up Dressing stations at OOSTERBEEK. These Dressing stations were continuously under enemy shell and mortar fire …

— recommendation by Lt Col A. T. Marrable, OC 181 Airlanding Field Ambulance, for the Dutch Bronze Cross, 1945 · The National Archives, Kew, WO 373/144/184 · the transcription, p. 2

No source has Murphy meet Marrable: the link runs through the hospital in the barracks and through Marrable's RSM, Bryson, below.

After the battle the wounded were taken to the Willem III barracks at Apeldoorn. Warrack, who commanded the hospital there, set up an administrative wing and a professional wing: "I put Marrable in charge of the former, with Bryson as sergeant major, and Alford in charge of the latter" (p. 62). James Hardy, held there at the same time as Murphy, wrote in his MI9 report:

The administration and general running of the barracks was entirely in the hands of R.A.M.C. personnel with the ADMS, Col. GRAHAM WARWICK and Col. MARRABLES … in charge and duty rosters and orders were published daily.

— Pte J. Hardy · MI9 report, 13 January 1945 · Pegasus Archive's transcript, which adds his name and number in brackets where the cut is

Noordman's Dutch telling of Hardy's account has "De administratie en bedrijfsvoering in de barakken was geheel in handen van Brits medisch personeel met de senior medisch officier, kolonel Warrack, als hoofd en kolonel Marrables als tweede man" (the administration and running of the barracks was entirely in the hands of British medical staff, with the senior medical officer, Colonel Warrack, at its head and Colonel Marrables as second in command) (Noordman, p. 274). Kew's catalogue of Hardy's escape report lists "Colonel Marrables" among the names it mentions (WO 208/5414/21); that of Leslie Davison, who "Jumped frpm [sic] moving train, 7 October 1944", lists "Lieutenant Colonel Marrable Co 181 Airland Field Ambulance" (WO 208/5409/14).

When Murphy and Sam Walsh were moved to the barracks, about 2 October, they gave their names to "the medical RSM", whom Pegasus Archive's transcript identifies as Lionel Bryson of 181 Airlanding Field Ambulance, "who detailed all those who were able for various jobs in looking after the wounded"; Walsh wrote that "We had been given to understand by the RSM that so far as escape was concerned it was every man for himself" (Walsh). They escaped on 6 October (Apeldoorn and the escape).

The other accounts of the hospital agree on his post:

• ParaData's article has "Administrative Wing Commander: Lt Col Marrable, assisted by WO1 Len Bryson" (ParaData).
• Honour to the Airborne has "an Administrative Wing commanded by Lt-Col. Marrable, and a Medical Wing by Lt-Col. Alford" (Honour to the Airborne, snippets).
• ◐ Matthew Hall's life of Lt-Col Martin Herford, written from Herford's diaries and papers, has two complete field ambulances arrive "the next day", "commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Marrable, CO of 181 Field Ambulance, and Lieutenant Colonel W C Alford CO of 133 Para Field Ambulance" (Hall, A Doctor at War, p. 180, the reader's text layer):
  • Hall's sequence leaves unclear which day that is; it is not clearly the 26th.
  • It left Herford free to spend his time "cajoling and scavenging for medical equipment and supplies".
  • Hall has the hospital organised "startlingly quickly, the administrative side being run by Lt Colonel Marrable and the medical wing by Lt Colonel Alford" (p. 184).

The recommendation made in his name says nothing of wings; it has the field ambulance take "over an empty barracks and ran it as a hospital for 900 men wounded at ARNHEM" (WO 373/144/184, p. 2).

✓ The diary. Warrack's diary has the arrangement made on the evening they arrived, 26 September: "The hospital is to be run with two sides: the adm under ARTHUR and the medical under BILL", with "HERFORD 2 i/c", and "ARTHUR agrees to check all stores in" (Warrack's diary, p. 27). The same day it counts "some 900 patients" (p. 27). On 7 October the German town major brought "baccy for ARTHUR" (p. 42), and on 9 October "ARTHUR goes in with x-ray wagon to try and get blood and more supplies" (p. 43). He is on the diary's roll of the medical staff at Apeldoorn as "67301 Lt Col A T MARRABLE", with no note against him (◐ the legend marks departures only, so a blank does not show he stayed) (the roll, p. 51).

Warrack discussed with "my two lieutenant colonels, Marrable and Alford" whether to escape: "Marrable felt that as he was commanding a unit, if his men went 'into the bag' he should go with them and, if possible, escape later." While they talked they were told that 500 wounded were to go to Germany at once, and Warrack "detailed Alford to take charge" (Bill Alford) (p. 77). Leo Heaps has the same: "some, like Lieutenant Colonel A. T. Marrable, made the decision to remain with the wounded and would accompany them into prisoner-of-war camps in Germany" (Heaps, The Grey Goose of Arnhem, p. 190).

✓ Herford's own report of 1944, printed in 1952, has the same choice made in the days of 12 to 14 October, when the remaining staff were told they might escape:

Lt.-Col. Marrable felt it his duty to remain with his unit, 181, which was looking after the remaining casualties (90). The personnel of 16 and 133 had gone in previous trains.

— Lt-Col M. E. M. Herford · report for 24 September to 19 October 1944 · Journal of the RAMC, vol. 98 (1952), p. 299 · the text

On the evening of Monday 16 October 1944 the Germans pronounced all but a dozen of the ninety patients fit to move (p. 90). That night, "At 8 o'clock Herford, Father McGowan, Marrable, Rigby Jones and myself filed into the operating theatre"; they helped Herford and then Father McGowan out of the window, and Warrack "told Marrable and Padre Harlow of my own plan" (p. 91, bottom). The next morning Warrack went "to the officers' dormitory to see Marrable. He told me that the Germans had caught the American padre wandering about the barracks, and had discovered that Herford was missing" (p. 94). Warrack hid in a space he had made above the cupboard in his room, and Marrable came to it:

'Are you there, sir?' It was Marrable's voice. 'Yes. What's happening?' 'They've brought up some transport to move us. We'll be going quite soon. I've told Simon Frazer where you are. We'll try to get away from Germany. I hope you make it.' 'Good luck, and thanks for all you've done.'

— Graeme Warrack · Travel by Dark: After Arnhem, 1963, p. 95 · page image · the Internet Archive's text

Herford's own report has Herford and the padre McGowan go at 21.00 "through a side window": "We were aided out by Col. Warrack and Lt.-Col. Marrable" (p. 300). ◐ Hall's life of Herford has Marrable choose the way: when Herford proposed blinding a guard with a pressure lamp, Warrack and Marrable said it was too risky, and "Marrable suggested it would be better to squeeze through the small window in the operating theatre on the ground floor. They were least likely to be disturbed in the operating theatre" (Hall, p. 187). Herford's escape is on his page. ParaData has the hospital close on 26 October (ParaData).

⚠︎ John Frost, wounded, was sent to "the big P.W. hospital at Obermassfeldt" and wrote that there "Arthur Marrable, one of the Airborne Division's Field Ambulance Commanders, was the Senior British Medical Officer, and he gave me a great welcome", and that he knew Marrable "would keep me as long as he could"; his account runs into March 1945, and the book's index has "Marrable, Arthur, Senior British M.O., Obermassfeldt, 239, 240" (Frost, A Drop Too Many; search snippets only). His German POW card, WO 416/246/379, gives service number 67301 and "Stalag IXC Bad Sulza", POW number 52979; the cataloguer has added in square brackets a birth date of 2 October 1909, the place of birth as unknown, capture at Arnhem in 1944 and a death date of 26 February 1954 (the catalogue entry; catalogue text only, the card not seen). Honour to the Airborne has I. C. Gilliland commanding the field ambulance from March to July 1945 and Marrable again from July (Honour to the Airborne).

As "A T Marrable, Lt Col, OC., 181 Air Ldg Fd Amb" he recommended Bryson for the Dutch Bronze Cross; it went from brigade on 1 July 1945 (WO 373/144/184, p. 2). His own recommendation for the Distinguished Service Order, as acting lieutenant colonel and temporary major of 181 Airlanding Field Ambulance, North West Europe 1944–45, is WO 373/55/348, digitised but not yet downloaded (the catalogue entry). ✓ The award is in the Gazette of 20 September 1945, among "the following awards in recognition of gallant and distinguished services at Arnhem", under "The Distinguished Service Order": "Lieutenant-Colonel (temporary) Arthur Trevor MARRABLE (67301), Royal Army Medical Corps (Croydon)" (supplement 37274, p. 4683).

The Gazette has "War Subs. Maj. A. T. MARRABLE, D.S.O. (67301)" among the RAMC officers made major on 27 October 1945, and "Maj. A. T. MARRABLE, D.S.O. (67301), to be Lt.-Col., 16th Feb. 1950" (supplement of 2 November 1945, p. 5324; supplement of 17 February 1950, p. 849).

⚠︎ He was later senior medical officer at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. The Times of 23 February 1954 reported that "Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Marrable, D.S.O., who had been senior medical officer at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, died yesterday afternoon in hospital at Aldershot, where he had undergone an operation", that he "served as a paratrooper in the last war, taking part in the action at Arnhem", and that he left a widow and three children (The Times; search snippets only). A passage in Mawson's Arnhem Doctor has "Lt-Colonel Arthur Marrable, whom I came to hold in high regard and respect, died, I am sorry to say, some years ago"; the search snippets do not show whether Mawson or the author of a foreword on the same page is speaking (Mawson).

• His name. Hardy's report and Kew's catalogue of it have "Marrables", and so does Noordman's telling (Hardy; WO 208/5414/21; Noordman, p. 274); Warrack, the Gazette and the recommendation have Marrable.
• Who was second at Apeldoorn. Warrack has "I was OC Hospital, with Martin Herford as my second-in-command" and Marrable over the administrative wing (p. 62); Hardy, as Noordman tells it, has Marrables as second in command. ✓ Warrack's diary, ◐ near-contemporary (no source says it was written that evening), has "HERFORD 2 i/c" and the administration under "ARTHUR" (the diary, p. 27).
• "Paratrooper". The Times has him serve "as a paratrooper"; Warrack calls his unit air-landing, and Middlebrook has it fly in by Horsa glider (The Times; Middlebrook).
• When he died, and how old. ◐ The Times of 23 February 1954 has him die "yesterday", 22 February, aged "40" as the OCR reads it (The Times); the cataloguer's bracketed date on his German card is 26 February 1954, and the birth date given there, 2 October 1909, would make him 44 (the catalogue entry). The age may be a misreading of "44"; the four days between the dates are not explained, and the catalogue gives no source for its bracketed dates.
• How many gliders, and where he was on 26 September. ⚠︎ The first report in Part I of "All in the Day's Work" in the Journal of the RAMC (1952), printed under Col. E. I. B. Harvey's name, which the journal disowned as his in an apology (pp. 350–351), says it was put together from returned men and two letters; its author is not known (the text).
  • It has "181 Air Ldg. Fd. Amb. (Lt.-Col. A. T. Marrable) less one section landed successfully in nine gliders" (p. 247); Middlebrook has 12 Horsas (above).
  • It has "On 26 Sept. certain medical personnel, including Lt.-Cols. Alford and Marrable, were apparently released to work in the D.S. at Osterbeek" (p. 248); Warrack's diary has him at the barracks from the evening of the 26th.
  • ◐ Its "Col. G. M. Warrack and Lt.-Col. A. T. Marrable were still there" after 16 October (p. 248) agrees with Herford's own report.

Everyone, A to Z