A Dutch historian is appealing for help to find out more about a soldier from South East Cornwall who died fighting one of the last battles of the Second World War.

Gunner Harry Tambling was killed just weeks before the war in Europe ended.

Jan Vos is trying to find out more about Harry, who was born in East Looe, as part of his ongoing research into the Battle of Otterloo, fought in the aftermath of the landings at Arnhem.

Jan said: ‘The Battle of Otterloo, April 15 to 17, 1945, was the last great battle in Holland during the Second World War. Desperate German troops, around 1,000 men, tried to break through the Allied lines from east to west.

‘They wanted to reach the occupied west of Holland to be safe with their own troops but in Otterloo they found heavy resistance from Canadian and British allies. During this battle over 150 Germans were killed. On the Allied side, 17 Canadians, six British soldiers and four Dutch civilians were killed.’

There is a monument to the fallen in Otterloo and Jan has spent two years researching the people who were killed.

‘I tried to find out who they were and now I have a collection about almost all those named; more details about their lives and pictures of them, so people can better understand the situation in those days.

‘I think attention should go to them because they paid the highest price, namely with their young lives, for our freedom. These soldiers were already thinking about going home because it looked like the war was almost over. And just before the end, they died. That makes it very sad.’

After the Battle of Otterloo, the Allies isolated the Germans in the west of Holland, the final strike to finish German resistance.

Jan, who was born in 1939 in Arnhem, has lived in Otterloo for more than 40 years. He’s written a book, in Dutch and English, about the battle and hopes to create a website about it.

But he wants to include on the website more details of the last two men he has been unable to trace – including Harry Tambling who was born in 1914, the son of Edwin and Emily Louisa Tambling.

Harry served in the Royal Artillery. He was killed in action on April 17, 1945, at the age of 31, and is buried in Otterloo.

A bachelor, he left his possessions to his father who was a fisherman.

Can you help? Please email [email protected] or call 01579 342174.