Robert Cottrell-Hill


Robert Charles Cottrell-Hill was Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin.

Military career

Educated at Bedford School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Cottrell-Hill was commissioned into the Border Regiment in 1924. He served with the 1st Battalion, Border Regiment and was awarded the Military Cross for bravery at El Yamun near Jenin in Palestine, during the Arab revolt, in 1938, and was later mentioned in dispatches for his services there.
He served in World War II initially as a brigade major and latterly as Commander of the 71st Indian Infantry Brigade. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for services in Arakan in 1944 and a Bar to his DSO for an assault landing at Ramree Island, located off the coast of Arakan, in 1945.
In 1948 he became Deputy Director of Infantry at the War Office and in 1950 he was made Chief of Staff at Malaya Command. He returned the War Office as Director of Military Training in 1953 and became Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin in 1955. He joined the Regular Commissions Board in 1957 and retired in 1959.