General Major - Tempting the Fates: A Memoir of Service in the Second World War

To Sarah, of course

First published in Great Britain in 2006 by
Pen & Sword Military
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS

Copyright Dare Wilson, 2006

ISBN 1 84415 435 1
ISBN 978 1 84468 379 6(ebook)

The right of Dare Wilson to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Regimental Collects

The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers

O God, our guide from of old, grant that wherever your servants of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers are called upon to serve, we may follow the example of your servant St George, and ever prove steadfast in faith and valiant in battle; through him who is the Captain of our salvation, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Airborne Forces

May the defence of the Most High be above and beneath, around and within us, in our going out and in our coming in, in our rising up and in our going down all our days and all our nights, until the dawn when the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings for the people of the world; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Special Air Service Regiment

O Lord, who didst call on Thy disciples to venture all to win all men to Thee, grant that we, the chosen members of the Special Air Service Regiment, may by our works and our ways dare all to win all, and in so doing render special service to Thee and our fellow men in all the world; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Contents

My thanks begin at home, where my wife, Sarah, in addition to all her other responsibilities, committed herself at the outset to assist with the fulfilment of this book. As well as having all the attributes required of a perfect secretary she has also provided shrewd and helpful comments, often on behalf of those readers without a military background.

In the early stages of my research I was most fortunate in having valuable guidance from the late Professor Sir Harry Hinsley, former Master of St Johns College, Cambridge, at which we were undergraduates together before the war. I have since been generously assisted by Sir John Keegan, who has advised me on several complexities in my story, and in a wider sense I have had advice and encouragement from three further academic friends, Richard Field, Russell Lawson and Jeffrey Switzer, the latter having been my supervisor during my second sojourn in Cambridge. Their reactions to passages I sent to them for comment were always helpful and often entertaining. Indeed Russell read every word in draft and was a most valuable sounding-board.

Further help has come from friends whose paths crossed mine and some of whose achievements feature in the narrative. They include Lady Barbirolli, Colonel Ian Battye, Michael Charlesworth, Professor John Crook, Major Bill Derbyshire, Major General Glyn Gilbert, General Sir John Hackett, Harry McCarten, Major Dick Tooth and Dirk Kuipers of Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Other friends have helped unknowingly by stimulating my memory with recollections that have contributed to the story. Should any of them, when reading it, find themselves responding to chords from long ago, I hope they will sense my appreciation.

Valuable assistance has come from the Military attachs and their staffs of the Embassy of the United States of America, the Embassy of the Republic of South Africa and the Canadian High Commission. Through them I have been able to contact sources that have filled gaps in my knowledge of those who were involved in events long past. Numerous other people have helped in their various ways and, in particular, I thank Helen Jones of Exeter Universitys Geography department for her meticulous care in the production of maps, Lesley Frater, archivist at the Fusiliers Museum of Northumberland, for her unfailing patience in verifying facts and Susan Econicoff, my Pen and Sword editor, for her delightful enthusiasm.

Finally, I thank my sons, Alexander, for his professional interest, and Peter, whose classical background proved invaluable for the major editing task he so capably undertook.