Lieutenant-Colonel R.B. James
5th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment

It was a severe blow to hear from 5 E Yorks that Lt Col R.B., DSO, had been killed by shellfire. No one was with him at the time, but he was killed instantaneously … It would not be fitting here to attempt an expression of what the E Yorks must be feeling, or of their admiration of Col. James.

(HQ 69 Inf Bde Information Bulletin No. 31, 3 Aug 44)

Born in October 1912 in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, Robert Brian James was a commissioned officer in the Essex Regiment since 1932. Before the Second World War, he had served in Palestine and later earned a Distinguished Service Order for bravery during the Anglo-Iraqi War in May 1941. Within two years, he would be awarded a pair of D.S.O. Bars for skillful leadership commanding the 5th East Yorks in North Africa and Sicily.

In February 1943, James succeeded Lieutenant-Colonel T.W.G. Stansfeld in command of the 5^th Battalion, East Yorkshire. In late March, he led the battalion in repelling multiple enemy counter attacks and then withdrew his troops through a minefield under heavy artillery fire. The second D.S.O. citation read in part: That this post held out was due to a very large extent to outstanding leadership on the part of Lt-Col James, whose devotion to duty, determination and coolness in exceptionally difficult and hazardous circumstances is beyond all praise.”

The battalion landed in Sicily on 11 July 1943. The unit war diary recorded a high-speed chase through a town of James on a motorcycle pursued an enemy tank, whose “daring escapade was brought to a sudden stop by the appearance on the scene of a Sherman tank.” By the end of the Sicily campaign, James earned his third D.S.O. As the 50th Division was to be recalled to the United Kingdom, James relinquished command at the end of July on appointment to be GSO 1 of 78th Division in Italy.

He returned to the United Kingdom in February 1944 on a posting to the school of infantry. Meanwhile, on D-Day 6 June 1944, the 5th East Yorks landed on Gold Beach under Lieutenant-Colonel G.W. White. When White was wounded in action days later, James returned as his successor. After two months commanding in France, James was killed by enemy shellfire on 3 August 1944.