Author: Matthew K Barrett

Lt-Col. G.R. Stevens

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Lieutenant-Colonel Dick Stevens
12th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment

And I am doubly certain that we can never achieve either leadership or friendship in India if we depend upon the crumbling façade of caste which has protected Englishmen in India in the past. We must either make India a willing associate or else get out … we are prepared to relinquish our status as superior beings and are willing to become partners and associates in the business of living in India.

(Col. G.R. Stevens to East India Association, 13 Dec 1944)

Born on 4 October 1908 in Boyle, County Roscommon, George Richard Stevens was educated at Cheltenham and Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He took a commission with Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) in 1928, and served tours of duty with the 1st Battalion in India during the 1930s. He commanded a company in the Western Desert campaign and then in 1942 went to the Staff College, Camberley as an instructor. Following a GSO 1 appointment to the airborne forces, in 1943, he became second-in-command of 12th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment.

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Lt-Col. M.W. Roberts

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Lieutenant-Colonel M.W. Roberts
2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

In the actual operation Lieutenant-Colonel Roberts showed outstanding gallantry. After a hazardous landing, he showed great determination in setting up and maintaining Divisional Headquarters in the face of the enemy. His services on that day and in the long advance which followed were carried out without thought for his personal safety and were of the very greatest value to me and the division.

(D.S.O. citation, 24 Jan 1946)

Born in Devonport on 15 December 1907, Michael Wace Roberts was educated at Marlborough College and was commissioned in the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in 1927. After overseas postings in India and Burma during the 1930s, he attended staff college and during the Second World War served with the Home Guard. In December 1943, he was appointed commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, which two years earlier had converted to glider infantry.

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Lt-Col. R.W.M. De Winton

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Lieutenant-Colonel R.W.M. De Winton
5th/7th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders
1st Battalion, Tyneside Scottish
2nd Battalion, Gordon Highlanders

I did not mean to hit the man or the uniform. I wanted to hit only the major representatives of the Big Four at Pola. Unfortunately he was a man and a soldier. If I had had the occasion, I would have hit the Big Four—as a symbol of the injustice to my country.

(Maria Pasquinelli in Associated Press, 19 Mar 1947)

Born on 16 September 1908 in Edinburgh, Scotland, Robert William Michael De Winton was a graduate of Royal Military College, Sandhurst and a commissioned officer in the Gordon Highlanders since 1932. He temporarily took over 5/7th Battalion in Sicily in August 1943 and then commanded 1st Battalion, Tyneside Scottish from January 1944 until it deployed to France after D-Day.

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Lt-Col. R.K. Exham

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Lieutenant-Colonel Roy Exham
6th Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s Regiment
6th Battalion, Green Howards

I will not attempt to describe another action which we fought as all I can remember is a bloody time when three soldiers were killed at my side. Again we captured our objective. It was an unpleasant time and my sympathies went to the forward companies, which were dug in close to the Germans and could not see anything, were unable to move and were shelled most of the time. There was a wondaful feeling of relief when at last we were on the move.

(Exham quoted in Mike Morgan, D-Day Hero)

Born on 25 January 1907 in Readlynch, Wiltshire, Robert Kenah Exham took as commission in the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment (West Riding) in 1926 after graduating from Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He served on the North West Frontier in India before the Second World War. As a staff officer with 3rd Infantry Brigade in June 1940, he earned the Military Cross for invaluable assistance during the evacuation from Dunkirk.

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Lt-Col. K.G. Exham

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Lieutenant-Colonel Ken Exham
7th Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s Regiment
6th Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers

The Army is well aware of the responsibility the country has placed on us in the form of National Service. The whole ting must be examined against one factor—that the Army exists to fight. It does not exist to do a job for the Ministry of Education or the Ministry of Education.

(Quoted in Birmingham Evening Mail, 23 Jun 1954)

Born on 17 September 1903 in Greenwich, London, Kenneth Godfrey Exham attend the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and took a commission with the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment (West Riding) in 1923. As a qualified Russian interpreter, he was posted to the British Military Mission in Moscow from 1941 to 1943. He then commanded 7th Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s Regiment for a short time from August to October 1943 followed by the 9th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment stationed in the United Kingdom from October 1943 to May 1944.

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Lt-Col. F.W. Sanders

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Lieutenant-Colonel F.W. Sandars
11th & 10th Battalions, Durham Light Infantry
1st Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment

Throughout Lt. Col. Sandars displayed outstanding devotion to duty and disregard for his personal safety. His HQ and the whole Bn area was frequently under heavy arty fire. This officer moved about the Bn area to carry out a recce, make a plan, and issue orders.

(D.S.O. citation, 21 Dec 1944)

Born on 18 April 1903 Egremont, Cheshire, England, Francis Wyld Sandars attended Wellington College and Royal Military College, Sandhurst before taking a commission with the Durham Light Infantry in 1923. He served with the 2nd Battalion in India, Shanghai, and Waziristan. Back in the United Kingdom during the 1930s, he completed Staff College at Camberley and held general staff appointments in the UK after the outbreak of the Second World War. In January 1942, he returned to the Durham Light Infantry on appointment to command the 11th Battalion.

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Lt-Col. G.D. Renny

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Lieutenant-Colonel G. Douglas Renny
1st Battalion King’s Own Scottish Borderers
5th/7th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders

During this period, Capt. Renny worked day and night, with energy, and efficiency, completing with a difficult task having to deal with inexperienced and poorly trained Units. Toward the end of the period when fatigue was overcoming him, he struggled on, remaining cheerful and confident and showing a fine devotion to duty in spite of the difficulty of getting complicated orders for a withdrawal issued in very short time

(M.C. citation, 1940)

Born on 30 December 1908 in Punjab, India, George Douglas Renny was the son of a Royal Artillery colonel and the grandson of George Renny who earned the Victoria Cross during the Indian Mutiny. Following his family’s military tradition, the youngest Renny attended Sandhurst and took a commission with the King’s Own Scottish Borderers. In June 1940, he was assigned to be brigade major of the improvised “A” Brigade under Brigadier M.A. Green. After the retreat and evacuation, Green recommended him for the Military Cross, writing: “Capt. Renny himself had little experience and had not been under fire before. In view of all this I consider his work to have been of a high standard and his devotion to duty worthy of recognition.”

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Lt-Col. J.H.O. Wilsey

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Lieutenant-Colonel Felix Wilsey
7th Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s Regiment

The commanding officer with whom I most frequently discussed matters affecting morale was my friend. Felix Wilsey. He made a point of chatting with his soldiers during the tense times before battle, admitting that it was natural to feel jittery admitting that it was natural to feel jittery and jumpy at such times, as he himself well knew. Did they feel at all like that? Well, they could take it from him that it would all be forgotten once the real action began, when no one would have time to be jumpy, and so on.

(Frank M. Richardson, Fighting Spirit: A Study of Psychological Factors in War, 118)

Born on 29 November 1904 in Camberley, Surrey, John Harold Owen Wilsey graduated from Haileybury and Imperial Service College and later attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He took a commission with the Dorset Regiment in 1924 and transferred to the Worcestershire Regiment in 1936. Following general staff duties at the start of the war, he took command of the 9th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment in January 1943.

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Lt-Col. C.D. Hamilton

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Lieutenant-Colonel Denis Hamilton
11th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry
7th Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s Regiment

I can’t hide from myself the fact that on many occasions I was either uncertain of the outcome or plain scared. But as commanding officer you had to show yourself, and show yourself totally in command of yourself and the situation, for the troops instinctively get to feel whether the commanding officer is going to keep control or not. Quite a number of COs were removed, either because they lost their nerve through not being able to get enough sleep or clearly lost the confidence of the troops.

(Hamilton, Editor-in-Chief: The Fleet Street Memoirs, 39)

Born in South Shields, England on 6 December 1918, Charles Denis Hamilton was a former King’s Scout and newspaperman. Anticipating a future war and possible conscription, he joined the Territorial Army and took a commission with the Durham Light Infantry in 1937. He served during the evacuation from Dunkirk in June 1940, and then began training for defence of the anticipated German invasion. “We soon had a powerful battalion,” he wrote of the 11th DLI, “… I grew a moustache in the faint hope that I too might look older. I was never to shave it off.”

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Lt-Col. A.J.D. Turner

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Lieutenant-Colonel A.J.D. Turner
6th Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s Regiment
1st Battalion, Hampshire Regiment

Even excluding the question of nerves and morale 6DWR will not be fit to go back into the line until it is remobilised, reorganized, and to an extent retrained. It is no longer a battalion but a collection of individuals. There is naturally no espirit-de-corps for those who are frightened (as we all are to one degree or another) to fall back on. I have twice had to stand at the end of a track and draw my revolver on retreating men.

(Turner, Report on State of 6th Bn DWR, 30 June 1944)

Born on 19 September 1907 in Abbottabad, India, Antony James Dillon Turner was a one-time first-class cricket player and graduate of Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Commissioned with the Suffolk Regiment in 1928, he also served with the West African Frontier Force and in India. He attended staff college at Camberley in 1938 before being posted to the Aldershot Garrison as staff captain. With the outbreak of war in September 1939, Turner was appointed deputy assistant adjutant general with I Corps and participated in the evacuation at Dunkirk for which he earned the Military Cross.

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