Major Ian English, MC and two Bars

Major Ian Roger English (June 18, 1919 - March 30, 2006)

This is a transcription of the obituary of this brave and gallant officer from the Times, 5 May 2006:

Ian Roger English was born in Co Durham, making the 8th Battalion the DLI a natural choice when volunteering for Territorial Army service in 1938. His father had fought at Ypres with the 9th Durhams in 1915.

Commissioned after leaving Oundle, he was given command of the carrier platoon. This was not a logistic function, but provided marching infantry with a reconnaissance capability. The tracked carriers mounting Bren light machineguns had front and side armour protection against shell splinters but no overhead cover. It was a challenging task, and only the best junior officers were appointed to it.

The 8th Durhams went to France with the 50th Northumbrian Division in January 1940, moving into Belgium in May as the British Expeditionary Force attempted to halt the German Blitzkreig. English’s platoon became his battalion’s eyes and ears beyond the River Dendre, an early line of defence.
The Durhams’ 6th and 8th battalions took part in the British counter-attack at Arras in mid-May. This surprised the enemy but ultimately failed because of inadequate strength and insufficient air support to keep the German dive-bombers at bay. English extracted his surviving vehicles and wounded with difficulty. He was recommended for the MC for his part in the withdrawal to Dunkirk, but was only mentioned in dispatches.

After the German invasion threat had receded after the Battle of Britain, the 8th Durhams went to the Middle East with the 50th Division, first to Cyprus, then to Iraq to cover the oilfields. In February 1942 they joined the 8th Army on the Gazala Line in the Western Desert. By then a company commander in the 8th Durhams, English led a mobile column including artillery and anti-tank guns in the desert forward of the Gazala Line in June 1942, successfully defeating a larger enemy force and taking 230 prisoners.

Wounded in this action, he recovered quickly enough to return to duty before the battle of Alamein in October. During the breakout phase (Operation Supercharge), his company reached its objective farther forward than flanking units. He held his ground against a German tank company but was ordered back to the general line attained. His withdrawal in full view of the enemy, invariably a difficult manoeuvre, was achieved by cautiously thinning out his positions under cover of his own fire.
He personally remained with the wounded until stretcher Jeeps reached him. He received the MC for this action and a month later a Bar for the earlier one at Gazala.

During the 8th Army’s attack on the Mareth Line, stretching from the Mediterranean to the Matmata hills in Tunisia, the 8th Durhams took part in 30 Corps’ frontal assault along the coast. This called for a broad anti-tank ditch to be crossed before the enemy could be engaged. Again, English’s company reached its objective but while trying to link up with troops on his right, he bumped into a group of panzer-grenadiers. He wounded one with his revolver but was then taken prisoner.

Held in a prison camp at Fontanellato in northern Italy until the Badoglio Government sought an armistice in September 1943, having deposed Mussolini, he and three companions took the opportunity when the guards were distracted to slip away. They walked 500 miles southwards to join the advancing Allied armies, fed and sheltered by Italian peasant farmers, to whom English remained grateful and in touch to the end of his life.

Rejecting the offer of a home posting, he rejoined the 8th Durhams in England where they were training for the Normandy invasion. He commanded D Company in the 151st Brigade attack on Le Plessis Grimault, south of Mount Pinçon in August 1944, again with 6th Durhams alongside. Both battalions suffered heavy casualties on the start line from shelling but English rallied his company and led the way forward. He was the first to reach the objective but all his company officers were killed or wounded on the way. Ordering his men to dig in and consolidate beyond the enemy position they had taken, he provided the firm base for the brigade to advance to take all its objectives.
He was recommended for an immediate award of the Distinguished Service Order for his inspirational leadership at Le Plessis Grimault. The recommendation was supported at brigade, divisional and corps level but downgraded to a second Bar to his Military Cross by the GOC 2nd Army. (The only explanation that can be offered for this was the number of cases of gallantry during the bitter fighting to trap the German 5th and 7th Armies in the Falaise pocket). In an action preparatory to the crossing of the Albert Canal in Belgium in September 1944, English was wounded while moving between his company positions and evacuated to England.

English’s decorations scarcely reflect his worth as a company commander. It was not just that he was brave, he always knew what to do — the quality infantry soldiers respect above all else.

On return to civilian life, he went to Selwyn College, Cambridge, to read for a degree in agriculture and became an adviser Fisons, the fertiliser manufacturers. In 1989 he became a founder member of the Monte San Martino Trust, raising money for the education of the children of the Italian peasants who had come to his aid in 1943, by sponsoring walks along the route he and many others had taken. His account of escape and trek southwards, entitled Assisted Passage — Walking to Freedom, Italy 1943, was published in 1994. He also edited Home by Christmas, the experiences of 600 prisoners of war who had escaped from the camp at Fontanellato, and he co-authored Into Battle with the Durhams with Major P. J. Lewis.
He married Lise Petersen, sister of a member of the Danish resistance, in 1949. She survives him with a son and two daughters. A second son predeceased him.

Major Ian English, MC and two Bars, Durham Light Infantryman, was born on June 18, 1919. He died on March 30, 2006, aged 86.