Men of war

On 9 April 1945 two members of Britain’s special forces acted with exceptional gallantry in separate incidents. They were both recommended for a Victoria Cross but only one was awarded: to Major Anders Lassen of the Special Boat Squadron [S.B.S].

The other nominee, Lt-Colonel Blair “Paddy” Mayne of the Special Air Service [S.A.S], had to settle for a Distinguished Service Order, his fourth of the war. This decision remains contentious, and it will be debated in parliament today.

Lassen’s VC is the only medal of its kind ever awarded to a member of Britain’s special forces. He was actually a Dane, who prior to his death at 24 had been awarded a Military Cross and two bars. He was killed at Lake Comacchio in north-eastern Italy. It is a long thin stretch of water, separated from the Adriatic Sea by a strip of sand known as the “spit”.

The enemy was entrenched around Comacchio, impeding the advance of the Allies. The task of the S.B.S was to launch a diversionary raid to coincide with the main assault on the northern shore of the lake.

Lassen was killed as he cleared a string of machine-gun positions on either side of a narrow road. As ever, he had led from the front, wiping out the first blockhouse with grenades and neutralising the second in the same manner.

An S.B.S officer, Lt. George Turnbull, described what happened when Lassen targeted a third position:

Major Lassen ran forward and stopped approximately three yards from the entrance of the blockhouse, and in German ordered the occupants to come out and surrender. When he shouted a machine gun opened up from inside, and from the left-hand corner as Major Lassen was standing, severely wounding him in the region of the abdomen. As he fell, he flung into the position another 36 grenades wounding some of the occupants.

Lassen died of his wounds a short time later. He was subsequently recommended for a Victoria Cross, and George Turnbull was one of three S.B.S men who wrote an eye-witness account of Lassen’s action as part of the recommendation. It was submitted by Major Stewart Macbeth, second-in-command of the S.B.S, and on June 16 it was endorsed by Brigadier Ronnie Tod, commander of the No2 Commando Brigade, under whose command the S.B.S had been operating at Lake Comacchio.

Lassen’s recommendation was “passed” on July 19 1945 with the citation for the award praising the Dane’s “magnificent leadership and complete disregard for his personal safety”.

A few hours after Lassen was killed, Mayne performed his act of courage near the German town of Oldenburg. The recommendation for Lt-Colonel Blair “Paddy” Mayne’s Victoria Cross included eye-witness accounts of three officers present when the commanding officer of 1SAS rescued several of his men who were pinned down by enemy fire. One, Lt John Scott, drew a diagram to better illustrate Mayne’s actions, which began when he cleared an enemy position on foot and continued behind the wheel of a jeep. He wrote: “Throughout the entire action Colonel Mayne showed personal courage that it has never before been my privilege to witness.”

Another, Lt David Surrey-Dane, wrote: “Colonel Mayne, from the time he arrived, dominated the scene. His cheerfulness, resolution and unsurpassed courage in this action were an inspiration to us all which we will never forget. Many brave deeds are done in the heat of battle, but throughout this whole episode Colonel Mayne was cool and calculating.”

The recommendation for a VC was signed off by Brigadier Mike Calvert, commanding officer of the SAS Brigade, and it included an endorsement from Major General Christopher Vokes, commander of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division, to whom the SAS were attached. “In my opinion,” wrote Vokes, “this officer is worthy of the highest award for gallantry and leadership.”

Mayne appeared in line for a VC, and on July 19 — the same date as Lassen’s citation was rubber-stamped — so was his. But then there was an intervention. On October 11, scrawled in the margin of Mayne’s citation, are the words: “3rd bar to DSO”, along with the date.

The campaign to award Mayne a retrospective VC began in 2006 when it was raised in parliament. In response the Defence Minister at the time, Don Touhig, explained that, “in 1946 the government reviewed all actions and campaigns that took place during World War Two and decided that after this date, no further awards would be made.”

The latest campaign is led by Jim Shannon, the Democratic Unionist Party MP for Strangford in Northern Ireland, close to Mayne’s home town of Newtownards. He will lead the debate in parliament on Tuesday, and he has the support of three former Defence Ministers, including Ben Wallace, who believes that “Paddy Mayne deserves the appropriate recognition.”

The government appears unlikely to change its position, stating last month that “there is nothing on the form to explain why this change was made, but it is clear that the change was the result of the rigorous review of contemporaneous accounts by his chain of command, rather than an administrative error.”

The British military believes retrospective medals are a bad idea

Various theories have been put forward over the years as to why Mayne wasn’t awarded a VC. A recent article in the Spectator by a former defence attaché, suggested that Mayne didn’t receive a VC because his “heroism lacked independent witness testimony from higher-ranking officers, a factor inherent in the clandestine, independent work of the special forces”.

The flaw in that argument is Andy Lassen. His heroism also lacked testimony from higher-ranking officers, but that didn’t prevent him receiving a posthumous VC. The fact Lassen was killed might have influenced the decision. As the Spectator noted, “by 1945, the bar set for the VC had become so high that it was likely to only be awarded posthumously”.

Was Lassen’s nationality also a factor? Was it a collective medal awarded to an individual, but also in acknowledgement of the valiant service of many Danes in the British armed forces? Furthermore, the King of Denmark during the war, Christian X, was a cousin of George V.

Did Mayne’s reputation weigh against him? He was a hard, uncompromising man in and out of combat, although nothing like the grotesque portrayal in the recent BBC drama series, Rogue Heroes. One of the many SAS veterans I interviewed who served under Mayne in the war recalled that he had “no patience for boring people”, and occasionally his frustration boiled over. In Cairo in 1943 he was arrested after an altercation with the Provost-Marshal.

He also landed in trouble two years earlier, whilst serving with No11 Scottish Commando in Syria. Irritated with his pompous commanding officer, Geoffrey Keyes, Mayne shoved him in the officers’ mess.

Bob Lowson, who served under Mayne in the SAS from 1942 to 1945, told me that: “The stories were that he was denied the VC because he had hit Lt-Colonel Keyes.”

Keyes was the son of Roger, 1st Baron Keyes, a man of great power and influence. A naval hero in the Great War, he was elected to parliament in 1934, and in 1940 he became the first director of Combined Operations, responsible for the commandos.

A few months after Mayne and Keyes had their confrontation, Geoffrey was awarded a posthumous VC for what became known as the “Rommel Raid” — a daring but poorly-planned raid to kill the famous German general. As with Lassen, the lack of independent witness testimony from higher-ranking officers didn’t prevent Keyes being awarded a VC.

Did Baron Keyes intervene to deny Mayne a VC because he harboured a grudge against the Irishman? There is no evidence. Indeed, there is nothing to indicate why at the eleventh hour Mayne’s VC was downgraded to a fourth D.S.O.

The campaign to award Mayne a VC is unlikely to achieve its aim. The British military, like the government, believes retrospective medals are a bad idea. I agree. What purpose would it serve eighty years after the event?

Mayne wasn’t interested in medals. He was not gung-ho, and nor was he a glory hunter. Mike Sadler, who served with Mayne from 1941 to 1945, said: “Paddy felt his true vocation in war. He was well suited to war, and he enjoyed it.”

The same was true of Lassen. On this day we should remember them both.