General ‘Boy': The Life of Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Browning

by Richard Mead

  4. Brian Urquhart, A Life in Peace and War, p.48.

  5. Letter to Daphne 24.4.65.

  6. The GOC was John Swayne, who had been a fellow battalion commander of Boy’s in Egypt.

  7. Alex Danchev & Daniel Todman (eds), War Diaries 1939–1945: Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke, p.193. Larking, who was standing next door to Boy when this news was delivered, said subsequently that it was believed by some that Boy had been disappointed not to get command of the Guards Armoured Division when this was formed in June 1941: however, Oliver Leese was senior to Boy in the Brigade of Guards and already had experience of commanding a division, so was the most obvious candidate for the job.

  8. 24 Brigade survived in a number of incarnations, latterly as 24 Airmobile Brigade, but continued to use the same sign throughout its existence: at the end of the 1990s it was merged with elements of 5 Airborne Brigade to form 16 Air Assault Brigade.

  Chapter 11: Pegasus (1941–1942)

  1. Although numbered as 1 Airborne Division at an early stage, it seems to have been invariably referred to by all as ‘The Airborne Division’ until the formation of 6 Airborne Division in May 1943.

  2. A long established practice in the Household Division, which continues to this day.

  3. Brian Urquhart, A Life in Peace and War, p.48.

  4. Contrary to myth, the choice of colour had nothing whatever to do with Daphne.

  5. It was probably not a coincidence that claret and light blue were the colours of Boy’s racing silks when point-to-pointing between the wars.

  6. Senior officers tended not to jump frequently in practice, as they were regarded as too valuable to lose. When Maxwell Taylor of US 101 Airborne Division landed in Holland during Operation ‘Market Garden’, it was only his fifth or sixth jump, one of the others being on D-Day in Normandy. There were exceptions, such as K. N. Crawford, Director of Air at the War Office, who seemed to relish every opportunity to leap out of an aeroplane.

  7. It was reported subsequently that Boy had learnt to fly in about 1930 which may well be true, although he had clearly not kept it up since. The Civil Aviation Authority has no record of a licence, but he may have gained one through the Household Brigade Flying Club, which was active at that time. Unfortunately, the club’s records have all been lost.

  8. Boy’s forty-sixth birthday was in December 1942, so Chatterton must have meant forty-five.

  9. George Chatterton, The Wings of Pegasus, p.27.

  10. To the disappointment of both Boy and Norman, the RAF insisted on using a Bomber Command squadron, No 51, instead of 297 Squadron.

  Chapter 12: Expansion (1942)

  1. Jacob had been Brigade Major of the Canal Brigade during Boy’s time in Egypt.

  2. Later redesignated 2nd Battalion, 509 Infantry Regiment.

  3. Brian Urquhart A Life in Peace and War, p.54.

  Chapter 13: Setbacks (1942–1943)

  1. 7th Battalion The Cameron Highlanders and 10th Battalion The Royal Welch Fusiliers.

  2. In fact the casualties had been so high for the Germans that Hitler had issued an order effectively ending large-scale airborne operations.

  3. Brooke was Commandant of the School of Artillery at Larkhill from 1929 to 1932.

  4. Alex Danchev & Daniel Todman (eds), War Diaries 1939–1945: Field Marshal Lord Alanbrook,’ p. 337.

  5. Subsequently SOE took over responsibility for the project. Operation ‘Gunnerside’, carried out in February 1943 by a party of Norwegians who parachuted in, was completely successful.

  6. 10th Battalion The Somerset Light Infantry, 13th Battalion The Royal Warwickshire Regiment and 10th Battalion The Essex Regiment.

  7. He might have been referring to the Ismay letter, but more probably to some additional lobbying. Boy later confessed to have been quite shaken by this dressing-down, as were all those who suffered a lashing from Brooke’s tongue.

  Chapter 14: Adviser (1943)

  1. His appointment actually took effect on 5 April.

  2. Leaving Lathbury in temporary command of the division.

  3. 156 Parachute Battalion hung on to its Indian traditions for some time: when it eventually arrived in Tunisia, Hopkinson had to order the men to wear red berets, as they much preferred their slouch hats.

  4. This was typical of Boy. On 2 August 1944, he flew in a Stirling over France, on a mission dropping supplies to the Resistance, to familiarize himself with the aircraft.

  5. Letter to Daphne 19.5.43.

  6. Brian Urquhart, A Life in Peace and War, p.60.

  7. Matthew B. Ridgway, Soldier, p.67.

  8. Notwithstanding his unwarlike, even saintly, character and hopeless timekeeping, Denys was very highly regarded by the Grenadiers for his devotion to duty throughout the campaigns in Tunisia and Italy, being awarded the honour of wearing the regiment’s shoulder flashes.

  9. A devout Anglican himself, Boy was largely responsible for the introduction throughout the Army of ‘the Padre’s Hour’ a weekly informal meeting at platoon level, where the padre would give a brief talk, followed by a question and answer session.

  10. Walch and the others were captured, but later escaped in the confusion.

  11. John Waddy, who was a member of Hackett’s brigade HQ at the time, believes that the two brigadiers approached Boy to suggest this. (Interview 18.2.09)

  Chapter 15: Corps (December 1943–June 1944)

  1. This is the date in 1 Airborne Division’s war diary. The war diary of HQ Airborne Troops gives it as 10 December 1943, which is possibly when the announcement was made, whilst Urquhart’s promotion to acting major general dated from 10 January 1944.

  2. Down went out to India in early 1944, but his only formation, 50 Indian Airborne Brigade, was withdrawn to participate in the Kohima/Imphal battle, followed by most of his HQ and divisional troops. He returned to England that April and helped with training and equipping the Poles, going back to India in the late summer. 44 Indian Airborne Division was duly raised, but never used as a complete formation.

  3. Roy Urquhart, Arnhem, p.14.

  4. It was said that Boy took his ‘personal’ chef and doctor with him later to Nijmegen. Brian Urquhart can remember neither of these positions, although the Corps HQ mess cook would have gone, as did a medical officer, Captain Louis. Boy, in any event, was never particularly interested in food.

  5. Richard Gale, With the Sixth Airborne Division in Normandy, p. 33.

  6. Letter to Daphne from Geoffrey Loring 15.3.65.

  7. James Gavin, On to Berlin, p.82.

  8. Ibid. p.83.

  9. Richard Gale, With the Sixth Airborne Division in Normandy p.61.

  10. Ibid. p.66.

  Chapter 16: Frustration (6 June–9 September 1944)

  1. Larger and smaller numbers are given by various authors and Brereton mentions in his diary no less than ten operations still under consideration on 11 September: my figure derives from Terence Otway’s authoritative, Airborne Forces.

  2. Thomas Firbank, I Bought a Star, p.174.

  3. Brian Urquhart, A Life in Peace and War, p.66.

  4. Stanislaw Sosabowski, Freely I Served, p.133.

  5. Boy had seen Sosabowski himself on a number of occasions, the latest in March 1945.

  6. Brereton was not the first choice of the US Army Air Force Chief of Staff, ‘Hap’ Arnold, who preferred Lieutenant General John K. Cannon, then Commanding General of the Mediterranean Allied Tactical Air Force: with experience of a combined US/British HQ, he would probably have been a good choice.

  7. Henry Pownall, later to be Boy’s predecessor at SEAC, described him whilst at ABDACOM as ‘a grim, humourless little creature’ but conceded that he was efficient, Diaries – Volume Two 1940–1944, p.81.

  8. Terence Otway, Airborne Forces, p.202.

  9. Patton was reputed to have said that, if any ‘Limey paratroopers’ got in the way of his armour, he would shoot them!

  10. It would have been a risky move by Brereton: Ridgway was having some diffic
ulty putting together his new HQ with sufficient and suitably experienced staff and, like Boy, was particularly deficient in signals.

  11. Daphne letter to Maud Waddell 23.7.44.

  12. Letter to Daphne 26.7.44.

  13. Roy Urquhart, Arnhem, p.18.

  14. Letter to Daphne 7.9.44.

  15. Le Havre was not taken until 12 September, Calais and Boulogne not until the end of the month.

  Chapter 17: Sixteen (10–16 September 1944)

  1. Papers of Field Marshal Montgomery in the Imperial War Museum.

  2. Charles Richardson, Flashback, p.186.

  3. Roy Urquhart, Arnhem, p.4.

  4. Papers of Brigadier Gordon Walch in the Imperial War Museum.

  5. These words were first recorded by Chester Wilmot in The Struggle for Europe, following an interview with Major General Sir Miles Graham, Montgomery’s Principal Administrative Officer, who was present at the meeting.

  6. Not according to his Naval Aide, who wrote in his diary on 13 September: ‘Ike has decided that a northern thrust toward the Ruhr under Montgomery is not at the moment to have priority over other operations.’ Harry Butcher, Three Years With Eisenhower, p.567.

  7. Papers of Field Marshal Montgomery in the Imperial War Museum.

  8. Some thirty officers attended the conference.

  9. Matthew Ridgway, Soldier, p.108.

  10. IX Troop Carrier Command, which would carry into action not only the American, but also the British and Polish paratroopers, had been substantially expanded in terms of planes and pilots in the period before the operation, but this had not been matched by additional ground staff, which provided strong support to Williams’s case.

  11. Chatterton volunteered to fly in to this piece of ground himself, but was turned down: he appealed to Boy, but was told that the decision was to stand.

  12. There is no written evidence of this, the source being a conversation many years later between Gale and the then curator of the Airborne Museum, Geoffrey Norton: Gale asked that the information, given only verbally, should not be revealed during the lifetimes of those involved.

  13. SHAEF Intelligence Summaries had limited distribution and Boy may not have seen them, but FAAA was on the list.

  14. Letter to Daphne 9.9.44.

  15. Brian Urquhart, A Life in Peace and War, p.71.

  16. The Dutch Resistance had been seriously compromised in an SOE operation between 1942 and 1944 in which all the agents had been turned by the Germans; information from this source therefore tended to be viewed with great suspicion by the Allies.

  17. The relationship appears to have improved somewhat after Linnet II, possibly because Brereton had been ‘much struck’ with the design of Boy’s proposed new boat, Fanny Rosa.

  Chapter 18: Market (17–20 September 1944)

  1. According to Brian Urquhart, this caused a certain amount of hilarity among his fellow senior officers. It could only have been worn by someone with Boy’s slim figure and was in keeping with the ‘harmless vanity’ which Urquhart recalled.

  2. This might seem strange to anyone who knew Boy for his almost obsessive tidiness. However, Parks was not an airborne soldier himself and probably failed to recognise organized chaos when he saw it!

  3. Lewis Brereton, The Brereton Diaries, p.344n.

  4. Letter to Daphne 16.9.44.

  5. He was later well known in cricketing circles as Secretary for many years of the MCC.

  6. It is a nice story and not apocryphal, as it was mentioned in Walchs’s memoirs, but from the map reference and from aerial photos which identify the Corps gliders clearly, it is certain that the wood was still in the Netherlands and that the German frontier was actually over a mile away. In any event, American soldiers had entered Germany for the first time near Aachen on September 11, although whether or not they had relieved themselves is not known!

  7. Known as the Mechelen Incident.

  8. During the early afternoon of 19 September, for instance, one caller from Arnhem said that the bridge had been lost, whilst another reported 100 tanks entering the town from the north. Neither was true.

  9. According to Chatterton, Boy also met Taylor at the bridge, but there is no confirmation of this from the Airborne Corps war diary.

  10. Interview with Lord Carrington 10.6.08.

  11. Brian Horrocks, Corps Commander, p.110.

  12. Allan Adair, A Guards General, p.165.

  13. Von Tettau was responsible for all training in the Netherlands, but had commanded an infantry division on the Eastern Front.

  14. At this stage of the War, Germany was so short of manpower that many men were drafted into the armed forces with a lower than normally acceptable level of physical fitness. They included those suffering from deafness and a wide range of chronic stomach complaints.

  15. He meant Colonel Reuben H. Tucker, the commander of 504 Parachute Infantry Regiment.

  16. George Chatterton, The Wings of Pegasus, p.178.

  17. Gavin’s engineers had been hard at work collecting small boats on the Maas-Waal Canal for use in any crossing: however, their efforts were foiled by the Germans destroying the lock gates leading on to the Waal.

  18. It is sometimes forgotten, and invariably ignored in American accounts, that the boats were also manned by men from 615 Field Squadron of the Guards Armoured Division, who brought them back across the river for subsequent trips.

  19. There has been considerable controversy over whether the Americans had taken the north end of the bridge. Carrington saw none until nearly a mile further on and Lieutenant A. G. C. Jones, the engineer charged with removing the demolition charges, remembered only the considerable number of Germans still in the girders. American accounts insist that a group from 3/504 Parachute Infantry were there to greet the British tanks. The truth is probably that both arrived at the northern end at much the same time.

  Chapter 19: Garden (21–24 September 1944)

  1. Letter to Daphne 15.3.65.

  2. Letter to Daphne 19.9.44.

  3. They became separated during an air raid on Eindhoven.

  4. Lewis Brereton, The Brereton Diaries, p.354n.

  5. This was the name given by the Allies: its local name is Betuwe or, more properly for that part where the fighting was taking place, Overbetuwe.

  6. The ‘Seaborne Tail’ of 1 Airborne Division also arrived. More than 2,000 strong, it comprised mostly supporting troops – RAOC, REME and, most substantial in number, RASC – and carried ammunition, rations and personal kit, which proved very useful after the withdrawal.

  7. Papers of Brigadier Gordon Walch in the Imperial War Museum.

  8. Papers of Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery in the Imperial War Museum.

  9. He was widely known, in his division and outside, as ‘The Butcher’ for his readiness to take objectives at any cost, not an attitude commonly associated with the British Army at this time, keen as it was to preserve its fast depleting human resources.

  10. Hubert Essame, The 43rd Wessex Division at War 1943–1945, p.132.

  11. Some writers on ‘Market Garden’ have said that Boy was also present, but there is no mention of this in Dempsey’s personal war diary, nor those of I Airborne Corps or XXX Corps. The fact that he was having lunch with and then meeting Sosabowski reinforces this.

  Chapter 20: Tragedy (24 September–9 October 1944)

  1. Roy Urquhart, Arnhem, p.204.

  2. Letter to Daphne 24.9.44.

  3. No letter was enclosed.

  4. Roy Urquhart, Arnhem, pp.179–80.

  5. Letter to Daphne 28.9.44.

  6. Michael Packe, First Airborne, p.1.

  7. Letter from Daphne to Frederic Kelly 29.3.67.

  8. Stanislaw Sosabowski, Freely I Served, p.189.

  9. Brian Urquhart, A Life in Peace and War, p.75.

  10. Ibid.

  11. Bernard Montgomery, The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Montgomery, p.298.

  12. Matthew Ridgway, Soldier: The Memoirs of Matthew B Ridgway, p.110
.

  13. Roy Urquhart, Arnhem, p.203.

  14. Brian Horrocks, A Full Life, p.231.

  15. James Gavin, On to Berlin, p.170.

  16. Papers of Air Chief Marshal Sir Leslie Hollinghurst in the Imperial War Museum.

  Chapter 21: Verdict (10 September–26 October 1944)

  1. Roy Urquhart, Arnhem, p.14.

  2. James Gavin, Airborne Warfare, p.75.