by Tom Keene
3. Capt. Michael Gubbins was killed in the Anzio bridgehead on February 6 1944. His body was never found.
4. Letter from Colin Gubbins loaned to the author by Annabel Grace Hayes, Graham’s niece.
5. John Appleyard interview with the author.
6. Ernest Appleyard’s wife Mary – Geoffrey’s mother – died in Paris in October 1947 from early heart disease.
7. Geoffrey, 191.
8. Letter in the March-Phillipps papers, 06/103, Documents and Sound Section, Imperial War Museum.
9. Letter from Philip Ventham to the author.
10. Letter to the author from his son, Chris Rooney.
Bibliography
Allan, Stuart, Commando Country, Edinburgh: National Museums, Scotland, 2007
Appleyard, J.E.A., Geoffrey: Major John Geoffrey Appleyard ... Being the Story of ‘Apple’ of the Commandos and Special Air Service Regiment, London: Blandford Press, 1946
Asher, Michael, The Regiment: The Real Story of the SAS, London: Viking, 2007
Atkinson, Rick, The Day Of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943–1944, Basingstoke: Picador, 2007
Bailey, Roderick, Forgotten Voices of the Secret War: An Inside History of Special Operations in the Second World War, London: Ebury Press, 2008
de la Billière, Sir Peter, Supreme Courage: Heroic Stories from 150 Years of the Victoria Cross, London: Little, Brown, 2004
Churchill, Winston S., The Second World War, Vol. 2: Their Finest Hour, London: Cassell & Co., 1949
Cowles, Virginia, The Phantom Major: The Story of David Stirling and the SAS Regiment, Hove: Guild Publishing, 1985
Fergusson, Bernard, The Watery Maze: The Story of Combined Operations, London: Collins, 1961
Foot, M.R.D., SOE In France: An Account of the Work of the British Special Operations Executive in France 1940–1944, London: HMSO, 1966
Fournier, Gérard and Heintz, André, ‘If I Must Die...’: From ‘Postmaster’ to ‘Aquatint’: The Audacious Raids of a British Commando, 1941–1943, Bayeux: OREP, 2008
Hastings, Max, Finest Years: Churchill as Warlord, 1940–45, London: Harper Press, 2009
––, All Hell Let Loose: The World at War 1939–45, London: Harper Press, 2011
Howarth, Patrick, Undercover: The Men and Women of the Special Operations Executive, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980
Jeffery, Keith, MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service, 1909–1949, London: Bloomsbury, 2012
Keene, Tom, Cloak of Enemies: Churchill’s SOE, Enemies at Home and the ‘Cockleshell Heroes’, Stroud: The History Press, 2012
Kemp, Anthony, The SAS at War, London: Penguin, 2000
Kemp, Peter, No Colours or Crest: On the Author’s Experiences as an Officer of the Special Operations Executive during the World War, 1939–1945, London: Cassell, 1958
Langley, Mike, Anders Lassen VC, MC of the SAS: The Story of Anders Lassen and the Men who Fought with Him, London: Grafton Books, 1988
Lett, Brian, Ian Fleming and SOE’s Operation Postmaster: The Top Secret Story Behind 007, Barnsley: Pen & Sword, 2012
Lovat, Lord Simon C.J.F., March Past: A Memoir by Lord Lovat, London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1978
Mackenzie, William, The Secret History of SOE: Special Operations Executive, 1940–1945, London: St Ermin’s Press, 2000
Marnham, Patrick, The Death of Jean Moulin: Biography of a Ghost, London: John Murray, 2000
Messenger, Charles, The Commandos: 1940–1946, London: Grafton Books, 1991
Moreman, Tim, British Commandos 1940–46, Oxford: Osprey, 2006
Neillands, Robin, The Dieppe Raid: The Story of the Disastrous 1942 Expedition, London: Aurum, 2006
Pimlott, Ben (ed.), The Second World War Diary of Hugh Dalton 1940–45, Basingstoke: Jonathan Cape, 1985
Ramsey, Winston G., The War In The Channel Islands: Then and Now, Old Harlow: After The Battle, 1981
Rankin, Nicholas, Ian Fleming’s Commandos: The Story of 30 Assault Unit in WWII, London: Faber and Faber, 2011
Richards, Brooks, Secret Flotillas: The Clandestine Sea Lines to France and French North Africa 1940–1944, London: HMSO, 1996
Saunders, Hilary St George, The Green Beret: The Story of the Commandos: 1940–1945, London: New English Library, 1968
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Sebag-Montefiore, Hugh, Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man, London: Viking, 2006
Turner, Des, Aston House: Station 12 – SOE’s Secret Centre, Stroud: The History Press, 2006
Wilkinson, Peter and Astley Joan Bright, Gubbins & SOE, Barnsley: Pen & Sword, 2010
Ziegler, Philip, Mountbatten: The Official Biography, London: Book Club Associates, 1985
Plates
Shining youth: Geoffrey Appleyard as a pre-war schoolboy with the world at his feet. (Appleyard family)
Freshly minted: Geoffrey Appleyard as a newly commissioned second lieutenant in the RASC, 1939. (Appleyard family)
Captain Geoffrey Appleyard MC, photographed in the garden of the Manor House, Linton-on-Wharfe, 1942. (Appleyard family)
Country seat: Manor House, Linton. Home as Geoffrey Appleyard knew it. (Appleyard family)
Captain Gustavus March-Phillipps in Gunners’ (RA) uniform. A pose he adopted, he claimed, to frighten the Germans! It was March-Phillipps’ drive, inspiration and fervent patriotism that led to the formation of both Maid Honor and the Small Scale Raiding Force. (The National Archives)
Graham Hayes with family. Graham, aged 14, is fourth from left with his arm around younger brother Malcolm’s shoulders. (Malcolm Hayes)
Kiln Hill, Linton. Graham Hayes’ family home a few hundred yards uphill from that of his childhood friend, Geoffrey Appleyard. (Annabel Grace Hayes)
Graham Hayes and ‘Grip’, his tame jackdaw. (Annabel Grace Hayes)
The Hayes brothers, from left to right: Malcolm, Denis, Graham (with dog) and Austin. Malcolm, a Halifax bomber pilot with 295 Squadron, was killed over France in February 1943. (Malcolm Hayes)
Wetherby Rugby Club, 1932–33. Graham Hayes is in the back row, third from right. (Annabel Grace Hayes)
The crew of Pommern. Graham Hayes is in the back row, third from right. (Malcolm Hayes)
Tall ships and furled sails. Picture taken by Graham Hayes from the stern of Pommern. (Annabel Grace Hayes)
Graham Hayes as SSRF knew him. (Appleyard family)
Men of 7 Commando working on I’m Alone at low tide, Isle of Arran. Gus March-Phillipps (?) before mast, Geoffrey Appleyard (?) ashore beside boat’s leg. (Maggie Higham)
The Antelope Inn, Poole, Dorset. First Headquarters of Maid Honor force and scene of early planning and celebration dinners. (Author’s collection)
Maid Honor at sea. Geoffrey Appleyard in swimming trunks. Gus March-Phillipps bending forward astern. (Appleyard family)
The Brixham fishing ketch Maid Honor. Built in 1925 and 70 feet long, she was requisitioned by March-Phillipps in 1941 and converted to a ‘Q’ ship. Intended to lure German ships to their doom in the English Channel, she ended her days on the African coast. (Lt Col David Owen MBE; artist: John Turk of Brixton)
The Arne Peninsula, Poole harbour, where Maid Honor was moored and the early volunteers for what became the Maid Honor force lived aboard ship. Today’s SBS base at Hamworthy lies on the far shore. (Author’s collection)
St Nicholas Chapel, Arne, where Geoffrey Appleyard and crewmen came to pray. (Author’s collection)
Clandestine photograph taken of Duchessa d’Aosta, Fernando Po. (The National Archives)
Marjorie Stewart. The strong-willed West End actress who went on to train as an SOE agent. When they met at SOE in Baker Street, she led Gus March-Phillipps to believe she was the lift girl. She did her early SOE parachute training unaware she was pregnant with Gus March-Phillipps’ daughter, Henrietta. (March-Phillipps family)
Marjorie Stewart on the day of her wedding to Gus March-Phillipps, 18 Apr
il 1942, with her younger brother David. Brigadier Colin Gubbins, SOE’s Director of Training and Operations, attended the wedding. (March-Phillipps family)
Anderson Manor, Dorset. Home and secret headquarters to the select band of men who formed 62 Commando – the Small Scale Raiding Force. (Author’s collection)
St Michael’s Chapel at Anderson where Tony Hall and Gus March-Phillipps sought strength before Operation Aquatint. (Author’s collection)
Lt Freddie Bourne. A frequent visitor at Anderson Manor, Bourne took part in seventeen operations with SSRF for which he was awarded the DSC. Skipper of MTB 344 on the ill-fated Operation Aquatint to what was to become Omaha beach on the Normandy coast. (Chris Rooney)
MTB 344 at speed off Beach Head, Sussex. Also known as The Little Pisser because of her small size and turn of speed, MTB 344 was the carrier of choice for the men of SSRF on their raids across the Channel. (Chris Rooney)
Dory training for the men of SSRF on the Dorset coast. Graham Hayes is at far left. (Chris Rooney)
Dawn, Omaha beach, Normandy. The French plaque to Operation Aquatint is on the sea wall in the foreground and marks the place where Gus March-Phillipps and his men are believed to have come ashore. Then there were no flags, no sea wall, no beach-set monument to American D-Day casualties – just the same vast, empty beach offering nowhere to hide. And an alert, waiting enemy. (Author’s collection)
The French plaque to Operation Aquatint overlooked by the vast majority of visitors to ‘Bloody Omaha’. (Author’s collection)
The grave of Major Gus March-Phillipps in the village cemetery at Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, flanked by the men who died with him: Private Richard Lehniger (left, serving as Private Leonard) and Serjeant Alan Williams (right). In the foreground, incised in marble, is Gus March-Phillipps’ poem ‘If I Must Die …’ (Author’s collection)
British war graves in the Cimetière Communal de Viroflay on the outskirts of Paris. Most of the British war dead were RAF bomber crew. Captain Graham Hayes’ grave is nearest camera. (Author’s collection)
The grave of Captain Graham Hayes MC, at Viroflay. The freshly watered single rose was taken from his mother’s grave nearby and offered by a Frenchman after he was told Graham’s story of evasion, betrayal and execution. (Author’s collection)
Patrick Dudgeon, St Anthony’s House, Oundle School, 1938. Patrick is third from right, second row. (Steven Forge, Oundle School)
Captain Oswald ‘Mickey’ Rooney of 12 Commando, pictured here in service dress. He was seconded to SSRF after the disaster of Operation Aquatint. (Chris Rooney)
Night ops: MTB 344 at work close inshore, Brittany. (Appleyard family)
Working rig. Captain Rooney, left, that ‘powerfully built, self-confident officer who knew his men intimately and commanded their implicit obedience’. A good man to have on your rope. Note the commando dagger slung beneath his throat. To his left, training on Beachy Head, is J. Barry. (Chris Rooney)
Inset: Sgt James Edgar, 1945. (James Edgar)
Pointe de Plouézec, Brittany. The ascent to Operation Fahrenheit. (Chris Rooney)
James Edgar in 2007. (James Edgar)
Horace ‘Stokey’ Stokes. (Peter Stokes)
Geoffrey Appleyard’s medals. Reading from left to right: DSO (Distinguished Service Order), MC (Military Cross) and Bar, 1939–45 Star, Atlantic Star, Africa Star, Italy Star and 1939–45 War Medal. (Lt Col David Owen MBE, Royal Corps of Transport Medal Collection, Surrey)
Linton Memorial Hall, near Wetherby, Yorkshire. (Author’s collection)
The memorial in Linton Memorial Hall, made with the oak laid down by Graham Hayes. A skilled wood carver and cabinet-maker, he planned to work on this after the war. Here are inscribed the names of Linton’s fallen including Geoffrey Appleyard, Malcolm Hayes – and Graham Hayes himself. (Author’s collection)
Closing moves. J.E.A. and Geoffrey Appleyard playing chess together in the Manor House, Linton-on-Wharfe, Christmas 1942. It was the last time father and son were to enjoy such times together. In July 1943 Geoffrey would be posted Missing, Presumed Killed in Action. (Appleyard family)
Cover illustrations
Front: A small party of commandos charging forward during their training course. (© IWM (A 17762)) Back: Night ops: MTB 344 at work close inshore, Brittany. (Appleyard family)
Copyright
First published, titled Britain’s Band of Brothers, 2014.
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