Jack Churchill
Jack Churchill | |
---|---|
1948 Palestine War | |
Awards | Distinguished Service Order & Bar Military Cross & Bar |
John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming Churchill, .
Early life
Churchill was born in Colombo, British Ceylon,[1] to Alec Fleming Churchill (1876–1961), later of Hove, East Sussex, and Elinor Elizabeth, daughter of John Alexander Bond Bell, of Kelnahard, County Cavan, Ireland, and of Dimbula, Ceylon. Alec, of a family long settled at Deddington, Oxfordshire, had been District Engineer in the Ceylon Civil Service, in which his father, John Fleming Churchill (1829–1894), had also served.[1][3] Soon after Jack's birth, the family returned to Dormansland, Surrey, where his younger brother, Thomas Bell Lindsay Churchill (1907–1990), was born.[4] In 1910, the Churchills moved to British Hong Kong when Alec Churchill was appointed as Director of Public Works there; he also served as a member of the Executive Council. The Churchills' third and youngest son, Robert Alec Farquhar Churchill, later a lieutenant in the Royal Navy and Fleet Air Arm, was born in Hong Kong in 1911. The family returned to England in 1917.[5][6][7][8][9]
Churchill was educated at
Churchill left the army in 1936 and worked as a newspaper editor in
Second World War
France (1940)
Churchill resumed his commission after
Jack's younger brother, Thomas Churchill, also served with and led a commando brigade during the war.[17] After the war, Thomas wrote a book, Commando Crusade, that details some of the brothers' experiences during the war.[18] Their youngest brother, Robert, also known as 'Buster', served in the Royal Navy and was killed in action in 1942.[19]
Norway (1941)
Churchill was second in command of No. 3 Commando in Operation Archery, a raid on the German garrison at Vågsøy, Norway, on 27 December 1941.[20]: 41 As the ramps fell on the first landing craft, he leapt forward from his position playing "March of the Cameron Men"[21] on his bagpipes, before throwing a grenade and charging into battle. For his actions at Dunkirk and Vågsøy, Churchill received the Military Cross.
Italy (1943)
In July 1943, as commanding officer, he led No. 2 Commando from their landing site at Catania, in Sicily, with his trademark Scottish broadsword slung around his waist, a longbow and arrows around his neck and his bagpipes under his arm,[20]: 133 which he also did in the landings at Salerno.
Leading 2 Commando, Churchill was ordered to capture a German observation post outside the town of Molina, controlling a pass leading down to the Salerno beachhead.[20]: 136–137 With the help of a corporal, he infiltrated the town, captured the post and took 42 prisoners including a mortar squad. Churchill led the men and prisoners back down the pass, with the wounded being carried on carts pushed by German prisoners. He commented that it was "an image from the Napoleonic Wars".[20]: 136–137 He received the Distinguished Service Order for leading that action at Salerno.[22]
Churchill later walked back to the town to retrieve his sword, which he had lost in hand-to-hand combat with the German regiment. On his way there, he encountered a disoriented American patrol mistakenly walking towards enemy lines. When the NCO in command of the patrol refused to turn around, Churchill told them that he was going his own way and that he would not come back for a "bloody third time".[5]
Yugoslavia (1944)
As part of
Capture
The following morning, a flanking attack was launched by 43 Commando with Churchill leading the elements from 40 Commando. The Partisans remained at the landing area. Only Churchill and six others managed to reach the objective. A mortar shell killed or wounded everyone but Churchill, who was playing "
In September 1944, Churchill, three
In late April 1945, Churchill and about 140 other prominent concentration camp inmates were
Burma (1945)
As the
Postwar
British Palestine
After the Second World War ended, Churchill qualified as a parachutist and transferred to the Seaforth Highlanders. He was soon posted to Mandatory Palestine as executive officer of the 1st Battalion, the Highland Light Infantry.[6]
In the spring of 1948, just before the end of the British mandate in the region, he became involved in another conflict. Along with twelve of his soldiers, he attempted to assist the Hadassah medical convoy, which came under attack by Arab forces.[6] Churchill, one of the first men on the scene, banged on a bus and offered to evacuate members of the convoy in an APC despite the British military orders to keep out of the fight. His offer was refused in the belief that the Jewish Haganah would come to their aid in an organised rescue.[24] When no relief arrived, Churchill and his twelve men provided covering fire against the Arab forces.[25][6][26] Two of the convoy trucks caught fire, and 77 of the 79 people inside of them were killed.[6] The event is known today as the Hadassah medical convoy massacre.
Of the experience, he said: "About one hundred and fifty insurgents, armed with weapons varying from blunder-busses and old flintlocks to modern Sten and Bren guns, took cover behind a cactus patch in the grounds of the American Colony.... I went out and faced them." "About 250 rifle-men were on the edge of our property shooting at the convoy.... I begged them to desist from using the grounds of the American Colony for such a dastardly purpose."[25][6][26]
After the massacre, he coordinated the evacuation of 700 Jewish doctors, students and patients from the Hadassah hospital on the
Further film appearance
In 1952, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer produced the film Ivanhoe shot in Britain featuring Churchill's old rowing companion, Robert Taylor. The studio hired Churchill to appear as an archer, shooting from the walls of Warwick Castle.[citation needed]
Surfing
In later years, Churchill served as an instructor at the land-air warfare school in Australia, where he became a passionate
Retirement (1959–1996)
Churchill retired from the army in 1959. In retirement, his eccentricity continued. He startled
Death
Churchill died on 8 March 1996 at 89 years old, in the county of Surrey.[7]
In March 2014, the Royal Norwegian Explorers Club published a book that featured Churchill, naming him as one of the finest explorers and adventurers of all time.[29]
Family
Churchill married Rosamund Margaret Denny, the daughter of Sir Maurice Edward Denny and granddaughter of Sir Archibald Denny, on 8 March 1941.[2] They had two children, Malcolm John Leslie Churchill, born 1942, and Rodney Alistair Gladstone Churchill, born 1947.[2]
See also
- Bill Millin – Bagpiper during World War II
- Digby Tatham-Warter – British Army officer
- Alfred Wintle – Recipient of the Military Cross
Notes
- ^ a b c "The Churchill Chronicles, Maj.-Gen. Thomas B. L. Churchill, C.B., C.B.E., M.C." (PDF). First Impressions. 1986. pp. 70, 89. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/62152. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ "Churchill Graves and Memorials at Deddington" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 August 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
- ^ Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 1999, vol. 1, p. 337
- ^ a b Maj-Gen Thomas B.L. Churchill, CB CBE MC (1986). The Churchill Chronicles: Annals of a Yeoman Family.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Fighting Jack Churchill survived a wartime odyssey beyond compare". WWII History Magazine. July 2005. Archived from the original on 17 September 2013. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
- ^ a b c "Lieutenant-Colonel Jack Churchill". Telegraph. London. 13 March 1996. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
- ^ "Jack Churchill". Modern-day-commando.com. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
- ^ "Jack Churchill". procomtours.com. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
- ^ a b c Hay, Mark (20 May 2014). "The British Soldier Who Killed Nazis with a Sword and a Longbow". Vice.
- ^ a b "Fighting Jack Churchill". Historic UK. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
- ^ a b Oord, Christian (9 December 2018). "'Mad' Jack Churchill – The Only Man to Dispatch a German Soldier With a Longbow in WW2". WAR HISTORY ONLINE. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
- ^ Matinee, Classics. "The Thief of Bagdad (1924)". Archived from the original on 23 February 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
- ISBN 9781849012317.
- ^ 1939 World Archery Championships (Complete results) (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 14 October 2013
- ^ Owen, James (2012). Commando – Winning World War II Behind Enemy Lines, Ballantine Books
- ^ "Generals of World War II". Retrieved 27 February 2015.
- OCLC 17619513.
- ^ "Lt Robert Alec Farquhar Churchill, RN Memorial". Archived from the original on 21 August 2016.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7537-1292-4.
- ^ BBC: Great Raids of World War II, Season 1, Episode 6: Arctic Commando Assault
- ^ London Gazette
- ^ a b Peter Koblank: Die Befreiung der Sonder- und Sippenhäftlinge in Südtirol, Online-Edition Mythos Elser 2006 (in German)
- ^ Dan Kurzman, Genesis: The 1948 First Arab-Israeli War, New American Library, 1970 pp. 188ff.
- ^ a b Martin Levin,It Takes a Dream: The Story of Hadassah, Gefen Publishing House, 2002 p. 22
- ^ Bertha Spafford Vester(and Evelyn Wells); 'Our Jerusalem'; Printed in Lebanon; 1950; pp. 353–376.
- ^ Smith, Joel T.; Croci, Ronald (2016). The Illustrated Atlas of Surfing History: Wave Riding from Antiquity to Gidget. Island Heritage Publishing. p. 151.
- ^ Fullarton, Donald (8 November 2016). "'Mad Jack' was soldier hero". Helensburgh Heritage Trust. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
- ^ Thomas, Allister (31 March 2014). "Scots sword-wielding WWII hero honoured by book". The Scotsman. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
References
- Kirchner, Paul (2009). More of the Deadliest Men Who Ever Lived. Paladin Press. ISBN 978-1-58160-690-4.
- "The Man Who Fought in WWII with a Sword and Bow". 12 September 2013.
- King-Clark, Rex (1997). Jack Churchill 'Unlimited Boldness'. Knutsford Cheshire: Fleur-de-Lys Publishing. ISBN 978-1-873907-06-1.