Thomas Haddon

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Thomas Haddon
Nickname(s)"Tommy"
Born19 February 1913
Farnham, Surrey, England
Died12 April 1993 (aged 80)
Surrey, England
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service1933−1968
RankBrigadier
Service number58141
UnitBorder Regiment
Commands held1st Battalion, Border Regiment
Singapore Military Forces
Battles/warsWorld War II
Palestine Emergency
AwardsCommander of the Order of the British Empire

Chief of Staff of Hong Kong Land Forces
.

Early life and military career

The son of Major J. T. Haddon of the

North-West Frontier in 1937.[3] While there he received a promotion to lieutenant on 2 February 1936.[4] He remained with the battalion until the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939. In the same year he married Clodagh, the youngest daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Bertrand Russell; they had three sons.[3]

Second World War

Shortly after war began, Haddon, who on 3 September was promoted to the

German Army invaded France three months later, Haddon was involved in the rearguard action towards Dunkirk in late May, from where the battalion, by now having suffered heavy losses and much reduced in men and equipment, were eventually evacuated from Dunkirk to England (see Dunkirk evacuation).[3]

After returning to England the battalion spent most of the rest of 1940 reorganising and reforming after its losses, and preparing to repel an expected

War Cabinet. Haddon was duty officer on the night of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the U.S. fleet on 7 December; it was he who passed the news on to Downing Street, leading Prime Minister Winston Churchill to immediately contact U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.[5]

While on a visit to the 1st Airborne Division in March 1944, H.M. The King George VI inspects lightweight compact rations, designed to provide a balanced diet for airborne troops. Stood to his right is Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Haddon, CO of the 1st Battalion, Border Regiment, while Lieutenant-General Frederick Browning, GOC I Airborne Corps, stands two away from him while Brigadier Phillip Hicks, CO of the 1st Airlanding Brigade, is to Browning's left.

He then served throughout 1942 in a variety of staff appointments until, on 27 January 1943, Haddon returned to the 1st Battalion, Border Regiment, now as

Philip Hicks's 1st Airlanding Brigade, itself part of the 1st Airborne Division under Major General Frederick Browning. In April the division departed for overseas, arriving in North Africa towards the end of the month, and commenced training for the Allied invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky).[5]

Seeing action in

Arnhem Bridge, the last bridge across the Rhine, the taking of which would have allowed the Allies to enter Germany before the winter of 1944−1945. However, Haddon was destined to play little part in the Battle of Arnhem. On Sunday 17 September 1944, the first day of "Operation Market Garden", Haddon's glider took off on the first lift from Broadwell airfield, but had to make a forced landing while still over Oxfordshire. On the second glider lift, the next day, 18 September, Haddon's glider had a wing shot off near Antwerp and was forced to make a crash landing, 75 miles from Arnhem and behind enemy lines, so while the 1st Border battalion was fighting for the bridgehead at Arnhem, its commanding officer was proceeding overland, having met up with a battalion of the Dorset Regiment
.

British paratroopers at Oosterbeek

Haddon eventually managed to reach the Oosterbeek area alone late on the following Sunday, 24 September, but was taken prisoner by the Germans the next morning while attempting to find his unit. Haddon was to spend the remainder of the war as a prisoner at Oflag XIIB camp, near Hadamar.[7]

Repatriated, Haddon returned to a staff post with the Chief of Staff Committee, in July 1945 attending the Potsdam Conference and in 1948 returning, as Second-in-Command, to the 1st Border battalion then stationed in Palestine; later in East Africa. Transferred back to the War Office in 1951, in December 1955, and for the second time as its commanding officer, Haddon returned again to the 1st Border battalion, stationed at Göttingen and Berlin as part of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR).

Singapore, Hong Kong and final years

Promoted to Brigadier in 1958, Haddon raised the Singapore Military Forces (which became in 1961, the Singapore Armed Forces) and was subsequently appointed Chief of Staff, Hong Kong Land Forces.[8]

Haddon was awarded an

CBE in 1961, and appointed an aide-de-camp to Queen Elizabeth II
, holding that post from 1962 until his retirement in 1968. He maintained association with the Border Regiment as President of the Border Regiment Association in 1966, and Vice-President Border Affairs in the King's Own Royal Border Regimental Association in 1975.

Brigadier Haddon died aged 80 during Easter weekend, 1993.[9] In 1990, he wrote his memoirs, which are available here.

References

  1. ^ https://archive.org/stream/lanarkshire00mortuoft/lanarkshire00mortuoft_djvu.txt County Biographies - Lanarkshire, page 162 - Hamilton Academy. Cambridge University Press 1910, Retrieved 2010-10-17
  2. ^ "No. 33908". The London Gazette. 3 February 1933. p. 743.
  3. ^ a b c "British Army officer histories". Unit Histories. Retrieved 19 April 2009.
  4. ^ "No. 34252". The London Gazette. 4 February 1936. p. 734.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Lieutenant-Colonel Tommy Haddon".
  6. ^ "No. 35063". The London Gazette. 31 January 1941. p. 676.
  7. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/61/a5887461.shtml BBC - WW2 People's War – Operation Market Garden - 1st battalion, Border Regiment -Retrieved 2010-10-17
  8. ^ http://www.legco.gov.hk/1963/h630904.pdf Government of Hong Kong, legislative council archives - Retrieved 2010-10-17
  9. ^ http://www.pegasusarchive.org/arnhem/tommy_haddon.htm Pegasus archive – biography, Thomas Haddon – Retrieved 2010-10-17

External links

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