Tommy Macpherson

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Tommy Macpherson
Born(1920-10-04)October 4, 1920
Edinburgh, Scotland
DiedNovember 6, 2014(2014-11-06) (aged 94)
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
RankColonel
Battles/warsSecond World War

Axis forces
as the "Kilted Killer". He caused so much damage to enemy military infrastructure, a bounty of 300,000 francs was placed upon his head. Three times he received the Croix de Guerre, the Military Cross, and the Légion d'honneur.

Origins and education

Macpherson was born in Edinburgh. He was the youngest of seven children of Sir Thomas Stewart Macpherson CIE LLD and Helen, the daughter of the Reverend Archibald Borland Cameron. His father's brother was the first Baron Strathcarron and one of his own brothers, Niall, was also raised to the peerage as Baron Drumalbyn. Another brother was G. P. S. (Phil) Macpherson, captain of Scotland's first Grand Slam winning rugby side in 1925. The family originates from Newtonmore, in the Highlands, yet he was raised in the city.

His childhood home was Edgebrooke, in East Fettes Avenue, and he attended

World Student Games.[1]

Military career

Macpherson was commissioned in the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders Territorial Army in 1939, before serving in No. 11 (Scottish) Commando in 1940–1941.

Macpherson was part of a four-man team sent to reconnoitre beaches in preparation for

Gavi, near Genoa.[2]

After the

Bromberg and Gdynia; flying back to Kinloss, Scotland on 4 November 1943, two years after he had been captured in Egypt.[2][3] On 17 February 1944, Macpherson was awarded the Military Cross (MC) for his escape.[2][4]

Operation Jedburgh

Within a few days of returning to Great Britain, McPherson was instructed to report to Milton Hall in the Soke of Peterborough. There he discovered he was to be part of Operation Jedburgh. Under this operation three-man units were to be dropped into occupied Europe to carry out sabotage and guerrilla warfare, acting as a high-profile focus for the local resistance. His training lasted from January to March 1944, at the end of which he was promoted to Major and placed in charge of team Quinine. His team members were a French lieutenant, Michel de Bourbon, and a British radio operator, Sergeant Arthur Brown.[5]

French Guerrilla operations

On the night of 8 June they were parachuted into Aurillac to liaise with a resistance unit led by Bernard Cournil. Under his jumping smock, Macpherson was wearing full Cameron Highland battle dress, including a tartan kilt.[6]

"Just as I arrived I heard an excited young Frenchman saying to his boss, 'Chef, chef, there's a French officer and he's brought his wife!". "Their mistaking me for a woman wearing a skirt was an easy error to make."[7] He later explained, "As a British officer parachuted into a resistance situation...your only authority was your own personality, which I had tried to reinforce with my kilt and a degree of flamboyance".[8]

To motivate the resistance unit, Macpherson decided on immediate action. On the next night (9 June) they demolished a railway bridge on the Aurillac-Maurs line.[9] The following day they were contacted by two resistance fighters from Bretenoux, who told Macpherson that the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich were advancing towards the Normandy beachhead via the Figeac-Tulle road. Macpherson realised that the best they could do was delay the division's progress by preparing a series of ambushes. During the night they mined the road and the surrounding trees. At the first ambush they blew the tracks off the leading armoured vehicle, thus blocking the road. Then, as the Germans began to work through the trees to outflank them, the resistance fighters brought down the trees and withdrew.[10][11]

They then switched to attacking road and rail routes between

Brive and Montauban, eventually completely stopping railway traffic between Cahors and Souillac, Lot on 1 July. Similar operations continued through July, and following Operation Dragoon (the Allied invasion of Southern France, aimed at capturing Marseille), operations increased in scale. In one attack Macpherson and his men trapped 300 Germans and 100 members of the Milice
(Pro-German French forces) in a railway tunnel for several days.

Over the course of the next two months Macpherson killed or captured many German troops and systematically blew apart bridges. He operated from caves and woodland areas with his radio operator. Under the mantle of Agent Quinine, he achieved an operation of some kind virtually every day,[citation needed] his high-profile presence – he brazenly toured the countryside in a black Citroën with a Union Flag pennant on one side and a Croix de Lorraine on the other[12] - infuriating the Nazis to the extent that they placed a 300,000 franc bounty on his head, describing him as "A bandit masquerading as a Scottish officer and extremely dangerous to the citizens of France".[13]

On one occasion when a German staff car was approaching a level crossing Macpherson booby-trapped the barrier arm so it crashed down on the vehicle, decapitating the local commandant and his driver.[14]

As axis forces in the south of France were cut off by the Allied advance, Macpherson negotiated the surrender of two German units, the most notable being FK541.[15] This was an assortment of Axis forces, totaling 23,000 men and while mainly second line soldiers it did include 7000 front line troops. It was the command of Major General Botho Henning Elster.[note 1][16] Macpherson was informed by another Jedburgh leader Captain Arthur Cox that the Major General wanted to negotiate surrender. A meeting had already been held with the Americans, conducted by Lieutenant Samuel Magill, but it was felt that Germans were prevaricating, so another meeting was set up in a village in Allied hands.[16]

Unarmed and accompanied by a German doctor and a French officer, Macpherson was driven in a captured German Red Cross vehicle through miles of enemy-held territory, through machine gun fire, to the village's school house. Dressed in full Highland uniform complete with bonnet, he bluffed that he would unleash heavy artillery and call on the RAF if the Germans did not surrender. The Major General agreed on condition his forces were allowed to keep their side arms until they were in safe custody of the US 83rd infantry division.[note 2][17][18]

Italian Guerrilla operations

In November 1944, Major Macpherson led Italian partisans in several major attacks on railways in Udine, northern Italy, despite being wounded soon after his arrival. Much of this effort was aimed at disrupting the German defensive line based on Tarvisio. On one occasion during an Allied air raid Macpherson spotted a group of Italian officers retreating into a bomb shelter. The Scot opened the shelter hatch and threw a grenade down it. Macpherson was shot by an Italian officer, who arrived late but whom he succeeded in stabbing after a struggle.

Post war

After the war he reverted to the rank of lieutenant and continued to serve in the Territorial Army with the Camerons.

56th Infantry Brigade from 1964 to 1967, and his efforts in support of the TA in general.[27] He was a member of the Royal Company of Archers
.

On 7 October 2010, Macpherson's autobiography was published under the title, Behind Enemy Lines.[28]

Business career

Macpherson had enjoyed a successful business career, including periods variously as the Managing Director and Chairman of the Mallinson-Denny Group, as a director of Brooke Bond Group, Scottish Mutual Assurance and the National Coal Board, and as Chairman of Annington Holdings plc and Boustead plc. While with Mallinson Denny, he was a member of the National Board for Prices and Incomes between 1965 and 1967.[29][30] He was President of Eurochambres (the Association of European Chambers of Commerce) between 1992 and 1994.

Honours

Macpherson was appointed a

Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London in 1977,[31] and served as High Sheriff of Greater London in 1983.[32] He was knighted in the 1992 New Year Honours,[33] receiving the accolade from the Queen at Buckingham Palace on 17 March 1992.[34] In 1985/86 he served as Prime Warden of the Worshipful Company of Dyers and between 2001 and 2005 he was President of the Highland Society of London
.

Beside his British decorations, he was also a Chevalier de la

papal knighthood
from the Pope.

Private life

In 1953 Macpherson married Jean Henrietta, the daughter of David Butler Wilson. She is a patroness of the Royal Caledonian Ball.[35] They had two sons and a daughter.

Macpherson's seat in the Highlands, Balival House, near

Mary Weeden, and Mr & Mrs Alexander Hay of Duns Castle, Berwickshire.[37]

Notes

  1. ^ Also referred to as Erich Elster
  2. ^ When the Allied officers were interviewed by the press immediately after the surrender, Lieutenant Samuel Magill did the talking, but Macpherson, as trained, said nothing. Hence many histories credit this surrender solely due to the efforts of the US 83rd Infantry Division.

References

  1. ^ Macpherson & Bath 2012, p. 211.
  2. ^ a b c d "Recommendations for Honours and Awards (Army)—Image details—MacPherson, Ronald Thomas Stewart—Military Cross" (fee usually required to view pdf of original recommendation). DocumentsOnline. The National Archives. Retrieved 12 January 2010.
  3. ^ Macpherson & Bath 2012, p. 117.
  4. ^ "No. 36382". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 February 1944. p. 827.
  5. ^ Macpherson & Bath 2012, p. 121.
  6. ^ Macpherson & Bath 2012, p. 131.
  7. ^ Macpherson & Bath 2012, p. 130.
  8. ^ Macpherson & Bath 2012, p. 146.
  9. ^ Hastings 2009, p. 155.
  10. ^ Hastings 2009, p. 157-159.
  11. ^ Macpherson & Bath 2012, p. 137-140.
  12. ^ Macpherson & Bath 2012, p. 149.
  13. ^ Macpherson & Bath 2012, p. 144.
  14. ^ Macpherson & Bath 2012, p. 145.
  15. ^ Mitcham 2000, p. 235.
  16. ^ a b Macpherson & Bath 2012, p. 156.
  17. ^ Beavan 2007.
  18. ^ Macpherson & Bath 2012, p. 156-158.
  19. ^ "No. 38353". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 July 1948. p. 4071.
  20. ^ "No. 40935". The London Gazette (Supplement). 23 November 1956. p. 6722.
  21. ^ "No. 38945". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 July 1948. pp. 3161–3167.
  22. ^ "No. 42186". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 November 1960. p. 7546.
  23. ^ "No. 42508". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 November 1961. p. 8092.
  24. ^ "No. 43507". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 December 1964. p. 10319.
  25. ^ "No. 44283". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 April 1967. p. 3813.
  26. ^ "No. 44484". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 1967. p. 6.
  27. ^ "Recommendations for Honours and Awards (Army)—Image details—MacPherson, Ronald Thomas Stewart—Commander of the British Empire" (fee usually required to view pdf of original recommendation). DocumentsOnline. The National Archives. Retrieved 12 January 2010.
  28. ^ Macpherson & Bath 2012.
  29. ^ "No. 43685". The London Gazette. 15 June 1965. pp. 5695–5696.
  30. ^ "No. 44266". The London Gazette. 15 June 1965. pp. 2771–2772.
  31. ^ "No. 47116". The London Gazette. 10 January 1977. p. 323.
  32. ^ "No. 49294". The London Gazette. 18 March 1983. pp. 3829–3830.
  33. ^ "No. 52767". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1991. pp. 1–2.
  34. ^ "No. 52935". The London Gazette. 29 May 1992. p. 9177.
  35. ^ "Patronesses". Royal Caledonian Ball. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013.
  36. ^ "Telegraph Obituaries: Sir Thomas Macpherson". The Telegraph.
  37. ^ Daily Telegraph, 20 February 2015, Court & Social page.
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