Lorne MacLaine Campbell

Few commanders earn the Victoria Cross while already holding the Distinguished Service Order. Fewer still win it after leading a battalion through a minefield, taking hundreds of prisoners, then refusing evacuation after being wounded while the battle was still in doubt. Brigadier Lorne MacLaine Campbell VC, DSO & Bar, OBE, TD was one of those exceptional British Army officers. A Territorial Army soldier of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, his wartime career carried him from the disaster of France in 1940 to North Africa, Sicily and Italy, but it was his leadership at Wadi Akarit in Tunisia on 6 April 1943 that secured his place among the most distinguished Scottish soldiers of the Second World War.

Lorne MacLaine Campbell was born on 22 July 1902 at The Airds in Argyllshire, Scotland. He was educated at Dulwich College and later at Merton College, Oxford, before beginning a long association with the Territorial Army. He was commissioned into the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1921 and eventually became closely identified with the regiment in both war and peace. There was already a remarkable tradition of gallantry in his family. His uncle, Vice-Admiral Gordon Campbell, had himself been awarded the Victoria Cross during the First World War.

When the Second World War began, Campbell was serving with the 8th Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, part of the 51st Highland Division. He went to France and fought during the hard 1940 campaign that ended for much of the division at Saint-Valery-en-Caux. Campbell escaped the fate of many of his comrades and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his leadership during the campaign. By April 1941 the London Gazette officially recorded him as Major L. M. Campbell, DSO, service number 16220, and also listed him among officers mentioned for distinguished services in the field.

His Territorial Army service was formally recognised later that year. On 2 December 1941, the London Gazette recorded Major Lorne MacLaine Campbell, DSO, of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders among the Territorial Army officers upon whom the Efficiency Decoration had been conferred. His subsequent official wartime records consistently styled him with the post-nominal TD.

North Africa brought Campbell an even greater test. He took command of the 7th Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, and fought through the desert campaign with the 51st Highland Division. His performance brought a second award of the Distinguished Service Order. The London Gazette of 4 May 1943 announced a Bar to the Distinguished Service Order, naming him precisely as Major, temporary Lieutenant-Colonel, Lorne MacLaine Campbell, DSO, TD (16220), and stating that the award recognised gallant and distinguished services in the Middle East.

By then Campbell had already fought the action for which his name would become inseparable from the Victoria Cross.

On 6 April 1943 at Wadi Akarit, Tunisia, Campbell's battalion was given the formidable task of breaking through an enemy minefield and anti-tank ditch east of the Roumana feature and establishing the initial bridgehead for a brigade of the 51st Highland Division. The assault had to form in darkness and advance across difficult ground before reaching the German and Italian defensive system. Under heavy machine-gun and shell fire, Campbell drove the attack forward, crossed an unswept section of the minefield and brought his battalion onto its objective. At least 600 prisoners were captured in the assault.

Reaching the objective was only the beginning. Campbell discovered that the breach through the anti-tank ditch did not align with the cleared vehicle lane through the minefield. With supporting anti-tank weapons urgently needed, he personally supervised the work required to open a usable passage while exposed to intense fire. As enemy counter-attacks developed later in the day, his presence became decisive. He moved repeatedly to the most threatened positions, rallied men who had been forced back, reorganised the defence and continued directing the battle in the open.

Then he was wounded in the neck by shell fire.

Campbell still refused to leave.

He remained with his battalion while the bridgehead was under attack, continuing to direct and encourage his soldiers until darkness fell with the Argylls still holding their ground. His official Victoria Cross citation concluded that his determination, courage and disregard of pain had been crucial to saving the bridgehead. The award was published in London Gazette issue 36045 in June 1943, recording Campbell among the Victoria Cross recipients of the Second World War.

The Victoria Cross did not end Campbell's active command career. On 20 May 1943 he rose to acting Brigadier and took command of the 13th Infantry Brigade of the 5th Infantry Division. He led the brigade through service in Syria and Egypt and then into the Allied invasion of Sicily. From there Campbell continued into the demanding Italian campaign, where the 5th Division fought through a succession of difficult operations. For eight days in April 1944 he served as acting General Officer Commanding of the 5th Infantry Division before returning to command the 13th Brigade.

After relinquishing brigade command in 1944, Campbell served with the British Army Staff in Washington, D.C. He had risen from a Territorial Army officer of the Argylls to wartime brigade command across several of the British Army's major Mediterranean campaigns. Official records after the war show the distinction between his wartime appointments and substantive rank. The London Gazette in 1947 identified him as Colonel Lorne MacLaine Campbell, VC, DSO, TD (16220), while Brigadier remained the rank by which he was widely known and subsequently styled.

His wartime service also earned important foreign recognition. The President of the United States awarded Campbell the Legion of Merit, Degree of Officer. The London Gazette of 20 March 1947 granted unrestricted permission for its wear and listed Colonel Lorne MacLaine Campbell under the heading “Legion of Merit, Degree of Officer.” The notice again gives his service number as 16220 and identifies him with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, making the attribution unequivocal.

Campbell's public service continued long after the battlefield. In the 1968 Birthday Honours, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the Civil Division. The official London Gazette entry names Brigadier Lorne Maclaine Campbell, VC, DSO, TD and states that the appointment was “For services to Government Hospitality.” This is important because it confirms that his OBE was a Civil Division appointment, rather than a military OBE earned during the war.

Lorne MacLaine Campbell died on 25 May 1991, aged 88, and was buried at Warriston Cemetery in Edinburgh. His Victoria Cross and medal group are preserved by the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Museum at Stirling Castle, linking his story permanently with the regiment in which he spent so much of his military life.

Campbell's reputation rests on more than the letters that followed his name. He had already distinguished himself in France, earned a DSO and a Bar, and commanded troops through the North African campaign before the morning at Wadi Akarit. What made that battle extraordinary was what happened after the objective had been taken. Wounded, exposed to enemy fire and facing determined counter-attacks, Campbell chose to remain where his presence mattered most. The bridgehead held. His battalion held. And the conduct of the Territorial Army officer from Argyllshire earned him Britain's highest award for gallantry.

That combination of battlefield courage, leadership under pressure and a career that stretched from junior Territorial officer to brigade commander is why Brigadier Lorne MacLaine Campbell VC, DSO & Bar, OBE, TD remains one of the outstanding Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders officers of the Second World War.