Herbert Wallace Le Patourel

Led four volunteers to silence enemy machine guns on a hill.

Herbert Wallace Le Patourel was born in Guernsey on 20 June 1916. Educated at Elizabeth College, he wanted a military career but initially worked at the National Provincial Bank after his father's death. He joined the Royal Guernsey Militia in 1936, transferred to the Hampshire Regiment's supplementary reserve in 1937 and received a regular commission in 1938. He served in France and was evacuated through Dunkirk in 1940.

In November 1942 his 2nd Battalion sailed to North Africa and entered the fighting around Tebourba in Tunisia. On 3 December, enemy troops occupied high ground overlooking his company. Previous counter-attacks had failed. Le Patourel, then a temporary major, led four volunteers uphill under heavy fire. He repeatedly rallied them and silenced several machine-gun positions. When his companions had been killed or wounded, he continued alone with a pistol and grenades, attacking the remaining posts at close quarters. He was severely wounded and captured.

Reports initially suggested that he had died, and his Victoria Cross was announced as a posthumous award on 9 March 1943. An official correction followed on 18 March after his survival became known. Treated in Italy, he was repatriated in September 1943. He recovered sufficiently to resume service, landing in Normandy shortly after D-Day in 1944 and serving as a brigade major during the campaign in north-west Europe.

After the war he instructed at Staff College, Quetta, and the School of Infantry, Warminster. He married Babette Theresa Beattie in 1949; they had two daughters. His subsequent appointments included service with the Parachute Regiment in the Middle East, work at the War Office, Territorial Army commands and the British Joint Services Mission in Washington. He became deputy commander of the Ghana Army and later deputy commander of the 43rd Wessex Division district. Heart trouble brought early retirement in December 1962 with the honorary rank of brigadier.

He then managed the Fowey–Bodinnick ferry, joined Showerings in 1966 and became a director of Harveys of Bristol in 1969. Appointed a deputy lieutenant of Avon in 1974, he later lived at Chewton Mendip, Somerset, where he died on 4 September 1979.

Victoria Cross citation

Captain (temporary Major) Herbert Wallace Le Patourel (72117), The Hampshire Regiment.

“For conspicuous gallantry in action in the TEBOURBA area on the 3rd December, 1942.

On the afternoon of the 3rd December, 1942, the enemy had occupied an important high feature on the left of the Company commanded by this officer. Counter-attacks by a Company of another Battalion and detachments of Major Le Patourel's Company had been unable to regain the position. This officer then personally led four volunteers under very heavy fire to the top in a last attempt to dislodge several enemy machine guns. The party was heavily engaged by machine gun fire and Major Le Patourel rallied his men several times and engaged the enemy, silencing several machine gun posts. Finally when the remainder of his party were all killed or wounded, he went forward alone with a pistol and some grenades to attack enemy machine guns at close quarters and from this action did not return. From reports received from wounded men, this officer died of wounds.

Major Le Patourel's most gallant conduct and self sacrifice, his brilliant leadership and tenacious devotion to duty in the face of a determined enemy were beyond praise.”

The London Gazette, 9 March 1943, supplement 35929, page 1117.

Correction: On 18 March 1943, the London Gazette ordered the word “posthumous” deleted from the award's preamble because Le Patourel had been officially reported as a prisoner of war. The original citation's report that he died of wounds was incorrect; he survived and died in 1979.