Peter Lewis (British Army officer)
Encyclopedia
Major Peter John Lewis MC
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....

 (11 August 1918–12 December 2008) was a British soldier, journalist and author awarded the Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....

 for his actions during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

Lewis was born in Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...

 and educated at Lindisfarne College
Lindisfarne College
Lindisfarne College was a private school or independent school. It was founded in 1891 in Westcliff-on-Sea in Essex, England. In 1940 Lindisfarne College moved from Westcliff to nearby Creeksea Place, but during World War II the building was requisitioned by the military and the school transferred...

, leaving in 1935 to become a sub-editor at Everybody's Magazine. He joined the Artists Rifles as a private
Private (rank)
A Private is a soldier of the lowest military rank .In modern military parlance, 'Private' is shortened to 'Pte' in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries and to 'Pvt.' in the United States.Notably both Sir Fitzroy MacLean and Enoch Powell are examples of, rare, rapid career...

 in 1937 and was then commissioned into the 6th Battalion, Queen's Royal Regiment
Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey)
The Queen's Royal Regiment was a regiment of the English and later British Army from 1661 to 1959. It was the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, behind only the Royal Scots in the British Army line infantry order of precedence...

 as a second lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...

 on 19 June 1940. Following the outbreak of war, the regiment went to France in 1940 as part of the British Expeditionary Force
British Expeditionary Force (World War II)
The British Expeditionary Force was the British force in Europe from 1939–1940 during the Second World War. Commanded by General Lord Gort, the BEF constituted one-tenth of the defending Allied force....

.

Attached to 8th Battalion, the Durham Light Infantry
Durham Light Infantry
The Durham Light Infantry was an infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1968. It was formed by the amalgamation of the 68th Regiment of Foot and the 106th Regiment of Foot along with the militia and rifle volunteers of County Durham...

 in North Africa in May 1942, in June a patrol containing Lewis encountered a line of enemy positions. A small reconnaissance force was repelled, but the patrol leader, Captain Ian English, managed to contact his superior, Major Clarke, and inform him of the situation. Clarke decided to send in a force of armoured cars filled with soldiers from the Durham Light Infantry (commanded by Peter Lewis) at 9:15am, with machine gun, mortar and artillery units to support the attack (from 2nd Battalion Cheshire Regiment
Cheshire Regiment
The Cheshire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division.The regiment was created in 1881 as part of the Childers reforms by the linking of the 22nd Regiment of Foot and the militia and rifle volunteers of Cheshire...

 and 74 Field Regiment Royal Artillery) with a barrage starting at 9:14 and finishing at 9:16. The artillery assault started a minute late, and Lewis misinterpreted Clarke's orders to halt as an order to attack immediately. The force charged towards the Italian lines while dodging their own shells, and after Lewis's armoured car ran over the only operational Italian anti-tank gun the enemy force surrendered; 20 officers and 210 other soldiers in total, along with a large quantity of machine guns, anti-tank guns and other equipment; the British lost one man in the attack. Lewis received an immediate award of the Military Cross, gazetted
London Gazette
The London Gazette is one of the official journals of record of the British government, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are required to be published...

 on 24 September 1942, while his sergeant who had killed the anti-tank gunners was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal
Distinguished Conduct Medal
The Distinguished Conduct Medal was an extremely high level award for bravery. It was a second level military decoration awarded to other ranks of the British Army and formerly also to non-commissioned personnel of other Commonwealth countries.The medal was instituted in 1854, during the Crimean...

.

In 1942 he commanded a company in Operation Supercharge during the Second Battle of El Alamein
Second Battle of El Alamein
The Second Battle of El Alamein marked a major turning point in the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. The battle took place over 20 days from 23 October – 11 November 1942. The First Battle of El Alamein had stalled the Axis advance. Thereafter, Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery...

; he was injured in combat, and the only officer from his unit to survive. He was again wounded in March 1943 when, on the Mareth Line
Mareth Line
The Mareth Line was a system of fortifications built by the French between the towns of Medenine and Gabès in southern Tunisia, prior to World War II...

, an officer nearby stepped on a mine. Following the Allied invasion of Sicily
Allied invasion of Sicily
The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major World War II campaign, in which the Allies took Sicily from the Axis . It was a large scale amphibious and airborne operation, followed by six weeks of land combat. It launched the Italian Campaign.Husky began on the night of...

, he was again injured in fighting at Catania
Catania
Catania is an Italian city on the east coast of Sicily facing the Ionian Sea, between Messina and Syracuse. It is the capital of the homonymous province, and with 298,957 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in Sicily and the tenth in Italy.Catania is known to have a seismic history and...

 and was captured by the Italian Army and sent to a Prisoner of War camp at Lucca
Lucca
Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...

. After Italy surrendered in September 1943 the Germany Army took control of the prison camp, and directed that the prisoners be transferred by train to Germany. While other prisoners on the train distracted the guards Lewis, along with Flight Lieutenant Tony Snell, escaped through a small window. The following morning they found they were near Mantova. After a six day walk they encountered members of the Italian resistance movement
Italian resistance movement
The Italian resistance is the umbrella term for the various partisan forces formed by pro-Allied Italians during World War II...

 near the small village of Fabrico, who helped them hide in a safe house in Modena
Modena
Modena is a city and comune on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy....

 for almost two months. With help from the resistance the pair gradually made it to the Swiss border, and they returned to England in November 1944, Lewis was Mentioned in Despatches on 1 January 1945, and Snell was awarded the Distinguished Service Order
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...

.

Lewis retired in 1946 with the rank of acting Major and returned to his job at Everybody's, and worked as a motor racing correspondent for The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...

 between 1954 and 1960. He published his first book, Alf Francis, Racing Mechanic in 1957, Dicing with Death in 1961, Motor Racing through the Fifties in 1992 and The Price of Freedom in 2001. In 2006 he collaborated with Captain English (now Major English) on a history of the Durham Light Infantry. He died on 12 December 2008.

External links

  • Obituary—Peter Lewis, The Guardian
    The Guardian
    The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

    , 16 February 2009. Obituary contributed to The Guardians "Other Lives" series Lewis's son, Hugh Lewis.
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