Second World War Brigade Intelligence and Staff Officer’s Italian Theatre attributed Member of the Military Division of The Order of the British Empire with its named Buckingham Palace forwarding letter, attributed to Captain P.E. Macdwyer, 11th Sikh Regiment (Ludhiana Sikhs), Indian Army, later British Army and Rhodesian Army. Macdwyer commanded the rear guard at Mersa Matruh in North Africa when captured on 29 May 1942 and was taken directly before Field Marshal Rommel with whom he spoke for some 15 minutes. ‘He was a fine looking man, greying slightly, with sharp but friendly eyes. He had a stubborn chin and a tight mouth. He was wearing his inevitable goggles pushed up over his cap, and was very dusty… Turning to an Aide. he ordered me and my men to be taken away to a cage but before being dismissed, he smiled, and shook my hand again, saying: “I gave special orders for the last man out of Mersa Matruh to be taken Prisoner and brought to me. I wanted to tell him that all rearguards of the British and Allied armies had fought well. It was easy to find you. Have care and good bye, I don’t expect to see you again. Go!” He then gave me a wide wink and indicated the open desert. It was an invitation to escape. I thought. Macdwyer subsequently did make his escape in the armoured card and later saw service as a Brigade Intelligence Officer and later as a Staff Captain with the headquarters of the 25th Indian Infantry Brigade in Cyprus, Palestine and Italy. Whilst in Italy he was given the special mission to capture the opera singer Benjamino Gigli in Rome to prevent him being taken by the Germans. He was appointed to the Order of the British Empire in June 1945. Later seeing service in Indo-China, he took the surrender of the war and family sword carried by the Japanese commander, Field Marshal Terauchi, this being a 15/16th Century sword coveted by Lord Mountbatten, who was however denied possession of it. Macdwyer was wounded by a Vietminh sniper whilst out there, being shot in the knee, but later saw service in Korea and in Suez, before serving with the Rhodesian Army during the 1960’s.
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Member, M.B.E., 2nd Type, Military Division, housed in its Royal Mint fitted presentation case, lacking issue pin.
Condition: Good Very Fine, the case scuffed.
Buckingham Palace forwarding letter for the Order of the British Empire, bearing typed details: ‘Captain Peter E. Macdwyer, M.B.E.’, this framed.
Peter Hugh Macdwyer was born on 29 July 1920 at Brentford, Middlesex, the son of Dr. John Macdwyer. Having originally enlisted into the Territorial Army in 1937, shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War he was commissioned into the Indian Army on 21 June 1940 as a 2nd Lieutenant with the 11th Sikh Regiment, and then saw active service with them in Iraq and Persia from 30 May 1941 to 20 June 1942, followed by North Africa, where he was present with the 4th Battalion, 11th Sikhs.
Macdwyer was with his battalion when it was surrounded at Mersa Matruh on 28-29 June 1942, and his battalion was then forced to break out, being then involved in the disastrous retreat to El Alamein. Macdwyer compiled a fascinating autobiography, which remains unpublished, and copy was originally provided with the medal, but is now absent. This however included some of the following details which are fortunately saved in a typed version from its previous auction sale:
’28 June 1942. My brigade was ordered to be the rear-guard Brigade and my Battalion became the last battalion and I was the last company to leave. I was now a bit scared.’ Macdwyer was left in charge of a company of 237 men, with just one Subadar and one Jemadar, and the following day they were ‘in the bag’.
‘I was captured by a German armoured car unit, we came upon a small party of vehicles and I was presented to Field Marshal Rommel. He asked me if I spoke German, I replied in the affirmative and we had a 15-minute conversation. He was a fine looking man, greying slightly, with sharp but friendly eyes. He had a stubborn chin and a tight mouth. He was wearing his inevitable goggles pushed up over his cap, and was very dusty… Turning to an Aide. he ordered me and my men to be taken away to a cage but before being dismissed, he smiled, and shook my hand again, saying:
“I gave special orders for the last man out of Mersa Matruh to be taken Prisoner and brought to me. I wanted to tell him that all rearguards of the British and Allied armies had fought well. It was easy to find you. Have care and good bye, I don’t expect to see you again. Go!”
He then gave me a wide wink and indicated the open desert. It was an invitation to escape. I thought. Anyway, only one Armoured Car and three different guards, all older men, and obviously Reservists, escorted us to the north east, until we camped for the night in the open desert. That night, I entertained three Germans to the remains of my whiskey, and some rum my Subedar had. He and I had already decided to escape that night, and the men had been warned, but told to do nothing untoward. Late into the night we sat and drank, myself and the Subedar being very modest, as became the ‘hosts’ and I helped the guards into a false sense of security by telling them several jokes in their own language, which they thought very funny coming from a foreigner.. We were away back in a southerly direction before dawn, going by desert compass, towards the Quattara Depression. I rode in the Armoured car, or rather on top of it. Life was happy once again, and the desert was our freedom, and had never looked so good and friendly. It was now 29 June 1942 and we reached the Depression that evening.’
Having linked up with friendly forces, Macdwyer rejoined his battalion and then saw service in Cyprus and Palestine from 21 June 1943 through to 27 March 1944. He was latterly on active service in Italy from 28 March 1944 through to 20 March 1945. During this period he saw service as a Brigade Intelligence Officer and later as a Staff Captain with the headquarters of the 25th Indian Infantry Brigade.
Whilst in Italy he was given the special mission to capture the opera singer Benjamino Gigli in Rome to prevent him being taken by the Germans.
Recommended for an appointment to the Order of the British Empure, the recommendation reads as follows: ‘From June 1942 to May 1943, this officer carried out the duties of Brigade Intelligence Officer to HQ 25th Indian Infantry Brigade. From May 1943 to the present date he has been a Staff Captain. He has served with this Brigade in the Western Desert, Palestine and Cyprus and during the whole operational period of the Brigade in Italy. His work has always been of a very high order, and he has always shown the utmost zeal and energy under the most trying conditions. The success of operations has always largely depended on his work and the very efficient manner in which he has organised the administration within the Brigade. While serving in the central sector where the maintenance of his Brigade was over mountain tracks, he organised jeep and mule convoys under very trying conditions and when he himself was suffering from ill health. It was due to his great energy and organising ability that the forward troops were successfully maintained, and the success of his Brigade was made possible.’
Macdwyer was appointed to be a Member of the Military Division of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, his award being published in the London Gazette for 28 June 1945.
Towards the end of the war he was posted to the Far East, and participated in the operations which saw the hand over of power from the Japanese to the pre-war Colonial administrations in South East Asia, this being a period of considerable tension and fighting. He was posted to French Indo-China and within a few days of his arrival took part in a ceremonial parade for the surrender of the Japanese land forces. On the surrender of the swords, General Gracey instructed lots to be drawn amongst his senior officers as to who was to take the very ceremonial surrender of a Japanese Officer’s sword, and to Macdwyer fell the honour of receiving the sword from Japanese Chief of Staff to Field Marshal Terauchi. It was the Field Marshal’s war and family sword that was handed over. This particular sword was a Mitsubishi of the 14/15th Century, and had been in the Terauchi family since it was fashioned. There were rumours that Lord Mountbatten wanted this sword, but General Gracey refused on the grounds that some honour was deserving to his Officers as well. Gracey is quoted as saying: “… one of my Officers took that surrender, and he shall jolly well keep that sword. It will not leave the Indian Army.”
Macdwyer was subsequently shot at by a Vietminh sniper: ‘One balmy evening, Major Jock Cameron, one of our Staff Officers, and I were escorting two Nurses from a dance at the Hospital to their quarters a mile or so away, in one of our cars; a captured Japanese staff car; when a sniper took a few shots at the car. The streets were in the main dark and badly lit, so the car was a good target. One bullet passed through my knee, deflected into the front seat where Jock was driving, and disintegrated into small bits, many of which peppered Jock’s posterior. He was naturally put off his stroke, and the crash of the car drowned most of the expressive language, not that the Nurses would have minded that. There was no sign of the sniper naturally, so we motored back to the Hospital but not to dance… and we patched up.
It was ironic, but no doubt decreed by fate, that both of us had survived the horrors of war unscathed, only to be flawed by a rascally Vietminh sniper. I was very annoyed because the wound effectively prevented me riding a horse again, since I could no longer exert any pressure with my left leg.’
Having gone on to serve in Korea, at Suez, and also with the Rhodesian Army (1965-1966). Macdwyer chanced his hand at running the Itings Hotel, Weybourne, Holt in Norfolk. but this did not work and he was later declared bankrupt. He died in 1974. When this M.B.E and Buckingham Palace forwarding letter previously came up for sale in auction, it was accompanied by a photocopy of his unpublished memoir, a silver cigarette case. and some original photographs. These are now no longer with the M.B.E and letter.