Lieutenant-Colonel John A C Fitch

John Fitch was born on the 14 August 1912, the son of Sydney Hewitt and Madeline Fitch of Bank House, Sheringham, Norfolk, and attended Brighton College in East Sussex.

Before joining the Army he worked for two years for a company that took him abroad, visiting the following countries, Holland, France, Italy, Austria, Germany and Belgium. During these visits he picked up a little knowledge of French, German and Italian.

He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Supplementary Reserve of Officer in The Manchester Regiment on the 19 April 1933, and between the 1 and the 31 July 1933 he was attached to the Manchester Regiment Depot for preliminary training and then attached to the 1st Battalion – 1 August 1933 to 30 June 1934. During his time in the Army he was always known as ‘Tony’.

On the 1 February 1935 he left the Supplementary Reserve of Officers to take up the position of a Second Lieutenant in the Manchester Regiment, joining the 2nd Battalion on the 28 February 1935.

With the outbreak of war with Germany, and mobilization, he proceeded with the Battalion to France, as part of the British Expeditionary Force, on the 22nd September 1939. The 2nd Bn, The Manchester Regiments was a Machine Gun Battalion and supported the 2nd Infantry Division, which was part of the 1st Corps.

Having been promoted to Lieutenant on the 1 February 1938, John Fitch was now promoted to Acting Captain and took up the post of Second-in-Command of ‘A’ Company, which was under the command of Major. Thomas, BL Churchill. Along with the rest of the battalion, he arrived at Cherbourg on the 23 September. The next day he moved, with ‘A’ Company, to a series of farms near the village of Laval, where they were to be billeted. It was here that Major. Churchill was taken ill, and went to hospital, and did not return to the company, thus leaving Capt. Fitch in command. He remained as the Acting Commander of ‘A’ Company, until he was appointed Adjutant in the Battalion on the 14 January 1940.

On the 10 May 1940 the Germans launched their attack upon Holland, Belgium and France. The BEF were forced to withdraw upon Dunkirk and Capt. Fitch, along with 300 men, all that remained of the Battalion, was evacuated back to Reading in England on the 30 May 1940.

He relinquished the appointment of Adjutant in October 1940, and left the Battalion in April 1941 and took up a series of Staff Appointments:

GSO III (L), HQ Northern Command. 05/05/41 – 12/03/42.

Junior Staff Course, Staff College, Camberley. 12/03/42 – 03/07/42.

GSO II (T), HQ Northern Command. 13/07/42 – 14/04/43.

Having volunteered for Airborne Forces, he was posted to the Airborne Forces Depot and School, at Hardwick Hall, Chesterfield, on the 10 April 1943, and was then on parachute course 61B/62 at RAF Ringway, 26 April – 4 May 1943. His Parachute Instructor made the following observations on the Course Report:

‘A good leader. An example to the section. Has done well.’

On the 4 June he arrived at the camp of the 2nd Parachute Battalion in North Africa and was given command of ‘B’ Company.

He commanded ‘B’ Company on Operation ‘FUSTIAN’, the parachute drop on Sicily, 13/14 July 1943. His was one of the sticks from ‘B’ Company that dropped far away from the Drop Zone, in fact on the lower slopes of Mount Etna. He eventually reached the Battalion at 11.00 hours on the 15 July with eight men of his stick, [1] whilst the battle was raging to secure the Primosole road bridge.

With the considerable losses on the Sicily operation the Battalion had to be reorganized, again, and Major Fitch was appointed the Battalion Second in Command, a post he held when the next operation took place – the seaborne landings at the Italian port of Taranto in September 1943 – Operation ‘Slapstick’

Upon return to the U.K. in December 1943 he took over as the Brigade Major in the 1st Parachute Brigade, assuming the appointment on the 9 January 1944.

He was appointed to the command of the 3rd Parachute Battalion on the 4 July 1944, after Lt-Col. E.C. Yeldham was taken ill and admitted to Lincoln Military Hospital.

Lt-Col John Fitch and his Battalion jumped in the second wave of aircraft onto DZ ‘X’, north of Renkum in Holland on Sunday, 17 September 1944, as part of operation ‘Market-Garden’. After they had gathered at their designated R.V. point they were ordered to move off as the central formation of the 1st Parachute Brigade’s move towards Arnhem.

  As the Battalion moved along the ‘Tiger’ route and began to encounter heavy German opposition, it was clear to Fitch that his men would continue to suffer delaying attacks of this nature all the way to the Bridge. He conferred with Brigadier Lathbury, who had recently arrived at Fitch’s Headquarters, and they agreed that Major Lewis’s ‘C’ Company should be detached from the column and sent north to the railway line, in the hopes that they could flank the German defences. This proved to be a wise decision as ‘C’ Company very successfully negotiated German patrols and became the only troops to arrive at the Bridge who had not been a part of the 2nd Parachute Battalion’s column on route ‘Lion’.

Fitch’s ability to have free command of the 3rd Battalion was highly restricted by the presence of both Lathbury and Major-General Urquhart, who had both been visiting him when the German attacks had begun, and it was subsequently decided that it would be safest if both men remained with the Battalion for the time being. As a consequence of having both the Brigade Commander and the Divisional Commander watching his every move, Fitch’s authority was naturally undermined and he had to consult these Officers on every move he made. An instance of when this was a particular problem is when the 3rd Battalion arrived at the Hartenstein Hotel outside of Oosterbeek as darkness fell on Sunday 17, and Lathbury and Urquhart ordered a halt. Fitch was keen to keep moving, however it was sensible to come to a rest for a few hours because the Battalion, at this time, effectively consisted of just ‘B’ Company. ‘C’ Company had been detached, while ‘A’ Company were having difficulties with enemy interference to the rear of the column, and so it was prudent to allow them time to catch up before pressing on. Fitch set up Battalion Headquarters in a plush house on northern side the Utrechtseweg, No.269, while his men encircled the immediate area and dug themselves into slit trenches.

This delay cost the 3rd Battalion dearly as opposition was relatively light at this time, but when the march began at approximately 04:30 on Monday 18th, it became clear that the ‘Tiger’ route ahead was now heavily defended. However, patrols informed Fitch that side roads south of his position appeared to be clear. Having asked permission from Urquhart and Lathbury, he began to steer the Battalion off the Utrechtseweg and towards the ‘Lion’ route, which Lt-Col John Frost and his men had made superior use of on the previous day. This alteration of course proved to be very fruitful in the darkness. The men moved quickly through Oosterbeek, and Major Peter Waddy’s ‘B’ Company, with some accompanying sappers, passed safely under the Oosterbeek Laag railway bridge and entered the outskirts of Arnhem by 07:00, just over a mile away from Arnhem Bridge. However it was here that the advance stopped. Fitch, Urquhart, and Lathbury were all up with ‘B’ Company, but they had outpaced Battalion Headquarters, ‘A’, and Support Companies who had been held up by several snipers. The larger part of the 3rd Battalion had lost sight of Lt-Col Fitch and ‘B’ Company, who in turn could not resume their advance in daylight until these strayed units had caught up. German units in the area spotted Fitch’s men and held ‘B’ Company in a stalemate that they would not be able to break until darkness fell.

Free from the burden of entertaining Major-General Urquhart and Brigadier Lathbury, who had both decided to throw caution to the wind and make their way back to Divisional HQ, Fitch was able to begin moving again. Two of the Battalion’s Bren carriers had arrived during the afternoon, loaded with ammunition, and with the support of these, Fitch decided he would move his men north and try to get them into Arnhem along the railway line. However the German presence in the area was too strong for ‘B’ Company to overcome alone, and they were forced to move through back gardens, the high fences of which proved difficult to negotiate. As they approached the railway they came under increasingly heavy machinegun fire and it became clear that they could make no headway here. Fitch decided to turn his men away and take them along a more direct route to the Bridge. His men became split into two groups and were forced to shelter once more in some houses, west of the St. Elisabeth’s Hospital. Nevertheless they were able to move out soon after and Fitch ordered that they do so in complete silence and make their way to the Rhine Pavilion Hotel, south of the Hospital. The arrived safely and began to move along the river road towards the Bridge, but after passing the Hospital and the Museum, they came under heavy fire from a determined German defence. Fitch could see no way through and had to withdraw his men, having suffered approximately a dozen casualties with only 50 men left to lead. However as they pulled back, they encountered the remnants of the 1st Parachute Battalion coming forward. Fitch informed Lt-Colonel David Dobie of what lay ahead, and offered to fully support his attack.

Initially the advance went well, but once again it came up against an impassable German defence. Fitch had moved his men onto the bushy bank between the Utrechtseweg and the Onderlangs Park, and he hoped to put them in a position where they could lend the 1st Battalion support fire. However before they were able to do so, German units spotted the 3rd Battalion coming forward and heavily mortared the area and swept it with machine gun fire. Fitch called for an Orders-Group of the few Officers that remained. Sitting with his back to the mortar barrage that was creeping ever closer to them, Fitch agreed that they had to get out of the area, and ordered his men to run back in two’s and three’s to the Pavilion, approximately 250 yards away. Many of these men arrived safely, but Lt-Colonel Fitch was killed by a mortar bomb. The same mortar explosion also badly wounded his Intelligence Officer, Lieutenant Vedeniapine.

He was initially buried in the Arnhem General Cemetery. He now lies at rest in Oosterbeek CWGC Cemetery, 20. B. 20.

Promotions.

19.04.1933. 2nd Lieutenant. (Supplementary Reserve) The Manchester Regiment.

01.02.1935. 2nd Lieutenant. (Regular Army) The Manchester Regiment.

01.02.1938. Lieutenant. 2nd Battalion, The Manchester Regiment. (Strensall, later Aldershot)

03.09.1939. Acting Captain. (France and Belgium)

01.10.1940. Acting Major. Authority: Part Two Orders.

01.01.1941. Temporary Major/War Substantive Captain. Authority: War Office Order.

09.01.1941. Relinquish Temporary Major. Authority: War Office Order.

13.07.1942. Regrant Temporary Major. Authority: War Office Order.

31.01.1943. Captain. London Gazette 02.02.43.

14.04.1943. Relinquish Temporary Major. Authority: War Office Order.

03.06.1943. Regrant Temporary Major.

04.07.1944. Acting Lieutenant-Colonel. Authority: 21st Army Group List.

Course and Qualifications.

Machine Gun Course, Netheravon – 1936.

Range Finding Course, Netheravon – 1936.

Military Engineering Course, Chatham – 1937.

Air Co-operation Course, Old Sarum – 1942.

NOTES:

[1] 2nd Parachute Battalion War Diary. July 1943.