Sergeant wilfred J Peek

Wilf was born in 1916 at Linstead Magna in Suffolk. A short, stocky man, who even in his 60s remained immensely strong, he was the illegitimate son of my grandmother’s youngest sister, raised as an older brother to my mother. Leaving school when he was 14, he worked on a local farm before joining the army in September 1936, enlisting in the Suffolk Regiment for seven years ‘colours’ and five years ‘reserve’. After completing basic training at the Regimental Depot in Bury St Edmunds, he was posted to 1st Battalion, at Crownhill, Plymouth. In November the 1st Bn was shipped to Malta and Wilf transferred to 2nd Bn, immediately embarking for Mhow in India for service on the North-west Frontier where he was promoted Lance Corporal in September 1939. In November, the Battalion moved to Razmak. The following March  he was appointed PT Instructor and in July experienced his first combat when 2nd Bn was sent out to subdue the rebel villages of Asab Khel and Musaki. The column returned seven days later having experienced heavy sniping, casualties being several wounded and one killed. In September, 2nd Bn moved to Rawal Pindi and the following month quelled a mutiny in a native regiment, achieved without bloodshed.

In June 1941, 2nd Bn returned to the North-west Frontier to break sieges at two border posts, Boya and Datta. Operations commenced with road protection duties and ‘clear and search’ of local settlements, during which tribal towers and the village of Dilpura were destroyed. 2nd Bn suffered casualties from sniping but the main losses were due to malaria, with over 50% of the men evacuated for medical treatment. In September, 2nd Bn returned to Rawal Pindi and the following month Wilf was promoted to full Corporal. In October, volunteers were requested to join 151 Parachute Bn, which resulted in many 2nd Bn Suffolks, including Wilf, applying for transfer, his posting effective from 13th December. On arrival, he continued his PT Instructor role.

In January 1942, training began in Delhi using Vickers Valentias, with Wilf obtaining his ‘wings’ before the month end. A first tactical exercise showed the dangers of this new role, when during a staged attack on a bridge over the Hindan River, one man died and another severely injured in the drop. In September, the battalion was almost disbanded following the theft of silver by men attending a banquet. Only the personal intervention of General Wavell resulted in the 151st being saved on condition that it transferred out of India. To confuse German intelligence, in November it shipped to Port Suez as 20th Battalion, the Queens Regiment, on arrival being renumbered 156 Parachute Bn, with 151st remaining on the Indian rolls as a dummy unit. The following month, Wilf was promoted W/Sgt and given charge of a Mortar Section.

The first part of 1943 was spent in Jenin in Palestine. Extensive training was undertaken and 156 Para combined with 10 Para to become 4th Brigade, 1st Airborne Division before being shipped to Tripoli in May. Later that month, a night landing practise went badly wrong with the battalion being dropped by 7th USAF Transport Squadron away from the intended drop zone. According to Wilf, a navigational error resulted in the aircraft overflying Kairouan airfield where they received ‘friendly’ fire from its defences. The pilots panicked and instructed the paras to drop so the aircraft could take evasive action. Many men landed on concrete runways causing some 30 casualties, including several deaths. Wilf never forgave the Americans for what he considered their cowardice.

In September, the unit prepared for action in Italy as part of Operation Slapstick, the 1st Airborne’s landing from the sea at the Italian port of Taranto. 1st Airborne sailed from Bizerta on 8 September on HMS Aurora, arriving at Taranto that night, with 156 Bn being the first unit ashore. It pushed north with the objective of securing the airfield at Gioia del Colle, which was to be used as a base for fighter-bombers supporting the Salerno landings, seeing significant fighting against the German 1st Fallschirmjäger Regiment as they moved through the towns of Mottola and San Basilio. Wilf particularly remembered the night patrols in which he took part. One was led by a 2nd lieutenant, ‘fresh off the boat’ who insisted that the men returned by the same route that they had taken on their way out. This they refused to do, knowing the Germans would be waiting for them if they did this. The officer wanted to put Wilf on a charge for disobeying orders but when he attempted to do so, was himself reprimanded and Wilf never saw him again. On another occasion, Wilf’s patrol came across another of returning Ghurkhas, carrying strings of ears. On 17th September with the airfield objective secured, the 4th Brigade was relieved. Its casualties in nine days fighting totalled 11 officers and 90 other ranks killed, wounded or missing. In November, the Brigade left Taranto on the troop ship HMS Staffordshire, joining a convoy bound for Liverpool. On arrival, 156 Para moved to various billets in Rutland and given a month’s leave over Christmas.

Spring 1944 saw a ‘Refresher’ course at the Parachute Training School, Ringway Airport, Manchester, with drops taking place from balloon. On 156 Para’s return, their commanding officer, Lt. Col. Sir Richard des Voeux, unhappy with the widespread billeting of his men, decided to concentrate the Battalion in Melton Mowbray, which then became its official Home Station. Men begin forming social links with the town and during this period, Wilf met Molly, his future wife. The 4th Parachute Brigade became part of the ‘Strategic Reserve’ for D-Day but was not required. A series of ‘Stand-To’s’ for projected operations followed, all of which were cancelled.

In September, 156 Bn with 4th Parachute Brigade took part in Operation Market-Garden, General Montgomery’s attempt to shorten the war by creating an invasion route into northern Germany, using air-borne troops to capture key bridges ahead of reliving ground forces. The task for the Brigade was to hold a position on the high ground north of Arnhem at Koepel.

On 18 September, the second day of the Operation, 156 Para went in with a total compliment of 479 men. Taking off from Saltby at 11am in 34 C-47 Dakotas with its vehicles in seven Horsas and a Hamilcar, the Dutch coast was crossed at 1.45pm and their first casualties occurred shortly afterwards when a Dakota was shot down by flak with no survivors. On reaching Drop Zone Y at Ginkel Heath, six miles west of Arnhem at 2pm, they quickly came under fire. Wilf remembered an early casualty was a very unpopular NCO. Before the operation, bets were taken as to whether he would live to move off the DZ. He did not and Wilf was firmly of the opinion this was an example of ‘fragging’. At 5pm, the Battalion moved towards Arnhem but after 3 miles met heavy opposition and at 9pm, disengaged, establishing a base for the night, with its numbers now down to about 400 men.

The next day, 156 unsuccessfully attempted to break through strong SS units and heavy casualties sustained. In the afternoon, the enemy attacked from the west and many men were over-run. By 7pm, the remainder of 156, now down to only 210 men, reached the safety of the 4th Brigade laager and it was clear it would be impossible to reach Arnhem.

At 8am on 20 September, what remained of 156 Bn led 4th Brigade towards a defensive perimeter established at the village of Oosterbeek, west of Arnhem. However, by 1pm, fresh German SP guns and motorised infantry had surrounded 156 and Bde HQ, with both des Voeux and his 2 i/c killed. Some 150 men managed to evict German infantry from a depression that they held for about 4 hours. Surrounded and running out of ammunition, about 70 men charged out of the hollow and reached Oosterbeek, only 50 of whom were from 156 Para. These men formed two scratch platoons, which occupied buildings in the northeast of the Perimeter. During the next few hours, more 156 Bn stragglers arrived.

Heavy fighting continued with the pocket gradually shrinking until on 25th, with the Perimeter becoming unsustainable and no relief expected, it was decided to withdraw all those capable of moving without assistance across the Rhine. By this time, Wilf had sustained a wound to his foot, fracturing his ankle, so was one of those left behind to man the Perimeter whilst the others escaped. Late that evening, 68 remaining men of 156 Bn reached the southern bank and Wilf was posted as ‘missing’. Of the 479 men that left Saltby, 98 had died and 313 captured.

A communication dated 2 November from Stalag XIII-D in Nuremburg advised British authorities that Wilf was in the Camp’s military hospital. Later that month with his wound sufficiently healed, he was sent to Stalag XIII-C. Hammelburg and given the POW number 15241. Wilf managed to escape, making his way some 350Km south to the Swiss border. Whilst attempting to cross, German border guards recaptured him and handed him to a Hitler Youth unit. Wilf was marched away, with their leader repeatedly jabbing him with a bayonet from behind. Wilf tired of this and punched the boy in the face, laying him out, an act for which he was sentenced to death. By this time, it was January 1945, the Reich was in chaos and whilst Wilf lived under the threat of the sentence, no orders were received to carry it out. He was briefly held in Stalag Luft III-A and Stalag VIII-C at Sagan before the Russians overran them, then in Stalag XII-A, a transit camp at Limburg, finally transferring to Stalag IX-A, a camp for NCOs at Trutzhain. Transportation was by train with POWs crammed in the wagons. Journeys were slow and for long periods they were often without food or water. Conditions at the camps were atrocious, and towards the end of March with the Americans advancing quickly, the POWs were marched out for an unknown destination. With prisoners beginning to collapse and die at the roadside, Wilf and two companions decided they would prefer being killed attempting to escape than die on the road. Guards walked alongside the column every 100 yards, and on 29 March, whilst moving through woodland, Wilf’s friends staged a mock fight near one of the guards. As the guard intervened, Wilf hit him with a half-brick and the three fled into the woods before other guards could arrive.  Walking west, they found an abandoned German staff car complete with pennants, which they managed to start. Continuing westwards, they passed through a German roadblock, which they approached at speed, drawing attention to themselves by using the horn. Wilf was convinced that the flying pennants impressed the Germans who were not expecting enemy to be approaching from the east to explain why they were waved through. Early on 11 April, they reached Patton’s US 3rd Army. However, once their identity was confirmed, the G.I.’s were more interested in taking the car than offering assistance, so whilst two protected the car, the third obtained food and petrol. They got back into the car (now minus the pennants taken by the G.I.’s) and continued until they met British troops. The following evening, Wilf was back in England and placed on extended leave.

His grandson Steve recalls: ‘My mother, who was seven at the time, clearly remembers seeing a soldier getting off the bus some distance away whilst she was playing in the front garden of her parent’s house. As he got closer to her, he waved and my mother recognised him. She ran into the house to tell my grandmother, who thought my mother was joking and refused to go outside, only believing her when Wilf walked through the door. Until that time, as far as the family were concerned, he was still a PoW somewhere in Europe, having had no news of his whereabouts for weeks. He had somehow managed to bring back two small white blouses with lace collars for my mother and her sister.'

Wilf stated his desire to leave the army on 8 June before transferring to Sandhurst as an Instructor. On 21 April 1946, he was placed on Army Reserve and on 2 August discharged as ‘Permanently Unfit for Military Service’ due to his wound. His total service was nine years 309 days, his discharge papers describing his military conduct as ‘Exemplary’. He married Molly and spent the rest of his life in Melton Mowbray, retiring as a factory foreman.

Wilf was reticent about discussing his experiences with anyone other than my father. As I regularly listened in, he gave me his medals. He asked for them back just once for a 156 Bn reunion in 1987, the only event he ever attended. His last years were difficult. He had a minor stroke that caused him to have flashbacks, reliving the fighting at Arnhem. After attacking Molly believing she was a German, he was hospitalised, and passed away in 1995. A sad reminder of how much men like Wilf gave for our freedom.

In addition to the medals shown in this profile Wilf was also awarded The India General Service Medal with North West Frontier 1937-39 bar.