Britain at War

By Lord Ashcroft

Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC has had his latest “hero of the month” article published in Britain at War, the country’s best-selling military history monthly magazine.

The March issue of the magazine has four pages on the life and career of  Squadron Leader The Reverend Herbert Cecil Pugh GC,  who was decorated for courage and self-sacrifice during the Second World War.

Pugh was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, on November 2 1898. Usually known to family and friends as “Cecil”, he served as a medic on the Western Front during the First World War. (more…)

By Lord Ashcroft

Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC has had his latest “hero of the month” article published in Britain at War, the country’s best-selling military history monthly magazine.

The February issue of the magazine has four pages on the life and career of Chief Petty Officer Ernest Herbert Pitcher VC, DSM, who was awarded his decorations for courage during the First World War.

Pitcher, who was born in Mullion, Cornwall, served in the Royal Navy during the 1914-18 conflict as a crew member on Q-ships. These vessels were Britain’s answer to German U-boats as Q-ships were armed decoys disguised to look like merchant ships. (more…)

By Lord Ashcroft

Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC has two major articles on gallantry in the new issue of Britain at War, the country’s best-selling military history monthly magazine.

The January issue has eleven pages on the “Dynasty Warriors” – three men from two generations of the same family who were all awarded the Victoria Cross (VC).

The Gough family’s achievements entitles them to be regarded as Britain and Ireland’s bravest-ever family. It prompts the question whether courage is hereditary.

The January issue of the magazine also has Lord Ashcroft’s latest “hero of the month” article: four pages on the life and career of Boy 1^st Class John Travers Cornwell VC. (more…)

By Lord Ashcroft

Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC has had his latest “hero of the month” article published in Britain at War, the country’s best-selling military history monthly magazine.

The December issue of the magazine has four pages on the life and career of Major Colin Ogden-Smith, who lost his life while working with the French Resistance during the Second World War.

Ogden-Smith, the middle of three brothers who all served in the Armed Forces, was brought up in a prosperous area of East Croydon on the outskirts of London. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery before the outbreak of the war.

After some Special Forces operations, he volunteered for a clandestine group known as the Jedburghs, who were trained to parachute into Occupied France in the aftermath of the D-Day landings of June 6 1944.

In early July 1944, and then aged 33, Ogden-Smith parachuted into Brittany as part of a three-man team and they worked with the Maquis, or French Resistance, for the next three weeks.

However, on July 29 the Germans, tipped off by a collaborator, came to the farm where they were hiding and in a shoot-out Ogden-Smith was killed, along with a French Resistance fighter and the local farmer who was sheltering them.

Ogden-Smith was recommended for a gallantry award but in the end received only a Mention in Dispatches. However, he and the two Frenchmen are still remembered in a moving ceremony in Brittany that is held every other year, even eight decades on.

Lord Ashcroft’s articles for Britain at War over the past nine years have been largely based on excerpts from his seven books on gallantry: Victoria Cross Heroes, Special Forces Heroes, George Cross Heroes, Heroes of the Skies, Special Ops Heroes, Victoria Cross Heroes Volume II and Falklands War Heroes.

Lord Ashcroft is a military historian who has lectured extensively on courage and his various medal collections.

• Lord Ashcroft’s latest article appears in the December issue of Britain at War which is on sale now.

By Lord Ashcroft

Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC has had his latest “hero of the month” article published in Britain at War, the country’s best-selling military history monthly magazine.

The November issue of the magazine has four pages on the life and career of Staff Sergeant Peter Herlick Rene Naya MM, who showed outstanding bravery during the Falklands War of 1982. (more…)

By Lord Ashcroft

Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC has had his latest “hero of the month” article published in Britain at War, the country’s best-selling military history monthly magazine.

The October issue of the magazine has four pages on the life and career of Fight Lieutenant Michal Maciejowski DFC, DFM, one of many Polish servicemen who fought with the Allies to try to regain their homeland during the Second World War.

Maciejowski was one of the scores of brave Poles who served in the RAF, having been forced to flee their homeland in late 1939, after his country was invaded by Germany. (more…)

By Lord Ashcroft

Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC has had his latest “hero of the month” article published in Britain at War, the country’s best-selling military history monthly magazine.
The September issue of the magazine has four pages on the life and career of Captain Charles Upham VC and Bar, the only combat soldier ever to be awarded two Victoria Crosses.
Upham, who was born and raised in New Zealand, showed incredible and relentless bravery for much of the Second World War having enlisted into the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force.

He was awarded his first VC for outstanding bravery in the defence of Crete in 1941, initially leading a counter-attack on an airfield that Germany had captured and later completing a series of courageous actions. (more…)

By Lord Ashcroft

Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC has had his latest “hero of the month” article published in Britain at War, the country’s best-selling military history monthly magazine.

The August issue of the magazine has four pages on the life and career of Staff Sergeant Olaf “Oz” Schmid GC, who showed outstanding bravery as a bomb disposal expert in Afghanistan in 2009 – a tour of duty that eventually cost him his life. (more…)

By Lord Ashcroft

Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC has had his latest “hero of the month” article published in Britain at War, the country’s best-selling military history monthly magazine.

The July issue of the magazine has four pages on the life and career of Warrant Officer Class 1 Barry Johnson GC, who was decorated for courageous bomb disposal work in Northern Ireland that nearly cost him his life.

Johnson, who was born in north London, underwent a three-year apprenticeship as an ammunition technician before joining the Royal Army Ordnance Corps.

During his second tour of Northern Ireland in 1989, he was called to deal with a van abandoned in a housing estate in Londonderry. It soon became apparent that inside the van were six barrels loaded with mortars. (more…)

By Lord Ashcroft

Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC has had his latest “hero of the month” article published in Britain at War, the country’s best-selling military history monthly magazine.

The June issue of the magazine has four pages on the life and career of Major Frederick Henry Bradley VC, VD, who was decorated for his bravery during a battle that has been likened to the defence of Rorke’s Drift.

Bradley, who was born in London, enlisted with the 2nd Depot Division of the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) in March 1894. Serving as a driver with the 69^th Battery, RFA, during the Second Boer War, he showed such outstanding gallantry that he was awarded the VC. (more…)