Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

Peter John Lewis MC (11 August 1918 – 12 December 2008) was a British soldier, journalist and author awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

for his actions during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Early life

Lewis was born in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

and educated at

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 the Second World War the buildin ...

, leaving in 1935 to become a sub-editor at ''Everybody's Magazine''.

Military career

Lewis joined the

Artists Rifles The 21 Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) (Reserve), historically known as The Artists Rifles is a regiment of the Army Reserve. Its name is abbreviated to 21 SAS(R). Raised in London in 1859 as a volunteer light infantry unit, the regimen ...

as a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

in 1937 and was then commissioned into the 6th Battalion,

Queen's Royal Regiment The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) was a line infantry regiment of the English and later the 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 Ar ...

as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

on 19 June 1940. Following the outbreak of war, the regiment went to France in 1940 as part of the British Expeditionary Force.

North African Campaign

Attached to 8th Battalion, the

Durham Light Infantry The Durham Light Infantry (DLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1968. It was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 68th (Durham) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) and t ...

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 The Cheshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division. The 22nd Regiment of Foot was raised by the Duke of Norfolk in 1689 and was able to boast an independent existence of over 300 years. T ...

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 A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

on 24 September 1942, while his sergeant who had killed the anti-tank gunners was awarded the

Distinguished Conduct Medal The Distinguished Conduct Medal was a decoration established in 1854 by Queen Victoria for gallantry in the field by other ranks of the British Army. It is the oldest British award for gallantry and was a second level military decoration, ranki ...

. In 1942 he commanded a company in Operation Supercharge during the

Second Battle of El Alamein The Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 11 November 1942) was a battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian Railway station, railway halt of El Alamein. The First Battle of El Alamein and the Battle of Alam el Halfa ...

; 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 The Mareth Line was a system of fortifications built by France in southern Tunisia in the late 1930s. The line was intended to protect Tunisia against an Italian invasion from its colony in Libya. The line occupied a point where the routes into T ...

, an officer nearby stepped on a mine.

Capture and escape from captivity

Following the

Allied invasion of Sicily The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers ( Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany). It bega ...

, Lewis was again injured in fighting at

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

and was captured by the Italian Army and sent to a Prisoner of War camp at

Lucca Lucca ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957. Lucca is known as one o ...

. After Italy agreed peace terms in September 1943, the German 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

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...

. After a six-day walk they encountered members of the

Italian resistance movement The Italian resistance movement (the ''Resistenza italiana'' and ''la Resistenza'') is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Social ...

near the small village of Fabrico, who helped them hide in a safe house in

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

for almost two months. Among those members there were Don Mario Rocchi and Don Elio Monari, who had saved many British lives. With help from the Resistance, the pair gradually made it to the Swiss border, and from there they returned to England in November 1944. Lewis was

Mentioned in Despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

on 1 January 1945, and Snell was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...

Later life

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'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' between 1954 and 1960. In 1949, he published his first book, co-authored with Major I R English MC, the original full title of which was ''8th Battalion The Durham Light Infantry 1939–45 A History Compiled by Major P J Lewis MC, assisted by Major I R English MC from official records and personal accounts contributed by members of the Battalion''.(J & P Bealls Ltd, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1949). The book has since been reprinted several times with the new title ''Into Battle with the Durhams''. Later books include: ''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 1953 Lewis, with other of the British Officers whose lives were saved by Don Mario Rocchi, gave a significant support to the expansion of “Città dei Ragazzi” (Boys’ Town) in Modena, that was founded by Don Rocchi to help and to train children of poor families. In 1956 Lewis introduced the Charity International Help for Children (IHC) to Don Mario Rocchi to organize summer holidays of his Italian children to live in English foster families. He died on 12 December 2008.

References

External links

Obituary—Peter Lewis
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 16 February 2009. Obituary contributed to ''The Guardians "Other Lives" series Lewis's son, Hugh Lewis. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Peter 1918 births 2008 deaths Recipients of the Military Cross British Army personnel of World War II Military personnel from Leicester Queen's Royal Regiment officers Durham Light Infantry officers World War II prisoners of war held by Italy World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Escapees from German detention Artists' Rifles soldiers People educated at Lindisfarne College