Brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

Simon Christopher Joseph Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat, (9 July 1911 – 16 March 1995) was a prominent Scottish born

British Commando The Commandos, also known as the British Commandos, were formed during the World War II, Second World War in June 1940, following a request from Winston Churchill, for special forces that could carry out Raid (military), raids against German-occ ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the 24th Chief of the Clan Fraser of Lovat. Known familiarly as Shimi Lovat, an anglicised version of his name in

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

; his clan referred to him as MacShimidh, his Gaelic

patronym A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic. Patronymics are used, ...

. During

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The ope ...

, he led the Special Service Brigade at

Sword Beach Sword, commonly known as Sword Beach, was the code name given to one of the five main landing areas along the Normandy coast during the initial assault phase, Operation Neptune, of Operation Overlord. The Allied invasion of German-occupied Fra ...

and to capture

Pegasus Bridge Pegasus Bridge, originally called the Bénouville Bridge after the neighbouring village, is a road crossing over the Caen Canal, between Caen and Ouistreham in Normandy. The original bridge, built in 1934, is now a war memorial and is the c ...

, accompanied by his piper Bill Millin.

Early life

Fraser was born at his ancestral home of Beaufort Castle near Beauly, Inverness-shire, the son of Simon Fraser, 14th Lord Lovat (commonly known as the 16th Lord), and Laura, daughter of Thomas Lister, 4th Baron Ribblesdale. After being educated at Ampleforth College (where he was a member of the Officer Training Corps) and

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

, where he joined the university's Cavalry Squadron, Fraser was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the

Lovat Scouts The Lovat Scouts was a British Army unit first formed during the Second Boer War as a Scottish Highland yeomanry regiment. They were the first known military unit to wear a ghillie suit, and were renowned for their elite reconnaissance capabili ...

(a Territorial Army unit) in 1930. On 3 September 1932, he transferred to the

Scots Guards The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot guards#United Kingdom, Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. Its origins are as the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland. Its lineage can be traced back to 1642 in the Ki ...

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

, with seniority in the rank of second lieutenant from 27 August 1931. In both units, he served alongside his cousin Bill Stirling. The following year, Fraser succeeded his father to become the 15th

Lord Lovat Lord Lovat () is a title of the rank Lord of Parliament in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1458 for Hugh Fraser by summoning him to the Scottish Parliament as Lord Fraser of Lovat, although the holder is referred to simply as Lo ...

(referred to as the 17th Lord Lovat) and 25th Chief of the Clan Fraser. He was promoted lieutenant in August 1934. Lovat resigned his regular commission as a lieutenant in 1937, transferring to the Supplementary Reserve of Officers. He married Rosamond Broughton, the daughter of Sir Henry John Delves Broughton, on 10 October 1938, with whom he had six children. Lord and Lady Lovat lived at Beaufort Castle.

Second World War

In June 1939, just months before the

, Lord Lovat also resigned his reserve commission. In July, however, as war approached, he was mobilized as a captain in the

. In 1940 together with his Stirling cousins ( Bill and

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

) and friends, including Donald Cameron of Lochiel, Lovat planned to create a new unorthodox group of shock fighters (Commandos) who would combine sea, air and land attacks using surprise as a key component. It was essential to use volunteers only. Crucial to the plan was the personal blessing of

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

, which they duly obtained. Lovat was personally involved in the training of the Commando troops on the West coast of Scotland. He was eventually attached to and led No. 4 Commando. On 3 March 1941, Nos 3 and 4 Commando launched Operation Claymore, a raid on the German-occupied Lofoten Islands. In the successful raid, the commandos destroyed fish-oil factories, petrol dumps, and 11 ships. They also seized

encryption In Cryptography law, cryptography, encryption (more specifically, Code, encoding) is the process of transforming information in a way that, ideally, only authorized parties can decode. This process converts the original representation of the inf ...

equipment and codebooks. As well, the commandos captured 216 German troops; 315 Norwegians chose to accompany the commandos back to Britain. 4 Commando before the Hardelot raid

As a temporary major, Lord Lovat commanded 100 men of No. 4 Commando and a 50-man detachment from the Canadian Carleton and York Regiment in a raid on the French coastal village of Hardelot in April. For this action he was awarded the

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

on 7 July 1942. Lord Lovat became an acting lieutenant-colonel in 1942 and was appointed the commanding officer of No. 4 Commando, leading them in a successful component of the abortive Dieppe Raid (Operation Jubilee) on 19 August. His commando attacked and destroyed a battery of six 150 mm guns. Lovat was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful ...

(DSO).

The raid as a whole was a disastrous failure with over 4,000 casualties sustained, predominantly Canadian. Yet No. 4 Commando captured its objectives, the only successful part of the operation, and most of Lovat's men returned safely to Britain. According to Hilary Saunders, the official biographer of the Commandos the men "were to arouse such a passion of hate and fear in the hearts of their enemies that first Von Runstedt and then Hitler in 1942 ordered their slaughter when captured down to the last man. Lovat had 100,000 Reich marks placed on his head, dead or alive. The infamous "Commando Order". During the planning of Operation Overlord, in 1944, Lord Lovat was made a

brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

and appointed the Commander of the newly formed 1st Special Service Brigade. Lord Lovat's brigade was landed at

Sword A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter ...

during the

invasion of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 ( D-Day) with the ...

on 6 June 1944. Lovat probably waded ashore in battle dress; which is contrary to the depiction in the film '' The Longest Day'' which had him wearing a white jumper under his battledress, with "Lovat" inscribed on the collar while armed with a full stocked Mannlicher-Schoenauer stutzen rifle. This probably harks back to the Dieppe raid where Lovat was armed with a Model 1893 Steyr-Mannlicher. The latter claim is disputed; however, in some earlier pictures he is seen with a bolt-action .30-06 Winchester Model 70 sporting rifle. However, in his memoirs, 'March Past', Lovat states that he was armed with a "short barreled U.S. Army carbine" (presumably an

M1 carbine The M1 carbine (formally the United States carbine, caliber .30, M1) is a lightweight semi-automatic carbine chambered in the .30 carbine (7.62×33mm) cartridge that was issued to the U.S. military during World War II, the Korean War, and t ...

) on D-Day. Lord Lovat instructed his personal piper, Bill Millin, to pipe the commandos and himself ashore, in defiance of orders specifically forbidding such actions in battle. When Private Millin demurred, citing the regulations, he recalled later, Lord Lovat replied: "Ah, but that's the War Office. You and I are both Scottish, and that doesn't apply". Lovat's forces swiftly pressed on, Lovat himself advancing with parts of his brigade from Sword to

, which had been defiantly defended by men of the 2nd Bn the Ox & Bucks Light Infantry (

6th Airborne Division The 6th Airborne Division was an airborne infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who m ...

) who had landed in the early hours by glider. Lord Lovat's commandos arrived at a little past 1 p.m. at Pegasus Bridge though the rendezvous time stipulated in the plan was noon. (A common misconception holds that they arrived almost exactly on time, late by only two and a half minutes.) Upon reaching the rendezvous, Lord Lovat apologised for his unit's lateness to Lieutenant-Colonel Geoffrey Pine-Coffin, of 7th Parachute Battalion. He went on to establish defensive positions around Ranville, east of the River Orne. The bridges were relieved later in the day by elements of the British 3rd Infantry Division. During the Battle of Breville on 12 June, Lord Lovat was seriously wounded whilst observing an

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

bombardment by the 51st Highland Division. A stray

shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

fell short of its target and landed amongst the officers, killing Lieutenant-Colonel A. P. Johnson, commanding officer of the 12th Parachute Battalion, and seriously wounding Brigadier Hugh Kindersley of the 6th Airlanding Brigade. Lovat was awarded the ''

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

'' and the '' Croix de Guerre'' by a grateful

French Fourth Republic The French Fourth Republic () was the republican government of France from 27 October 1946 to 4 October 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution of 13 October 1946. Essentially a reestablishment and continuation of the French Third R ...

Later life

Lord Lovat was a stalwart of the Inverness Highland aristocracy. In 1942 he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant (post-nominal "DL") of the county, and two years later a Justice of the Peace. Lord Lovat made a full recovery from the severe wounds he had received in France but was unable to return to the army (he transferred to the reserve in 1949). In early 1945 Churchill sent him to Moscow as his envoy in a Parliamentary delegation to pay his respect to Stalin and the Presidium. Churchill notes in the final volume of his biography of the Second World War that at the crucial meeting with Stalin and President Roosevelt at Yalta in 1945 when the boundaries of Europe were being discussed Stalin kept coming back again and again, in conversation, to military questions: Stalin said he had acquired a new interest in life, says Churchill, an interest in military affairs. "He liked young military fighters like Lord Lovat".

requested that he become Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

; however, Lord Lovat declined the offer and in 1945 joined the Government as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, "becoming responsible for the functions of the Ministry of Economic Warfare when these were taken over by the Foreign Office", resigning upon Winston Churchill's election defeat. In 1946 he was made a Commander of the Venerable Order of Saint John. His formal retirement from the army came on 16 June 1962, he retained the honorary rank of brigadier. Lord Lovat's involvement in politics continued throughout his life, in the

where he spoke on Scottish Affairs and served in the Inverness County Council for the next forty-two years where he pressed for modernising improvements. He also devoted much of his time to the family estates of 250,000 acres in the Highlands and to Fraser Clan affairs. He bred a pedigree herd of shorthorn cattle and was an international judge of cattle travelling widely to Canada, America, Latin America and Australia in that regard. He lectured on agronomy and loved racing. He was chieftain of Lovat Shinty Club, the local

shinty Shinty () is a team sport played with sticks and a ball. It is played mainly in the Scottish Highlands and among Highland migrants to the major cities of Scotland. The sport was formerly more widespread in Scotland and even played in Northern ...

team which bears his family name. Lord Lovat experienced a great deal of sadness in his final years; two of his sons predeceased him in accidents within days of each other. In 1994, a year before his death, the family's traditional residence, Beaufort Castle, was sold by his eldest son, Simon Fraser, to pay

inheritance tax International tax law distinguishes between an estate tax and an inheritance tax. An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and pro ...

es. Lord Lovat's second son, Kim, played the pipes at Lord Lovat's funeral.

Media

'' The Longest Day'', a 1962 film based on the book of the same name, features "Lord Lovat", played by

Peter Lawford Peter Sydney Ernest Lawford (né Aylen; 7 September 1923 – 24 December 1984) was an English-American actor.Obituary ''Variety Obituaries, Variety'', 26 December 1984. He was a member of the "Rat Pack" and the brother-in-law of US president Jo ...

. There is some suggestion that the charlatan commando character "Trimmer" in

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decli ...

Sword of Honour The ''Sword of Honour'' is a trilogy of novels by Evelyn Waugh which loosely parallel Waugh's experiences during the World War II, Second World War. Published by Chapman & Hall from 1952 to 1961, the novels are: Men at Arms (Waugh novel), ''M ...

trilogy of novels is based on Lovat. Lovat was closely associated with Waugh's forced resignation from the Commandos, which is the subject of an exchange of correspondence between them which Waugh pasted into his war diaries. In an article in ''Standpoint'' magazine, Paul Johnson wrote:

Family

Simon Christopher Joseph Fraser, Master of Lovat and 15th Lord Lovat (9 July 1911 – 16 March 1995), was the son and eldest child of Simon Joseph Fraser, 14th Baron Lovat (25 November 1871 – 18 February 1933), and the Hon. Laura Lister (12 January 1892 – 24 March 1965). His younger brother was the Hon. Sir Hugh Charles Patrick Joseph Fraser (23 January 1918–6 March 1984). He married Rosamond Delves Broughton on 10 October 1938. They had six children: * Simon Augustine Fraser, Master of Lovat (28 August 1939 – 26 March 1994) married Virginia Grose in 1972. They had four children: the Hon. Violet Fraser (b. 1972), the Hon. Honor Fraser (b. 1973), Simon Christopher Joseph Fraser, 16th Lord Lovat (b. 1977), and the Hon. John Fraser (b. 1984). Died at the age of 54 of a heart attack while hunting on the family estate at Beaufort Castle. *Hon. Fiona Mary Fraser (born 6 July 1941) married Robin Richard Allen in 1982 and have no issue. * Hon. Annabel Thérèse Fraser (15 October 1942 – 13 September 2022). She married Hugh William Mackay, 14th Baron Reay on 14 September 1964 and divorced in 1978. They had three children including Æneas Simon Mackay, 15th Baron Reay. *Hon. Kimball Ian Maurice Fraser (4 January 1946 – 30 May 2020). He married Joanna North on 18 October 1975 and had three sons. *Hon. Alastair Hugh Joseph Fraser (14 November 1947 – 20 February 2011) married Drusilla Montgomerie on 1 May 1976 and had four children. Died of cancer at the age of 63. *Hon. Andrew Matthew Roy Fraser (24 February 1952 – 15 March 1994) married Lady Charlotte Greville, daughter of David Greville, 8th Earl of Warwick,"The Earl of Warwick"
obituary, '' The Herald'' (Glasgow), 27 January 1996, accessed 13 March 2024 and had two daughters: Daisy Rosamond Fraser (b. 1985) and Laura Alfreda Fraser (b. 1987). Died after being attacked by buffalo in Tanzania. The 15th Lord Lovat's first son and heir Simon Augustine Fraser, Master of Lovat, and his fourth son Andrew predeceased him in 1994 within days of each other. The 15th Lord Lovat then died a year later in 1995. The title then passed to his grandson Simon Christopher Fraser, who became the 16th Lord Lovat.

References

External links

British Army Officers 1939–1945The London Gazette (pdf format)

LOVAT, 17th Lord
''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012.
The Clan Currie Society's Tribute to Private Bill Millin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovat, Simon Fraser, 15th Lord 1911 births 1995 deaths Nobility from Highland (council area) Military personnel from Highland (council area) Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom British Army Commandos officers British Army brigadiers of World War II Clan Fraser Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Deputy lieutenants of Inverness-shire Scottish justices of the peace British recipients of the Legion of Honour Lovat Scouts officers Members of Inverness County Council People educated at Ampleforth College British recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) Recipients of the Military Cross Scots Guards officers Shinty players Tennant family Fraser, Simon Fraser, 7th Lord Lords Lovat Ministers in the Churchill caretaker government, 1945