Word Celebrity Blog

James Anthony Hibbert


James Anthony Hibbert was the son of a distinguished Royal Flying Corps pilot (three times winner of the Military Cross and a Distinguished Flying Cross),

Tony Hibbert was educated at Marlborough, but had to leave when he was 16, because of the Great Depression. He was sent to Germany by his employer. It took only a short while for Tony Hibbert to realize that Germany was one huge armed camp that was preparing for a war.

In 1935, Tony Hibbert packed his bags and left for England and home. He quit his job and started to cram for admission to the Royal Military Academy (RMA).



























Tony Hibbert completed studies the Royal Military Academy and was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in January 1938.  He later commanded a half-Battery of 15 AA Battery Regular Army in the British Expeditionary Force, equipped with obsolete guns that had been salvaged from a Russian Cruiser in 1917.





















With these guns, Tony Hibbert and his men defended the Northern perimeter of Dunkirk for the last four days of the siege. When the ammunition ran out on May 31, they had to destroy his guns.


























Tony Hibbert was later mentioned in despatches for his actions. He and his men were evacuated on an old Thames River Tug, the “Sun X” and they eventually reached Ramsgate where they were greeted by hordes of women volunteers who provided them with sustenance and good cheer.


















It took 10 days to collect the survivors of the Regiment in Aberystwyth, who were armed only with rifles and revolvers. All of the men in Tony Hibbert’s Battery volunteered to join anything that would get them back in the the war quickly. Tony Hibbert joined No. 2 (Parachute) Commando, the 'egg' out of which the Parachute Regiment was born. While he was serving with No 2 Commando, Tony Hibbert dumbfounded all of his fellow officers by conducting a night jump from the balloon in full mess kit and spurs! This fact was attested by both Cicely Paget-Bowman and Arthur Kellas.

Tony Hibbert  served with the Air Assault Brigade in North Africa and Italy as a Staff Officer and after completing a course at the Staff College, Camberley, he was posted to the 1st British Airborne Division as Brigade Major of No 1 Parachute Brigade in July 1944.  Soon after he was involved in planning for the Arnhem Operation and went to Airborne Corps HQ with his Brigade Staff to receive orders from General Browning.



























Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Arthur Montague Browning.


The idea for a parachute/glider-mounted attack in the Dutch Netherlands is said to have been General Montgomery’s, though it was backed by General Eisenhower, supreme commander of the allied forces, and Winston Churchill, Britain’s prime minister. The idea was a very good one, strategically speaking, but it failed to take heed of local advice about cleverly hidden German tank regiments between Nijmegen and Arnhem. In fact the allies decided to take no notice whatever of clear and accurate intelligence.  Clearly, in the minds of the planners lay the idea that if Arnhem should prove successful, it would raise the morale of the inading allies tremendously – as indeed it would have – had the Arnhem plan worked.

During the planning stages prior to Market Garden, Tony Hibbert had come into contact with his friend and chief opponent of Operation, Major Brian Urquhart.  Tony Hibbert regarded Major Brian Urquhart as being "highly strung but intelligent, and his fear for the 1st Airborne's safety were justified".

























Sir Brian Urquhart.


Tony Hibbert recollects -  "He (Major Brian Urquhart) took me into his office and he showed me photographs of German panzer IV's mainly, I think they were, tucked in underneath woods. And he went to General Browning and said that in his view Operation Market Garden could not succeed. They said that his nerve had broken, of course General Browning had every right to make his own judgement, my own view is that Major Brian Urguhart was a very brilliant chap, he knew what he was suggesting and that was the end of it." (One day, Brian Urguhart would become Undersecretary-General of the United Nations).

"Well my first reaction {to Operation Market Garden} was one of enormous enthusiasm and excitement because this was the first time that anyone on our side had contemplated the proper strategic use of airborne forces en masse. September 17th - an enormous feeling of excitement, and I think a lot of the ones who had fought in North Africa and realised just how tough the Germans could be were a bit skeptical, but in the main the rest were so fed up with being buggered about after 16 cancelled operations that they said "oh for christ's sake let's get on with it. Let's go. Let's do it."  The concept was brilliant and it could and should have worked and the war would have been ended six months earlier.



















Dropping by parachute and in gliders the divisions would land near the Dutch towns of Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem, to take the eight key bridges. The planners called this an 'airborne carpet', along which the advancing British armor of XXX corps could push through to Germany.

The airborne commander, General 'Boy' Browning, had just seven days to prepare for the operation. The information he was given on the German troops in the area, however, was alarming. It suggested that there were two SS Panzer divisions around Arnhem, with many tanks and vehicles.





















Major Tony Hibbert (left) before take off on Sunday September 17th.


Major Tony Hibbert recalls the bleak assessment of aerial photographs made by General Browning's intelligence officer, Major Brian Urguhart: "He showed me photographs of German Panzer 4's; mainly I think they were tucked in underneath woods. He went to General Browning, and said that in his view the operation could not succeed, because of the presence of these two divisions."

The deadline for canceling the operation was now close. General Browning had to weigh up the intelligence reports, which might be wrong. He decided that the operation would go ahead. The huge risks inherent in Operation Market Garden were now undermined by a series of dangerous compromises.

















There were too few aircraft to deliver all the airborne troops in one go. Therefore they would be dropped over three days. Anti-aircraft defences near Arnhem itself were thought to be too effective to land gliders near the town. The troops would be dropped at a site seven miles away, losing any element of surprise.

On September the 17th 1944 the Operation Market Garden started and so did the Battle for Arnhem. 35,000 Paratroopers were dropped in this largest airborne-operation in history. 10,000 men landed at Arnhem. Due to plane-shortages the division had to land in three parts, two brigades could land on of September 17.

These were the 1st Parachute - and the 1st Airlanding Brigade. These two brigade consisted of several units:

1st Airlanding Brigade consisted of:
    * 7th King's Own Scottish Borderers
    * 2 South Staffords
    * 1 Border

1st Parachute Brigade consisted of:
    * 1st Battalion
    * 2nd Battalion
    * 3rd Battalion






















It was decided that the Parachute Brigade would go to Arnhem. But the Reconnaissance Squadron had to go first, because they had fast jeeps. Unfortunately most Jeeps were hit by enemy-fire near a tunnel under the Railway Arnhem-Ede. The Bridge was not reached.

1st Battalion would go to Arnhem on the Amsterdamseweg, 3rd Battalion would go on the Utrechtseweg an 2nd Battalion would go on the Benedendorpsweg. The Germans noticed that the British troops were to capture the Arnhem Bridge.


























General Sepp Krafft.



Sepp Krafft, the German General of Battalion Krafft had less soldiers to defend all of the roads to Arnhem. He had to choose two of them. General Sepp Krafft choose the main roads: the Amsterdamseweg and the Utrechtseweg.  That's why the 2nd Battalion only reached the Brigde after the Railway Bridge was down.




















German SS troops advancing towards Arnhem on bicycles.


On the march to Arnhem Bridge, at the rear of the 2nd Battalion's column on the "Lion" Route, Brigade Headquarters saw a succession of visitors passing through during the hours when things began to go wrong. First Major General Urquhart arrived in search of Brigadier Lathbury, who had only recently raced up the column in the direction of the 2nd Battalion's Headquarters.



























As Major General Roy Urquhart drove after him he had shouted out, "Hibbert, for God's sake get your brigade moving or the bloody Germans will get to the bridge before us". Major Frederick Gough of the Reconnaissance Squadron arrived shortly after, who in turn was trying to find the General, but due to the communications failure Major Tony Hibbert was only able to inform him that his last known destination had been the 2nd Battalion, and so Major Gough left,  but he did not find the Divisional Commander General Urquhart.




















The Bridge over the Neder Rijn, at Arnhem.


Arriving at the Bridge at about 20:45,  Major Tony Hibbert conferred with Lieutenant Colonel Frost and they agreed to set up Brigade Headquarters in the large three story office building neighboring Lieutenant Colonel Frost's Headquarters.  Previously, this building had served as a hospital, but it was now the headquarters of the Provincial Roads and Waterways Department.  In these early stages there was so little of the 2nd Battalion at the Bridge that the arrival of Brigade Headquarters more than doubled their defensive strength, and so Major Tony Hibbert split his men up and posted them to buildings that would not only make for a more effective defense, but would also expand the perimeter out as far as possible.

Brigade Headquarters had managed to establish radio contact with Brigadier Gerald Lathbury, who was with Major General Roy Urquhart and the 3rd Battalion. Major Tony Hibbert informed him that the "Lion" Route had been largely free of opposition and suggested that it might be wise to move the 3rd Battalion onto it during the night.


























Brigadier Gerald Lathbury.


Brigadier Gerald Lathbury did not agree and instead took the decision, with Major General Roy Urquhart's approval, to rest the 3rd Battalion overnight before resuming the advance along the "Tiger" Route the following morning.





















General Robert Roy Urquhart.


With the loss of his Brigadier for the moment, Major Tony Hibbert immediately visited Lieutenant Colonel John Dutton Frost and gave him command of the forces at the Bridge.  The opposition ahead of the 3rd Battalion at this time was light, but with one company detached on a flanking maneuver and another fighting off German patrols in the rear,  the effective offensive strength of the Battalion at this time was small and so it was perhaps prudent to wait for those in the rear to catch up, before moving on.

























Lieutenant Colonel John Frost .



Major Tony Hibbert later said: "...they were fully engaged and they regressed for the night. Of course they'd only been fighting for about five hours and that's not the moment to start resting. It was a very unwise decision in my view."

At first light on Wednesday morning, the German artillery gunners south of the river began to demolish every church steeple protruding from the Arnhem landscape. It appeared that they suspected the British were using these 18th Century towers as observation posts. Throughout the battle, Major Tony Hibbert had believed that the Germans were using them for the same purpose. It was a relief for him to see the steeple go, but at the same time, he felt sad that such beautiful buildings had to be destroyed.





















Lieutenant Colonel John Dutton Frost.


Lieutenant Colonel Frost was badly wounded on Wednesday afternoon, and with the Colonel's approval , Major Tony Hibbert passed control of the Brigade to Major Frederick Gough. of the Brigade staff.  John Frost wrote: "The attic in which they laboured was hit repeatedly, but they never flagged. Tony Hibbert and Rex Byng-Maddock had to sit it out with as much cheerful resignation as they could muster, filling in time by taking turns at sniping whenever they had the chance".
(Major Frederick Gough was taken prisoner, when the force was overrun, but he escaped in April 1945, and joined up with the American Army in Bavaria.  He would later be elected to Parliment.)

(Following his capture, "Johnny" Frost was held as a prisoner of war at Spangenberg and later at a hospital in Obermassfeldt. He was freed when the area was overrun by United States Army troops in March 1945. He was awarded a Bar to his DSO on September 20, 1945 for his leadership at Arnhem)

Every hour Major Tony Hibbert updated his diary, and one of his entries for Wednesday reads "Two Mark IV tanks suddenly appeared round the corner and under cover, a 15cm gun was unloaded and pointed directly at Brigade Headquarters." As contact had been established with the Light Regiment's guns at Oosterbeek it would have been appropriate to request that they put some fire down on this threat, however the radio set in Brigade Headquarters picked the worst possible moment to break down. Major Tony Hibbert moved his men out of the attic, which minutes later was struck by three armour piercing shells fired from the south.  Shortly after one of the 2nd Battalion's mortars attached to "A" Company attacked the gun and put it out of action when one of their bombs struck the ammunition dump beside it, leaving a large crater where it had been.

"The tactic was to fire high explosive into the sides of the building to break the wall down then fire smoke shells through that, and of course the smoke shells have got phosphorus in them, the phosphorus sets light to anything inflammable in the house, and they then burned the perimeter down bit by bit over the period of the next 48 hours. Once the water ran out and the flames became uncontrollable then you had to get out of the building as quickly as you could and get into another one set that one up for defense."






















It was decided that the remnants of the 2nd Battalion would defend the bridge until they were overwhelmed. Meanwhile Major Tony Hibbert set about making a plan to break out the remainder in the hope of getting as many men as possible back to Oosterbeek.

























British paras search  Dutch school for German snipers..


In preparation for this he reconnoitered the northern end of the perimeter, where he was almost run down by a British Jeep driven by Germans. The break out force of approximately 120 was organized into just two platoons, each consisting of five sections, each under the command of an officer.






















Though exhausted and woefully short of ammunition, almost all of the men made it out and assembled as planned at a convent school 100 yards to the north of the perimeter.




















British POW's at Arnhem.

























One by one the sections set out, but almost everyone involved was captured before making much progress. Major Tony Hibbert led the last section away a few hours before dawn, but it quickly became apparent that the Germans had a stranglehold on the town and there was no way through.



















The men had advanced no further than the Cathedral, wich was only 300 yards north-west of the bridge,


























Major Tony Hibbert halted his group and instructed them to hide in the back garden of a house.  Most were barricaded by Major Tony Hibbert inside a bedroom. Two more hid inside a tool shed.  Major Munford of the Light Regiment shut himself inside a wooden crate, and Tony Hibbert with Tony Cotterell,  the War Correspondent,  hid themselves in a coal bin.  They were quickly discovered and dragged out.  All except 2 paratroopers were taken prisoner.

Major Tony Hibbert's experience as a prisoner of war lasted only days.  At 17:30 on Saturday, the 23rd, having being held at the temporary POW camp at Velp, Tony Hibbert and other captured officers were transported in an open lorry towards Munich.  As they were about to pass through Brummen,  Major Tony Hibbert gave a pronounced wink to Major Munford and, when the lorry had substantially reduced its speed, the pair jumped off.  Major Tony Hibbert came down hard on the road. His knees absorbed the shock of the landing and his face and eye received cuts in his tumbling.  He quickly got to his feet quickly and ran towards the nearest side street.  Major Munford set off in the opposite direction, but he was soon recaptured.  The tragedy of this escape attempt was that immediately after they had jumped, one of the German guards in the truck panicked and turned his Schmeisser on the other men in the truck.  A German soldier and four airborne men were killed outright.  Two airborne men were mortally wounded and died later.  Among the dead, was Tony Cotterell.   Major Tony Hibbert. when commenting on the tragedy, has always said “this is a burden I shall carry to my grave”.



















Rapidly weaving a random path over fences, through gardens, and down alleyways,  Major Tony Hibbert successfully evaded recapture, partly thanks to an unknown Dutchman who discreetly tracked Major Hibbert's progress and twice alerted him to the imminent presence of German soldiers. He did this by whistling "It's a Long Way to Tipperary".  The first time that Major Tony Hibbert heard the completely unexpected tune,  it made him stop dead in his tracks.  He quickly hid, and soon there appeared a German staff car minutes. Later he realized that if he had kept going in the direction he was heading he would have stumbled into a German Headquarters.

Having obtained a pair of rubber gym shoes at Velp in exchange for his heavy army boots, Major Tony Hibbert was able to move somewhat more covertly, With  the German troops searching the surrounding countryside for him, Tony Hibbert took refuge in the woodland. Carrying some apples he had stolen from an orchard, he kept moving until he  found a small farmhouse. He burrowed his way into the earth under a log pile and slept there until the morning.

His shelter of logs collapsed during the night, and Tony Hibbert was bruised, cut, and dazed. He also suffered from a lot of pain in his back which caused him much difficulty while walking. His knees were still weak because of his leap from the truck and his face was bloodied from the rough landing. One of his eyes was bruised enough that it was swollen shut.




















 Tony Hibbert rested himself further during the day and after dusk decided to knock on the door of the farmhouse. At first the farmer was suspicious of Major Tony Hibbert, but he eventually was convinced that he was an escaped British officer.

Tony Hibbert describes: " I pulled hard at the bell and tapped on the window and eventually a small circular window in the wall slid open and a very suspicious man stuck his head out and shone a torch on me. I felt conspicuous in the torchlight and retreated hastily behind a bush while trying to convince him in German, French and English that I was a British soldier and would be very grateful for their help. I was wearing a groundsheet and my face was covered in blood and bruises and dirt so the glimpse he'd had of me can't have been very reassuring." 

The farmer left to find someone who could speak English, while his wife prepared sandwiches and a large pot of hot coffee for their new guest.

For most of the next day, There was a small parade of curious neighbors visiting the farm. One of them was a representative of the resistance. Dick Tjeenk Willink verified Major Tony Hibbert's identity by means of a short but thorough interrogation, after which he offered Tony Hibbert shelter at his house in Brummen. The house was well equipped with hiding places. It had a fake floor in the attic where a man could lie on a mattress, and it also had a double partitioned wall behind a cupboard. Either of them could conceal Tony Hibbert at a moment's notice. He stayed at the Willink home for three weeks.

Tony Hibbert had come to the attention of Brigadier Lathbury, who was also in hiding and with the help of the Dutch Resistance. He was in touch with most all airborne men on the run. He was surprised that his Brigade Major was alive and in a house not more than half a mile from where he was based, in Ede, 15 miles west of Arnhem.

The pair were delighted to be reunited and they, with the help of Major Tatham-Warter and Lt-Colonel Dobie, began the action of reassembling the evading remnants of the 1st Airborne Division behind enemy lines. By this time Major Tony Hibbert had acquired some replacement clothing but had not thought about the overall appearance of his clothing. He was wearing a miss-match of type and color. His Movement about the area in such peculiar attire drew little attention since the local population were at the stage where they had to accept what clothes they could find.

Originally it had been planned that these airborne men would act as a commando force for any further Allied attempt to cross the Rhine.  When it became clear that that the Allies were not going to cross the Rhine, there was no other choice  but to plan for the mass escape of this group, which had now reached numberers in the hundreds.

























The grave of an unknown Allied airborne soldier at Arnhem.


"Operation Pegasus" was put into action on October 22.  Tatham-Warter, the leader of this plan, spoke with Major Tony Hibbert the day before to inform him that he was to command the party at the rear of their withdrawal.

From here, he and his sixty men would be taken to Oud Reemst, from where they would commandeer two trucks, each designed only to accommodate 10 men, and drive them to Renkum, where they would unload and proceed to the river bank on foot.  Major Tony Hibbert.  being, like most men, more cautious than Tatham-Warter,  feared that the idea of moving 120 men to the Rhine through heavy German defenses would most likely fail,  however he was also aware that there was little else that could be done.

Tony Hibbert hollowed out the heel of his boot and placed inside a list of all those men who had been taken prisoner at Arnhem bridge, as well as plans of German gun emplacements in the local area.



















Major Tony Hibbert set up his headquarters outside of Oud Reemst, inside a hut in a wooded clearing. Throughout the day his men began to assemble, all wearing at least parts of a British uniform, and a number of them were armed. After dark, two Chevrolet trucks were delivered, though the patchwork surgery that had been carried out on them over the years ensured that they bore little resemblance to the time when they had rolled off the production line.

Tony Hibbert describes the escape: "On the night of the escape, I was in charge of a group of 60 who were due to rendezvous in a hut in the middle of the forest. I was delighted, when the last party came in, to find that it was led by Tony Deane-Drummond, safely escaped from his cupboard. We changed into uniform in the hut and collected and cleaned our weapons. A wonderful Dutch Resistance leader called Wolff appeared out of the darkness with two magnificent old charcoal-burning lorries for transport. The lorries were open, with sides about two feet deep, and as we were all in British uniforms, and with our weapons, it seemed unwise to be seen sitting boldly upright in the lorries. We found a great pile of potato sacks in the hut and I ordered everyone to lie face down in the lorries in two layers: the people at the bottom would have a rough old ride as the lorries had few, if any, springs! Then we would lay the potato sacks on the top. There was some reluctance to volunteer for the bottom layer."

"The Dutch drivers took us all the way through the woods to Renkum past two German posts where we were stopped and then down to about a mile short of the river. We stopped in a little lay-by, and I went round to the back and said, 'Everybody out, and keep bloody quiet because there are German posts all round here.' Needless to say — you know what British troops are — there was a certain amount of 'Fuck you', 'Christ, watch out…', 'Prison camp would be better than this!' While they were getting out and making too much noise a German cycle patrol came along with a lot of tinkling of bicycle bells and cries of ‘Raus! 'Raus!'. When the troops heard all this tinkling of bicycle bells they politely stood to one side, and allowed them to pass. The patrol didn't seem to notice a thing! We then had to make our way in pitch darkness, led by Dutch guides, to the crossing point of the river about two miles away. This entailed moving between German posts no more than 50 yards apart in places, it was a heavily protected area. Digby Tatham-Warter told the escape party, 'Now, you have got to hold onto the coat, or whatever, of the man in front and don't for God's sake let go. The important thing is to be absolutely silent — the Germans are only a few yards on either side and there are 130 of us to get through.' Well, we were climbing over hedges and dropping down ditches about eight feet deep and climbing up the other side; it was difficult to do it in silence. The Germans must have heard us, probably saw us, but maybe they felt that anyone who was making such an enormous amount of noise must be one of their own patrols. Either that, or there were so many of us that they felt the sensible thing to do was to keep quiet, because if they started shooting they would probably get shot at even harder. However, the moment we got down to the river we ran into a German patrol. This time we fired and they disappeared pretty rapidly."

Surprised that they had gotten as far as they had, Tony Hibbert had expected a German patrol to ambush them at any moment, however "Pegasus" was a complete success and all of the men were evacuated without alerting the enemy.

"Exactly at midnight a Bofors went off over the river, we shone our torch back, and the assault boats came and took us over. On the other side we were ferried away by jeeps along a road parallel to the water. I volunteered to sit right on the front bonnet to guide the driver as, of course, there were no lights. We were going fairly fast when the driver went slap into another jeep coming from the opposite direction. I moved my legs and feet or they would have been chopped off at the knee. As it was, I just raised them in time, did a triple somersault, landed in the road and bust my leg, and spent the next five months in hospital. So a thoroughly unsatisfactory battle ended in a thoroughly unsatisfying anti­climax."



The British Parachute Survivors

Only some 2,500 eventually made the crossing. The Parachute division had left behind nearly 1,500 dead, and more than 6,500 prisoners, many of them were badly wounded.

In 2001, Tony Hibbert appeared on the BBC's Battlefields program, speaking about his memories of  Arnhem.

In 1945, As a result of his involvement with "Pegasus", Major Tony Hibbert was awarded the Military Cross for his gallant actions at the bridge and during the subsequent escape. In 2009 he donated this MC to the Hartenstein Museum at Oosterbeek in recognition of the acts of heroism performed by the Dutch in sheltering and aiding the beleaguered remnants of the British Airborne Division.

Every year Major Tony Hibbert specially goes to Brummen to remember his fallen comrades.  In 1999 it was because of the 55 year Rememberance of the Battle of Arnhem,  we had invited a small group of British veterans, amongst them was Bob Dare of the Guards Armoured Div (XXX Corps),  the men of the Dutch Underground,  the family of the 6 men who where killed, and others for a special ceremony.



























The 6 men who where KIA and buried in Enschede are:
S. Allen, pvt (20 years old)
J.A. Cotterel, Major (27 years old)
G.E. McCracken, pvt. (29 years old)
T.V.P. McNabb, Lt. (22 years old)
K.S. Mills, Lt. (21 years old)
H.A. Platt, Capt. (30 years old)

“This is a burden I shall carry to my grave” - Tony Hibbert.



“T” Force Kiel and End of Military Career

"T" Force Creation

The Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) under General Dwight Eisenhower issued a directive to create T-Forces soon after the Normandy Landings.  T-Forces were ordered to "identify, secure, guard and exploit valuable and special information, including documents, equipment and persons of value to the Allied armies".  T-Force units were attached to the three army groups on the western front; the Sixth United States Army Group,  21st Army Group and 12th Army Group.  The targets of the T-Force were selected and recommended by the Combined Intelligence Objectives Subcommittee (CIOS).  T-Force units were lightly armed and highly mobile.


T-Force units accompanied combat units when capturing industrial plants, or arrived soon afterward to take control of them.  They had to prevent any looting or sabotaging in the plants, and were responsible for ensuring that key personnel did not escape and no documents were removed.  Once the T-Force took control of a plant, the Combined Intelligence Objectives Subcommittee (CIOS) would be informed of it, and investigators were sent there immediately.



T-Force was an elite British Army force which operated during the final stages of World War II.  Originally used to secure and exploit targets that could provide valuable intelligence of scientific and military value,  they were later tasked with seizing Nazi German scientists and businessmen in the aftermath of VE Day.  One of its operations was Operation Eclipse, under Major Tony Hibbert, to seize Kiel.  The operations of the T-Force were among the largest "exploitation operations" carried out by the allies.

After his discharge from hospital Major Tony Hibbert commanded  “T” Force-Kiel, which  was tasked to prevent the Russian Army taking Kiel and Denmark, which was contrary to the Yalta Agreement.  With a force of 500 men he succeeded in this task.

























Major Tony Hibbert,  pictured in the war years.


A notable achievement of the T-Force was the seizing of Kiel on May 4, 1945. The Allied troops had been ordered not to move north past Bad Segeberg by this time.  However, a T-Force group led by Major Tony Hibbert was given permission to advance to Kiel and seize the targets there.  Not knowing that this permission was given in error,  the T-Force moved into Kiel unopposed,  and took control of their assigned targets.  A strong German force was present in the city, which was reluctant to surrender when asked by the T-Force, until Admiral Karl Dönitz instructed them to do so.

Operation Eclipse's success meant the Western Allies captured a swathe of Germany's Baltic coast as the Soviet Union marched on central Europe.  It involved Major Hibbert's team operating deep behind enemy lines to seize the port,  which then forced the surrender of the larger garrison.  To undertake his dangerous mission Major Tony Hibbert was forced to disobey orders.




















Kiel today.


Major Tony Hibbert had received an instruction that had apparently come from the American president to "take Kiel, hold it and stop the Russians". But his duty officer ordered him to ignore the order as it was behind enemy lines and too dangerous.  Major Hibbert ignored his duty officer's orders - "for the first time in my life".

He said: "I was given no explanation, but I was told the order had come direct from Eisenhower and the other allied leaders, so I presumed it was very serious. It was only later I discovered that the Russians had decided to break the Yalta agreement and to march on to take Denmark. They wanted an ice free port. If they had succeeded there is no doubt that World War III would have started before World War II had finished."

During World War II, Kiel remained one of the major naval bases and shipbuilding center of the German Reich. There was also slave labor for the local industry. 


















The Prinz Eugen at the Krupp Yard in Kiel.

















The Admiral Hipper - A heavy cruiser (approximately 18,000 tons) in the German Navy, was commissioned in April of 1939.   It was destroyed in Kiel, during the very last days of WWII on May 3, 1945.

Because of its status as a naval port and as production site for submarines, Kiel was heavily bombed by the Allies during World War II. The Bombing of destroyed 80% of the remaining old town, 72% of the central residential areas, and 83% of the industrial areas.

During the RAF bombing of July 23-24, 1944, Luftwaffe fighters tried to intercept the spoof force instead of the main force attacking Keil, and after the bombing there was no water for 3 days; trains and buses did not run for 8 days and there was no gas available for cooking for 3 weeks.



















Leaving the Dock at Kiel and moving down the Canal.


















German U-Boats at Kiel.



















The Kiel War Cemetery.


Nearly 1,000 fallen Allied military men of the forces of the British Commonwealth were laid to rest.  Soldiers from Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Poland are buried here, as well as casualties from nine other countries.


























Admiral Karl Doenitz


Once the T-Force arrived in Kiel, the commanders searched for Admiral Karl Doenitz, the commander of the German fleet. He had taken over from Adolf Hitler following his suicide.  Major Tony Hibbert was in plaster cast and on crutches at the time.

One of his first ports of call was at German Naval Headquarters in Kiel.  Major Tony Hibbert said: "A German naval officer stood at the top of the steps watching me with disgust.  I put up my hands and said, "I have come to help you end this war". He helped me up the stairs and within 10 minutes agreed to the surrender of the German west Baltic fleet and troops in Schleswig-Holstein state and Denmark."



























Admiral Karl Dönitz, signs unconditional surrender documents.


The town, its port, the canal and its scientists were seized by the British T-Force under Tony Hibbert just after the German surrender to the western Allies to stop them and access to Denmark falling into Russian hands, despite it being beyond the stop-line set by the surrender.

"The mission was successful because we stopped the Russians who wanted to take Kiel, Denmark and, as I discovered only recently, Norway too." - Major Tony Hibbert.


























In 1947,  Tony Hibbert was discharged from the Army on Medical Grounds with a Tax Free Disability Pension and went into business.


Post War

After a short and successful career in business, Tony Hibbert retired in 1967 and created a new Dinghy International Development Class and founded the Salterns Sailing Club for children in Lymington which still flourishes today.




















In 1981 Tony and his wife Eira bought Trebah a house nestling on the edge of the Helford estuary in Cornwall.  Although Tony and Eira knew nothing about gardening they were persuaded to give up their retirement to restore the 26 acre grounds.

















 It took the Hibbert's five years to clear away the fallen trees, rubbish and accumulated neglect.


The family then set up the Trebah Garden Trust, a registered charity, and donated the garden, house and Trebah Lodge to the Trust.





















Trebah is now one of the major visitor attractions in Cornwall, attracting over 100,000 visitors every year.





































Trebah through the foresight and hard work of the Hibbert family has been secured for future generations to enjoy.




















 As a recognised authority on Arnhem he formed part of a team of veterans who gave talks to the students of the Army Staff College on their battlefield tours at Arnhem up until 1996.

Tony Hibbert was awarded the MBE for his contributions to Tourism and Sailing in 2006.

Along with Major John Waddy, he continued this role when the tours were restarted by the Army Division of the Defence Academy in 2008.


 Major Tony Hibbert Receives 
The Great Seal of The City of Kiel




















Following representation from the 5th Battalion, Kings (Liverpool) Regiment / 2d T-Force OCA, to recognize his achievements in securing a peaceful transfer of power in Kiel and leading a small British unit of just A and B Companies of 5th Battalion, King's, Major Hibbert MBE MC received the Great Seal of the City of Kiel on June 19, 2010, at his home at Trebah Gardens, from the hands of the Honorary German Consul to Devon/Cornwall, Mrs Angela Spatz.

***

The Daily Mail printed the following:

A soldier who seized a key German port during World War II has become the first Englishman to be given the freedom of a city - in Germany.  Major Tony Hibbert, 92, led a team of 500 commandos as part of Operation Eclipse to take Kiel in May, 1945.

The men secured the port which led to the surrender of a large German garrison and stopped Kiel falling into Soviet hands.

Major Tony Hibbert received the Great Seal of Kiel from the German Consul for Devon and Cornwall, Angela Spatz.

The highly decorated officer commanded the mixed naval and army T Force which penetrated 70 miles behind enemy lines and held the city of Kiel for three days, during which time he kept 420,000 foreign workers safe. It also allowed the Allied forces to secure the whole of Denmark and seize all the Nazis there.

Major Hibbert, of Falmouth, Cornwall, has now been awarded the Great Seal of Kiel for his part in the vital mission.

Tony Hibbert said: "This honor is one of the most important things in my life. Any of us who fought through five years of war were only too pleased get the peace going. ?I gather I am the first Englishman to receive it and the fact that I've received it for when I was fighting an action in the war against the Germans, I think it means so much.  I never expected any particular 'thank you' from them, so this is beyond belief. It means a lot."

Operation Eclipse's success meant the Western Allies captured a swathe of Germany's Baltic coast as the Soviet

Union marched on central Europe. It involved Major Hibbert's team operating deep behind enemy lines to seize the port, which then forced the surrender of the larger garrison.

The major - who has also been awarded the Military Cross - said he was on crutches at the time of the action because he had suffered an injury.

The award was presented to him at his home by Angela Spatz, the Honorary Consul for Germany in Devon and Cornwall.

She said: "It was a great pleasure to present the award on behalf of the citizens of Kiel. He certainly saved many lives on both sides."

***

What Major Tony Hibbert and his men achieved was quite remarkable. With just 500 men, Hibbert took Kiel and all

the required scientific bases between Denmark and the city. He then set about establishing his authority in the

city. All German soldiers had to return to their barracks and hand in their rifles. All keys held by German

military officials had to be handed in and no documents were allowed to be destroyed by them. What Hibbert found

was that the German troops in Kiel had no wish to fight and that they feared the approaching Red Army far more

than Major Hibbert’s men.

Major Hibbert allowed German police to keep their pistols as many forced labourers were released and Hibbert needed law and order in the city if he was to achieve what he set out to do – not a city under mob rule as the former slave labourers tried to seek revenge against those who had abused them. Major Tony Hibbert succeeded in all that he did. Kiel was in the hands of the Allies and a clear message was sent to Moscow.

Tony Hibbert only problem came when he was arrested for disobeying an order – by the British! The corps commander in the area, General Barker, where Major Tony Hibbert’s 500 men had gathered before leaving for Kiel had ordered that Major Hibbert could only move out at 08.00. Hibbert wanted to move under cover of darkness and left at 03.00.

Tony Hibbert was held in custody until May 9th, when he had to have an interview with General Barker.  The interview ended with General Barker telling Major Tony Hibbert that he was “not a bloody commando” and then promptly recommended that he be Mentioned in Dispatches for what he had achieved.


























In Tony Hibbert's words, “My military career ended in pleasing symmetry as I had also been placed under arrest by my Battery Commander on the day war was declared. I am pleased to say that after both arrests I was absolved from blame and each time was awarded a Mention in Despatches by my arrestor!”

Old soldiers gathered in the glorious weekend sunshine to remember historic events. The military men met at Trebah gardens, near Falmouth, Cornwall, on Saturday to mark a key anniversary from the Second World War and accept honors.


















Major Tony Hibbert receiving his special medal at the weekend ceremony.


















Major Tony Hibbert, left, with Ken Moore who was a soldier in the 5th Kings under his command during Operation Eclipse.


Major Tony Hibbert, owner of Trebah, was one of five local veterans of the ill-fated Battle of Arnhem to be warded medals from the Dutch government to thank them for their part in liberating the country.

And for American Steve Melnikoff, it was the first time he had returned to the Westcountry beach from which he set off 65 years ago to take part in the D-Day landings.


























After receiving the medal, Major Hibbert remembered the events of September 1944 when he landed in Arnhem with the 1st Paratroop Brigade. "We landed in woodland and for the first two-and-a-half hours of marching, there was no sign of the enemy. All the Dutch came rushing out in tears because they were so happy to be liberated – they gave us apples and jam."

He led his men at the Battle of Arnhem, subject of the epic film "A Bridge Too Far."  

"We lost the battle and I was taken prisoner, but managed to escape and join the Dutch underground."

The other men to receive the award from the Dutch were Bill Huggett of Cury, George Humphreys of Falmouth, Ken Fleet of Wadebridge, Tom Bowden of Reawla, and Matt McIntyre now living in Truro, who came over from New Zealand in 1940 to join the RAF as a pilot.

Mr Melnikoff, 89, was a private in the 29th Division of the US army when he set off from the small beach at Trebah gardens. He was travelling with his son, daughter and son-in-law, Mr Melnikoff was amazed to find hundreds of people ready to greet him at the Trebah Military Day. It was the first time Mr Melnikoff had returned to the Westcountry since leaving on June 1, 1944. Mr Melnikoff, who was presented with a baton by the Red Devils parachute team, said: "It brings back memories but we are able to separate the good from the bad."





















The honor guard 2006 -  In front of the Postoffice (now Hotel ? The Old Postoffice"),  2nd of left Mr Prüst (Dutch resistance),  next to him is Major Anthony Hibbert.


Major Hibbert, 92, who pays a yearly visit to Holland, said he was amazed by the hospitality shown both now and during the war. "At the time, they took us into their families and treated us like their own sons – that has not stopped for the past 65 years."


























He remains active in the Airborne Forces community and is the President of the Royal Cornwall Branch of the PRA.

























Tony Hibbert currently resides in Cornwall with Christopher, his eldest son.