Fenwick, Ian

Date of death:: August 7th, 1944
Buried on:: Commonwealth War Grave Chambon-la-Forêt
Row: D. Grave: 1.
Nationality:: British

Biography

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Mentioned in Dispatches

Period:: Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:: Major
Unit:: D Squadron, 1st SAS Regiment, Special Air Service (SAS), Combined Operations Headquarters, War Office, British Government
Awarded on:: May 10th, 1945
Awarded for:: Operation Gain

"Parachuted into France on the night of 16th/17th June 1944, with six men. Working on foot some thirty to fifty miles south of Paris, in the gap between the Loire and the Seine, they proceeded to blow up railway lines and, working with the French Resistance, Fenwick’s party derailed many trains. This was all occurring too near the Gestapo’s Paris stamping ground to be long tolerable, and finally a double agent enabled the Gestapo to raid Fenwick’s base. On the 7th August, 1944, the base was surrounded by a large enemy force. The base party was successful in breaking out, while Ian Fenwick was out on an operational patrol at the time. On his way back he received garbled reports which must have indicated that most of his party had been captured. It was in an attempt to relieve them immediately that, after successfully attacking an enemy column, he was ambushed in his jeep and killed instantaneously. Thus died a very gallant Englishman.”