For Steen Ammentorp

liverpool annie · Aug 23, 2009

I came across this looking for AB Williams ... thought I'd post just in case you don't have him !!

Brigadier Reginald Miles CBE, DSO & Bar, MC

Born in December 1892 at Springston, near Christchurch, Reginald Miles served as an artillery captain and was first wounded at Gallipoli in July 1915. He demonstrated courage and professionalism in France and received the Military Cross for his service as an artillery office at the battle of the Somme in 1916. Just a year later he was promoted to Major and given command of his own howitzer battery. In 1918, he undertook a daring reconnaissance mission at Ploegsteert Wood and was wounded by sniper fire. This earned him a DSO and, after he recovered from his wound, he returned to active service as Brigade Major of the Divisional Field Artillery.

Following the end of WWI, Miles returned to New Zealand and took command of Wellingtons harbour defences. He attended the Staff College at Camberley, England, in 1924 and then took a number of specialist artillery courses - becoming one of New Zealands leading artillery experts in the field.

In 1938, with war again on the horizon, Miles - regarded as an able commander and a capable staff officer - was selected to attend London's Imperial Defence College. He was then attached to the War Office for three months as New Zealand Military Liaison Officer and, upon returning to New Zealand, was appointed third military member of the Army Board and became Quartermaster General - taking a leading role in preparations for war. The following January he was seconded to the 2NZEF as Commander of the Divisional Artillery, with the rank of Brigadier.

In May 1940 he was given command of the United Kingdom Section of 2NZEF, deployed to counter the threatened German invasion. The following year the Divisional Artillery was posted to Greece, where Miles had to determine how best to deploy his stretched resources to defend Olympus Pass. He later organised their withdrawal and evacuation in the face of the German advance and, for his service, was mentioned in dispatches and received the Greek Military Cross (first class).

Hospitalised for exhaustion, Miles missed the Crete campaign but rejoined his division in North Africa. In 1941 he again demonstrated his skill and courage during the campaign to relieve Tobruk. The regiment lost around 275 men - the heaviest casualties suffered by a New Zealand artillery unit in a single action during WWII. Miles, who felt his guns had been needlessly sacrificed due to misunderstandings between the division and corps headquarters, was wounded by shrapnel and taken prisoner.

Interned at a high-security prison for senior Allied Officers in a mountain fortress near Florence, Miles set about devising a way to escape. In March 1943, after five months tunnelling under the castle walls with a kitchen knife and iron bars, Miles - along with fellow New Zealand Brigadier James Hargest - escaped, reaching Switzerland and making their way to Spain with the help of the French Resistance.

This daring escape made Miles a CBE and earned him a bar to his DSO.
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Steen Ammentorp · Aug 23, 2009

Thanks - though I already got him

Sadly this gallant officer took his own life in a state of depression after reaching Spain in October 1943

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