Paddy Mayne
Encyclopedia
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Blair "Paddy" Mayne DSO
& Three Bars
(11 January 1915 – 14 December 1955) was a Northern Irish
soldier
, solicitor
, Ireland rugby union
international, amateur boxer, polar explorer and a founding member of the Special Air Service
(SAS).
market town
of Newtownards
, the second youngest of seven children. The Mayne family were prominent landowners who owned several retail businesses in the town. He was named Robert Blair after a second cousin, who at the time of his birth was a British Army
officer serving in World War I
. The family home, Mount Pleasant, is situated on the hills above Newtownards. A paternal ancestor was Gordon Turnbull, who led the famous Scotland Forever Charge at Waterloo
.
He attended Regent House Grammar School
. It was there that his talent for rugby union
became evident, and he played for the school 1st XV and also the local Ards RFC
team from the age of 16. While at school he also played cricket
and golf
, and showed aptitude as a marksman
in the rifle club. On leaving school he studied law at Queen's University of Belfast
, studying to become a solicitor. While at university he took up boxing
, becoming Irish Universities Heavyweight Champion in August 1936. He followed this by reaching the final of the British Universities Heavyweight Championship, but was beaten on points. With a handicap of 8, he won the Scrabo Golf Club President's Cup the next year.
Mayne's first full Ireland
cap also came in 1937, in a match against Wales
. After gaining five more caps for Ireland as a lock forward, Mayne was selected for the 1938 British Lions tour to South Africa
. While the Lions
lost the first test, a South Africa
n newspaper stated Mayne was "outstanding in a pack which gamely and untiringly stood up to the tremendous task". He played in seventeen of the twenty provincial matches and in all three tests. On returning from South Africa he joined Malone RFC
in Belfast.
In early 1939 he graduated from Queen's and joined George Maclaine & Co in Belfast, having been articled to TCG Mackintosh for the five previous years. Mayne won praise during the three Ireland matches he played in 1939, with one report stating "Mayne, whose quiet almost ruthless efficiency is in direct contrast to O'Loughlin's exuberance, appears on the slow side, but he covers the ground at an extraordinary speed for a man of his build, as many a three quarter and full back have discovered."
His legal and sporting careers were cut short by the outbreak of World War II
.
, in 8th Anti-Aircraft Regiment, later 8th (Belfast) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment. When the battery was assigned to 9th Anti-Aircraft Regiment (later 9th (Londonderry) Heavy AA Regiment) for overseas' service, Mayne was transferred out to 66th Light AA Regiment in Northern Ireland. Then, in April 1940, he was transferred again, this time to the Royal Ulster Rifles
. Following Churchill's
call to form a "butcher and bolt" raiding force following the evacuation of Dunkirk, Mayne volunteered for the newly formed No. 11 (Scottish) Commando
. He first saw action in June 1941 as a lieutenant with 11 Commando, successfully leading his men during the Litani River operation
in Lebanon
against Vichy French Forces
.
His leadership on the raid had attracted the attention of Captain David Stirling
who recruited him as one of the early members of the Special Air Service
(SAS). From November 1941 through to the end of 1942, Mayne participated in many night raids deep behind enemy lines in the deserts of Egypt
and Libya
, where the SAS wrought havoc by destroying many enemy aircraft on the ground.
Following Stirling's capture in January 1943, 1st SAS Regiment was reorganised into two separate parts, the Special Raiding Squadron and the Special Boat Section (the forerunner of the Special Boat Service
). As a major, Mayne was appointed to command the Special Raiding Squadron and led the unit in Sicily and Italy until the end of 1943. In January 1944 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel
and appointed commanding officer
of the re-formed 1st SAS Regiment. He subsequently led the SAS with great distinction through the final campaigns of the war in France
, the Netherlands
, Belgium
, Germany
and Norway
, often campaigning alongside local resistance fighters including the French Maquis
.
During the course of the war he became one of the British Army's
most highly decorated soldiers and received the Distinguished Service Order
with three bars, one of only seven British servicemen to receive that award four times during World War II. Mayne pioneered the use of military Jeep
s to conduct surprise hit-and-run raids, particularly on enemy airfields. By the end of the war it was claimed that he had personally destroyed 130 aircraft but there is no real evidence to support this claim.
In recognition of his leadership and personal disregard for danger while in France, in which he trained and worked closely with the French Resistance
, Mayne received the second bar to his DSO. Additionally, the post-war French Government awarded him the Legion d'honneur
and the Croix de Guerre
.
It has often been questioned why Mayne was not awarded a Victoria Cross
. In 1945 Mayne was recommended for a VC, but the accuracy of the citation has been questioned by those present, one of whom noted that his account of the incident had been altered considerably and that the final version, signed by the Canadian commander of 4th Canadian Armoured Division, Christopher Vokes, had a whiff of 'bullshit' about it. Mayne was supposed 'single-handedly' to have rescued a squadron of his troops, trapped by heavy gunfire near the town of Oldenburg
in North West Germany
. However, he was not alone and, although the citation comments that Mayne rescued the wounded, lifting them one by one into his Jeep before destroying the enemy gunners in a nearby farmhouse, this is also doubtful. However, the VC recommendation was signed by Field Marshal
Bernard Montgomery, commander of the Allied 21st Army Group, although Mayne instead received a fourth DSO. To this day there are some who believe that he should receive a post-dated VC (sometimes described as posthumous, incorrectly as he was not killed as a result of the incident).
Major General Sir Robert Laycock
, Post War Chief of Combined Operations, wrote :
An Early Day Motion
put before the House of Commons
in June 2005 and supported by more than 100 MPs also stated that:
in the Falkland Islands
, cut short by a crippling back complaint that had begun during his army days, Mayne returned to Newtownards to work first as a solicitor
and then as Secretary to the Law Society of Northern Ireland
. Suffering severe back pain, which even prevented him from watching his beloved rugby as a spectator, and ill at ease with the mundanity of post-war life among provincial lawyers, Mayne became reserved and isolated, rarely talking about his wartime service. He went on frequent drinking sprees and caused considerable havoc, hospitalising so many policemen that it was feared that he would kill an officer.
On 13 December 1955 he was drinking and playing poker in a pub not far from his home in Newtownards, then left and went on to a friend's house where he drank some more. He drove homewards in his Riley sports car at 4am. The car collided with a lorry parked with no lights in the middle of the road a short distance from his home; Mayne died hours later.
During the 1938 Lions tour it is said that Mayne relaxed by "wrecking hotels and fighting dockers". Some say that he was under arrest for knocking out his Commanding Officer when David Stirling
came to recruit him for the SAS, although there is no evidence that Mayne was placed under arrest or faced the prospect of a court martial.
Many urban legend
s of his post-war years exist in Belfast
and Newtownards. These mostly tell of incidents in which, after drinking for several hours, Mayne would challenge every man in the bar to a fight, which he would invariably win. Other accounts describe him as a courageous leader of his men and a ferocious opponent. Mayne is also described as growing increasingly withdrawn as the war progressed, preferring books to the company of friends. This tendency was said to have become more marked after the death of his father during World War II. Mayne was refused leave to attend the funeral and a apocryphal story has him embarking on a drinking binge and rampage in central Cairo
in an effort to find and beat up Richard Dimbleby
. In the course of this, Mayne is said to have smashed up a half-dozen restaurants, beat up a squad of Redcaps
and a Provost Marshal
. This incident has also been proven to be false when Richard Dimbleby had actually been in London for 9 months prior to the supposed incident. Michael Asher
in his history of the early SAS, believed this to be an exaggeration or confabulation of several incidents.
Mayne was inclined to remonstrate with colleagues in the armed services who showed little or no understanding of the complex politics of Northern Ireland.
, and the western bypass of the town is also named in his honour.
In 2003 a temporary British Army base in Kuwait
, occupied by the first battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment, was named after him - Camp Blair Mayne. It was there that Lieutenant Colonel Tim Collins
, 1 Battalion, the Royal Irish Regiment's commanding officer (himself a former SAS officer), gave his celebrated address to his troops on the eve of the 2003 invasion of Iraq
.
A film of Blair Mayne's life has long been mooted. Eddie Irvine
has become executive producer for the film. Three books have been written about Mayne, the first being Colonel Paddy by Patrick Marrinan (1960). Rogue Warrior of the SAS: the Blair Mayne legend was written by Roy Bradford and Martin Dillon
(1989, updated 2003) features a foreword by David Stirling. Paddy Mayne by Hamish Ross (2004) has sought to debunk the numerous myths and legends concerning Mayne's character and exploits, preferring a more circumspect account based on tangible evidence. Ross's book is the only biography endorsed by the Mayne family. Another book, SAS: The History of the Special Raiding Squadron: Paddy's Men by Stewart McClean was published in early 2006.
Stirling's Men: the inside history of the SAS in World War Two, by Gavin Mortimer [Cassell, 2004], also features extensive accounts, both of Mayne's exploits and of his character, by many soldiers who served with him in the SAS.
- 24 February 1942, 21 October 1943, 29 March 1945, 11 October 1945
Légion d'Honneur
(France)
Croix de Guerre avec palme
(France)
Mention in Despatches - 24 February 1942
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
& Three Bars
Medal bar
A medal bar or medal clasp is a thin metal bar attached to the ribbon of a military decoration, civil decoration, or other medal. It is most commonly used to indicate the campaign or operation the recipient received the award for, and multiple bars on the same medal are used to indicate that the...
(11 January 1915 – 14 December 1955) was a Northern Irish
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
soldier
Soldier
A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
, solicitor
Solicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
, Ireland rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
international, amateur boxer, polar explorer and a founding member of the Special Air Service
Special Air Service
Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
(SAS).
Early life and sporting achievements
Robert Blair "Paddy" Mayne was born in the County DownCounty Down
-Cities:*Belfast *Newry -Large towns:*Dundonald*Newtownards*Bangor-Medium towns:...
market town
Market town
Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...
of Newtownards
Newtownards
Newtownards is a large town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. Newtownards is the largest town in the Borough of Ards. According to the 2001 Census, it has a population of 27,821 people in...
, the second youngest of seven children. The Mayne family were prominent landowners who owned several retail businesses in the town. He was named Robert Blair after a second cousin, who at the time of his birth was a British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
officer serving in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. The family home, Mount Pleasant, is situated on the hills above Newtownards. A paternal ancestor was Gordon Turnbull, who led the famous Scotland Forever Charge at Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
.
He attended Regent House Grammar School
Regent House Grammar School
Regent House Grammar School is a co-ed voluntary grammar school situated in Newtownards, County Down, Northern Ireland. It comprises two parts: the preparatory department, known as "the Prep" and the main school itself...
. It was there that his talent for rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
became evident, and he played for the school 1st XV and also the local Ards RFC
Ards RFC
Ards RFC is a rugby club based in Newtownards, County Down, Northern Ireland. It is affiliated to the Ulster Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union. The club currently fields five adult teams and an under-20 team. Three youth teams also play at under-18, under-16 and under-14 levels...
team from the age of 16. While at school he also played cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
and golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, and showed aptitude as a marksman
Marksman
A marksman is a person who is skilled in precision, or a sharpshooter shooting, using projectile weapons, such as with a rifle but most commonly with a sniper rifle, to shoot at long range targets...
in the rifle club. On leaving school he studied law at Queen's University of Belfast
Queen's University of Belfast
Queen's University Belfast is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The university's official title, per its charter, is the Queen's University of Belfast. It is often referred to simply as Queen's, or by the abbreviation QUB...
, studying to become a solicitor. While at university he took up boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
, becoming Irish Universities Heavyweight Champion in August 1936. He followed this by reaching the final of the British Universities Heavyweight Championship, but was beaten on points. With a handicap of 8, he won the Scrabo Golf Club President's Cup the next year.
Mayne's first full Ireland
Ireland national rugby union team
The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...
cap also came in 1937, in a match against Wales
Wales national rugby union team
The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...
. After gaining five more caps for Ireland as a lock forward, Mayne was selected for the 1938 British Lions tour to South Africa
1938 British Lions tour to South Africa
The 1938 British Isles tour to South Africa was the fourteenth tour by a British Isles team and the sixth to South Africa. The tour is retrospectively classed as one of the British Lions tours, as the Lions naming convention was not adopted until 1950....
. While the Lions
British and Irish Lions
The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team made up of players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales...
lost the first test, a South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n newspaper stated Mayne was "outstanding in a pack which gamely and untiringly stood up to the tremendous task". He played in seventeen of the twenty provincial matches and in all three tests. On returning from South Africa he joined Malone RFC
Malone RFC
Malone RFC is a rugby union club based in Belfast, in Northern Ireland. It is currently in the Second Division of the All-Ireland League. The club is affiliated with the Ulster Branch, itself part of the Irish Rugby Football Union...
in Belfast.
In early 1939 he graduated from Queen's and joined George Maclaine & Co in Belfast, having been articled to TCG Mackintosh for the five previous years. Mayne won praise during the three Ireland matches he played in 1939, with one report stating "Mayne, whose quiet almost ruthless efficiency is in direct contrast to O'Loughlin's exuberance, appears on the slow side, but he covers the ground at an extraordinary speed for a man of his build, as many a three quarter and full back have discovered."
His legal and sporting careers were cut short by the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
World War II
In March 1939, prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, Mayne had joined the Supplementary Reserve in Newtownards and received a commission in the Royal Artillery, being posted to 5 Light Anti-Aircraft BatteryArtillery battery
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...
, in 8th Anti-Aircraft Regiment, later 8th (Belfast) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment. When the battery was assigned to 9th Anti-Aircraft Regiment (later 9th (Londonderry) Heavy AA Regiment) for overseas' service, Mayne was transferred out to 66th Light AA Regiment in Northern Ireland. Then, in April 1940, he was transferred again, this time to the Royal Ulster Rifles
Royal Ulster Rifles
The Royal Ulster Rifles was a British Army infantry regiment. It saw service in the Second Boer War, Great War, the Second World War and the Korean War, before being amalgamated into the Royal Irish Rangers in 1968.-History:...
. Following Churchill's
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
call to form a "butcher and bolt" raiding force following the evacuation of Dunkirk, Mayne volunteered for the newly formed No. 11 (Scottish) Commando
No. 11 (Scottish) Commando
No. 11 Commando was a battalion-sized commando unit of the British Army during the Second World War. Formed in Scotland members of No. 11 Commando adopted the Tam o'shanter as their official headress....
. He first saw action in June 1941 as a lieutenant with 11 Commando, successfully leading his men during the Litani River operation
Battle of the Litani River
The Battle of the Litani River was a battle of the Second World War that took place between during the advance on Beirut during the Syria-Lebanon campaign...
in Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
against Vichy French Forces
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
.
His leadership on the raid had attracted the attention of Captain David Stirling
David Stirling
Colonel Sir Archibald David Stirling, DSO, DFC, OBE was a Scottish laird, mountaineer, World War II British Army officer, and the founder of the Special Air Service.-Life before the war:...
who recruited him as one of the early members of the Special Air Service
Special Air Service
Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
(SAS). From November 1941 through to the end of 1942, Mayne participated in many night raids deep behind enemy lines in the deserts of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
, where the SAS wrought havoc by destroying many enemy aircraft on the ground.
Following Stirling's capture in January 1943, 1st SAS Regiment was reorganised into two separate parts, the Special Raiding Squadron and the Special Boat Section (the forerunner of the Special Boat Service
Special Boat Service
The Special Boat Service is the special forces unit of the British Royal Navy. Together with the Special Air Service, Special Reconnaissance Regiment and the Special Forces Support Group they form the United Kingdom Special Forces and come under joint control of the same Director Special...
). As a major, Mayne was appointed to command the Special Raiding Squadron and led the unit in Sicily and Italy until the end of 1943. In January 1944 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
and appointed commanding officer
Commanding officer
The commanding officer is the officer in command of a military unit. Typically, the commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as he sees fit, within the bounds of military law...
of the re-formed 1st SAS Regiment. He subsequently led the SAS with great distinction through the final campaigns of the war in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, often campaigning alongside local resistance fighters including the French Maquis
Maquis (World War II)
The Maquis were the predominantly rural guerrilla bands of the French Resistance. Initially they were composed of men who had escaped into the mountains to avoid conscription into Vichy France's Service du travail obligatoire to provide forced labour for Germany...
.
During the course of the war he became one of the British Army's
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
most highly decorated soldiers and received the Distinguished Service Order
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
with three bars, one of only seven British servicemen to receive that award four times during World War II. Mayne pioneered the use of military Jeep
Jeep
Jeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler . The first Willys Jeeps were produced in 1941 with the first civilian models in 1945, making it the oldest off-road vehicle and sport utility vehicle brand. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover which is the second...
s to conduct surprise hit-and-run raids, particularly on enemy airfields. By the end of the war it was claimed that he had personally destroyed 130 aircraft but there is no real evidence to support this claim.
In recognition of his leadership and personal disregard for danger while in France, in which he trained and worked closely with the French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
, Mayne received the second bar to his DSO. Additionally, the post-war French Government awarded him the Legion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
and the Croix de Guerre
Croix de guerre
The Croix de guerre is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was awarded during World War I, again in World War II, and in other conflicts...
.
It has often been questioned why Mayne was not awarded a Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
. In 1945 Mayne was recommended for a VC, but the accuracy of the citation has been questioned by those present, one of whom noted that his account of the incident had been altered considerably and that the final version, signed by the Canadian commander of 4th Canadian Armoured Division, Christopher Vokes, had a whiff of 'bullshit' about it. Mayne was supposed 'single-handedly' to have rescued a squadron of his troops, trapped by heavy gunfire near the town of Oldenburg
Oldenburg
Oldenburg is an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the western part of the state between the cities of Bremen and Groningen, Netherlands, at the Hunte river. It has a population of 160,279 which makes it the fourth biggest city in Lower Saxony after Hanover, Braunschweig...
in North West Germany
Northern Germany
- Geography :The key terrain features of North Germany are the marshes along the coastline of the North Sea and Baltic Sea, and the geest and heaths inland. Also prominent are the low hills of the Baltic Uplands, the ground moraines, end moraines, sandur, glacial valleys, bogs, and Luch...
. However, he was not alone and, although the citation comments that Mayne rescued the wounded, lifting them one by one into his Jeep before destroying the enemy gunners in a nearby farmhouse, this is also doubtful. However, the VC recommendation was signed by Field Marshal
Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
Bernard Montgomery, commander of the Allied 21st Army Group, although Mayne instead received a fourth DSO. To this day there are some who believe that he should receive a post-dated VC (sometimes described as posthumous, incorrectly as he was not killed as a result of the incident).
Major General Sir Robert Laycock
Robert Laycock
Major General Sir Robert Edward Laycock KCMG, CB, DSO, KStJ was a British soldier, most famous for his service with the commandos during the Second World War...
, Post War Chief of Combined Operations, wrote :
An Early Day Motion
Early day motion
An Early Day Motion , in the Westminster system, is a motion, expressed as a single sentence, tabled by Members of Parliament for debate "on an early day" . Controversial EDMs are not signed by Government Ministers, PPS or the Speaker of the House of Commons and very few are debated on the floor...
put before the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
in June 2005 and supported by more than 100 MPs also stated that:
After the war
After a period with the British Antarctic SurveyBritish Antarctic Survey
The British Antarctic Survey is the United Kingdom's national Antarctic operation and has an active role in Antarctic affairs. BAS is part of the Natural Environment Research Council and has over 400 staff. It operates five research stations, two ships and five aircraft in and around Antarctica....
in the Falkland Islands
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...
, cut short by a crippling back complaint that had begun during his army days, Mayne returned to Newtownards to work first as a solicitor
Solicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
and then as Secretary to the Law Society of Northern Ireland
Law Society of Northern Ireland
'The is a professional body established by Royal Charter granted on 10 July 1922 and whose powers and duties are to regulate the solicitors' profession in Northern Ireland with the aim of protecting the public....
. Suffering severe back pain, which even prevented him from watching his beloved rugby as a spectator, and ill at ease with the mundanity of post-war life among provincial lawyers, Mayne became reserved and isolated, rarely talking about his wartime service. He went on frequent drinking sprees and caused considerable havoc, hospitalising so many policemen that it was feared that he would kill an officer.
On 13 December 1955 he was drinking and playing poker in a pub not far from his home in Newtownards, then left and went on to a friend's house where he drank some more. He drove homewards in his Riley sports car at 4am. The car collided with a lorry parked with no lights in the middle of the road a short distance from his home; Mayne died hours later.
Reputation
Mayne supposedly attacked a commanding officer who gave orders that killed 130 of Mayne's men. The apocryphal story goes that he would have been prosecuted, but the British Army thought it unwise to court-martial a legend.During the 1938 Lions tour it is said that Mayne relaxed by "wrecking hotels and fighting dockers". Some say that he was under arrest for knocking out his Commanding Officer when David Stirling
David Stirling
Colonel Sir Archibald David Stirling, DSO, DFC, OBE was a Scottish laird, mountaineer, World War II British Army officer, and the founder of the Special Air Service.-Life before the war:...
came to recruit him for the SAS, although there is no evidence that Mayne was placed under arrest or faced the prospect of a court martial.
Many urban legend
Urban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
s of his post-war years exist in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
and Newtownards. These mostly tell of incidents in which, after drinking for several hours, Mayne would challenge every man in the bar to a fight, which he would invariably win. Other accounts describe him as a courageous leader of his men and a ferocious opponent. Mayne is also described as growing increasingly withdrawn as the war progressed, preferring books to the company of friends. This tendency was said to have become more marked after the death of his father during World War II. Mayne was refused leave to attend the funeral and a apocryphal story has him embarking on a drinking binge and rampage in central Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
in an effort to find and beat up Richard Dimbleby
Richard Dimbleby
Richard Dimbleby CBE was an English journalist and broadcaster widely acknowledged as one of the greatest figures in British broadcasting history.-Early life:...
. In the course of this, Mayne is said to have smashed up a half-dozen restaurants, beat up a squad of Redcaps
Royal Military Police
The Royal Military Police is the corps of the British Army responsible for the policing of service personnel, and for providing a military police presence both in the UK, and whilst service personnel are deployed overseas on operations and exercises.Members of the RMP are generally known as...
and a Provost Marshal
Provost Marshal
The Provost Marshal is the officer in the armed forces who is in charge of the military police .There may be a Provost Marshal serving at many levels of the hierarchy and he may also be the public safety officer of a military installation, responsible for the provision of fire, gate security, and...
. This incident has also been proven to be false when Richard Dimbleby had actually been in London for 9 months prior to the supposed incident. Michael Asher
Michael Asher (explorer)
Michael Asher is an author, historian, deep ecologist, and notable desert explorer who has covered more than 30,000 miles on foot and camel. He spent three years living with a traditional nomadic tribe in the Sudan.-Biography:...
in his history of the early SAS, believed this to be an exaggeration or confabulation of several incidents.
Mayne was inclined to remonstrate with colleagues in the armed services who showed little or no understanding of the complex politics of Northern Ireland.
Legacy
A lifesize bronze statue of Blair Mayne stands in Conway Square, NewtownardsNewtownards
Newtownards is a large town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. Newtownards is the largest town in the Borough of Ards. According to the 2001 Census, it has a population of 27,821 people in...
, and the western bypass of the town is also named in his honour.
In 2003 a temporary British Army base in Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
, occupied by the first battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment, was named after him - Camp Blair Mayne. It was there that Lieutenant Colonel Tim Collins
Tim Collins (soldier)
Colonel Timothy Thomas Cyril Collins OBEMA BSSc PSC+ is a former officer in the British Army. He is best known for his role in the Iraq War in 2003, and his inspirational eve-of-battle speech, a copy of which apparently hung in the White House's Oval Office...
, 1 Battalion, the Royal Irish Regiment's commanding officer (himself a former SAS officer), gave his celebrated address to his troops on the eve of the 2003 invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
.
A film of Blair Mayne's life has long been mooted. Eddie Irvine
Eddie Irvine
Edmund "Eddie" Irvine, Jr. is a former racing driver from Northern Ireland. He grew up in Conlig, County Down, and was influenced by his parents, who were also involved in motor racing...
has become executive producer for the film. Three books have been written about Mayne, the first being Colonel Paddy by Patrick Marrinan (1960). Rogue Warrior of the SAS: the Blair Mayne legend was written by Roy Bradford and Martin Dillon
Martin Dillon
Martin Dillon is an author and journalist from Northern Ireland. He worked for eighteen years at the BBC and has written a number of plays and novels, but he is best known for his non-fiction books about the Troubles....
(1989, updated 2003) features a foreword by David Stirling. Paddy Mayne by Hamish Ross (2004) has sought to debunk the numerous myths and legends concerning Mayne's character and exploits, preferring a more circumspect account based on tangible evidence. Ross's book is the only biography endorsed by the Mayne family. Another book, SAS: The History of the Special Raiding Squadron: Paddy's Men by Stewart McClean was published in early 2006.
Stirling's Men: the inside history of the SAS in World War Two, by Gavin Mortimer [Cassell, 2004], also features extensive accounts, both of Mayne's exploits and of his character, by many soldiers who served with him in the SAS.
Honours and awards
Distinguished Service OrderDistinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
- 24 February 1942, 21 October 1943, 29 March 1945, 11 October 1945
Légion d'Honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
(France)
Croix de Guerre avec palme
Croix de guerre
The Croix de guerre is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was awarded during World War I, again in World War II, and in other conflicts...
(France)
Mention in Despatches - 24 February 1942