#273
10 October 1917 – 5 April 2001
“Wartime commander of the Long Range Desert Group who thrived on danger in North Africa and the Balkans.
MAJOR-GENERAL DAVID LLOYD OWEN, who has died aged 83, commanded the Long Range Desert Group from 1943 to 1945.
In the course of the war he won both the DSO and the MC, the latter awarded for his part in the joint raid on Tobruk by the LRDG and the SAS in September 1942. “Danger,” he wrote, “has some kind of satanic appeal to me. I am drawn towards it in an octopus-like grip of fear.”
Nevertheless, he recalled, “I was often frightened, often tired, often worried, and very often longing to be doing some other thing or to be in some other place when danger was lurking.”
David Lloyd-Owen (Left) via the LRDG Association.
His experiences caused him to analyse courage very thoughtfully and to decide that ultimately it stemmed from self-discipline. He was also strongly aware of moral courage, and recognised that this was sometimes needed in conditions which sorely taxed mere physical bravery.
Such situations were an almost daily occurrence for the members of the LRDG, which Lloyd Owen joined in July 1941. Born of the expertise of a handful of pre-war desert explorers, notably Ralph Bagnold, it ranged freely over North Africa, travelling hundreds of miles behind enemy lines to gather information for the 8th Army; in early 1942, the LRDG made a round trip of 1,500 miles in 19 days, much of it through completely featureless terrain.
Survival kit, Long Range Desert Group © IWM EQU 12209
Its troops navigated the sands with the help of the stars and a sun compass. They also knew how to negotiate treacherous surfaces, and to conserve water with special condensers, but above all they learned to read tracks so that they could tell how many vehicles, men or camels had gone in various directions.
David Lloyd Owen with ‘Y’ Patrol vehicle “Aramis” (LRDG Association)
After the SAS was formed in November 1941, it came to rely on the LRDG to assist it to its destinations – and then to recover its men rapidly when their work was done. But reconnaissance always remained the primary purpose of the LRDG. They did not seek confrontation, but when they encountered it often inflicted just as much damage as the SAS.
The Desert My Dwelling Place, by David Lloyd Owen
In his memoirs The Desert My Dwelling Place (1957) and Providence Their Guide (1980), Lloyd Owen recalled that sometimes men were isolated on these occasions and left behind, but then accomplished remarkable feats of endurance. Once nine men walked 200 miles back to base, fortified by a single packet of biscuits and a few mouthfuls of water. He also remembered the discomfort of lying on watch all night in the pouring rain, and the constant worries for the wounded and the sick when a patrol was hundreds of miles from help.
‘Y’ Patrol resting in front of one of their trucks at Air Ghetmir during the evacuation of Jalo. David Lloyd Owen is standing on the extreme left. Having moved their forward base to Jalo, the Long Range Desert Group was forced to withdraw back to Siwa and Kufra when Rommel mounted a counter-offensive and pushed the 8th Army back to the Gazala Line, 30 miles west of Tobruk. Copyright: IWM-HU16454
Lloyd Owen took command of the LRDG in the winter of 1943, when it was operating in the Aegean. The troops he led were of the finest quality, but were independent and would not accept anything but the best type of leadership. This he provided, but did so by making his men feel like his partners in a joint adventure. He had a friendly and rather relaxed style of command, based on persuasion and shared hardships. The mutual confidence this bred would reap an uncommonly rich dividend.
David Lanyon Lloyd Owen, the son of a captain in the Royal Navy, was born at Hampton, Middlesex, on October 10 1917. He was educated at Winchester and Sandhurst and was commissioned into The Queen’s Royal Regiment in 1938. He began his military service in Palestine during the Arab rebellion. When the Italians moved towards Mersah Matruh, his regiment was sent to Egypt and in December 1940 he took part in Wavell’s offensive, which reached Benghazi.
In March 1941 he was posted to the Middle East Officer Cadet Training Unit in Cairo, and to his disgust found himself in charge of administration. But he soon met a member of the Long Range Desert Group, and managed to join the unit. At first Lloyd Owen was somewhat surprised by the informality – even the sheer scruffiness – of his new comrades, but he quickly began to blend in.
In September 1942, he was severely wounded in an air raid on Kufra, the LRDG’s base, but recovered in time for the final stages of the North African campaign. In May 1943 the LRDG was sent to Lebanon, where it was trained for a new role in mountain warfare. However, it was then unexpectedly posted to the Aegean. There it took part in the battle for Leros, where Lloyd Owen’s predecessor as CO, Jake Easonsmith, was killed.
The MV LA PALMA in Bari harbour. She was one of two converted fishing boats acquired by David Lloyd Owen to transport Long Range Desert Group teams in the Aegean. A jeep is carried on her forward deck, hidden by a tarpaulin. © IWM HU 25268
Having taken charge of the unit, Lloyd Owen based himself at Bari, in southern Italy, from which he mounted a successful raid on Corfu and staged operations in the Dalmatian islands and Yugoslavia. In September 1944, he was parachuted into Albania at night. Shortly after landing he fell 30 ft into a ravine and severely damaged his spine. The LRDG’s doctor was parachuted in to set the back in plaster; he dropped with a bottle of whisky strapped to his leg, it being Lloyd Owen’s birthday.
Despite being in continual pain, Lloyd Owen directed operations in the mountains for the next three months. As he became more mobile, he expanded his activities by adroit purchases of everything from mountain ponies to information. The only viable currency was gold, whose use brought its own risks. “I never felt really safe carrying 500 gold sovereigns,” he recalled.
Eventually Lloyd Owen was evacuated to Italy, was successfully operated on, and told not to return to his former activities. But he managed to bluff his way past a medical board and returned to Albania, although this time by boat. The LRDG was eventually disbanded in June 1945. For his leadership in the Balkans, Lloyd Owen was awarded the DSO that year.
After the war, he had various appointments in Britain, including a period on the staff at Sandhurst. In 1952, he was appointed Military Assistant to the High Commissioner in Malaya. He then commanded the 1st Battalion of The Queen’s Royal Regiment from 1957 to 1959. In the early 1960s he led 24 Infantry Brigade Group in Kenya and was then, from 1966 to 1968, GOC, Cyprus District. From 1968 to 1969 he was GOC, Near East Land Forces and, from 1969 to 1972, president of the Regular Commissions Board. He was appointed OBE in 1954 and CB in 1971.
David Lloyd-Owen via the LRDG Association
David Lloyd Owen was a man of great charm, immaculate appearance (when not on operations) and remarkable skill and endurance. He won the admiration of the members of the LRDG – many of them tough Rhodesians and New Zealanders – not merely for his daring but also for his sheer stamina, as well as for his tactical knowledge and foresight.
In retirement, much of his time was given to the Long Range Desert Group Association, of which he was chairman from 1945 until its final reunion last year. He married, in 1957, Ursula Barclay. They had three sons.” (Obituary courtesy of the Daily Telegraph)
Members of the Long Range Desert Group during WWII
REEL 1: Recollections of operations as officer with Long Range Desert Group in North Africa, Italy and the Balkans, 1941-1945: background to joining Long Range Desert Group; role of Long Range Desert Group; impressions of Ralph Bagnold; taking command of Yeomanry Patrol; characteristics of yeomanry troops; adjusting to desert conditions; patrols equipment; health of troops in desert; role of Long Range Desert Group during Operation Crusader, 11/1941-12/1941; rescue of Special Air Service group.
REEL 2: Continues: Major David Stirling’s decision to work with Long Range Desert Group; types of operations undertaken; the road watch; threat from German Air Force; technique for dispersal if attacked by aircraft; attitude of desert Arabs to Long Range Desert Group; pleasures of acting independently and high calibre of personnel; problems of boredom during operations; question of Germans operating in similar role as Long Range Desert Group; role of unit prior to and during Allied offensive, 1942-1943.
REEL 3: Continues: wounding at by German Air Force at Kufra, Libya, 9/1942; success of Long Range Desert Group in desert and decision that unit would continue war in Europe. Aspects of operations commanding B Sqdn, Long Range Desert Group in Middle East and Greece, 1943: training in Lebanon, summer 1943; capture of Leros, Greece by Germans, late 1943; his escape from Leros by Italian submarine; effect of losses to Long Range Desert Group; reorganisation in Syria. Aspects of operations commanding Long Range Desert Group in Italy and the Balkans, 1944-1945: adapting to non-desert conditions in Italy; problems of handling local population in Balkans; problem of political divisions; working with Albanian Partisans; character of Albanian Partisans; Allied air support available to partisans.
REEL 4: Continues: treatment of Long Range Desert Group by Yugoslavians at end of war; German attitude towards captured Long Range Desert Group personnel.
(Extracted from Gavin Mortimer’s ‘The Men Who Made The SAS: The History of the Long Range Desert Group)
Posthumous portrait of Lieutenant Simon Denis St.Leger Fleming, RHA by Alexander Christie (1946), born in County Down in Northern Ireland, who commanded the M2 patrol of the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) in 1944. The LRDG was a unit of the British Army established in Egypt in 1940 that specialised in intelligence gathering, mechanized reconnaissance and navigation, often operating behind enemy lines. Fleming commanded M2 patrol on an aerial drop behind enemy lines near Montepulciano, south east of Siena in Italy, which was designed to gather intelligence on German troop movements during the Allied advance. He died on 13 June 1944 after his parachute failed to open. He was 23 years old.
Pathe: “Unused/unissued material – location and dates unclear or unknown. VS of the Long Range Desert Group in desert. Good shots of the LRDG in their special Land Rovers wearing the Arab style head dresses. VS of Crusader tanks advancing at speed over desert. Shots of desert cave town built in side of hill. LS of the desert town with convoy of lorries in foreground.”
“Killing Rommel” by Steve Pressfield (as recommended by the LRDG Association)
“Sea of Sand” is a 1958 British action film, starring Richard Attenborough, following the operations of the Long Range Desert Group in North Africa during the height of WWII. The mission for the LRDG is to penetrate hundreds of miles behind the German lines and destroy a massive fuel dump. Lead by Captain Tim Cotton (Michael Craig) the small group of unorthodox commandos on the eve of a British counter attack, locate the enemy fuel dump and successfully destroy it.
“Brigadier Ralph Alger Bagnold (3 April 1896 – 28 May 1990) was the founder and first commander of the British Army’s Long Range Desert Group during World War II. He is also generally considered to have been a pioneer of desert exploration. He laid the foundations for the research on sand transport by wind in his influential book The Physics of Blown Sand and Desert Dunes (first published 1941; reprinted by Dover in 2005), which is still a main reference in the field. It has, for instance, been used by NASA in studying sand dunes on Mars, and the eponymous Bagnold Dunes on that planet were named for him. The film records Bagnold’s innovative expeditions using adapted Model Ford cars and Renault lorries to access unknown sites of prehistoric settlement and cave painting, as well as documenting sand dune structure and movement in the Western Desert of the Sahara Desert, which covers eight percent of the earth’s land area. Wildlife and human life is concentrated around a few oases which are featured in the film. The expedition party included: Bagnold, Craig, Holland, Prendergast, Newbold, Burridge, Fernie and Shaw, Paterson, Harding-Newman and Boustead. Bagnold went on to form the British Army’s Long Range Desert Group during World War II.” Sahara Overland has a good page on the background and content of this remarkable rare footage.
“They Showed the Way” The memorial to the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG), is located at the David Stirling/SAS Founders Memorial near Doune, Scotland.
