N o .124
T he T rusty S ervant
hit; as they turned to face the dug-in
6-pdrs, the Shermans had broadside
targets. A final attack was launched on
Snipe, four panzers were hit at 200 yards
and two more were hit at 100 yards.
The guns had three rounds left. When
darkness fell, casualties were about 70
dead and wounded. Only one gun was
retrieved. At 11.30 pm Bird was sent off
in a jeep with a driver. He was asleep
when the driver said, ‘I think we are in
a minefield.’ Bird got out and walked
in front of the jeep – and they did not
hit a mine. It was some days later, when
the Battalion had a chance to revisit
Snipe, that the full impact of the battle
was revealed. A conservative estimate
concluded that Bird’s guns alone had
destroyed 33 tanks, five self-propelled
guns, several artillery pieces and many
trucks. A further 20 tanks were hors de
combat.
Colonel Victor Turner was awarded
the Victoria Cross for ‘an example of
leadership and bravery which inspired
his whole battalion’. Bird was awarded
the DSO for his courage and leadership:
‘He had paid no heed to his own safety.
He was always at the critical point
performing many duties, directing the
fire, loading another gun, fetching
ammunition and cheering his men. All
this he did under intense fire.’
After the war Bird helped the artist
Terence Cuneo recreate the scene of
Tom’s and Turner’s action at Snipe.
He suggested to Cuneo that it would
be inappropriate to include a dead
body in the picture as ‘it might make a
Regimental Christmas card’, which it
did.
After recovery from his wounds at Snipe,
he was asked by Wavell, the C-in-C
India, to be his ADC and Comptroller.
Bird was a fellow Wykehamist and had
been at Winchester with Wavell’s son
Archie. Among many things, he was
responsible for mixing two gins every
evening and helping with the crossword;
he also attended an Old Wykehamist
Dinner with Wavell and Douglas Jardine.
When Wavell became the Viceroy, he
asked Bird to stay on, but the latter
decided that it was time to return to
the war. He finally joined 8 th Battalion
the Rifle Brigade in North West Europe,
but within 48 hours his fighting was
over – he was badly wounded. When he
Tom Bird the day after Snipe
opened his eyes in hospital he said to
the doctor, ‘I am going to live’, and the
doctor, noting his determination, replied,
‘Yes, I think you are.’ After lengthy
recuperation, Bird accepted a posting as
ADC to Jumbo Wilson in Washington,
where he had taken over as Chief of
the British Joint Staff Mission. Bird
was advised that precedence was not
something Americans were fussed about.
‘It was simply not true, they could mind
very much indeed’, commented Bird.
He accompanied Wilson to the Potsdam
Conference, where Germany and the
post-war order were discussed. On return
to Washington Bird’s relationship with
Lady Wilson, known as ‘The Alligator’,
broke down completely. Bird went to
Jumbo and asked to leave – ‘it took more
courage than any night patrol’. Wilson
was furious at the perceived disloyalty. A
replacement took 12 agonising weeks to
arrive, as candidates declined because of
‘The Alligator’s’ reputation. By the time
that Bird left for England in December
1945 the rift with Jumbo was healed and
they remained friends.
He was demobbed as a Major in
December 1945. One of his battalion’s
riflemen described Bird as ‘a man of
exceptional courage. When all seemed to
be lost, there would be Dicky boy, calm
and seemingly aloof from the dangers
around us’.
‘Snipe’ by Terence Cuneo
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