The venerable Lord Lovat briefs his fellow commando officers prior to Operation Abercrombie, the raid on Hardelot, near the Channel port of Boulogne in April 1942.
The intention of the raid was to ‘make a reconnaissance of the beaches and sand dunes to the north and south of Hardelot, to capture prisoners, and to inflict the maximum damage in the vicinity’.
The man to Lovat’s right in the foreground, with the FS Fighting Knife strapped to his thigh, is Captain David Style. For his actions at Dieppe four months later, Style was awarded the Military Cross in recognition of gallant and distinguished service during the raid.
Lovat, who was awarded the Military Cross for Hardelot and the Distinguished Service Order for Dieppe, commanded the 1st Special Service Brigade on D-Day, landing on Sword Beach before cutting inland to join up with the 6th Airborne Division at Pegasus Bridge.
Tall and dashing, Shimi Lovat, as he was known, is considered by many to be one of the great commando leaders of the Second World War, and it is said that Winston Churchill once called him ‘the handsomest man ever to cut a throat’.