On the morning of 19th August 1942 the Allies made an amphibious assault on the port of Dieppe, partly to test the German defences along the 'Atlantic Wall', partly to try out their own tactics. In effect, it was a large raid rather than a serious attack because the entire force consisted of only 5,100 Canadians, and 1,000 British Commandos and American Rangers. Dieppe was a debacle relieved only by the courage of the men involved, as the landing force withdrew, it had suffered 3,670 casualties, lost 29 tanks, 106 aircraft and a destroyer. The Germans had lost 591 men.
No 4 Commando, commanded by Lord Lovat, numbered 252-soldiers. It landed three and a half miles west of the main attack and advanced in two sections. One was to make its way up a river valley, then climb a slope, push on through a wood, overcome defended positions and demolish the six-gun German battery which had been sited at Varengeville. The other section of the Commandos was to make a slightly more direct approach on the target. Porteous, then a temporary Captain, was liaison officer between the two groups.
The Commandos crept forward in the dark and destroyed barbed wire, telephone lines and some German defences, and succeeded in crossing a minefield. When daylight came they were confronted by 35 German assault troops, whom they killed, but others soon took their place and the Commandos began to lose men. During the initial assault on the battery, Porteous found himself with the smaller of the two detachments. He was shot at close range by a German, the bullet passing through his hand his arm. Undaunted, Porteous, using the other hand, shot his assailant dead. Next, Porteous saved the life of a sergeant by disarming his attacker and dispatching the German with his own bayonet. In the meantime, the larger detachment had been held up, its two officers killed and the troop sergeant seriously wounded. Without hesitating, and in the face of withering fire, Porteous dashed across open ground to take charge of this section. He rallied them, and then led a bayonet charge which carried the battery.
Pat Porteous was the first to reach the German guns, and as he did so was severely wounded for a second time, being shot through the thigh. He fell, but carried on to the final objective only losing consciousness from loss of blood once he had organised the successful demolition of the battery. If the battery at Varengeville had not been destroyed, casualties among shipping and the main attacking force would have been even greater than they were. The battery was stubbornly defended by 250 Germans, behind concrete, wire, landmines, mortars and concealed machine-gun posts. One hundred and fifty Germans were killed.
After the landing force had withdrawn from Dieppe, Captain Pat Porteous received news of the award of his Victoria Cross from his mother while in hospital recovering from his wounds. The citation, published in the [ London Gazette, 2 October 1942 ], partly reads "Major Porteous's most gallant conduct, his brilliant leadership and tenacious devotion to a duty which was supplementary to the role originally assigned to him, was an inspiration to the whole detachment."
Pat Porteous was invested with his Victoria Cross by King George VI on 28th October 1942, telling reporters outside "It was just luck I got the award". Colonel Porteous is buried in the small West Sussex village of Funtington. This leaves the number of living recipients of the Victoria Cross, to 22.
( I met this Guy when he was the C.O. of JLRRA(Junior Leaders Regiment Royal Artillery i was a Junior Gunner there. ))
