‘Sandy’ Thomas — notable soldier

Press, 3 November 1984, Page 20

‘Sandy’ Thomas — notable soldier

Angus Ross, of Dunedin, author of the official war history of 23 Battalion, 2 N.Z. Division, describes a notable visitor who is in Christchurch this week-end for the Battalion’s reunion.

Every sixth year the 23rd Battalion holds a national reunion in Christchurch. This week-end’s gathering will be notable for being the first such reunion attended by the 23rd’s most famous officer, “Sandy” Thomas.

Indeed, it would not be going too far to claim that Thomas was, both at' the end of the second World War in 1945, and now in 1984, when he is retired from the British Army with the rank of Major General, one of the most distinguished of the New Zealand soldiers'who began their military careers in the conflict of 1939-45. Born in Nelson in June, 1919, Thomas came from a long-estab-lished farming family. After receiving; his secondary school education ,atj the Motueka District High School, he spent the years 1936-39 working as a bank clerk with the Bank of New Zealand. With the . outbreak of the second World War, he volunteered for overseas service and within a few months was posted to the 23rd Battalion as the platoon commandder of 15 Platoon, C Company (the Nelson, 1 Marlborough, West Coast Company of this South Island unit of the sth Brigade of the 2nd N.Z. Division). Most of his men came from his own district where they had been farm workers, miners, bushmen, or shop assistants. From the outset Thomas marked himself out as a highly efficient officer with the laudable ambition to make 15 Platoon the best in the battalion. His war was for the most part

fitted into the activities of the 23rd — the Battle of Britain, Greece and Crete, Dan Davin’s book, “For the Rest of our Lives,” gives a realistic description of C Company’s time on ML Olympus and during the withdrawal. (Davin was No. 13 Platoon’s officer).

Thomas and his platoon played a more than useful part in dealing with German paratroopers during the defence of Maleme airstrip in Crete on May 20, 1941, and then a highly distinguished part in the counter-attack on Galatas.

Thomas was badly wounded in Galatas and, in consequence, was taken prisoner and transferred to a German military hospital in Athens. He has told the story of his attempts to escape, which were eventually crowned with success, in his book “Dare to be Free,” probably the best escape story to come out of the second World War.

Thomas’s sense of humour shows through his description of his attempt to escape from his hospital bed by feigning death, in the hope of being carried out to the cemetery by co-operative orderlies. The attempt was foiled by the German doctor who came to pay his last respects to the “dead” New Zealander whom he held in high regard for his gallantry. But his book must be read for the details of his final escape, his adventures in occupied Greece, and his crossing to Turkey, which led on to his rejoining the 23rd in Syria.

Back with his old unit after a rest and a course of instruction,

Thomas became the officer commanding A Company (Canterbury) in the 1942-43 North African campaign. Both in the desert and in Tunisia, Thomas earned a reputation for personal courage and tremendous drive.

During the battle of Takrouna, when Lt-Col. R. E. Romans was Wounded, Thomas took over command of the 23rd and led it in a Galatas-like advance up the shellswept valley and across the Enfi-daville-Zaghouan road. For his sterling work on that occasion, Thomas was awarded the D.S.O. to add to the M.C. and Bar of the previous year. In Italy, Thomas again took over the command of the battalion for a short time at the end of 1943, during the bitter fighting on the Orsogna-Ortona road. After a well-earned leave, Thomas took over on a more permanent basis, the command of the 23rd battalion for the laborious slog up the length of Italy. During that time he enhanced his already formidable reputation as a leader of men and as a fighting soldier. He was not only the youngest commanding officer of the battalion, but also the one who was the most aggressive in action and showed the most initiative.

After the war in Europe ended, General Freyberg wrote about Thomas: “I have watched him develop from a very young Second Lieutenant, through all ranks, until in the last year of the war he became one of the most dashing and seasoned Commanding

Officers of Infantry in the 2 N.Z. Division.”

In his book on the concluding stages of the fighting in Italy, “The Road to Trieste,” G.S. (now Sir Geoffrey) Cox wrote: “Sandy Thomas, of the 23rd Battalion, . tall as the General, fair-haired, boyish, was probably the New Zealand soldier of this war who most closely resembled the Freyberg of the last war.” With such a superb record of service and achievement as; a soldier, Thomas could hardly have been expected to return to his bank clerk’s desk. After commanding a unit in J Force in Japan, and a short time with the New Zealand army, he joined the Royal Hampshire Regiment in 1947.

In the British Army he held a variety of staff and command offices in Britain, the Middle East, Africa, Germany, and the Far East, and duly rose from the rank of Major, to which he had reverted in 1947, to that of Major-General when in 1968 he became the General Officer Commanding the British sth Division.

In his postwar career Thomas more than lived up to the reputation he had established for himself in the 23rd Battalion.

All army units enjoy their reunions but, for many of those who attend, the 1984 reunion will be made specially memorable by the presence of the genial giant, “Sandy” Thomas, the only surviving officer who commanded the 23rd in action. Thomas now lives in Queensland. ’ ;