Lt-Col Peter Jenkins
Cleared a path through a minefield at the Argenta Gap
LIEUTENANTCOLONEL PETER JENKINS, who has died aged 93, won an Immediate MC in 1945 at the Battle of the Argenta Gap.
Early in April, the Eighth Army crossed the River Senio in Italy and pushed the Germans northwards towards the River Po. On the night of April 17, 169 Brigade, part of 56th (London) Infantry Division, was held up by a minefield 1,000 yards deep.
Jenkins, a platoon leader serving with 501 Field Company RE, was ordered to clear a lane through it. The long grass and the fact that the mines had been laid months earlier made this task dangerous, but he and his men accomplished it and the Brigade was able to continue its advance through the gap between Argenta, east of Bologna, and Lake Comacchio.
After the capture of Portomaggiore, the Brigade was held up by the river on the northern edge of the town. Jenkins had to build two bridges across it. He did this quickly despite being under shellfire and having to cope with German tracked vehicles deployed on the far bank. He was awarded an Immediate MC.
Charles Peter de Brisay Jenkins was born in Dublin on August 19 1923. His father, a brigadier in the Royal Army Service Corps, was closely involved in the planning for D-Day. Peter was educated at Cheltenham, where he played for the First XV. He enlisted in 1942 and was commissioned into the Royal Engineers the next year and posted to 271 Field Company RE.
Jenkins took part in Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa, and then the campaign in Italy. After the capture of Naples, Vesuvius erupted. He and his men had the job of dealing with an ash-covered airfield.
When the Germans surrendered in May 1945, the troops needed to be entertained and Jenkins, who liked opera, built a temporary opera house near Padua, capable of holding 3,000 people. Performances of Tosca were staged, but the heroine, who had had unhappy experiences in the war, was upset by the sound effects of the firing squad in the final scene.
Before going up to Selwyn College, Cambridge, for the short post-war course, he became PA to Major General Coxwell-Rogers, Chief Royal Engineer. Based at GHQ Caserta, north of Naples, he lived in the Royal Palace. A posting to Hong Kong in 1953 was followed by a spell at the War Office.
He was posted to BAOR and then Kenya before, back in Britain, instructing at the Senior Officers’ Staff College. He returned to BAOR for four years but retired from the Service in 1967.
For the next 20 years, he worked for the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, eventually as Clerk. He introduced more women into the Company, relaxed the dress code at dinners from white tie to black and promoted a change so that Liverymen could invite ladies to dinner once every other year. Hallmarking of items at the Assay Office numbered, at the peak, 20 million items a year, and this took up much of his time.
Settled in South Brent, Devon, he was a frequent visitor to the Wagner festival at Bayreuth and researched material for a book on Wagner’s travels. He published Unravelling the Mystery – the Story of the Goldsmiths’ Company in the 20th Century (2006). In 1960 he was appointed MBE.
Peter Jenkins married, in 1949, Joan Littleboy, who survives him with their son.