Brigadier Sir Nicholas Somerville
Soldier who led a battalion on to Gold Beach during D-day
BRIGADIER SIR NICHOLAS SOMERVILLE, who has died aged 94, had a distinguished Army career and was later knighted for political services.
At about 09.00 hours on the morning of D-day, Somerville and the 2nd Battalion South Wales Borderers, 24th Regiment, (2 SWB) arrived off the coast of France. The first wave of troops had gone in at 07.30 and the beach was covered in smoke.
Cruisers, destroyers, frigates, rocket ships and field artillery in landing craft were all firing at targets. At 10.30, the three landing craft, line abreast and at full speed, began their run in to Gold Beach. The Borderers, in waders up to their armpits, were laden with rifles, pistols, bicycles, rocket launchers, ammunition boxes, stretchers and wireless sets.
In places the water was very deep. A major, who was 6ft 2in tall, carrying heavy equipment and holding a bicycle over his head, leapt into the sea with the cry, “24th! Follow me!” and disappeared beneath the waves. The landing craft had hit a sandbank and was grounded in deep water.
Somerville, the intelligence officer, waded ashore up to his neck. Snipers, he recalled, were everywhere. He gathered up his party and bicycled inland to the assembly area. The man behind him was hit by a shell and fell down headless. The assembly area was littered with dead horses and cows and the stench was terrible.
They dealt with a machine gun post, their first serious opposition. Casualties were light and they were proud to reach their objective on time.
John Nicholas Somerville was born at Brecon, South Wales, on January 16 1924. His father, Brigadier Desmond Somerville, won two MCS in the First World War. Nicholas was brought up at Drishane, Castletownshend, Co Cork, home to the Somerville family for almost 250 years.
He was educated at Winchester and was commissioned into the Borderers in 1943 and posted to 2 SWB. In 1944, they began top-secret training in Scotland for the landings in Normandy.
Live firing exercises allowed for 12 per cent casualties. Platoons used ladders for scaling a beach wall and Bangalore torpedoes for blowing gaps in wire obstacles. A fortnight before D-day the Bn was moved into a sealed camp near Beaulieu, New Forest. As a security precaution, no soldier was allowed to move out of the camp or to send a letter.
After the Battle of the Falaise Gap, Somerville visited the town. He said afterwards that the destruction was terrible and that the only thing standing was the statue of William the Conqueror. Appointed adjutant, he then took part in operations to clear the Channel coast.
In April 1945, the Bn fought in the Second Battle of Arnhem, then remained in Germany until 1948.
Somerville assumed command of 1 SWB in 1966 and served in the Malaya Emergency, and then in Aden. He was Director of Army Recruiting from 1973 to 1975 and retired from the Army in 1978, having been appointed CBE and twice Mentioned in Dispatches.
He was managing director of Saladin Security from 1981 to 1984. The company employed EX-SAS soldiers to give protection to VIPS. Somerville had served with the Army Regular Commissions Board and from 1980 to 1982 he was responsible for establishing a selection procedure for parliamentary candidates for the Conservative Party.
He was knighted in 1985 and appointed to the Légion d’honneur a few days before he died. He retired to Greywell, Hampshire, but spent every summer sailing with his grandchildren in Castletownshend.
Sir Nicholas Somerville married, in 1951, Jenifer (Jen) Nash, who survives him with their son and two daughters.
Nicholas Somerville, born January 16 1924, died September 9 2018