Major General ‘Sandy’ Thomas
Highly decorated New Zealand-born soldier who saw fierce action in Crete and later became commander of Far East Land Forces
MAJOR GENERAL “SANDY” THOMAS, who has died aged 98, won a DSO and two Military Crosses in the course of a highly adventurous Army career. In January 1941 Thomas sailed with 23 New Zealand Bn (23 NZB) for Greece. Greatly outnumbered, the Allies were driven out and staged a defensive battle in Crete. On May 20, in the key Maleme area, he led his platoon in an attack on enemy paratroopers who had landed and were holding a strong position. His platoon killed 25 of the enemy – Thomas killed five of these – and took three prisoners.
On the following day, when his platoon was being shelled by a Bofors gun, he brought a captured mortar into action, scored a direct hit on the Bofors and put it out of action. He then bombed the aerodrome and led a counter-attack on the village of Galatas.
Badly wounded in the thigh by a grenade and an explosive bullet, he was taken prisoner and flown to a hospital near Corinth. He feared that his leg would be amputated – the wound took 15 months to heal – but after he was moved to a hospital in Athens, he began to recover and made a number of attempts to escape.
In August he escaped with another soldier by crawling under the wire surrounding the hospital. After three days they reached Port Rafti where they were spotted by a Greek policeman, arrested and returned to the hospital. They were put in separate cells but, after two weeks of solitary confinement and subsisting on bread and water, they escaped again. This time, they were caught going through the wire.
Thomas’s next scheme was to stage his own death with the help of a British doctor and escape from his coffin when it was taken to the cemetery. He was lying in bed, apparently dead, when a German doctor paid a surprise visit. The man drew back the sheet but it was too much for Thomas and the two burst out laughing.
He made another attempt by stowing away in a ration truck, but he was a large man and the 6in-high tailboard did not conceal him. A sentry spotted him, fired his rifle and forced the driver to stop.
He was taken to Army HQ, but when he was left alone for a moment, he grabbed a mop and pail from a cleaning woman and walked out of the building into the street. After a good meal in a nearby restaurant, he was arrested. This time he was court-martialled but was let off with a warning because of the severity of his wound.
At the end of October, with 49 other Pows, he was taken to Salonika in the cargo ship Kreta. There were 10 Germans on board and only three of them on guard at any one time. He tried to persuade his fellow prisoners to overpower them and throw them overboard but they were too frightened.
After a fortnight in a POW camp, he and a brother officer worked for three nights to loosen the bolts of their cell door but when they had got it open, the man lost his nerve and Thomas escaped alone. He had to run and then throw himself down on the ground a dozen times as the searchlight beam swept across the compound. He crawled along a ditch and under the wire before scaling a wall and getting into the town. On his way to Mount Athos in search of sanctuary, he heard that a submarine was in the vicinity but an attempt to make contact failed.
The wound in his leg re-opened and he became seriously ill and was cared for in a number of monasteries. While he was hiding at the St Lawrence monastery, it was raided by a German patrol who had heard that a British officer might be concealed there. After being dressed in black robes and with a cowl that partly covered his face, he climbed up on to the roof and dropped through a skylight into a walled-up cell.
There were chains hanging from the walls and manacles for his wrists and ankles and he was warned to fasten himself with these. If the Germans managed to find him, they would be told that he was a dangerous mute. The soldiers searched the dungeons, chapel, cells and hospital for hours.
They interrogated 300 monks and when they came to his cell they tapped on the walls in the hope of finding a hidden entrance. That night, the monks plied them with wine. In the morning, the drunk Germans staggered around the courtyard in the snow loosing off shots from their Lugers.
After moving from place to place, dodging enemy patrols and hiding in the mountains, Thomas fell in with other escaped Pows. Several attempts to get away in stolen fishing boats failed. On one occasion, at the height of a gale, they were unable to lower sail. The waterlogged boat was careering through huge seas and could have foundered at any moment.
Thomas and his companions had given up bailing and resorted to prayer when a violent cross-wind pitched the boat on its side. The boom swung over and, with a terrific crack, the sail split in two, shredded and blew away into the sea. The boat answered to the helm once more. A miracle, it seemed, had saved them.
Eventually, he and his comrades got away in a 40ft fishing boat and landed on the coast of Turkey. Having spent the night in a verminous police cell, he emerged unkempt in his ragged clothes to greet the British consul from Smyrna. The consul was wearing immaculate flannel trousers and a Royal Yacht Club blazer and had brought two Rolls-royces with him. Thomas was awarded an MC for his exploits in Crete and a Bar to the medal for his courage and endurance in escaping despite the pain from his wound.
Walter Babington Thomas, the son of a farmer, was born on June 29 1919 on a farm at Motueka, near Nelson, on New Zealand’s South Island. He was educated at Motueka District High School before working for the Bank of New Zealand.
On the outbreak of the Second World War, he joined the Army and was commissioned into 23 NZB. In May 1940, he embarked in a troopship and arrived in Glasgow the following month just after the fall of France and the evacuation from Dunkirk. One of the new recruits to his platoon was the son of Major General Bernard (later Lieutenant-general Lord) Freyberg, a hero of the New Zealand Army with a VC from the First World War.
After his escape to Turkey, using his influence with Freyberg, he managed to stay with 23 NZB rather than be evacuated to hospital and spent some weeks as an instructor at the Middle East Training Centre, Gaza, Palestine, before rejoining his battalion as a company commander in January 1943.
In March, he took part in the Battle of the Tebaga Gap, Tunisia, and, the following month, in a night attack on Takrouna, a hilltop village overlooking the Gulf of Hammamet. The battalion commander was wounded early in the battle and Thomas, then a captain, assumed command.
The battalion came under heavy fire, there were numerous casualties from anti-personnel mines, and the darkness and unexpected difficulty of having to fight for the start line led to confusion and uncertainty. He rallied the men and led them in fierce close-quarter fighting across the start line and established a defendable position deep within enemy lines.
After daylight, large numbers of the enemy were killed or captured, but despite being isolated for many hours, the battalion held its position until relieved. He was awarded an Immediate DSO. The citation paid tribute to his tactical skill, offensive spirit and inspiring leadership.
He had a spell of leave in New Zealand and shortly after rejoining the battalion in southern Italy, aged 24, he was appointed CO and was an outstanding front line commander in heavy fighting for the rest of the campaign. After the war, he was awarded the American Silver Star and commanded 22 NZB in Japan as part of the Commonwealth occupying forces.
In 1947 he transferred to the British Army and joined 2nd Bn The Royal Hampshire Regiment as a company commander on garrison duty in Austria. Three years at the War Office was followed by a one-year course at Staff College and then a move to Kenya during the Mau Mau emergency as brigade major of 39 Infantry Brigade Group. He was mentioned in despatches. On one occasion, he was flying to Mombasa in a light aircraft when the pilot got lost. They ran out of fuel and crash landed in the sea. Thomas had to swim ashore to get help.
A return to regimental service with the Hampshires in Malaya and BAOR was followed by a staff appointment in Australia, first in Melbourne as part of the UK Joint Services Liaison Staff and then in Canberra on the staff of the High Commissioner, Lord Carrington.
He then moved to the Yemen where he commanded 4th Bn of the Aden Protectorate Levies, comprised of hill tribesmen with an element of British officers and NCOS. His family acquired a menagerie; a puppy, two gazelles and a monkey.
Towards the end of his tour, as guest of the local Emir, he was in a village inspecting a new medical centre, when he felt a large blow in the back. A heavily built Arab, armed with a dagger, had stabbed him and knocked him to the ground before attacking the Emir. The political officer jumped on the assailant who was disarmed and made a prisoner. The man turned out to be a militant Islamist sheikh. Thomas had one rib nearly severed and another badly cut but after a week he recovered.
In 1962, he was posted to HQ I Division BAOR as AA & QMG before commanding 12 Infantry Brigade Group. He was promoted to major general in 1968 and appointed GOC 5th Division in England. Early in 1970, he moved to Singapore as chief of staff at HQ South-east Asia and, subsequently, became the last commander of Far East Land Forces. Most of his duties were concerned with planning the withdrawal of the large military establishment together with its associated bases and training areas in Malaysia and Brunei.
Appointed CB in 1971, he retired from the Army that year and moved to Darwin, Australia, before settling in Queensland. There, on his ranch, he planted colourful trees, gave talks to local schoolchildren, lectured young Army officers, tamed parrots and made friends with the wallabies and kangaroos.
A tall, well-built man, with great charm, humour and intelligence, Thomas was a consummate military professional, fearless and a natural leader. In 2011, aged 92, he revisited Crete for the 70th anniversary and was received as a hero at all the celebrations. He never missed reunions with his comrades of the 23rd Battalion. His books sold in large numbers. He published Dare to be Free (1951); Touch of Pitch (1956); and Pathways to Adventure (with Denis Mclean, 2004).
Sandy Thomas married, in 1947, Iredale Lauchlan, the widowed sister of Group Captain Leonard Trent VC, DFC. She predeceased him and he is survived by their three daughters.
Major General Sandy Thomas, born June 29 1919, died October 22 2017