Brigadier Christopher Pike
Officer with the Gurkha Rifles praised for his courage during actions in Borneo and other regions
BRIGADIER CHRISTOPHER PIKE, who has died aged 85, was an outstanding frontline commander who saw action with the Gurkha Rifles in Malaya, Borneo, Hong Kong and Cyprus.
In March 1966, during the Confrontation with Indonesia, Pike was commanding D Company 1st Battalion 10th Princess Mary’s Own Gurkha Rifles (1/10 GR) in North Borneo.
He was ordered to find out whether the enemy had infiltrated during a lull between unit handovers, and a reconnaissance in strength established that they were building a new base near the junction of two rivers. Pike calculated that an ambush close to an enemy base would not be expected, and deployed his three platoons accordingly.
When they were in position, a large landing craft carrying 35 Indonesian troops and stores approached. Heavy fire at point-blank range resulted in considerable losses to the enemy. The engine stopped, the boat canted over and slewed into the bank downstream.
When the Indonesians retaliated from the opposite bank with machine gun and mortar fire, Pike ordered one platoon to withdraw. Two others remained in position and, four hours later, two small enemy boats were sunk, again with heavy losses.
His commanding officer, Lieutenant-colonel (later Major General) Ronnie Mcalister paid tribute to the impudent daring, cold courage and immaculate planning of an operation which laid claim to being
the most successful single action in the whole of the conflict.
Three weeks later, patrols reported to Pike that several new enemy bases had been set up within 800 yards of his company hide. He decided to make a night withdrawal from this precarious position, and under cover of darkness his men clipped an exit route through thick secondary jungle.
Knowing that the Indonesians would come looking for him, he laid ambushes along the tracks they were likely to use leading to the border.
Having wrested the initiative from the enemy, his force had very much the better of the fierce engagement that followed the next morning. He was awarded a DSO. The citation paid tribute to his courage, coolness, leadership and tactical sense.
Christopher James Pike was born on November 10 1933 at Graaff-reinet in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, and was educated at Hilton College, Natal, and at Sandhurst, where he excelled at sport. He was commissioned into the 10th Gurkhas and joined 1/10 GR in 1954 in South Johore during the Malayan Emergency. Regimental and staff appointments followed.
In July 1967 Mao’s Cultural Revolution threatened to spill over into Hong Kong, and in the border village of Sha Tau Kok several police were killed and wounded by Chinese militia. As a result, 1/10 GR was ordered to clear British territory of armed infiltrators. Two companies, one led by Pike, together with armoured cars, set off to relieve the beleaguered police, who were pinned down at the border post.
A machine gun opened up from Chinese territory but, given the danger that the intervention would lead to full-scale conflict, the battalion did not return fire. Pike was the first into the border post, and later that day the police and their casualties were evacuated from Sha Tau Kok and the village was back in British hands.
In 1974 Pike commanded 1/10 GR when it was deployed to protect the Eastern Sovereign Base in Cyprus during the Turkish invasion of the island. He was appointed OBE for his leadership and professionalism during the battalion’s seven-month tour.
He subsequently instructed at the National Defence College, Latimer, and was then General Staff Officer, Grade 1 (Adviser) to the Dhofar Brigade in Oman.
On promotion to colonel he commanded British Gurkhas at Dharan in Nepal. On further promotion he was Brigadier Brigade of Gurkhas, Hong Kong, and in these two last appointments he worked selflessly to improve the well-being and conditions of retired and serving Gurkhas.
Approachable and good-humoured, Pike cared deeply about those under his command and took a close interest in the soldiers, their families and their futures.
“Enjoy your soldiering,” he used to say, “and if you can’t, then quit.” He played cricket, tennis and squash well, and even when he was CO he was in the battalion hockey side that won the Infantry Cup and were runners-up in the Army Cup.
Long leaves were spent in South Africa with his parents and his brother, fishing in Kwa-zulu, Natal, and game-watching in the Kruger National Park. One leave was spent with a scientific expedition in Kenya researching the effects on elephants of their overpopulation.
After leaving the Army in 1988, he was the administrative director for a group of solicitors in Norwich. In retirement he enjoyed time with his family and gardening, golf, fishing, ornithology and sailing.
Christopher Pike married, in 1967, Prue Mcdermid, who survives him with their daughter and two sons.
Christopher Pike, born November 10 1933, died July 15 2019