Geoffrey Appleyard

{{Infobox military person

| name = John Geoffrey Appleyard

| image = Captain Geoffrey Appleyard Profile.jpg

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption = Captain Geoffrey Appleyard

| nickname = "Apple"

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1916|12|20|df=y}}

| birth_place = Bramley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1943|7|13|1916|12|20|df=y}}

| death_place = Near Sicily, Italy

| placeofburial = Cassino Memorial

| placeofburial_label = Commemorated at

| allegiance = United Kingdom

| branch = British Army

| serviceyears = 1939–1943

| rank = Major

| servicenumber = 86639

| unit = No. 7 Commando
No. 62 Commando
2nd Special Air Service

| commands = Small Scale Raiding Force

| battles = Second World War

| awards = Distinguished Service Order
Military Cross & Bar

| relations =

| laterwork =

}}

John Geoffrey Appleyard, {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100|sep=,|DSO|MC1}} (20 December 1916 – 13 July 1943) was a British Army officer, who served in the Commandos and Special Air Service during the Second World War.

Early life and education

Appleyard was born in Bramley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, the son of John Ernest Appleyard, a successful motor engineer, and Mary Elizabeth Northrop.{{cite web |url= http://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_A06.html |title=Officers of the British Army 1939–1945 (Anderson to Appleyard) |author1=Hans Houterman |author2=Jeroen Koppes |work=unithistories.com |access-date=13 October 2011}} His brother Ian became a successful rally driver.{{cite web | first=Mary | last=Lean | title=Obituary: Ian Appleyard | work=The Independent | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituaryian-appleyard-1165285.html | date=16 June 1998 | access-date=4 March 2012}} Geoffrey grew up in Linton, West Yorkshire,{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Gordon |author-link1=Gordon Brown |title= Wartime Courage: Stories of Extraordinary Courage by Ordinary People in World War Two |date=3 November 2008 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |location=London |isbn=978-0-7475-9607-3}} and was educated at Bootham School in York,{{cite book|title=Bootham School Register|place=York, England|publisher=BOSA| first=Jenny | last=Woodland | year=2011}} where he combined academic success with natural history and roof-climbing. At Caius College, Cambridge, he obtained a first in Engineering and a skiing blue, while he was also his college's Captain of Boats, and competed as a highly successful international skier.{{cite news |title=He who dared... |url=http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/news-features/consumer/he_who_dared_1_2115260 |newspaper=Yorkshire Evening Post |location=Leeds|date=22 September 2007 |access-date=13 October 2011}}

Military service

Appleyard was commissioned into the Royal Army Service Corps (Supplementary Reserve) on 1 April 1939 with the rank of second lieutenant.{{London Gazette |issue=34612 |date=31 March 1939 |page=2173 }} Mobilised for active service on 24 August 1939, he commanded an RASC mobile motor repair workshop as part of the British Expeditionary Force in northern France. During the Battle of France he was ordered to destroy all his vehicles, and then was evacuated from Dunkirk.

Appleyard volunteered to join the Commandos in late 1940, and was posted to B Troop, No. 7 Commando. He was promoted to the war substantive rank of lieutenant on 1 January 1941 and, in May, now an acting captain, was awarded the Military Cross for his "gallant and distinguished services in the field",{{London Gazette |issue=35170 |date=20 May 1941 |page=2937 |supp=y }} after taking part in an operation by boat and submarine to pick up two Operation Savanna agents on the coast of France and bring them back to England.

Appleyard then served aboard the {{Convert|62|ft|m|adj=on}} ketch-rigged Brixham trawler Maid Honour, which sailed to the coast of West Africa, spending six months reporting on enemy submarine activity and carrying out clandestine raids. The highlight of the assignment was Operation Postmaster, in which the Italian liner Duchessa d'Aosta and the German tug Likomba were boarded and towed from the neutral Spanish island of Fernando Po and taken to Nigeria.{{cite web|url=http://www.brixhamnews.com/educationArts/TheStoryofMaidofHonour.shtml |title=The Story of 'Maid Honour' |first=John |last=Turk |work=brixhamnews.com |year=2011 |access-date=13 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425062524/http://www.brixhamnews.com/educationArts/TheStoryofMaidofHonour.shtml |archive-date=25 April 2012 }} On his return he was awarded a Bar to his Military Cross.{{London Gazette |issue=35821 |date=11 December 1942 |page=5437 |supp=y }}

After the success of "Postmaster", the "Maid Honour Force" was expanded (though it never numbered more than 55 men at any time) and renamed the "Small Scale Raiding Force", though its official designation was No. 62 Commando, under the operational control of Combined Operations Headquarters.{{cite web |url= http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/small_scale_raiding_force.htm |title=Small Scale Raiding Force |first=Chris |last=Trueman |work=historylearningsite.co.uk |year=2011 |access-date=13 October 2011}} Appleyard took part in many SSRF raids on the coast of occupied France, landing in small boats from motor launches, compelling the Germans to reinforce their defences along hundreds of miles of coastline, and diverting significant numbers of troops from combat duties elsewhere. However, an injury prevented him from going ashore in the disastrous Operation Aquatint, on 12 September 1942, when an attack at Sainte-Honorine-des-Pertes, Normandy, went badly wrong and half the 10-man force were captured, and the other half killed, including the SSRF's commanding officer Major Gustavus March-Phillipps. Its failure stemmed in part from Appleyard mistaking the landing beach, though he never knew that.{{cite book|last=Owen|first=James|title=Commando|year=2012|publisher=Little, Brown}}

Appleyard took command of the SSRF, and led 10 men of the SSRF and No. 12 Commando,{{cite web|url=http://www.commandoveterans.org/site/mambots/editors/fckeditor/editor/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=55 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130703235043/http://www.commandoveterans.org/site/mambots/editors/fckeditor/editor/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=55 |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 July 2013 |title=No 12 Commando |work=commandoveterans.org |access-date=16 May 2013 }} on Operation Basalt, landing on the Channel island of Sark on the night of 3/4 October 1942. Five Germans were taken prisoner, but when one shouted a warning he was shot dead. With the enemy now alerted, the raiders returned to the beach with the remaining four prisoners. En route, three of them attempted to escape and were killed.{{cite web|url=http://usswashington.com/worldwar2plus55/dl04oc42.htm |title=World War 2 Plus 55 |first=David H. |last=Lippman |work=usswashington.com |access-date=13 October 2011 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111021041415/http://www.usswashington.com/worldwar2plus55/dl04oc42.htm |archive-date=21 October 2011 }} As a result, an enraged Hitler issued the infamous Kommandobefehl ("Commando Order"), stating that all captured Commandos were to be shot without exception.

Further operations followed, and on 15 December 1942 Appleyard was awarded the Distinguished Service Order.{{London Gazette |issue=35645 |date=24 July 1942 |page=3293 |supp=y }} On meeting the now Temporary Major Appleyard at his third investiture in eleven months, King George VI was both amused and impressed, greeting him with: "What, you again?"

Death

The SSRF was disbanded in April 1943, but many of its members were transferred to Algeria, where they formed the nucleus of Bill Stirling's new 2nd Special Air Service, of which Appleyard was appointed second-in-command.{{cite web |url=http://www.specialoperations.com/History/WWII/Cockleshell.htm |title=Cockleshell Heroes : British small boat operations in World War 2 |first=Ryan |last=Wulfsohn |work=specialoperations.com |access-date=13 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111022233450/http://www.specialoperations.com/History/WWII/Cockleshell.htm |archive-date=22 October 2011 |df=dmy-all }} On the night of 12/13 July 1943, during the Allied invasion of Sicily, Appleyard supervised the dropping of a group of SAS paratroopers north of Randazzo in Operation Chestnut. The Albemarle aircraft disappeared on the return flight over the Mediterranean, and Appleyard was declared missing presumed dead. It had probably been shot down by friendly fire. He is commemorated at the Cassino Memorial.

Describing him, Vladimir "Popski" Peniakoff said, "He was one of the few officers who had developed the technique of the small scale raid: the care he took of his men made him stand out among brother officers who were too excited by the prospect of adventure to think of anybody, but their own selves."{{cite book|last=Peniakoff|first=Vladimir|title=Popski's Private Army|year=2004|publisher=Cassell Military Paperbacks|isbn=0-304-36143-7}}

Cultural depictions

In the 2024 movie The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, Geoffrey is portrayed by British actor Alex Pettyfer. The movie portrays a heavily fictionalized version of Operation Postmaster.{{Cite web |last=Vaux |first=Robert |date= 5 February 2024|title=The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare Trailer, Cast, Plot, Release Date & News |url=https://www.cbr.com/the-ministry-of-ungentlemanly-warfare-trailer-cast-news/ |access-date= |website=CBR}}

References

;Notes

;Bibliography

{{cite book |title=Geoffrey |last=Appleyard |first=J.E. |year=1946 |publisher=Blandford |location=London}}
{{cite book |title=Commando |first=James |last=Owen |year=2012 |publisher=Little, Brown}}

Category:1916 births

Category:1940s missing person cases

Category:1943 deaths

Category:Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge

Category:British Army Commandos officers

Category:British Army personnel killed in World War II

Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order

Category:Missing in action of World War II

Category:Missing person cases in Italy

Category:Military personnel killed by friendly fire

Category:People educated at Bootham School

Category:People lost at sea