Royal Marine whose bravery during the disastrous Dieppe raid and subsequent ordeal as a prisoner of war was marked with the MC
Robert “Titch” Houghton was awarded the Military Cross for his bravery during the failed raid on Dieppe in August 1942 and subsequently his endurance as a prisoner of war.
In the absence of a full-scale Allied assault on the European continent in 1942, it had been accepted that more and larger raids should follow the minor successes at Bruneval and St Nazaire. But the raid on Dieppe was imprecise in its objectives. Too large for a raid, too small for an invasion, it was the product of a general feeling that something must be done to impress the Russians, but without any prospect that German forces would be diverted from the eastern front.
Other aims were to test the amphibious techniques then being developed by Admiral Mountbatten’s Combined Operations Headquarters and to see if it would be possible to capture a large port intact. The logistics of the eventual invasion of France would require this.
Owing to inadequate naval gunfire support, unexpectedly strong and well-sited German artillery defences that had not been detected by intelligence and a lack of any aerial bombardment, the raid was an expensive disaster, with the force of Canadian troops and Army and Royal Marine commandos leaving behind nearly 1,000 dead and more than 2,000 prisoners.
However, the tactical and equipment failures of the Dieppe raid did remove many illusions that invasions were easy. It generated a depth of realism in the meticulous preparations for D-Day, including the provision of “Mulberry” mobile harbours.
Houghton, as an acting major, had been appointed second in command of 40 Commando when it formed up in February 1942. At Dieppe he led an assault over a beach covered by intense mortar and machinegun fire. The Commando CO, Colonel Phillips, was fatally wounded during the approach while attempting to signal a withdrawal. A witness in his landing craft recorded that the Marines “landed with a courage terrible to see”.
Houghton’s landing craft blew up behind him immediately after disembarkation. Entrapped by thick wire entanglements, pinned down and finally strafed by their own aircraft, he and his men were taken prisoners of war. Houghton was fortunate not to have been shot under Hitler’s infamous Commando Order. But in prison he was handcuffed for a continuous 4ll days as a reprisal against commando activities .
Educated at Haileybury School, Hertford, Robert Dyer Houghton was commissioned into the Royal Marines in 1930 and carried out a number of tours ashore and afloat, notably in the battleship Malaya and for two years in Egypt. At the outbreak of war he was adjutant and subsequently a company commander of the 1st Battalion, Royal Marines, until January 1942 when he joined 40 Commando.
After returning from PoW camp in 1945, Houghton was briefly given command of 45 Commando. Passing the Army Staff Course at Camberley in 1946, he was appointed CO of 40 Commando and served in Hong Kong, North Africa, Palestine and Cyprus.
Hong Kong — where Houghton’s elder brother Jack was killed in its defence in 1942 — was a somewhat fluid and turbulent place in 1946 and the garrison included a whole Royal Marines brigade. Their green berets were novel to the Chinese who subscribed to a belief that “a man wearing a green hat has an unfaithful wife”.
Garrison duty in Malta, with training expeditions to Tripolitania, was followed by a more demanding occupation in Palestine during the first half of 1948, the final months of the British Mandate. After the United Nations resolution of November 1947 setting up the Jewish state, Britain was left with substantial forces in Palestine but only one way of remaining faithful both to the UN and to the Mandate: doing nothing. The main battle was now between Arab and Jewish communities. This needed to be policed as far as possible; Houghton and 40 Commando’s duties were to keep open the port of Haifa for the vital citrus fruit trade, and to prevent sabotage and theft.
Thieving took elaborate forms; correctly uniformed Jews speaking good English and with the right documentation took delivery of two armoured half-tracks, only one of which was recovered. A Comet tank was driven away by a Polish driver from a cavalry regiment. Ammunition, petrol and stores such as gun barrels and breech blocks were vulnerable despite careful guarding. Car bombs, usually packed into stolen war department vehicles, were a frequent occurrence.
Houghton met a senior and influential Jew whose life he had saved while in Oflag 17 PoW camp and who promised that 40 Commando would not be targeted. Unable to master the conflict between Jews and Arabs in Palestine, the British withdrew through Haifa on May 14, 1948, leaving a fragmented, violent and disorganised country behind them. Then, 40 Commando went to Cyprus to guard until their release 8,000 Jewish illegal immigrants at a camp at Larnaca. Houghton was appointed OBE for his gallant and distinguished service during this difficult period.
His next tour was in South Africa as intelligence officer to Admiral Sir Robert Packer, C-in-C South Atlantic, followed by command of the Commando School. In subsequent years he commanded the Royal Marines reservist organisation and, in 1957 as a colonel, 3 Commando Brigade. In 1961 he was promoted major-general and appointed Chief of Amphibious Warfare. His final tour was as Major-General Royal Marines, Portsmouth, retiring in 1964. He was appointed CB in the same year.
In retirement he continued his Service interests as a regional president of the Royal Marines Association. From 1973 to 1976 he was appointed Colonel Commandant of the Royal Marines and was the general secretary of the Royal United Kingdom Beneficent Association from 1968 to 1978. In 1977 he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of East Sussex.
Tough and short of stature, he was an exuberant, forceful leader who inspired trust even in the most dangerous and demanding circumstances.
His wife Dorothy, whom he married in 1940, died in 1995. He is survived by their daughter and two sons.
Major-General Robert Houghton, CB, OBE, MC, Royal Marines, was born on March 7, 1912. He died on January 17, 2011, aged 98
'Бій відлунав. Жовто-сині знамена затріпотіли на станції знов'
