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Auction: 17003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 694

A rare Great War Siege of Kut M.C. group of nine awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel E. C. 'Pat' Le Patourel, Indian Army, an eccentric Company Commander who was 'revered by his men'

Wounded and taken P.O.W. at the fall of Kut in April 1916, he harboured worthy intentions of escape but - owing to an injured knee - he had to make do with acting as a decoy and 'dresser-in-chief' to the party of six officers who made a successful bid for freedom from Yozgad in August 1918: 'He was very miserable that he was not going himself but he had a crocked knee and it would have been madness for him to think of marching over open country by night' (450 Miles to Freedom, refers)

In the fullness of time, Le Patourel undertook his own successful escape: in a rowing boat from Singapore in February 1942

Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; 1914-15 Star (Lt. E. C. Le Patourel, 119/Infy.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (Lt. E. C. Lepatourel); India General Service 1908-35, 2 clasps, Waziristan 1921-24, North West Frontier 1930-31 (Capt. E. C. Le Patourel, 2-9 Jat R.); 1939-45 Star; Pacific Star; War Medal 1939-45; Greece, Medal of Military Merit 1916-1917, contact marks, generally very fine and better (9)

M.C. London Gazette 19 October 1916:

'For distinguished service in the Field.'

Eric Claude 'Pat' Le Patourel was born in Calcutta, India on 15 January 1893 and was educated at Elizabeth College, St. Peter Port, Guernsey; another member of the family to be likewise educated was Herbert Wallace Le Patourel (1916-79), who won the V.C. as a Major in the 2nd Hampshires at Tebourba in Tunisia in December 1942.

Kut - in the bag

Commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the Indian Army in November 1914, young Eric joined the 119th Infantry (The Mooltan Regiment), afterwards the 9th Jats, and it was in this capacity that he was embarked for Mesopotamia in May 1915. He subsequently served with distinction in the battles of Basra, Qurna, Es Sinn and Ctesiphon, prior to enduring the 147-day siege of Kut, services that witnessed him being wounded on at least one occasion and awarded the M.C.

In common with the survivors of Kut, he was marched off into captivity, in his case to 'a dirty-looking two-storied building' on the outskirts of Changri. The Great War classic, 450 Miles to Freedom, by M. A. B. Johnson and K. D. Yearlsey, continues:

'On entering [the building], we were too dumfounded to speak, and here it may be added that it took a lot to dumfound us. The square inside the building was full of sheep and goats, and the ground was consequently filthy. The lower-storey rooms, which were to be our mess-rooms, had been used for cattle, and the cellar pointed out to us as our kitchen was at least a foot deep in manure. Only one wing of the barracks had window panes, and these were composed of small bits of glass rudely fitted together. Truly a depressing place.'

Small wonder, therefore, that Le Patourel and his fellow officers hatched plans for a major escape, plans that would eventually come to fruition on their subsequent move to a camp at Yozgad. As it transpired - owing to his injured knee - Le Patourel was unable to join the party of six officers who made a successful bid for freedom from Yozgad in August 1918. He did, however, play an important role as a decoy for the escapers, having first acted as their 'dresser-in-chief':

'He [Le Patourel] now employed spare moments repeating certain sentences that he had learnt in order to call away the sentry over the alley: on this depended the best scheme of getting out of the house. The bedroom was the one in which Old Man, Grunt, and Johnny slept, and those in the room now set to work to make up dummies in the three beds. The heads had already been fashioned, and, with a few clothes stuffed under the blankets and the heads held in position, the beds were soon occupied by three graceful figures in attitudes of deep repose … They could not resist the temptation of calling the Major [Le Patourel] away from the mess window for a moment, just to have a look at the sleeping beauties, and he returned chuckling to his post' (ibid).

The escaping officers having then assembled in a pre-arranged room, together with other parties of officers in other houses, all eyes were on Le Patourel as he attempted to gain the attention of a Turkish sentry:

'Their plan now depended on the aid of Pat [Le Patourel]. Although debarred from escaping himself, he was willing to help others to liberty at considerable risk to himself. Punctually at 9.15, the hour at which the different parties in the different houses were allowed to start, Pat's clear tones could be heard calling to the sentry in the alley-way:

"Nebuchi, nebuchi, jigara dushdu" ("Sentry, sentry, I've dropped my cigarettes").

And indeed he had: a hundred scattered about a cabbage-bed should keep the sentry busy for some time. But the wretched man nearly upset all calculations. Wearied with a quarter of an hour's duty, he was already almost asleep.

It was a moment of terrible suspense for the six officers waiting, ready loaded up with their kits, in the ground-floor room opposite the kitchen. The door of this led on to the alley-way; normally it was disused and kept locked, but the lock had now been picked and the door could be opened in a moment.

Would the sentry hear Pat calling? And would he desert his post even if he did hear? They had heard Pat's first sentence. No reply.

It was repeated, then again and again.

After they heard him shouting for many hours (perhaps thirty seconds, as is reckoned by the watch), the sentry answered.

His form was just visible as he passed by a small iron-barred window, and now was the opportunity. They could cross unobserved to the kitchen. An open door, three steps across the alley-way, a fumble with the kitchen door staple; another door open, a turn to the left, bend down or you'll knock your head off getting into the fowl-house, starlight showing a black wall, through head first and almost on your face into the long grass, and there you are - a free man.

Meanwhile Pat was no doubt explaining to the delighted old sentry from the upper window how he could have a few cigarettes himself and return the remainder next morning. We sometimes wonder whether the sentry was foolish enough to mention to his relief the cigarettes he had been given' (ibid).

Johnson and Yearsley - the authors of 450 Miles to Freedom - and their fellow officers did indeed become free men.

For his own part, Le Patourel had to nurse his injured knee and was finally repatriated in January 1919.

Beyond the Great War

Post-war he was appointed a Special Service Officer to the Greek Military Mission 1919-20 and to British Commission for the Turkish Gendarmerie 1921-22, following which he served as an Intelligence Officer during the Chanak Crisis in the Dardanelles in 1923. He was mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 14 January 1921, refers).

Returning to normal regimental employ in the 2nd Battalion, 9th Jats in India, he was present in the Waziristan operations of 1924 (Medal & clasp) and later participated in the North-West Frontier operations of 1930-31 (clasp).

Placed on the Special Unattached List in April 1936, Le Patourel was recalled on the renewal of hostilities and is believed to have commanded a Sikh unit in the defence of Singapore in February 1942; accompanying notes suggest he escaped by rowing boat.

In August 1942, Le Patourel was appointed C.O. of the 25th Garrison Battalion of the Sikh Light Infantry, in which capacity he was revered by his men. The Battalion was embarked for the Middle East in January 1943, where it carried out oil refinery escort and protection duties in Iraq and Iran. At Khorramshahr in Iran in early 1946, the Battalion fought an action against local forces, about ten of the latter being killed: by way of example, Le Patourel had their corpses laid out on the steps of the Mayor's offices.

The Battalion returned to India in March 1946 and was disbanded at Lahore in the following month, after which Le Patourel reverted to the Retired List; sold with a file of copied research.

Additional reference sources:

Johnson, M. A. B., and Yearsley, K. D., 450 Miles to Freedom (Blackwood, London, 1919).
Singh, Dr. Kamalroop, edited by Hookway, J. D., The Regimental History of the Sikh Light Infantry 1941-47 (Beckington, Bath, 1999).


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