The Times, UK
July 1 2005
Brigadier Leslie Marsh
May 10, 1918 – June 6, 2005
Royal Marine commander who helped deter an Iraqi threat to the
sovereignty of Kuwait in 1961
IN his military career Leslie Marsh fought in the icy mountains of
Armenia and Korea, the wetlands of northeast Italy, the deserts of
Aden and Kuwait and the jungles of Borneo – a variety remarkable even
for a Royal Marine.
In November 1950, while under US orders north of Pyongyang, the North
Korean capital, he won the MC for his courage, selfless conduct and
outstanding leadership during an action in which his formation,
41 (Independent) Commando, had to drive forward, despite taking
casualties, to support the 7th US Marines who had been encircled
by large numbers of Chinese troops in the mountains of the Chosin
plateau. This was a tipping point in the Korean War, when the sudden
involvement of massive Chinese Communist forces speedily pushed the
UN far to the south to an enclave around Pusan.
During the defence of a convoy between Koto-ri and Hagaru-ri, Marsh
was badly wounded in the thigh, but refused first aid and rallied
his men to beat off the opposition. Several marines suffered from
frostbite. Marsh noted that Chinese soldiers wore jackets that were
white on one side and khaki on the other, in order to camouflage
themselves in snow, but that they made good targets if facing the
wrong
way. A USMC sergeant later wrote: “The boot-necks were the only ones
to make it and join us in a condition and willing to fight some
more.”
Educated at Clifton College, Marsh joined the Royal Marines in 1938,
aged 20. After sea service in the battleship Iron Duke and the
cruiser
Birmingham, he volunteered for commando training and first saw action
in Albania in 1944 in support of Marshal Tito’s partisans; 40
Commando
took the town of Sarande and the island of Corfu before being moved
to
Italy and Operation Roast, a savage infantry battle around the shores
of Lake Comacchio near Ravenna in April 1945. Several army and Royal
Marine commandos overcame mud, flood, minefields and lack of cover
to drive out the Germans and unbalance Field Marshal Kesselring’s
defensive plan. Marsh was badly wounded in the shoulder by a burst
from a German machine pistol.
After duty in a series of training posts, Marsh was appointed in
command of 45 Commando at Aden. In June 1961 the Sheikh of Kuwait
became a fully sovereign ruler against the wishes of Iraq, which
threatened an invasion. First to respond to this threat was 42
Commando, helicoptered ashore from the carrier Bulwark; 45 Commando
was flown from Aden to Kuwait’s incomplete airstrip and, with 42,
took up positions in the desert near the Iraqi border. The marines
learnt to survive at the hottest time of the year in one of the
hottest
parts of the world where unacclimatised troops would have had great
difficulties. Further reinforcements, amounting to 6,000 troops,
tanks
and the fleet carrier Victorious, achieved a timely deterrence. Iraq
did not attack, and Kuwait was soon accepted into the Arab League.
Marsh’s next mission in support of Britain’s postcolonial interests
was to command 3 Commando Brigade in the rank of brigadier in 1963
and 1964 during what became known as “the Confrontation”: the attempt
by President Sukarno of Indonesia to disrupt, by subversion and
infiltra-tion, the inclusion of Sarawak, Brunei and Sabah (formerly
British North Borneo) into the new Federation of Malaysia. Royal
Marines became experts in jungle warfare and the avoidance of
tropical
diseases. They made an important contribution to a campaign which
lasted more than three years and employed the largest Far East fleet
since the Korean war.
Marsh’s final appointment was command of the Commando Training
Centre in Devon. His private interests were in sharp contrast to his
military exploits; they included painting in pastels, ornithology
and an ability, if given the first line, to complete any of A. E.
Housman’s poems from memory.
He was fluent in French and Spanish, and after a second career
working
for the paper manufacturer Wiggins Teape in Basingstoke, he and his
wife Annie moved to the Dordogne where they set up a Michelin-starred
guest house. He is survived by her and his four stepchildren.
Brigadier Leslie Marsh, MC, Royal Marines, was born on May 10, 1918.
He died on June 6, 2005, aged 87.