Tony Hibbert (officer)
Tony Hibbert , MBE MC , actually James Anthony Hibbert (born December 6, 1917 in Chertsey (Surrey) , † October 12, 2014 in Trebah , Mawnan, Cornwall ) was an officer in the British Army during World War II . In retirement, he and his wife took over and restored the house and garden of Trebah in Cornwall.
Life
James Anthony Hibbert was the son of a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps . The family owned a wine and liquor store. In the 1930s Tony Hibbert came to Germany to learn viticulture and wine trading. Under the impression of rearmament under National Socialism , he decided in 1935 to return to Great Britain, break off his apprenticeship and apply to the Royal Military Academy to join the British Army.
In January 1938 he received his officer license for the Royal Artillery . On September 9, 1939, he landed in Cherbourg with the British Expeditionary Force . At the Battle of Dunkirk he commanded a battery that held the Allies' northern flank for four days. On June 1, 1940, he had to give up the position due to a lack of ammunition. He was evacuated from the Sun X tugboat during Operation Dynamo . He was mentioned in the war report for his bravery ( Mentioned in dispatches ).
1st Parachute Brigade
In October 1940, Hibbert entered the No. 2 Commando , the nucleus of the Parachute Regiment (British Army) , which Winston Churchill had requested after the experience of Dunkirk. The command was renamed No. 11 Special Air Service Battalion and then in September 1941 the 1st Parachute Battalion
Hibbert served with the 1st Airborne Division in North Africa, where he was promoted to staff officer , and in southern Italy. In 1944 he was posted to attend the General Staff College Camberley and then became Brigade major ( First General Staff Officer ) of the 1st Parachute Brigade.
On September 17, 1944 the first day of Operation Market Garden , he reached with the brigade headquarters and the 2nd Battalion, under the command of John Frost , the Arnhem bridge . Against violent fire, they held the northern bridgehead for three days. While retreating, Hibbert was captured by the German armed forces near Oosterbeek .
He managed to escape and get the Dutch to support Members of the resistance connection to the rest of his brigade to cross the Rhine and on 23 October 1944 with the Operation Pegasus (1944) by the 101st Airborne Division (United States) to be retrieved . He suffered a broken leg , which resulted in a five-month hospital stay .
Operation Eclipse
Hibbert was released from the hospital in April 1945. He was commissioned with a task force ( T-Force ) as part of Operation Eclipse to make an advance from Lübeck , which had been captured on May 2, to the still unoccupied Kiel in order to secure important goals there. His task force consisted of a few hundred soldiers from the 5th Battalion of the King's Regiment of the British Army and No. 30 Commando of the Royal Navy .
The job was problematic. The day before, the partial surrender in northwest Germany was signed by the German delegation led by Hans-Georg von Friedeburg on the Timeloberg in the Lüneburg Heath . This signature was authorized by the last Reich President Karl Dönitz , who stayed in Flensburg - Mürwik , to the north . The British had initially promised not to advance north beyond Bad Segeberg . The situation in Kiel was therefore unclear and tense, and the German troops north of the Kiel Canal hesitated to lay down their arms. However, Hibbert and his men managed to take control in Kiel without resistance and maintained it until May 7, when the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division arrived.
The reason for the advance was that at the end of April there were reports from Swedish authorities that the Red Army was planning to advance further north-west via the demarcation lines decided at the Yalta conference and occupy Denmark. These findings led to the rapid advance of British and American units to the Baltic Sea, with which they stopped the Soviet armed forces on the eastern outskirts of Wismar on May 2nd . In fact, the Western Allies are said to have got there just four hours before the Soviet units. The rapid capture of Kiel and its shipyards and port facilities was seen as a further prerequisite for successfully stopping the Soviet advance on land and on the water.
On VE Day , May 8th, Major Hibbert was briefly arrested because his advance had violated the conditions negotiated in the Lüneburg Heath and it had to be clarified whether he could invoke a valid order from the 21st Army Group . The situation cleared up and he was quickly released.
Life after the end of the military career
In 1947, Hibbert was dismissed from the army as an invalid . He returned to the family business CG Hibbert and expanded it considerably.
In 1960 he founded the Salterns Sailing Club for young people in Lymington . He himself sailed international races in the International Moth Class .
Tony Hibbert tried to retire twice. His first attempt was in 1972 in Devon as a gentleman farmer , which he did not like.
In 1981 his wife Eira, b. He and Bradshaw († 2009) persuade themselves to buy a house and garden in Trebah in Cornwall . Realizing the importance of the garden, which had been neglected for years, they embarked on a hugely successful restoration. Trebah has been open to the public since 1987 and has become one of the most visited gardens in Cornwall; it is now owned by the Trebah Garden Trust , a foundation established by the Hibbert couple.
Awards
- 1945: Military Cross , Hibbert 2009 the Airborne Museum Hartenstein donated
- 2006: Order of the British Empire
- 2010: Kiel seal of splendor
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Obituary of Major Tony Hibbert The Independent , October 17, 2014.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Roll Call: Major Tony Hibbert, MBE MC ( Memento of the original from October 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ParaData, Airborne Assault (Registered Charity)
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Obituary — Major James Anthony Hibbert, MBE MC Trebah Garden website
- ^ Major James Anthony Hibbert , The Pegasus Archive — The Battle of Arnhem Archive
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Major Tony Hibbert - obituary The Telegraph , October 19, 2014.
- ↑ a b Extended Biography of Tony Hibbert ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Compiled by Tony Hibbert and Harvey Grenville. ParaData, Airborne Assault (Registered Charity)
- ↑ a b c d Trebah My Story, Page 18: Hibbert and Bradshaw Families — Major Hibberts Log ( August 20, 2011 memento on the Internet Archive ) As captured by the Internet Archive Wayback Machine Aug 20, 2011
- ↑ Formation of Airborne Forces, 1940-41 ParaData, Airborne Assault (Registered Charity)
- ^ Text of Churchill's call for a parachute corps ParaData, Airborne Assault (Registered Charity)
- ↑ a b Formation and Early Airborne Forces ParaData, Airborne Assault (Registered Charity)
- ↑ a b c d Personal account of Major Tony Hibbert's experiences of the Battle of Arnhem ( Memento of the original from October 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ParaData, Airborne Assault (Registered Charity)
- ↑ a b c d e A diary of 'T' Force operations in KIEL ( Memento of the original from October 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ARCRE — Archive research & document copying
- ↑ a b c "Operation Eclipse" —History Learning Site
- ↑ Time travel: Stalin's grip on Schleswig-Holstein , from: May 4, 2014; Retrieved on: May 4, 2017
- ↑ History of 'T' Force Activities in 21 Army Group ( Memento of the original from October 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ARCRE — Archive research & document copying
- ↑ Salterns Sailing Club Welcome
- ↑ Salterns Sailing Club Who Runs the Club
- ↑ Trebah My Story, Page 12: The Hibberts 1981 to 2002 — Major Hibberts Log ( August 20, 2011 memento on the Internet Archive ) As captured by the Internet Archive Wayback Machine Aug 20, 2011
- ↑ Trebah My Story, Page 13: The Hibberts 1981 to 2002 — Major Hibberts Log ( Memento June 17, 2013 on the Internet Archive ) As captured by Internet Archive Wayback Machine Aug 20, 2011
- ↑ "Tributes as war hero and Trebah Gardens founder Major Tony Hibbert dies" the Packet , October 14, 2014.
- ^ "Honor for major who led capture of German port in WWII" BBC News Cornwall , June 19, 2010.
- ^ British war veteran receives pompous seal , press release of the state capital Kiel dated May 3, 2010, accessed on April 12, 2015.
- ↑ British hero who seized key German port during the Second World War is honored ... by Germany " Mail Online , 21 June 2010.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hibbert, Tony |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hibbert, James Anthony (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British military, British Army officer in World War II |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 6, 1917 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chertsey (Surrey) |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 12, 2014 |
| Place of death | Trebah , Mawnan, Cornwall |