Heroes of the Victoria Cross: PATRICK ANTHONY PORTEOUS

Amid the disastrous Dieppe Raid of August 1942, this 24-year-old officer took command of a depleted unit, saved a comrade, and led a charge against enemy positions

- ALEX BOWERS

The German was quicker to raise his weapon as he took aim at Captain Patrick Anthony Porteous and fired. The bullet struck Porteous' left hand, passing into his arm. But the young liaison officer, serving as a temporary major with No. 4 Commando, had little time to feel the pain or worry about the blood gushing from his wound. The enemy steadied his gun, ready for another shot. Surely this was it the moment he died.

It was 19 August, 1942, and Porteous was in Dieppe, France, for Operation Jubilee. While the Canadians were about to be slaughtered on the beaches surrounding the coastal commune, his party of special forces was tasked with destroying the 'Hess' battery that overlooked Allied shipping. The plan, created by No. 4 Commando's lieutenant colonel and Scottish Fraser clan chieftain Lord Lovat, had been quite simple. There were to be two parties, the first of which numbered 88 men under Major MillsRoberts and would land on the codenamed Orange Beach 1. After navigating up one of the gullies in the cliffside, Group 1 would make its way past the edge of Varengeville to within range of the battery. There, it would provide covering fire for the second party, which, having arrived on Orange Beach 2 a mile west of Quiberville, would capitalise on an already engaged enemy and launch the actual assault from the rear 15 minutes later. The far-flanking manoeuvre of the 164-strong Group 2, involving Porteous, was intended to take the Germans by surprise. Meanwhile, on the other flank of Dieppe, No. 3 Commando would participate in similar actions against the 'Goebbels' battery at Berneval.