Brigadier Leslie Marsh; commander who helped to deter an Iraqi threat to the sovereignty of Kuwait in 1961
Hyfler/Rosner
July 1, 2005, Friday
Brigadier Leslie Marsh, MC, Royal Marines, was born on May
10, 1918. He died on June 6, 2005, aged 87.
Royal Marine commander who helped to 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.