Coincidentally, I've just been following a discussion on LinkedIn regarding 'Dytor's Charge', at the Battle of Two Sisters.
Quotes from some of the participants, who all now seem well established in civvy jobs in the UK, are copied at the bottom. It gives a good sense of just how 'close run' things were. Dytor was Zulu Company, Four Five Commando. I served in Yankee Company, three years later, yet never heard a thing about the war, including this famous charge:
Dytor’s Charge
In the early hours of the morning, a young lieutenant and his troop of Royal Marines found themselves in a desperate situation.
Attempting to capture a heavily defended ridge known as Two Sisters, they were pinned down on its lower slopes. Trapped in the sights of an Argentine heavy machine gun, their assault lost all momentum.
“We were in the worst possible position, on a slope, totally exposed, taking casualties,” recalls Clive Dytor, who was commanding 8 Troop, Zulu Company, 45 Commando.
“The enemy opened up with a .50 Browning heavy machine gun, they were shooting at us with everything they had.”
Within minutes, three marines lay dead and another was seriously injured, his leg blown off by a mortar bomb. Artillery fire was called in to destroy the machine gun crew but resulted in the death of another marine.
What followed was an act of extraordinary courage that was to win the young lieutenant a Military Cross. More remarkable still was the path his life later took, for the war hero became first an Anglican clergyman, then left the Church, converted to Catholicism and went into teaching.
Sitting in his cosy study at The Oratory School near Reading, where he has been headmaster for the past 12 years, he relives that life-changing moment.
“I began listening to our rate of fire and I realised we were going to run out of ammunition. Then I remembered a line in a book about the Black Watch in the Second World War. They were pinned down and the adjutant stood up and shouted, 'Is this the Black Watch? Charge!’
“What I didn’t remember, until I read it again later,” he laughs, “was that he was actually cut in half at that point by a German machine gun.
“The next thing I knew I was up and running on my own, shouting, 'Zulu, Zulu, Zulu’, which was our company battle cry and also the battle cry of my father’s old regiment, South Wales Borderers.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/falklandislands/9164691/Falklands-War-hero-explains-why-he-entered-the-church-after-being-awarded-the-Military-Cross.html
"We then got into the Argentine positions. What followed was a long night of close-range fighting. But by the end, 45 Commando had seized Two Sisters. The Argentine troops, though superior in numbers, had been overwhelmed by the fighting spirit of the British commandoes. The young men who a few hours earlier in the dark had began their yomp with destiny towards Two Sisters were now totally ruthless determined killing machines. We responded to orders, remained disciplined but the switch had been flicked. This is not hyperbole - this was the reality; kill or be killed - do or die. One Company Commander commented that he would not like to face his men in battle. HMS Glamorgan gave 45 NGS (Naval Gunfire Support) as did the Royal Artillery - God Bless them both. Glamorgan was hit by an Exocet that night and survived, the only ship to do so. 1500 shells were fired onto the feature in support of the attack. Losses - Argentine 20+, Glamorgan 13. Four Five - 4 or 8 depending on how the casualties are counted. A hard nights work and far from a walk over. It was tough going. PS: George and I remained friends and are to this day."
"To continue the story from one who was there. Mr Dytor was my OC in 8 Troop, Zulu Company, Four Five Commando. We were pinned down by a 50cal HMG and mortar fire was creeping over the hill during our attack on Two Sisters. Small arms fire was also coming down on us. Two men were KIA'd by the mortars and several badly wounded. At 19 years old I believed my time had come and mentally prepared for it. My only thoughts were the hope that it was quick and that mother would be ok. He then stood up and led the charge, with our Sgt. Yorkie Malone, kick starting us into action. Was me who shouted at him. We then 'pepper pottered' up the hill, two up running - two putting covering fire down, leap frogging each other. Finally within grenade range of the 50cal that had tormented us I was told to put a grenade into it. The pin was pulled as I lay on my back and I was up and down in a 10th of a nano second. The noise was horrendous. We could see marines coming in from the left doing a flanking movement towards the same machine gun. We screaming and gesturing to them to get down when the grenade exploded. My corporal, (now major RM) Darren 'George' Hunt, MBE,MM, had his arm up and was fragged by the grenades exploded shrapnel and casevacced."
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