The son of General F. D. Frost of the Indian Army, John Frost was born in Poona on the 31st December 1912. His childhood was spent in a variety of places; the family returned to England before the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, and at its conclusion his father was posted to Mesopotamia (now Iraq), but the remainder of the family returned to India until it was practical for them to move to a settlement just outside of Baghdad, and it was here that Frost first began to learn Arabic. In 1921 the family travelled back to England, and he was sent to school at Wellington. Frost's progress appeared to falter here, and so he was moved to much more compatible Monkton Combe, then to Sandhurst, and was subsequently commissioned into the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) in 1932, with whom he served in both England and Palestine. As a Captain, he was transferred to the Iraq Levies in 1938 and was still stationed in the Middle East when the Second World War began. His contract with the Levies expired in June 1940 and, eager to return home, he applied to return to the Cameronians, however this was refused on the grounds that his presence in Iraq was useful as he had knowledge of the area and could speak Arabic. Frost however persisted. One morning his Company Clerk, Mr Sethi, handed him a paper concerning the establishment of a parachute battalion. Frost told Sethi "What on Earth made you think that I would be interested in this? You don't suppose I would ever want to get involved in that sort of thing, do you?". Frost was eventually relieved of his post and returned to Britain to join the 10th Battalion of the Cameronians. As a parting gift he had been presented with an inscribed copper hunting horn, which he would later take into battle to use as a rallying call for his men. He hadn't been with the Cameronians for long before he received a request from the War Office for Captains willing to join the newly formed Special Air Service. Frost had little idea what the SAS was, but imagining it to be a variant of the Commando's, and having grown tired of mundane home duties, he applied without hesitation. His battalion commander politely suggested that Frost ought to keep his feet on the ground as "I can't imagine any sensible person choosing you to be a parachutist". Nevertheless, Frost passed the interview and the subsequent intense course of training, and was posted to the 2nd Battalion of the Parachute Regiment.



As a Major, he led C Company on the famous Bruneval Raid on the French coast - the first significant British airborne action. Shortly after, Frost was briefly transferred the 3rd Battalion as Second-in-Command, but soon rejoined the 2nd Battalion to occupy the same post. On 29th October 1942, before the Battalion departed overseas, Lt-Colonel Gofton-Salmond fell ill and command was handed to Frost. Under him, his men saw action in many theatres of war, in Tunisia, Sicily, and Italy, and they remained unbeaten. When Brigadier Lathbury had been wounded in Sicily, Frost was given temporary command of the 1st Para Brigade for six weeks until he recovered. A 2nd Battalion officer said of Frost, "He had a very relaxed style of leadership when out of action, letting the very good company commanders get on with it. But, in action, he was absolutely on the ball and suddenly became five years younger." Highly respected by all ranks, the 31 year old Frost was the most experienced Battalion commander in the 1st Airborne Division.



Frost remarked that he and many others were more than a little apprehensive about the great distance from the drop zone to the Bridge. However despite being assured that the 2nd Battalion would be directly amongst the thick of the fighting, he believed that the operation would be a success and the end of the war would swiftly follow. And as he thought it likely that the 1st Airborne would be forced to endure a long stay in Germany after the war, he ordered his batman, Private Wicks, to load his shotgun, dinner jacket, and golf clubs into the staff car, which would eventually arrive in the 'sea tail'.



Because of their reputation for being fast movers, the 2nd Battalion had been chosen to capture and hold all three bridges in the Arnhem area, a task that Frost regarded as a tall order for a single Battalion. While marching to the Bridge and seeing the rail bridge explode behind him, he was secretly relieved that C Company, who were assigned to capture that bridge, would now be free to back his main force up at the Bridge, even though he was now unable to attack the main bridge from both sides of the river.



With German vehicles patrolling the streets regularly, many men were moved through back gardens and even through houses to avoid detection. On one occasion, Frost marched his battalion through the back door of a house and out the front into the street beyond; being forced to endure the enraged rantings of the occupant in the process. But upon arriving at the Bridge, Frost described it as being his best moment of the battle when he found that it was intact and his men were able to defend it. Upon realising that the capture of the far end of the Bridge was impossible, Frost set about constructing a fierce defence around the northern end with the 740 men he eventually had at his disposal. He set up his Battalion Headquarters in a house overlooking the surrounding area. The owner was unwilling to surrender his home as he was convinced that the Germans had run away, and he believed that the paratroopers should be pursuing them rather than making themselves comfortable on his property. Frost informed him that the Germans were still in Arnhem, and that he not only wanted to billet men in the house, but also fortify it in preparation for a battle. The owner was aghast at this news, but retired to the cellar and left the soldiers to go about their business.



The Commander at the Bridge should have been Brigadier Lathbury, but in his absence Frost was asked to assume command of the entire defence. He put his Second-in-Command, Major Wallis, in charge of the 2nd Battalion, but after he was killed by friendly fire on Monday night, Frost gave command to Major Tatham-Warter. Major Crawley, the commander of B Company, was senior to Tatham-Warter, and Frost was aware of a mild degree of resentment on the former's part. However Tatham-Warter was a very capable officer and had been at the Bridge from the beginning, whereas Crawley had only recently arrived, and as he was more in touch with the Battalion's defensive positions, he was the prudent choice.



On Tuesday 19th, the Germans sent a captured engineer, Lance Corporal Stan Halliwell, to meet with Lt-Colonel Frost and inform him that his defence was futile, he had no hope of relief from friendly forces, so it would be sensible for him to surrender and spare the lives of his men. Frost was surprised by this assessment as he had no reason to believe that his defence was in any way futile, and he expected the arrival of relieving troops at any moment. He found the offer to be quite ludicrous and so told Halliwell to tell them to go to hell.



At 8am on Wednesday 20th, radio contact was made with the rest of the Division and Frost was at last able to speak to Major-General Urquhart. Frost was pleased to hear from the General, and impressed upon him the urgent need for reinforcements in terms of men, medical supplies, and especially ammunition, but it soon became clear that the Division was in a dire situation itself and so there was nothing that they could do to help. Salvation could now only come from the immediate arrival of XXX Corps.



On Wednesday 20th, Frost was caught in the blast of a mortar that landed directly between himself and Major Crawley, with whom he had been discussing mounting a fighting patrol in the north of the defence. Both officers were blown off their feet, but miraculously neither were killed. They had however been badly injured, Frost's wound being very painful wounds to his left ankle and right shin. Crawley was notorious for getting wounded, and moments after this incident Frost was believed to have said "There you go again. Always getting wounded. What a silly butt I was to come and talk to you in the middle of a battle." No longer being able to command the bridge defences effectively, Frost handed the honours over to Major Freddie Gough, however he continued to make all important decisions. One of these was to agree to the arranging of a truce to evacuate all wounded from the area, including himself. The situation had become so desperate and so many buildings were on the verge of collapse, that the welfare of the wounded in the cellars of these houses was at risk and their presence could only hamper the remaining defenders. Frost was a little apprehensive about being handed over to the SS as they had a reputation for executing their prisoners using brutal means, however he noted that the German troops he encountered were kind, chivalrous, and even comforting. He remarked to Major Crawley "Well, Doug, I'm afraid we haven't got away with it this time.", to which came the reply "No, sir, but we gave them a damn good run for their money".



Though the men he left behind carried on fighting for several more hours, Frost had commanded a force of only 740 and held the Bridge for 3 days and 4 nights. It was estimated that the entire Division with 10,000 men would only be able to hold out for that long. In addition, most of the German armour had been north of the Rhine before the battle, and Arnhem Bridge was the only real way across to the south. There is no doubt whatsoever that if Frost's force had not have held for as long as they did then the American Airborne men and British armour at Nijmegen would have had no chance whatsoever of being able to capture the main road bridge there. Had this have happened, then the whole of the 1st Airborne would have been cut off and captured.



Frost spent the remainder of the war in captivity at Oflag IX-A/H at Spangenburg, near Kassel, and after his ankle wound had opened up again, he was transferred to the POW hospital at Obermassfeldt. It was here in March, that spearheads of General Patton's 6th US Army arrived and Frost was freed and returned home.



Shortly after resuming command of the 2nd Battalion and leading them in Palestine, Frost met his wife-to-be, Jean MacGregor Lyle, a widow and YMCA worker who had been driving tea vans around the 1st Airborne Division, and they married on the 31st December 1947, Frost's 35th birthday, and later produced a son and a daughter. After the war, Frost attended the Staff College at Camberley and became GSO2 of the 52nd Lowland Division. He spent two years in Malaya during the emergency, acting as GSO1 of 17 Gurkha Division. From 1955 to 1957 he commanded the Support Weapons Wing of the School of Infantry, at Netheravon, after which he commanded the 44th Parachute Brigade (TA), based in London. He then returned to the 52nd Lowland Division as their commander, before being appointed to the post of GOC Troops in Malta and Libya, and later Commander Malta Land Forces. In 1968, Frost retired from the military, having aspired to the rank of Major-General. Over his career he had acquired numerous honours, including the Military Cross in 1942, the Distinguished Service Order in 1943 and Bar in 1945, and was also made a Companion of the Bath in 1964, and a Grand Officer of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. He settled down to rear beef cattle at Northend Farm at Liphook, Hampshire. The farm was initially derelict, but John and Jean set about restoring at and eventually were able to preside over a good herd. Frost was steered towards a career in local politics by his old friend Freddie Gough, who had since become a Member of Parliament, and after becoming involved in the Church and the Conservative Party, he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant for West Sussex in 1982.



In 1976, Frost was invited onto the set of the Richard Attenborough film, "A Bridge Too Far", where he acted as a military consultant during the scenes concerning Arnhem Bridge. In 1977, the reconstructed Arnhem Road Bridge was christened the John Frostburg in honor of those who battled furiously to defend it, though he had originally been hesitant about accepting this offer, but was prevailed upon by Freddie Gough. In 1980, he published a well received novel about his wartime military career, A Drop Too Many. In 1983, he wrote a book about the experiences of 2 PARA in the Falklands campaign, 2 PARA Falklands: The Battalion At War, and its publication caused a great deal of controversy. The military hierarchy was rattled by Frost's highly critical account of the way that the operation had been planned, but as with Arnhem, there is much merit in the accusation that outstanding performance of the troops had been achieved in spite of the tactical and logistical element, not because of it. Furthermore the Ministry of Defence claimed that his book divulged certain names that had been intended to remain a secret, but mostly they were angry because they had not been consulted. No real harm had done and the book sold well, but with the media seemingly after his blood, Frost deliberately kept a low profile. In 1991, he wrote his autobiography, Nearly There. John Frost died in 1993.

** BUMP **

Thanks for bumping this one Bart, I had missed it so far . John Frost is the most famous war hero in my region, and I'm pleased to have some more information about his life and career. I should check the library for his autobiography.

Wouter