Colonel Geoffrey Powell MC FRHS


Geoffrey Powell is an important figure in Green Howards history. He was awarded the Military Cross for leading a Parachute Battalion at Arnhem in a desperate fight for survival. He was also in counter-espionage at MI5, and then a successful author and historian. He was born on Christmas Day 1914 in Scarborough a few days after the German naval bombardment of the town. He was commissioned into the Green Howards in 1939 and served in India with the 2nd Battalion. This must have seemed like a backwater while the war was going on elsewhere, so in 1942 he transferred to 151 Parachute Battalion (later 156 Bn). He was promoted to major and served in the Middle East. Then in September 1944 he was in command of C Company in the Market Garden drop. In the first 36 hours of the battle of Arnhem the battalion lost two thirds of its men. Powell, who was now the senior officer in his battalion, led his men to Oosterbeek. They sheltered in ruined houses while the superior German forces shelled and fired on them. He led a bayonet charge which gave hem a brief respite. But for the next six days his depleted battalion fought a rearguard action, hungry and exhausted. Finally he led the men in darkness and pouring rain down to the river and started to swim across until a boat picked up some of them. Powell remained with the others until the boat returned and took them to the other side harassed by shellfire all the way. On the other bank the men formed up and marched 5 miles to the reception area. He was awarded the MC for this ordeal and cited by Brigadier Shan Hackett, commander of 4th Parachute Brigade, as 'a great fighting man whose bravery inspired all around him'.

Powell had little involvement in WW2 after this and was next sent to Staff College, then Java, and Malaya as Brigade Major of 49 Indian Infantry Brigade (mentioned in despatches). In 1954 he returned to the 2nd Bn Green Howards as C Company Commander in the Canal Zone and then in Cyprus where EOKA were giving the British problems. Next he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and worked as a staff officer on Sir Gerald Templer’s planning staff. There was a brief command of the 11th Bn King’s African Rifles in 1957 then he worked at the MoD until his retirement from the army in 1963. His first civilian job was in the Security Service. He took the Civil Service Commission exam and passed out with a high mark. He worked for 12 years in MI5 on security policy and counter-espionage. In 1977 he moved to Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds and concentrated on his writing career. He ran a bookshop, was involved in archaeology, and lectured on Army Staff College battlefield tours of Arnhem. He was made Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. As well as writing the history of the Green Howards he wrote about Arnhem in Men at Arnhem (1976) and The Devil’s Birthday (1984) as well as books on Generals Plumer and Buller. He was married to Felicity Wadsworth in 1944 and they had a son and daughter. His son John was also a Green Howards officer and became the last Colonel of the Regiment in 2003. Colonel Geoffrey Powell died on 5 Jan 2005. The photo shows him in Green Howards service dress with the rank of major in the mid 1950s.


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by Stephen Luscombe