Brigadier John Charles Campbell VC MC DSO

John Charles ‘Jock’ Campbell was born in Thurso on 10 Jan 1894, one of 13 children. He worked as a bank clerk before WW1 and attended RMA Woolwich to be commissioned as a 2nd Lieut in the RA on 28 July 1915. He was wounded twice in 1916 and promoted on 10 Feb 1917 to lieutenant. He served in 16h Brigade RHA and was awarded the Military Cross. Between the wars he was an instructor at Weedon Equitation School, also hunting, playing polo and taking part in point to point races. In 1922 he married Rosamund, a relative of Cecil Rhodes; they had two daughters.
In WW2 he was a major in command of a battery in 4th Regiment RHA in Egypt. In June 1940 he was in command of a flying column, called Jock’s Column. He was awarded the DSO for his exploits in North Africa and again for fighting off German air attacks. He took over command of 7th Support Group which occupied the airfield at Sidi Rezegh. It was on 21 Nov 1941 that he won the VC for his heroic leadership against two armoured divisions of the Afrika Korps. Brigadier Campbell’s small force, holding important ground, was repeatedly attacked and wherever the fighting was hardest he was to be seen either on foot, in his open car, or astride a tank. The following day, the Germans captured Sidi Rezegh ridge and moved in from the flanks so that Campbell’s force had to withdraw to the upper escarpment. On 23rd he led his tanks into battle, on two occasions having to man a gun himself. He was wounded in the arm but continued to control the fire of batteries and be in the forefront of the action. The enemy suffered heavy losses at point-blank range as Campbell acted as a loader to one of the guns. Eye witnesses say that he could have been awarded the VC many times over for his actions over the three days fighting. He actually seemed to be at his happiest in the midst of great danger.
Campbell was presented with his VC medal at Cairo by General Sir Claude Auchinleck. His senior officer was William Gott who was promoted to lead XIII Corps so that he himself was promoted to Major-General and given command of the 7th Armoured Division. Sadly he was killed 3 weeks later when his jeep overturned on 26 Feb 1942 at Halfaya in Egypt. Major General Jock Campbell was buried with full military honours in the Cairo War Memorial Cemetery.

Regimental Details | Commanding Officers