General Sir Herbert John Mogg, (17 February 1913 – 28 October 2001) was a senior British Army officer who also held the NATO position of Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe (DSACEUR) and was "in his time, probably the British army's most popular general".
Army career
He was educated at St Michael's School, Victoria, B.C., Malvern College, and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. After Malvern he took a Y-cadetship with 3rd Battalion, Coldstream Guards. After three years in the ranks he was selected for Sandhurst, where he gained the Sword of Honour in 1936, being commissioned into the 1st Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, (43rd & 52nd) in August 1937.
Second World War
In 1939, he was posted to 5th Battalion, Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, a newly formed Territorial training unit, and served initially as Adjutant and later Second in Command. By 1943, Major Mogg was in Command of a Divisional Battle School at Margate, 61st Infantry Division, XI Corps, Home Forces. Mogg approached Major General Adrian Carton de Wiart, VC., and later Major General Brian Wainwright, Commanding Officers, 61st Infantry Division seeking an operational command. In the weeks before D-Day he was appointed Second in Command, 9th Battalion Durham Light Infantry, 151st Brigade.
On D-Day, 6 June 1944, 9th DLI landed on Gold Beach at Le Hamel, Asnelles. In the breakout from the Normandy beachhead, 9DLI supported by 4th/7th Dragoon Guards were ordered to attack the village of Lingevres, 14 June 1944, defended by the Panzer Lehr Division. John Mogg gave an account of his experiences of the battle, during which the Commanding Officer, Lt Col. Humphrey Woods, DSO, MC* was killed and Mogg assumed command.
"As we crossed the start line all hell let loose from our own side and what with Typhoons and the artillery barrage and the tanks all shooting up the enemy positions in the wood, you could have seen the ground literally dance in front of you. And trees were coming down and I thought to myself "Good Lord, nobody can ever live in that thing, we must be able to walk straight on to our objective"." "And so we crossed right on time, 10.15, across the start line, with Humphrey Woods on the left and me on the right and we went through the corn, and the Geordies were never very tall guys and the corn that year was extremely high. We advanced about halfway across the corn with still this barrage going on when you suddenly saw the odd Geordie dropping in the corn and you couldn’t quite make this out where it was coming from. But, in fact, it was machine-gun fire coming from the forward edge of the wood and quite a lot of Geordies were dropping in the corn as casualties all the way along."
"However we advanced...and I spoke to Humphrey Woods on my radio, and this is the last time I heard him, and he said "We are running into terrible trouble here on the left, all the ‘A’ Company officers are casualties. I am trying to get on with ‘B’ Company and I will try and see how it happens. If not, if we don’t make any ground, you go on, whatever you do go on to your side of the village and I will try and collect as many of our soldiers and then come round behind you, because it’s obviously going to be easier your side". And, in fact, he was right, it was easier our side and apart from a fair amount of hand to hand fighting of ‘C’ Company on the right we got into the woods."
“...There was a scene of utter destruction with the church in ruins and many of the buildings had collapsed and there was very heavy shelling from the far side of the village. I suddenly had a message to say that Humphrey Woods had been killed and I suddenly realized that meant that I was the senior officer in the place and that made me the Commanding Officer, which filled me with utter despair to start with but I realized I must do something about it."
"I remember my Gunner officer was up by the Church in his tank at the main crossroads and we made a plan for some Artillery Fires which I could call for quickly." "We had an ‘O’ group with the two Company Commanders, the Anti Tank Platoon Commander, Carrier Platoon Commander, the Gunner and the 4th/7th Sqn Leader. I allocated positions for the Coys. blocking both roads and then I sited the Anti tank guns."