Edward Neufville Crosse

Brigadier Edward Neufville Crosse, CBE, MC and Bar (19 January 1898 – 9 October 1970), was an officer in the British Army who served during the First World War, the Iraq campaign of 1920, and the Second World War. He was mentioned in despatches and awarded the Military Cross during the First World War,^[1][2] was awarded a Bar to his Military Cross during operations in Iraq,^[3] and was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1945.^[4] In 1947, he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau (with Swords),^[5] and in the following year became aide-de-camp to King George VI,^[6] a post he held until his retirement in May 1951.^[7]

Crosse was born in Canterbury, Kent, in 1898, the youngest of eight children born to Thomas George Crosse, a clergyman born in India, and his wife Fanny Maria (née Simpson), who was born in Yorkshire. The family is recorded in the 1901 census living together in Canterbury, with Edward listed as the youngest child.^[8]

Fanny had previously been married to Charles James Nelson, who died in 1880. A daughter from that marriage, Charlotte Hallowell Nelson, was raised in the Crosse household and appears in census returns as Thomas Crosse’s stepdaughter.^[9][10]

Crosse was commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery in 1915 and served with its 47th Brigade on the Western Front during the First World War.^[11] He served with distinction and was both mentioned in despatches in December 1917^[1] and awarded the Military Cross less than a year later in June 1918.^[2]

All four Crosse brothers were commissioned into the British Army during the war. Thomas Latymer Crosse, a captain in the Border Regiment, was killed in action at Fricourt on 3 July 1916, aged 27,^[12][13] while Robert Grant Crosse, a lieutenant in the Royal West Kent Regiment, died of wounds at Trones Wood on 14 July 1916, aged 22.^[14][15]

Edward’s youngest brother, George Hallowell Crosse, was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Yorkshire Regiment and later served with the Machine Gun Corps before transferring to the Tank Corps in January 1921.^[16]

Edward and George both remained in the Army after the war and took part in British operations during the Iraq campaign of the early 1920s.^[17][18]

Edward again served with the Royal Field Artillery and fought in the action near Hillah (Hilla) in July 1920, in which a British column was heavily attacked during a "night retreat which ended so disastrously [and] cost [the column] twenty killed, sixty wounded, and three hundred and eighteen missing".^[19] Crosse was serving with 39th Battery, Royal Field Artillery, as documented in his personal papers and photographs held by the Imperial War Museum.^[11][20] Lt Gen Haldane reported that:

The officers of the 39th Battery...behaved like heroes, and it is to their fine example and the discipline of those under their command that a complete disaster was averted.^[21]

Several gallantry awards were issued after the action, including a Victoria Cross for Captain George Henderson.^[22] Crosse received a Bar to his Military Cross for his actions that night, his citation reading:

For conspicuous gallantry in action on the night of the 24th/25th July 1920, near the Rustimiyeh Canal. During a rearguard action at night, when the infantry and cavalry were cut off from the rest of the column by Arabs, he repeatedly brought his section into action and drove off the enemy, who were attacking in superior numbers. When five of his men were wounded he acted as one of the detachment, and thus enabled the gun to remain in action. Throughout the operations he showed the greatest courage.^[3]

Crosse remained in the Royal Artillery throughout the interwar period. He was promoted to captain in 1927, with seniority from 1924,^[23] and attended Staff College at Sandhurst in 1931.^[24] He was further promoted to major in 1936, and by 1939 he was serving on the staff of the War Office.^[25][26]

After promotion to lieutenant colonel in 1942,^[27] he was appointed to command the 100th Anti-Aircraft Brigade at its formation in April 1943 and given the rank of temporary brigadier.^[28] The brigade served throughout the campaign in North West Europe, not only in an anti-aircraft role but also as ground, bridge, river and anti-tank defence.^[29] Crosse’s leadership of the 100th Anti-Aircraft Brigade resulted in his recommendation for a CBE in October 1944.^[30]

The recommendation cited two operations in support of the award, the first being “Operation Crosseforce” in early September 1944.

The divergence of the advances of British XXX Corps and US XIX Corps exposed XXX Corps’ right flank and lines of communication to German counterattack, based on intelligence reports indicating a large German armoured concentration believed at the time to comprise elements of II SS Panzer Corps.^[31] Under Crosse’s command, the brigade expanded to include the 86th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, 73rd Anti-Tank Regiment, the Royal Netherlands Brigade, one troop of the 13th/18th Royal Hussars and a company of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps, forming a composite force for anti-tank and ground defence.^[32]

He organised this force rapidly and effectively and for a period of 10 days contributed largely to the security of the communications of the 30th Corps.^[30]

At its peak, the formation comprised 20 sub-units and 9,195 personnel.^[33] The operation concluded on 15 September.

The recommendation then turned to the brigade's role during and immediately after Operation Market Garden. 100th Anti-Aircraft Brigade’s initial orders in the operation were to provide anti-aircraft cover for the advance of XXX Corps, and then to form an anti-motor torpedo boat defence of the River Waal bridges at Nijmegen.^[34] In the event, Crosse and the brigade were instead tasked with air, ground and river defence of the Grave bridge over the River Maas, bridges over the Maas-Waal canal, and the road, rail and pontoon bridges over the River Waal at Nijmegen. From Crosse's CBE recommendation:

From September 21st the security of the crossings over the River Waal became a commitment of the first importance, and it was evident that the enemy's prime object was to capture or destroy the bridges at Nijmegen. After the enemy's partially successful attack on the 29th September Brigadier Crosse was again given a mixed force and was charged with the close defence of the bridges against air, ground and river-borne attack. He has carried out these duties with marked success.^[30]

For a period of two months, starting with advance parties on 21 September, the brigade defended the bridges against repeated air attack, including from Me 262s, attacks from mines floated down the river, and attacks by frogmen. It also provided smokescreens and fire support for units moving through the area. The brigade was relieved by 74th Anti-Aircraft Brigade in mid-November.^[29]

Crosse was then appointed Commander, Royal Artillery, of 49th Infantry Division in March 1945.^[35] His actions in this posting earned him the honour of Knight Commander of the Order of Oranje-Nassau with Swords, for which he was recommended in August 1945^[36] and gazetted in May 1947.^[5][37] In late March 1945, 49th Division received orders to begin clearing "The Island", an area of the Netherlands which had been left in German hands after the failure of Operation Market Garden. This was completed in early April with relatively light casualties, and 49th Division's actions culminated in the Liberation of Arnhem.^[38] According to Crosse's nomination for his Order of Oranje-Nassau award:

The successes enjoyed by the [Division] during this period were largely due to the scale of fire power provided in each operation. [Brigadier] Crosse was mainly responsible for implementing fire plans and he carried out his duties most successfully.^[36]

Following the surrender of German forces in the Netherlands on 4 May 1945, Crosse was appointed to oversee the disarmament and internment of the 34th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division "Landstorm Nederland".^[39] For this task, his papers show that he was given 2nd Battalion, Kensington Regiment, together with a battalion of infantry formed from various 49th Division Royal Artillery regiments under his command.^[39]

In his report on the operation, Crosse described tensions on multiple levels. Dutch resistance sought to take an active role in dealing with surrendered SS personnel, and Crosse recorded that isolated incidents of violence occurred between resistance members and SS troops during this period, resulting in casualties.^[39] SS-Oberführer Martin Kohlroser, German commander of the division, protested against the planned public disarming of the division, which Crosse considered necessary to reassure and placate the Dutch populace, and objected to SS officers being unable to keep their sidearms, unlike their Wehrmacht counterparts. Crosse's response was firm. He notes that he shared a copy of the Illustrated London News of 28 April 1945,^[39] which published photographs and detailed reports of SS atrocities during the Holocaust, including graphic imagery,^[40] as explanation of the difference in treatment between SS and Wehrmacht. Kohlroser withdrew his protest.^[39]

By the end of the operation, nearly 6,000 officers and men had been disarmed and interned, along with substantial quantities of horses, carts and equipment; Crosse later characterised the task as "difficult and almost unprecedented combined operation",^[39] but ultimately completed without serious breakdown of order. His Order of Oranje-Nassau award noted that:

He was sympathetic but firm in dealing with the Dutch resistance authorities and before leaving Northern Holland his work was applauded by at least 12 burgomasters in this area who expressed their warm appreciation of his firm attitude towards the capitulated German troops and his generous understanding of the Dutch people.^[36]

In June 1945, Crosse was appointed Commander, Corps Royal Artillery (CCRA), I Corps as part of the British Army on the Rhine, a post he held until March 1948.^[41] On 3 November that year, he took his final posting as Aide-de-Camp to King George VI, in which he was permanently promoted to brigadier on 20 December.^[6][42] He would hold this post until his retirement in May 1951.^[7]

Crosse married Edith Carol Harrison in January 1925; she died in October 1927.^[43][44] In October 1929 he married Margaret Katharine Mackillop Brown, who survived him.^[45] Crosse died in Yeovil in October 1970, aged 72.^[46]