John Dutton Frost

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John Dutton Frost
1912 - 1993

John Frost, after having received a medal.
The photograph shows then Lieutenant-Colonel Frost in the uniform of his parent regiment, The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles).
Nickname Johnny
Place of birth Pune, India
Allegiance United Kingdom
Years of service 1932 - 1968
Rank Major-General
Unit The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
Commands held 2nd Bn, The Parachute Regiment
Battles/wars Bruneval Raid
Tunisia
Sicily
Italy
Battle of Arnhem
Awards CB
DSO and Bar
MC
Other work Commander, T.A. parachute brigade
GOC Malta
GOC Libya

Major-General John Dutton (Johnny) Frost, CB, DSO and Bar, MC, (December 31, 1912 in Pune, India - May 21, 1993) was a British airborne officer best known for being the leader of the small group of airborne forces that actually got to Arnhem bridge (Operation Market Garden). He was one of the first to join the newly formed Parachute Regiment and served with distinction in many airborne operations until he was injured at Arnhem.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Early life

Johnny Frost joined the British Army in 1932 getting a commission in the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). From 1938 to 1941 Frost worked with the Iraq Levies as a captain. He joined the Parachute Regiment in 1941.

[edit] Service in World War II

  • Operation Biting

Frost distinguished himself in Operation Biting, a raid to dismantle and steal the radar dish or components of the German Würzburg radar at Bruneval. The raid was the second time the fledgling British parachute regiment was called on. C Company under the then Major Frost was given the task and on 27th February 1942 120 men landed, meeting stiff opposition but succeeded in stealing the component as well as the bonus of a German expert on the radar. The operation lost three men killed and seven badly wounded. Prime Minister Winston Churchill applauded the raid and guaranteed further wartime operations for the paras. (1)

  • Operation Torch

During the Allied landings in North Africa British airborne units landed in Tunisia . At this time Lt.Col.Frost, who was now in command of the 2nd Bn, was tasked to attack enemy airfields near Depienne 30 miles south of Tunis . The airfields were found to be abandoned and the armour column they were supposed to meet up with at Oudna never arrived, leaving Frost's battalion 50 miles behind enemy lines. Heavily outnumbered and continuously attacked on their route out, they managed to fight their way back to Allied lines but lost 16 officers and 250 men. The battalion carried on fighting with the First Army through to Tunis.

  • Primosole Bridge

In 1943 Frost's battalion with the rest of the 1st Para Brigade was landed in Sicily during Operation Husky with orders to capture a road bridge called Ponte di Primosole. The brigade was hopelessly scattered and the 295 officers and men who reached the bridge found themselves facing the German 4th Parachute Regiment and lost the bridge until the arrival of other Eighth Army units.

Frost's last action in this theatre was in Italy when the entire 1st Airborne Division landed at Taranto by seaborne attack.

[edit] Arnhem

Frost is most known for his involvement in Operation Market Garden (at Arnhem bridge). During this battle Frost was to spearhead the 1st Airborne Division's assault on the bridges at Arnhem, hold them while the rest of the division made its way to them. If all had gone to plan there would have been up to nearly 9,000 men[1] holding Arnhem bridge for the two days it was supposed to take XXX Corps to reach them.

On the 17th September 1944 Frost, still as commander of the 2nd Parachute Battalion, commanded a mixed group of about 745 lightly-armed men, landed near Oosterbeek and marched into Arnhem. The battalion reached the bridge capturing the northern end, but Frost then found that his force was surrounded by the II.SS-Panzerkorps and cut off from the rest of 1st Airborne. Frost led the incredible four day battle in which the Germans rained artillery fire on to the Para's positions, and sent tanks and infantry into some of the most fierce fighting seen by either side with very little mercy given. The Germans were astounded by the Paras refusal to surrender and their continuous counter attacks. After a short truce on the third day, when 250 wounded were removed, the battle continued until the remaining paras had run out of ammunition. There were around one hundred paras left.

Frost had been wounded by shrapnel in his feet during the battle. Frost was made famous in the Paras and the British Army from this action.

In action, Frost was a tough leader whose clear head in battle won the respect of every Paratrooper in the battalion. "He didn't mix his words and seemed to inject confidence in everyone, even if you didn't like what he said. We would have followed him anywhere" said one Para.

(2)

Following his surrender, Frost was held as a prisoner of war at Spangenberg and later a hospital in Obermassfeldt. He was freed when the area was overrun by United States troops in March 1945.

[edit] John Frost Bridge

In 1978 the bridge over the Rhine at Arnhem was renamed the John Frost bridge in his honour, reportedly after much reluctance to accept the honour from Frost. His role in the battle was told in Cornelius Ryan's bestseller A Bridge Too Far. Frost himself wrote an autobiography A Drop Too Many based on his wartime experiences which was published in 1980. His second autobiography Nearly There was published in 1991. Frost acted as a military consultant to Richard Attenborough's film adaptation of Ryan's book. In the movie Frost was portrayed by Anthony Hopkins.

The John Frost Bridge, as seen from the memorial.
The John Frost Bridge, as seen from the memorial.

[edit] Later life

By the time of his retirement from the army in 1968, Frost had attained the rank of Major-General and had been awarded the Companion of the Bath, the Distinguished Service Order and Bar, the Military Cross, and was made a Grand Officer of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

Major-General John Dutton "Johnny" Frost died on May 21, 1993 aged 80 and is buried at Milland Cemetery, West Sussex.

[edit] Other works

  • 1980: A Drop Too Many - autobiography (part 1)
  • 1983: 2 PARA Falklands: The Battalion At War
  • 1991: Nearly There - autobiography (part 2)

[edit] References