Lt Peter Stanley Winston - Escape across Occupied France

Lt Peter Stanley Winston was attached to 9th Parachute Battalion as a Special Service Brigade Liaison Officer he took off from Broadwell airfield and parachuted with the 6th Airborne Division on D-Day with Marine Donald, it was his 20th Birthday.

Due to a navigational error Peter and the rest of his stick were dropped near Trouville 16 miles away from the intended Drop Zone V near Varaville.

He managed to evade capture after being dropped East over the River Dives. He was very active worked along side the French Resistance in the Calvados region and was finally taken prisoner in Bordeaux on 4th August believing the contact he was meeting was the head of the local Resistance, he was actually Gestapo.

Map showing the route taken by Lt Peter Wnston across occupied France to evade capture

The Gestapo handed him over to the Luftwaffe, he faked illness and ended up in a hospital.

The Marquis picked him and some other prisoners up and he was flown back to England on 2nd September.

Peter Winston did not survive the war. He was killed in action in January 1945 during the 45 RM Commando action at Belle Island on the River Maas in the Netherlands.

Lieutenant Winston, Marines Symes, Sweet, and Wild This photo of the original graves from the collection of L/Cpl. John Emmerson SS Bde HQ (formerly No.2 and 12 Cdo) courtesy of his son John (Commando Veterans Archive)

He lies today at Nederweert CWGC Cemetery

IN VERY PROUD MEMORY OF OUR BELOVED PETER. UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN, DARLING

Read more about the 45 CDO action: Attack on Belle Island