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Bertie Lorraine

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Bertie Lorraine
Birth nameHerbert Derrick Bell Lorraine
Date of birth(1913-01-04)4 January 1913
Place of birthYangon, Myanmar
Date of death19 March 1982(1982-03-19) (aged 69)
Place of deathRoyal Tunbridge Wells, England
SchoolGlenalmond College
UniversityChrist Church, Oxford
Rugby union career
Position(s) Centre
Amateur team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
- Oxford University ()
Provincial / State sides
Years Team Apps (Points)
1938 Scotland Probables ()
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1933 Scotland 3 (0)

Bertie ( Herbert Derrick Bell ) Lorraine (4 January 1913 – 19 March 1982) was a Scotland international rugby union player. He played as a Centre.[1]

Rugby Union career

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Amateur career

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Lorraine played rugby for Glenalmond College.[2]

As a university student he moved to Christ Church, Oxford studying medicine[3] and played for Oxford University.[4][5]

Provincial career

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He played for the Scotland Probables in the final trial match of season 1932-33.[6]

International career

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Lorraine was capped by Scotland 3 times, and captained the side.[7]

Army Service

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Whilst at Glenalmond he joined the Officer Training Corps (OTC) and was promoted to Company Quartermaster Sergeant (CQMS). He Joined the Supplementary Reserve of Officers with the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) and Commissioned 2nd Lieutenant on 31 December 1938. Service number 79842. In September 1939 he was mobilised and in 1940 deployed with 48th Division part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to Northern France in January 1940.[8] On the 27th May he was wounded just prior to being captured by the German 6th Panzer Division. Then this event happened near the crossroads at Le Peckel just to the north of Cassel.[9] After two days without food and water, he was forced out of the ambulance at gun point, he was told to walk over to the bunker, and get the occupants, members of The Gloucestershire Regiment, commanded by 2 Lt Roy Cresswell, to surrender. The following is a description of what happened:

On the 29th May at 0900 hours, a figure hobbled into sight of the defenders and before they could fire he shouted out "A wounded British officer here!" The figure was a Captain called Lorraine. He'd been dragged out of an ambulance shortly after being captured and ordered to convince the defenders to surrender. As he approached the bunker Lt Cresswell started to speak, to which Capt Lorraine said in a lower voice "Don't answer back!". When he was close enough Capt Lorraine stood beside the body of a German, looked down and said "There are many Germans like that round here."  He then stared at the roof. Lt Cresswell immediately took that to mean the Germans were on the roof and waiting to ambush his men should they surrender. Capt Lorraine then returned to German lines.[10][11][12] (Note: The Archive written by Cresswell, attributes Lorraine to the Royal Artillery, an easy mistake in the heat of battle and recording the event a few months later as POW.)

Derrick Lorraine had not even suggested that they surrender, clearly ignoring the German orders to him. He was then transported with other Prisoners Of War (POW’s) to the South of Germany to the POW camp called Offlag VII B in the town of Eichstadt (Fuchstadt), and Oflag VIIC Laufen, Bavaria, where he spent the remainder of the War. POW number 1565.[13][14]

Family

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He was the son of Joseph Currie Lorraine and Margaret Kennedy.[15][16] His Aunt's husband was Major General Charles William Macleod RASC.This family link to the RASC (Royal Army Service Corps) led him and other family members to serve with the same unit. He married Barbara Mary Mathews (1914-1982) in July 1937[17] They produced a son Anthony born Feb 1940 whilst Bertie was fighting in France.[18] After the war the marriage was dissolved and he married again in 1949 producing four sons and one daughter.[19]

References

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  1. ^ "Herbert Derrick Bell Lorraine". ESPN scrum.
  2. ^ "Newspaper report" – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required)
  3. ^ "Newspaper report" – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required)
  4. ^ Scotland. The Essential History of Rugby Union. Nick Oswald and John Griffiths. Headline Publishing. 2003.
  5. ^ "Newspaper report" – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required)
  6. ^ "The Glasgow Herald - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  7. ^ "Rugby Union - ESPN Scrum - Statsguru - Player analysis - Bertie Lorraine - Test matches". ESPN scrum.
  8. ^ "Officers of the British Army 1939-1945 -- L".
  9. ^ Escape To Dunkirk, Joshua Levine P.196
  10. ^ Lt Roy Cresswell's war diary
  11. ^ Escape To Dunkirk, Joshua Levine P.196
  12. ^ National Archives WO416/227/528 Appendix 3
  13. ^ Dunkirk, Hugh Sebag Montifiore p.49
  14. ^ "Military records". Fold3. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  15. ^ "Herbert Derrick Bell Lorraine - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk.
  16. ^ Joseph Currie Lorraine
  17. ^ England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 accessed 30th June 2023 Vol 3a P 5227
  18. ^ England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2007 Vol 3a P.3497 accessed 30 July 2023
  19. ^ England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 Chelsea Vol 5c P551 accessed 31 June 2023
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