Douglas Wilder Trench Gascoigne

This story is shared by the Trust with kind permission from John Hamblin, Researcher.

Douglas Wilder Trench Gascoigne, Captain 124550, No. 3 Squadron, 4th (Tank) Battalion Coldstream Guards. Killed in action on the 6th of August 1944, aged 26.

Douglas Wilder Trench Gascoigne was born in Berkshire on the 11th of November 1917, the only son of Sir Alvary Douglas Frederick Trench Gascoigne CMG, British Ambassador to Japan and Moscow and HM Consul General in Tangier during the war, and Sylvia Gascoigne (née Wilder) of Lotherton Hall in Yorkshire.

He was educated St Michael’s School, Uckfield from 1927 to 1930, and at Eton College where he was in Mr. A. H. G. Kerry's House until 1935. He went on to Magdalen College, Oxford where he was a member of the Oxford University Officer Training Corps. On leaving university he travelled abroad before studying for the Foreign Office examinations as he hoped to make the diplomatic service his career. His plans were interrupted by the outbreak of war and he attended the 162nd Officer Cadet Training Unit before being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards on the 16th of March 1940 and was posted to the 4th Battalion of his regiment. He was promoted to Lieutenant on the 23rd of September 1941 and to temporary Captain on the 10th of September 1943.

The 4th Battalion, Coldstream Guards landed at Normandy between Arromanches and Courselles from the 20th and the 22nd of July 1944 with Douglas Gascoigne in command of No. 3 Squadron.

On the 6th of August 1944 the battalion was involved in an attack on the village of Estry to protect the flank of the Guards Armoured Division. They took heavy casualties with only partial success. Towards dusk a German 88mm gun began firing at the remaining tanks. Artillery was called down on the area where the enemy gun was thought to be but it continued firing. Douglas Gascoigne's tank had been knocked out during the day by an 88mm gun as had that of Lieutenant Anthony Richard Milnes Coates. The two men decided to climb into a Sherman "Firefly" tank which was armed with a 17 pounder gun, in order to locate and destroy the German gun. They advanced towards the location of the enemy gun, but discovered it was closer than they thought. It fired on them, scoring a direct hit on their tank and killing all five members of the crew.

A brother officer who served with him in France wrote: -
“I shall miss Douglas terribly.... apart from being so fond of him, he was one of the most efficient and capable officers I have ever known and invaluable to me as my second in command.”

A friend wrote: “There is no one in this world whom we shall miss more than Douglas. We counted among the perfect people of this world. His rare and cultivated mind absorbed everything, and all one ever did with him was so worthwhile. He had a perfect sense of fun and real humour, a marvellous insight into character, and summed up everyone exactly, but never was he unkind. His gentleness and thoughtfulness were amazing. One always felt an entire trust in him, and he never failed those privileged to be his friends.”

Douglas Gascoigne is buried at St Charles De Percy War Cemetery, Plot II, Row A, Grave 3.He is commemorated on the war memorial at Magdalen College, Oxford and on the memorial at Eton College. He is also commemorated on the memorial at St Michael’s School, Tawstock.
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