Hugh Templeton Slight

This story is shared by the Trust with kind permission from John Templeton Slight, nephew of Hugh Templeton Slight with additional research by John Hamlin, George Watsons College, Edinburgh

Hugh Templeton Slight was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaya on 26 September 1917, the youngest son of Edgar William Slight, an electrical engineer, and Agnes Kate (née Hodge) Slight of Edinburgh and Singapore, later of 21, Foxley Lane, Purley in Surrey.

He was educated at George Watson's College from 1926 to 1936 where he was a member of the 3rd Cricket XI and served as a Sergeant in the Officer Training Corps. On leaving school he travelled for a year in France before entering Downing College, Cambridge in October 1936 to study medicine, which he changed to modern languages in January 1937. He had ambitions of entering the civil service, but failed his exams in the summer of 1938 and so left Cambridge and was apprenticed as an articled clerk to a London firm of Chartered Accountants and lived at 57, Barrowgate Road, Chiswick.

While he was in London he enlisted in the Territorial Army in the Queen Victoria Rifles and was mobilised on the outbreak of war. He attended the 168th Officer Cadet Training Unit at Heysham before being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Gordon Highlanders on 21 December 1940. He joined the 2nd Battalion of his Regiment on 28 December 1940 and was promoted to Lieutenant on the 23rd of January 1942 and to temporary Captain on the same date.

On 18 June 1944, the 2nd Battalion, Gordon Highlanders embarked on board an infantry landing craft at Newhaven and set sail for Normandy that evening. They had an uncomfortable night in heavy seas and were forced to spend the next day lying offshore. They landed on the Mulberry Harbour at Arromanches on the afternoon of 20 June and marched the six miles to the village of Vaux-sur-Selle.

By the end of the second week of July 1944, the battalion had suffered a large number of casualties and was forced to reorganise by reducing their number of Companies from four to three. Hugh Slight was placed in command of B Company while the Battalion was at Bretteville where it was resting and reorganising. No sooner had this had been done than a draft of reinforcements arrived which became A Company.

On 14 July they were given orders to renew the attack around the city of Caen, although the city itself was by now in Allied hands. Their Division was tasked with advancing and securing a line from Bougy to Evrecy. The Battalion marched off that night and reached the village of Verson, two miles to the east of Tourville, where they spent the day resting. On the afternoon of 15 July they crossed the River Odon and arrived at the village of Baron that evening. The Battalion was to take the high ground above Evrecy in a silent attack that night. While they waited to advance in the orchards outside and to the north of Baron, they came under artillery and mortar fire with one shell hitting a 3 ton ammunition truck. A short time later, searchlights were directed at the clouds above them to give them a degree of light to advance in.

The Gordons began their advance at 10.45pm with C and D Companies leading and A and B Companies in support. They advanced through the village and out into the countryside beyond where they met little opposition and gathered a few prisoners before reaching their objective where the two leading Companies dug in. The intention was that A and B Companies would pass through the two leading Companies and take Point 113 above Evrecy before two other units would take the village itself. In the event, they had only covered a short distance from Baron when A and B Companies came under heavy machine gun fire from their left and suffered numerous casualties. They were forced to dig in where they were, while still some 400 to 500 yards behind the leading Companies and received orders not to advance further but to hold the ground where they were.

When dawn broke on the morning of 16 July 1944 they found themselves in a very exposed position which soon attracted artillery and mortar fire and which lasted most of the day. Enemy aircraft also attacked them but caused no casualties. At 12.10pm the commanding officer of C Company reported that the Germans were attacking from the direction of Le Bon Repos and that there were five German Mark IV tanks heading for the left flank of A and B Companies' positions, with the leading tank only 150 yards away from them.

The first shots from the German tanks made a direct hit on B Company's position, killing Hugh Slight. The Anti Tank Platoon, which had already lost most of its men, was situated close by and their commanding officer, Captain Parish, and a Sergeant managed to manhandle one of the guns into position before opening fire. They knocked out each of the five enemy tanks in turn and set them all on fire. Those of their crews who escaped the burning hulks were cut down by rifle fire from the men of B Company.

The Battalion spent the remainder of the day under further artillery and mortar fire but no more attacks were mounted against them. Between the 14th and 18 July the Battalion suffered casualties of one officer killed, with three wounded and with eleven other ranks killed, one hundred and seven men wounded and seven missing.

Hugh Slight was first buried near where he fell between Tourmauville, Baron-sur-Odon and Le Bon Repos. He was then reinterred in Banneville-la-Campagne War Cemetery on the 15 January 1946.

Iain Slight, John Slight's cousin at Hugh's grave

He is also commemorated on the war memorial at Downing College, Cambridge and on the Roll of Honour of the Members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and Articled Clerks.