Desert Raids with the SAS: Memories of Action Capture and Escape

Tony Hough's war memoir recounts ski training, combat in North Africa, capture, daring escape, and post-war service in Germany.

Tony Hough’s war started with ski training in the Alps in early 1940 preparing for winter warfare in Finland. Nothing came of that. Later that year, now an officer with 9th Battalion The Rifle Brigade, he sailed for North Africa. In March 1941, his under-gunned Battalion suffered a catastrophic baptism of fire in Libya from 15,000 troops and 500 tanks of Rommel’s Afrika Korps.

For the next 18 months Hough and his Battalion experienced brutal conflict against a formidable enemy. Selected for David Stirling’s elite 1 Special Air Service (SAS), he was captured in December 1942 while raiding behind enemy lines.

Sent to an Italian POW camp he suffered the deprivations of captivity. After the September 1943 Italian armistice, he escaped and, after an arduous three month ordeal, he reached Allied lines thanks to the help of brave locals. He went on to fight in North West Europe before becoming a mayor in occupied Germany.

Beautifully and modestly written, Tony’s many and varied experiences make for a classic war memoir. It is heartening that even after 75 years, accounts such as this are still appearing.

Tony Hough, born in 1918, was educated at Uppingham. He joined the Artist Rifles Territorial Regiment in 1938 and the Rifle Brigade at the outbreak of war. After earning four campaign medals for France, North Africa, Italy and Germany he was demobbed with the rank of Major in 1946. He married Valerie Hennessy the same year and they had four children.

He re-joined the family paperboard manufacturing business, becoming Managing Director in 1968, retiring in 1990. He was a gifted golfer playing to a handicap of four. He died in 2000.

His son, Gerald also went to Uppingham. After working in Paris and Sydney, in 1988 he joined Morgan Grenfell Asset Management becoming a director in 1996. His career took him to Guernsey where he lives in retirement. He too is a keen golfer and tennis player, representing the Island in the very mature category.

He married Anne Longton in 1979 and they have four children and an increasing number of grandchildren.