Bertie Lorraine

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

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 ()
National team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
1933 Scotland 3 (0)

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

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

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

International career

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

Army Service

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 31st December 1938. Service number 79842. In September 1939 he was mobilised and in 1940 deployed with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to Northern France.[8] On the 27th May he was wounded just prior to being captured by the German 6th Panzer Division at the crossroads near 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:

At 0900 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 snapped "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] (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 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.[12][13]

Family

He was the son of Joseph Currie Lorraine and Margaret Kennedy.[14] His Aunt's husband was Major General Charles William Macleod RASC.

References
  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. Escape To Dunkirk, Joshua Levine P.196
  11. National Archives WO416/227/528 Appendix 3
  12. Dunkirk, Hugh Sebag Montifiore p.49
  13. "Military records". Fold3. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  14. "Herbert Derrick Bell Lorraine - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk.
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