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94 The Regimental Journal of The King’s Royal Hussars
a distinguished role at El Alamein and Dougie’s oral account of this and other battles is held by the Imperial War Museum. He was Mentioned in Dispatches.
After a lull during the winter of 1942/43 the 10th Hussars was in action again at the battle of the Mareth Line in Tunisia before training in Algeria and moving to Italy in April 1944. There fol- lowed some of the most difficult fighting of the War in mountain- ous terrain unsuited to armoured warfare. Covill was wounded during the battles to break through the Gothic Line in September. He remembered coming under heavy mortar fire and a piece of shrapnel hit him in the chest, just missing a main artery, but he was back in action for the final spring offensive of the 8th Army in Italy.
In April 1945, A Squadron of the 10th Hussars was support- ing 14 Commando in efforts to break the enemy’s hold on Lake Commachio. While moving through the canals the troop leader, Lieutenant H.A.Brooke MC, was killed by a sniper. Sergeant Covill took over command and led the troop forward until his own Sherman tank was hit by a bazooka and the driver was killed in his seat. Covill, showing great presence of mind, dragged his wounded gunner through the turret and fell with him to the ground, thus allowing the operator to escape. The tank then careered forward engulfed in flames and fell into the next canal. Sergeant Covill was awarded an immediate Distinguished Conduct Medal.
As soon as the War ended the 10th Hussars advanced to Trieste where a stand-off occurred between allied and Yugoslav forces. Covill almost caused a diplomatic incident by removing a Russian flag but his recent gallantry saved him from a court martial. The regiment then moved to Austria and in due course to Lubeck on the Baltic coast.
Dougie’s life changed when he met Ingeborg (Inge) Jeske who had moved from Berlin to find work with the British Army. After some hesitation by the authorities they were allowed to marry in 1947. In due course the Covills had two daughters, Geraldine, a retired teacher and Angela, a retired QARANC nursing officer. The family was henceforth a focal point of the regiment’s social life.
Dougie was successively SQMS of C Squadron and then SSM of A Squadron by which time the 10th Hussars had moved to Iserlohn. For some reason that has never been quite clear con- cerning the spare tyre of a Volkswagen he fell out of favour with the result that he spent the next ten years as an RQMS in England and Germany. However Dougie’s luck, and that of the regiment, changed in 1959 when John Ward-Harrison who transferred from the Skins to command the 10th Hussars recommended he be commissioned as a Quartermaster.
Dougie excelled in this role for the next 10 years, first in the Technical Department and then as Regimental Quartermaster. Aptly known as Mr. Fixit he was the greatest positive thinker and there was no problem that could not be overcome. ‘Regulations are only a Guide’ was a favourite maxim. A few days before the 10th was due to hand over to the 13/18th Hussars in Paderborn, prior to a move to Tidworth in 1964, about nine Conqueror tanks were still in the tank park. As they were to be taken out of service Dougie had advised Colonel Bill Lithgow that maintenance work was not required but no official authorization had been forthcom- ing. Not one to panic Dougie set off for the HQ at Rheindahlen and returned with a smile. Early next morning a convoy of tank transporters arrived to remove the offending beasts. Problem solved.
A move to England for conversion training to armoured cars was followed by one to the Arabian Peninsula where the regiment was
deployed in up to a dozen widespread locations. As Technical Quartermaster Dougie handled the many equipment issues with typical flair as he did when he was the Quartermaster for the next move back to Munster in the autumn of 1965. Over the next four years he and Inge were most generous hosts at their married quar- ter in Wiegandweg and Dougie was acknowledged to be the best bridge player in the Officer’s Mess.
His final service to the regiment was to pay a key role in the suc- cess of the Guidon Parade at Tidworth to mark the amalgamation with the 11th Hussars in 1969. He was awarded the MBE for “his untiring work and loyalty to the regiment and the army” and he retired from the regular army in 1970.
As a retired officer Dougie was for some years in the 1970s the Station Staff Officer at Werl and Soest in Germany. The Covills had bought a house in Alresford in the 1960s and when they moved there permanently they entered wholeheartedly into the civic life of Hampshire. Dougie was an officer in the Army Cadet Force, County President of the Royal British Legion and he represented Alresford on Winchester City Council for several years. Dougie was elected as the Mayor of the City of Winchester for 1987/88 and he was ably supported in his duties by Inge whose contribution as a volunteer in the Royal County Hospital spanned almost a quarter of a century. He was also Chairman of the Distinguished Conduct Medallists League and he was enter- tained at 10, Downing Street by two prime ministers.
For their final retirement the Covills moved to Storrington in Sussex where Dougie continued to play an excellent game of bridge. He maintained a close interest in his former regiment and attended dinners and reunions of The King’s Royal Hussars well into his 90s. Inge died in 2014 and Dougie’s last years were spent in a home. His only regret was being unable to have a party on his 100th birthday but he was able to commemorate his 101st with his daughters and their husbands, three grandsons and two great grandchildren.
Douglas Covill was the last of a gallant and splendid generation of
10th Hussars to whom we owe so much.
JPWF
(Note: The Distinguished Conduct Medal was superseded in the 1990s by the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, second only to the Victoria Cross as an award for gallantry.)
A A Shipton MBE TD
14th/20th King’s Hussars 1948 - 1950
Tony Shipton died on 19th December 2021 aged 92 years. Tony was known in the Regiment as Boy Shipton, the younger son of Colonel Eric Shipton MC.
After Marlborough he served his national service in the Regiment from 1948 to 1950. On completion of his national service as a 2Lt he joined the TA, The Inns of Court, which merged in due course with the City of London Yeomanry (Rough Riders).
Serving in the 14th/20th he formed
life-long friendships of over 70 years with Edward Paul MC (Ted) and Alan Grieve CBE.