The son of Redmond and Grace Black, living on the corner of Hughes and North St., Dresden, ON. Born 9 May, 1911 at Dresden. He was the youngest son of the manager of the Dresden Bank of Commerce. The family remained in Dresden until the Depression of the 1930’s.  He was known as “Gay” to his friends who thought him ‘very jolly, great fun, very attractive – one with an eye for the girls’.

Graeme was the youngest son of Redmond and Grace Black. Redmond was the manager of the   Dresden Bank of Commerce. His older brother was Redmond Jr. The parents were staunch Anglicans.

The family would eventually move to London and then to Toronto, ON. With the Great Depression firmly settled in Canada, Graeme would seek his fortune in England. There he found work, making handbags for fashion designer Norman Hartnel for upper crust British ladies.     

At about the same time there was another Black family in the area. Graeme was not the first Captain in the Black family, his father Jerry. S. Black was a Captain in the 24^th Kent Regiment. It was reported in the CDP 24/06/1905 a gathering of friends in the Victoria Building. Where friends gathered prior to his marriage and presented him with a Fleming painting of the spot on the Thames River where he and his colleagues discovered and raised the old sunken American gunboat, captured by the British in the war of 1812-14.

He married Miss Annie Edith McKellar, Jerry S. Black then employed at the Manson Campbell Company. Upon their return from the honeymoon trip the took up residence on Victoria Avenue, in Chatham. CDP 24/06/05     

The CDP 20/03/1911 There was as farewell dinner for Col. Fred Stone it was during this event that the Col. Expected that Adjt. J. S. Black would be promoted to Lieut. Col. for the 24^th. 

This caused some confusion with the two Black families in the area.

Prior to the war, Black served with the Queen’s York Rangers.  At the age of nineteen he was commissioned into the regiment.

The family moved to London and then to Toronto. It was while being in Toronto, Graeme joined the Queen’s Own Rangers, which may have caught his interest in the military. 

By 1939 Graeme had moved to London, England.  He was a tall, handsome lad with blonde hair, quiet and adventurous.  While in London before the war he was making women’s handbags for Norman Hartnell the fashion designer. 

With the declaration of war he volunteered for service with the South Lancaster Regiment (Prince of Wales Volunteers) and volunteered again to join the No. 2 Commandos where he distinguished himself. No 2. Commando was formed by volunteers from forty-one British Army regiments and one Canadian from Dresden, Ontario, Capt. Graeme Black. He quickly rose to the rank of Lieutenant and gained a reputation of being a fighting man’s fighting man.

For his first raid he was attached to No.1 Commando  for ‘Operation “ARCHERY” a raid on 27 December 1941. The raid was to destroy the fish oil factories on the island of Vagsoy and to sink any shipping moored there. The raid was executed flawlessly achieving all of its objectives. The raid can be found at http://www.britishpathe.com/video/commandos-raid-norway. 

One of the officers on this raid was Lieutenant Graeme Black, then 30 years old Canadian who had experience when he was in the raid with the Independent Company before joining No. 2 Commando. He was sure of returning to Norway when he realized they were going to raid Vaagos, Norway.

Looking over a stone wall he could see that there was a street and the quaryside covered in dark smoke. He and two other men with him flush our German snipers. The first house they entered held one dead German. The next shelter was 150 yards away and Lieut. Black ran hard towards it, holding his Bren gun in front of him in case of trouble.

He led his troop from house to house finding frightened civilians in the cellars. They finally came across men from No. 3 held up by heavy enemy fire. Black dashed across the snow to the nearest house and from the dining room he spotted three figures about 100 yards away, behind the main street. He knew by their greatcoats they were Germans. He shot at them with his pistol, then grabbed a rifle to shoot a German with a Schmeisser submachine gun.

The German fired first and put three bullets through Black’s forearm and wrist, smashing his watch. When later asked his opinion of the Schmeisser as a weapon he quipped ‘I reckon a two – inch group at 100 yards isn’t too bad’.

Despite the pain from three bullets he was still able to spot other enemy targets. The Germans were spotted massing for a counter attack. Fortunately Lieut. Black insisted on trying the three tommy-guns. Unfortunately the return springs in the tommy-guns were frozen. The German weapons did not have that problem. Black would suffer another wound in the arm. 

Graeme was promoted to Captain shortly after the raid and appointed a Troop Commander. As a direct result of the success of this raid 30,000 German troops were transferred to Norway from else ware in Europe at a time when every available soldier was need on the Eastern Front. 

Graeme was wounded in the shoulder and three to his arm (four GSW to his left shoulder) during the raid and was awarded the Military Cross for his leadership and was promoted to Captain shortly after “ARCHERY” and appointed as a troop Commander.

Captain Black would next be involved in Operation “CHARIOT” the Combined Ops (RN & Commandos) to destroy the S.S. Normandie dry docks at St. Nazaire on the night of 28/03/42. Although the raid succeeded in it objective of the 265 Commandos 169 were KIA OR POW.  Due to his wounded wrist, it prevented him from commanding one of the assault groups at St. Nazaire.

While recovering from his wounds he started planning for more operations in Norway. Due to his time with the Independent Company he felt that he knew area around the town of Bode, just inside the Artic Circle. He would need seventy men some with local experience. They would systematically destroy infrastructure – bridges, ports and power plants. After dealing with their objectives they would exit Norway for neutral Sweden. Nothing came of that scheme.  

It was after this action that that Captain Black was at the Commando training base at Achnacarry in northern Scotland.

Curators Note: It was at Achnacarry that my father met Captain Black and he admired this fellow countryman’s reputation heard from others. At the time my dad was training with No.4 Commando preparing for the Raid on Dieppe.  I wonder if it was their southwestern Ontario accent that connected with them?  JRH.    

A modified version of his Norway pan had been modified.  Black’s plan was approved in the summer and he had no problem finding volunteers for Operation MUSKETOON. 

On 11 September, 1942 Capt. Black led a party of 12 commandos on Operation MUSKETOON, a raid to destroy the power plant at Haugvik located south of Narvik. That plant was to country’s largest aluminium smelter producing five tons annually, that however was not enough for the German demands and the plan was to increase the production fivefold.     

The hydro generating the power for the nearby aluminum plant at Glomfjiord, Norway, would also be part of the raid. In fact the first plan was just to destroy the plants two water intakes which this would flood the plant.   

Capt. Black studied the local defenses, the terrain, even how the snow would be in the area. He was also able to examine the generators used at Glomfjord they had been supplied by a Scottish company. By July he was ready to choose his team.

Capt. Joe Houghton came from 2 Commando, NCO were Sgt. Maj. ‘Dusty” Miller and L/Sgt. Richard O’Brien, the two Norwegians, the others from 2 Commando.     

On the night of 19/20 September 1942, the twelve Commandos arrived at their destination aboard a Free French Navy submarine.

 “Junon” She slipped her moorings in the Orkney Islands at 11:40 a.m., 11 September, 1942. The “Junor” was escorted by three RN submarines “Tigless / Sturgeon and Thunderbolt”. The “Junon” and crew would transport Capt. Black’s Commando squad, two rubber dinghies lashed to her casing and a variety of guns. Ammunition, explosives and supplies.  

The second-in-command for this mission was Capt. Joe Houghton who had spent several years managing the operations for the African manganese Company with operations in Norway. While in Norway he had also learned to ski. It would take them four days to reach their objective. The sea was very rough and most were sea sick.

Black split the 12 men (two were Norwegian Cpl’s. Swerre Granland and Erling Djupdraet) they had other names to protect their families.  The group was split  into two groups.  One group would destroy the water pipes leading to the plant while the second group destroy (two were Norwegian Cpl’s.  ed the machinery in the turbine room. It was reported that there was extensive damage too both targets. The power plant remained out of operation for the remainder of the war.

However it was down-hill from there. German soldiers rushed the power plant forcing the Commandos retreat. During a short skirmish left one commando (Erling  Djupraet) with a serious bayonet wound in the stomach, he would die of his wounds in a German military hospital.

Capt. Black decided their best chance was to split up. Four men went with L/Sgt. O’Brien and they managed to evade capture and reached the safety of Sweden and eventually  were flown from there back to England 25 October, 1942.

The second group, led by Captain Black, was quickly captured by advancing Germans. They were sent to Colditz Castle and then to Berlin where they were interrogated. From there they were sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp where on 23 October, 1942, in accordance with Hitler’s “Commando Order”.  Bedraggled, beaten, starved and manacled, seven British Soldiers were hauled from their cells. Forced to their knees beside an open trench, they were shot in the back of their necks by SS troops were executed.

Captain Black’s last known conversation before his murder 23/10/1942 was with a man named Bruce:

Bruce – to Black “Who are you?”

Black – “Who are you?”

Bruce – “I’m an RAF Officer.”

Black – “Where from?”

Bruce – “I’m a Tynesider. But haven’t been there for a while. Where are you from?”

Black – “Norway,”

Bruce – “If you want any messages sent home to England we can send them for you.”

Black – “Tell them things went all right in Norway”.    

Shortly afterwards Graeme was murdered.

Bad enough that Captain Black and the other six men were murdered but the German Army listed them as having “escaped” giving some hope for their families that they survive. After the end of the war their true fates became known.   

Captain Graeme Delamere Black was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Order. He has no known grave but is honoured on the Brookwood Memorial, Surrey, UK. – Panel 12 / Colum 1.

The unlawful execution of these seven was part of the evidence used in the Nuremburg trials of Field Marshall Keitle and Generaloberst Jodl 

During WWII the British Commandos earned 38 Battle Honours and many other awards including 8 Victoria Crosses.

The Chief of Combined Operations sent a letter to the Undersecretary of State, War Office.

E. Laycock, Brigadier recommending Capt. J. D. Black (106240) and Capt. J.B.J. Houghton (130206) for the DSO and MC  for both officers.

“These officers were recommended for the award of the D.S.C. and M.C. respectively for their service in an operation against the German heavy plant installations at GLOMFJORD which took place on 16 September, 1942.” The letter goes on to say that it took to survivors of the raid had to walk to Sweden, taking several weeks and the case of two others it took two months to return to England.

In a letter dated 2 March, 1943 item 1. “The king has been pleased to approve an award the DCM for l5340890) L/Sgt. Richard O’Brien. Capt. G. D. Black (106240) the D.S.O. and Capt. J.B.J. Houghton (130206) Camerons.       

The founder of the Commandos, Winston Churchill paid the following tribute to them:

“We may feel that nothing of which we have any knowledge or record has ever been done by mortal men, which surpasses their feats of arms. Truly we may say of them, where shall their glory fade?

Another Canadian who served in No. 2 Commando was Bob Bishop wrote the following:    

“Yes that  “Capt. Black” was the same young lad whose roots were planted in good old Dresden, Ontario. He was without question bravest of the brave. Much decorated, he led by example. Who would have known? As it turned out, virtually no one in Dresden knew what became of him. If any know of his exploits, it was certainly a well-kept secret. He deserved better.

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Awards	M.C., DSO
Sources	CVWM, various website, “Commando – Winning WW2 Behind Enemy Lines (James Owen), ., CDP

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