Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Eight: Lieutenant-Commander L. H. Moorhouse, who was Mentioned in Despatches for service with Combined Operations Pilotage Party ‘Inhuman’ during the invasion of North Africa, 1942.

British War and Victory Medals (Mid. L.H. Moorhouse, R.N.R.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star, clasp, North Africa 1942-43; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, M.I.D. oak leaf; Royal Naval Reserve Decoration G.VI.R., 1st issue, silver and silver-gilt, the reverse officially dated ‘1944’, nearly extremely fine (8) £500-600

M.I.D. London Gazette 13 April 1943:
“For bravery and skill… in operations in North African Waters”

R.N.R. London Gazette 6 October 1944.

Leslie Hugh ‘Gaffer’ Moorhouse was born at Urmston, Manchester on 3 October 1900. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School (1911-1915), followed by 18 months as a Cadet at the school ship H.M.S. Conway. He was appointed Temporary Midshipman in the Royal Naval Reserve in April 1917, and appointed to the cruiser H.M.S. Minotaur the following month. In Minotaur, and later the Armed Merchant Cruiser H.M.S. Kildonan Castle, he saw active service on the ‘Northern Patrol’. He was demobilised in May 1919 and commenced a career as an officer of the Merchant Navy, qualifying as Second Mate in 1921, First Mate in 1923 and Master in 1927. Throughout the nineteen-twenties he was at sea in ships of the Manchester Liners company. He rejoined the R.N.R. in 1927 and served until 1932, when he went onto the Retired List as a Lieutenant. In a change of career, he then became an actor.

Recalled at the outbreak of war in 1939, Moorhouse served successively in H.M.Ships Pyramus, Caroline, St. Zeno and Snowdrop until appointed to H.M.S. President “for miscellaneous services” in January 1942. Later that year he is shown serving under Combined Operations “Intelligence Plans (Naval), Intelligence Section”.

Combined Operations Pilotage Parties were the brainchild of Lt. Cdr. H.N. Clogstoun-Willmott, R.N. As early as 1941, when appointed navigating officer of Force X for the proposed capture of Rhodes, Willmott had realised the importance of thorough reconnaissance ahead of amphibious landings and the limits of what could be learned from aerial photography, or even from submarine periscope observations. Such could not reveal the natural hazards of submerged shoals and rocks, and unknown tides and currents, nor comprehensively document the nature and location of man-made obstacles and defences. The presence of hidden sandbars close to the beaches, for example, could lead troops to prematurely disembark into deep water, and the composition of the beaches themselves may not be suitable for the discharge of heavy vehicles that would need to cross them. He also became aware of the inadequacy of existing charts for the requirements of successful assault pilotage. Willmott’s solution was to personally undertake clandestine survey of the beaches and their approaches. Although the assault itself did not go ahead, a seed had been planted, and Willmott circulated his theories and findings in a number of reports, though with disappointing results.

The disinterest of higher authority changed with the bitter lessons of the Dieppe raid of August 1942, when troops and tanks were landed on narrow, pebble beaches, commanded by lofty cliffs, and blocked by a seawall and concrete obstacles, reconnaissance being limited largely to examination of pre-war postcards. With landings in North Africa (Operation Torch) scheduled for November, and rapidly approaching, Willmott was remarkably suddenly ordered to collect, train, organise and equip a team of navigators and others for reconnaissance and pilotage work. The result was two groups collectively codenamed Party Koodoo-Inhuman: the Koodoo element being responsible for pre-invasion reconnaissance, and Inhuman undertaking approach marking and pilotage. Personnel were a mixture drawn from the Royal Navy and soldiers of the S.B.S. and seems to have amounted to around 20 officers and a similar number of other ranks and ratings. The naval element of Inhuman in particular included a number of experienced navigators, intended to counter-balance an identified deficiency in amphibious forces of the time, where landing craft crews were generally held to be capable of little more than simple coastal navigation.

After a brief period of training at H.M.S. Dolphin and at Hayling Island Party Koodoo-Inhuman was rushed out to Gibraltar. In the event Koodoo’s reconnaissances were limited to what could be accomplished by submarine periscope, due to security concerns, and the small Inhuman party was insufficient in size to perform pilotage for all units, some of which went ashore miles from their intended objectives. However, where Inhuman was employed it did achieve some notable successes, through its co-ordinating system of embedded navigators with the assault force, ‘human buoys’ in canoes, submarines and infra-red beacons. Willmott received a D.S.C. for his efforts, and Moorhouse was one of five officers of party Inhuman who were Mentioned in Despatches.

On return to the U.K. at the end of November 1942 Willmott was asked to form a proper Combined Operations Beach and Reconnaissance Operation, in conditions of great secrecy. The title “Combined Operations Pilotage Parties” was finally arrived upon, and “Gaffer” Moorhouse played a leading role in setting it up at its new depot on Hayling Island, as Willmott’s staff officer. In January 1943, when the organisation’s next operation – a clandestine reconnaissance in Sicily – went disastrously wrong, it was Moorhouse who flew out to Malta to investigate. He is also recorded as having been responsible for interviewing applicants for the expanded organisation, and took an actor’s pleasure in delivering a sobering introductory speech: “You’ve volunteered for hazardous service – service that will take you an anchor’s throw from the enemy’s nose. You may find the weather takes the enemy’s side. Submarine trips will become as common-place as bus rides. Casualties are high and the enemy shows no mercy to those he captures… hope none of you are married. But if you are, or if you’ve got any doubts, just take one pace back and the whole thing will be forgotten. No one will think the worse of you.” As progress continued, Moorhouse went on to be COPP’s representative at Combined Operations Headquarters, his role expanding to “Staff Officer Special Boats”, with responsibility for the affairs of Blondie Hasler’s ‘Cockleshells’ of the R.M.B.D.U. and Lt. Cdr. Bruce Wright’s Sea Reconnaissance Unit (‘Surfboard Commandos’) besides those of the ‘Coppists’.

Leslie Moorhouse returned to his career as an actor after the war. He died in Warwickshire in 1984.