108251 Edward Guy TYLER, MC & Bar, 2 Irish Guards

dbf · Mar 29, 2008

Died 30 June 2002

Major Eddie Tyler - Telegraph

Major Eddie Tyler, who has died aged 86, proved himself to be a leader of exceptional quality during the Second World War; he was awarded an MC in August 1944 and a bar to it in April 1945 while commanding a squadron of the 2nd Battalion Armoured Irish Guards.

On August 4 1944, in the thickly furnished bocage near La Marvindiere, in Normandy, the battalion became surrounded and No 1 Squadron, commanded by Major Tyler, came under attack from German infantry supported by Mark IV Special Tanks. Tyler's tank was knocked out but he switched to another. When that too was knocked out, he continued to lead his forward troop on foot, jumping up on the backs of the tanks from time to time to direct their fire. When they were hit, he carried back wounded members of the crews under heavy fire. He was awarded an immediate MC.

Tyler fought with his battalion in the drive to the Seine and the Rhine, liberating Brussels on the way. On April 11 1945, at first light, a combined armoured and infantry group attacked Furstenau, near Osnabruck, a village held by the battlegroup Grossdeutschland which was dug into positions along a railway embankment.

The Grossdeutschland were seasoned troops and held their fire until the infantry company was well ahead of its supporting tanks and close to the embankment. The leading sections were swept away by machinegun bursts. The guardsmen had read in the newspapers that practically all resistance in Germany had ceased, and several of them had copies of the paper stuck in their trouser pockets as they clung to the embankment waiting for the tanks to come up.

While attempting to get his men forward around a flank, the company commander was shot dead by a sniper, and it seemed that the attack might fail. At this critical moment, Tyler went forward and took command of the company in addition to his own squadron. He sent one troop over the railway line and then dismounted from his tank, under fire from enemy snipers and machineguns, and personally led the platoons forward to join it. After a short period of fierce fighting in which the whole squadron and company were committed, the enemy's defences were broken and the village taken together with 200 prisoners. He was awarded a bar to his MC.

Edward Guy Tyler was born at Edinburgh on November 16 1915 and, at 14, joined the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. He then served as a cadet and midshipman in the coastal waters of Scandinavia, South America, Canada and the West Indies.

Following his promotion to sub-lieutenant in 1935, he was posted to the Fleet Air Arm station at Leuchars, but he developed sinus problems and had to resign. The Navy was reluctant to release him and did so only after the intervention of his godfather, Sir Stafford Cripps, later Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Tyler spent two years with a firm of stockbrokers until the outbreak of the Second World War, when he was granted an Emergency Commission in the Irish Guards. He said afterwards that the only reason the Guards took him was because he had achieved first class grades at the Signal School at Portsmouth and was good at Morse Code; as things turned out, he never used it.

Shortly before D-Day, he received orders to proceed to a staging camp near the south coast to prepare for embarkation. Never a man to go the long way around when a straight line would do, Tyler led his squadron of tanks over Marlow bridge, nearly knocking over a police constable who may have been trying to draw his attention to the notice prohibiting anything larger than a milk float using the crossing. The bridge has been under repair more or less ever since.

On July 1 1944, Tyler landed with the 2nd Armoured Battalion, now equipped with tanks, on Arromanches beaches, as part of the Guards Armoured Division. It was not all unrelieved warfare. Having arrived in Normandy, the battalion moved to a village near Bayeux where the art of haggling was learnt in the hard school of the local peasantry. The farmers liked tobacco, the guardsmen Camembert. To celebrate July 14, the battalion challenged the Mayor of Bayeux to a football match. Play was considerably delayed while an acceptable bilingual referee was found; the Irish Guards won 5-2.
After the war ended, the 2nd Battalion was disbanded and Tyler became second-in-command of the 1st Battalion. In 1946, his recommendation for a Regular Commission stated that he had proved himself an outstanding leader. In his regiment, he was greatly admired as a commander who achieved his objectives while doing everything possible to minimise casualties. After a short posting to Northern Ireland, he attended Staff College, Camberley, before moving to the War Office as GS02, where he served in military intelligence.

He retired from the Army in 1948 and joined C T Bowring & Co on the insurance broking side. He was a superb "contact man" in the best sense and did a great deal to cement and retain relationships with important clients both in the United Kingdom and overseas, especially in South Africa, to which he made many visits. In 1978, he retired as Group Marketing Director but he served for a number of years as a consultant. He held directorships in a number of other companies, including Bowmaker.

As a young naval officer, often lonely and far away from home, Tyler wrote some striking poems evoking the rural England of his boyhood, several of which were published. Possessed of good looks and considerable charm, he also had the reputation of being one of the best dancers of the Big Apple, the group participation dance which preceded the jitterbug and swept the United States in the summer of 1937.

He was an excellent shot and a proficient angler. In retirement, he created a splendid garden at Hedsor in the hills near Cliveden in Buckinghamshire.

Eddie Tyler died on June 30. He married, in 1940, Philippa Fitzalan-Howard, who survives him together with a son and a daughter.
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dbf · Aug 15, 2011

My father was in a ditch, a seemingly empty factory in front of him. All was quiet and not a little tense.

Major Tyler came over and casually settled beside him in the ditch.

“Everything all right Corporal?”

“Yes sir, why sir?”

“Well, I was just wondering - why are all those windows are still intact?”

My father shot out each pane of glass in turn with short bursts from his Bren.

“That’s much better! Good work. Carry on.”

dbf · Aug 19, 2011

The National Archives | DocumentsOnline | Image Details

Name Tyler, Edward Guy
Rank: Captain, Temporary Major
Service No: 108251
Regiment: 2 Armoured Irish Guards
Theatre of Combat or Operation: North West Europe 1944-45
Award: Military Cross
Date of Announcement in London Gazette: 01 March 1945
Date 1945
Catalogue reference WO 373/51
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dbf · Aug 19, 2011

The National Archives | DocumentsOnline | Image Details
Name Tyler, Edward Guy
Rank: Temporary Major
Service No: P/108251
Regiment: Irish Guards
Theatre of Combat or Operation: North West Europe 1944-45
Award: Bar to Military Cross
Date of Announcement in London Gazette: 12 July 1945
Date 1945
Catalogue reference WO 373/54

dbf · Nov 11, 2019

2nd Armoured Battalion Irish Guards: Pre-embarkation List, May 1944

No. 1 Squadron, 2 Armoured Irish Guards

Serial: 62
Vehicle No: 150234
Type of Vehicle: Sherman

108251 Edward Guy TYLER, MC & Bar, 2 Irish Guards Captain, 2IC

2727687 T MIDDLETON, 2 Irish Guards Lance-Serjeant, D/Op

2718593 G STEVENSON, 1 Irish Guards Lance-Corporal, D/Mech

2720372 J MOFFITT, 2 Irish Guards Guardsman, G/Mech

2718906 J WOOD, MiD, 2 Irish Guards Guardsman, D/Op

Total Officers: 1
Total Other Ranks: 4

dbf · Oct 23, 2019

Personal Number: 108251
Rank: Major
Name: Edward Guy TYLER, MC
Unit: Irish Guards

London Gazette : 9 January 1940
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/34768/supplement/149/data.pdf
FOOT GUARDS
The undermentioned to be 2nd Lts.:—
I. G'ds,
15th Dec. 1939: —
Edward Guy TYLER (108251).

London Gazette : 1 March 1945
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36961/supplement/1175/data.pdf
The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the following awards in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in North West Europe:—
The Military Cross.
Captain (temporary Major) Edward Guy Tyler (108251), Irish Guards (Marlow).

London Gazette : 12 July 1945
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/37172/supplement/3591/data.pdf
The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the following awards in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in North West Europe:—
Bar to the Military Cross.
Major (temporary) Edward Guy TYLER, M.C. (108251), Irish Guards (Marlow).

London Gazette : 6 September 1946
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/37714/supplement/4461/data.pdf
FOOT GUARDS
I. G'ds.
2nd Lt. (War Subs. Capt.) Edward Guy TYLER, M.C. (108251) from Emerg. Commn., to be Lt., 7th Sept. 1946, with seniority 3rd Mar. 1941.

London Gazette : 8 October 1946
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/37748/supplement/4981/data.pdf
FOOT GUARDS
I. G'ds.
Lt. (War Subs. Capt.) E. G. TYLER, M.C. (108251), to be Capt., 7th Sept. 1946, with seniority 1st July 1946.

London Gazette : 10 August 1948
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/38375/supplement/4429/data.pdf
FOOT GUARDS
I. G'ds.
Capt E G TYLER, M C (108251), retires receiving a gratuity, 9th Aug 1948, and is granted the hon rank of Maj.

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