Talk:Tommy Macpherson

Language and references

I am concerned that this has turned into too much of an adventure story, with inadequate references. Macpherson had a remarkable war-time career and I think that we can convey this by simply citing the bare facts, without too much embellishment.45ossington (talk) 17:58, 9 October 2010 (UTC)

Yes, what a mess. By way of example, the surrender of General Botho Elster and his command is markedly different to the account here [[1]]. Far too late now to be definitive, sadly. Little grape (talk) 18:45, 20 October 2021 (UTC)

The action against Das Reich on the Figeac-Tulle road

The description of the action agaisnst Das Reich on the Figeac-Tulle road on the 10/11th June is based on the accounts published in Macphserson and Hastings but the reader should be aware there is a difference between these accounts. The Hastings work was originally published in 1981 and the Macpherson/Bath account in 2010. The account in the Wikipedia article has tried to draw on common themes in both.

To quote from Hastings

"Macpherson thought they might be able to weaken a small bridge,and cover it long enough to compel the Germans to dismount..,with all the delay that this entailed."

"Very early next morning, Macpherson descended to the road with 27 maquisards... On one side trees came close the to road; the Scot tied small charges to a succession of trunks, wired them together and gave the exploder to a maquisard with orders to twist it when the Germans reached the bridge"

"Macpherson blew the bridge under the leading half-track, Germans leaped from the wreckage and dashed back down the column. Amid the barrage of small arms fire the first tank battened down, ... then crept forward. Macpherson had left a man with a gammon grenade for this moment. The gammon exploded... rupturing a track. The road was blocked. The tanks back along the column began to shell their position around the bridge. German infantry began to work forward through the trees from the rear. There was a volley of explosions as the mined trees fell."

"The official report of their Jedburgh, Quinine ... states that in their action against the Das Reich 20 out of 27 maquisards were killed."

(End of quote from Hastings)

The following is paraphrased from Macpherson/Bath.

The action was described as three dummy ambushes. At the first there was a road block formed by two large trees with a mine buried in the road (an antitank mine plus some plastic explosive). At the second there was another road block formed by pair of trees, but with improvised booby trap in the branches (a pair of hand grenades). At the third Macpherson marked two more trees to be exploded but didn't bring them down.

On reaching the first road block,the German armoured column attempted to use a tank support vehicles with a mine sweeping blade to clear the road. The mine blew up under on of its track, rendering the road impassable. After the road had been cleared, the Germans advanced to the next road block. At this point the maquis opened up with Stens into the troop carrying vehicle and withdrew. The Germans and sent a team of engineers forward to look for mines. Macpherson (or his maquisards) heard the sound of the booby trap detonating followed by shouts and screams. At the third obstacle the Germans lead with the heavy vehicle in th front of the column, and because they had come under fire. troops to sweep the edges of the ambush. At which point the resistance fighters brought down third pair of trees and withdrew. In this account there is only one casualty, one of the fighters from Bretenoux, — Preceding unsigned comment added by KreyszigB (talk • contribs) 14:51, 25 May 2014 (UTC)

Non authoritative references

It is likely that the original wikipedia article drew on "Interview with Tommy Macpherson, Britain's most decorated former soldier" published in The Scotsman on 29/05/2009, and archived in the Internet. In comparison to books on the subject, this article from The Scotsman is not authoritative. It is at best weak, and at worst just wrong. KreyszigB (talk) 14:55, 25 May 2014 (UTC)

'Star of Bethlehem'

There doesn't appear to be such an honour as 'Star of Bethlehem', so I've deleted it. Can anyone show it really exists? The link in the article was to a discussion of the Star of Bethlehem according to the Gospel of Matthew. Ender's Shadow Snr (talk) 09:11, 15 December 2019 (UTC)