| Bertie
Robert 'Winky' Fitt DCM, of Norwich, aged 82, on 12
February 1997. 'Legend' is a much over-used and abused epithet these days. So for that matter is the word hero. Yet Bert Fitt, the last Regimental Sergeant Major of the Royal Norfolk's Regimental Depot, was both of these. Former RSM Bert Fitt was awarded a Distinguished Conduct Medal for his courageous leadership during one of the most celebrated actions of the Burma campaign, the assault on Norfolk Bunker, a network of Japanese machine-gun posts. He was a Colour Sergeant in B Company, 2nd Battalion The Royal Norfolk Regiment, which carried out the audacious assault on GPT Ridge on 4 May 1944, in the opening round of the British counter-offensive at Kohima, in Assam. After an arduous three-day trek through thick jungle, the battalion launched a reconnaissance in force from the rear of the Japanese positions which quickly developed into a full-scale attack. Commander of one of the leading platoons, CSgt Fitt figured prominently in the assault which helped shatter the myth of Japanese invincibility. He later recalled, 'We had about 800 yards to cover. The Japanese positions were facing the opposite direction so they had to come out in the open to fight us. They were more or lesson level terms but no match for British troops in close-quarter fighting.' During the headlong rush, Fitt's company overran a Japanese mountain gun and had the satisfaction of seeing their routed enemy fleeing for their lives. The commendation for his DCM stated, 'His able handling of his Sections resulted in reduction of three enemy bunkers in quick succession, and the maintenance of the impetus of the attack.' (Click here for the DCM citation full text, below.) Maj Sam Hornor (died 1998), who served alongside him, remembered, 'He was a remarkable character - one of those people you never forget. He was charging about, urging everybody on and doing quite incredible things.' Maj The Revd Hugh M 'Dickie' Davies, (died 2002) who was to conduct Bert Fitt's funeral service nearly 53 years later, led a platoon to reinforce CSgt Fitt's platoon that day in 1944, agreed. 'He was splendid. A genuine hero, a first class soldier and a good man.' The Royal Norfolks had succeeded in capturing the ridge without the assistance of a pre-arranged artillery bombardment. It was a remarkable achievement, but the battle was far from over. A neighbouring spur, riddled with well protected Japanese bunkers, barred the way forward, and two platoons of B Company, under the command of Capt Jack Randle, were ordered to carry out a frontal attack at first light on May 6. After a night of heavy rain, the assault went in with Fitt once again to the fore. With his platoon pinned down by an undetected machine-gun post, Fitt attacked alone and succeeded in destroying it, at the second attempt, by a well placed grenade. In the next instant, he was caught by a burst of fire which shattered his jaw. He later recounted, 'It felt like a severe punch. I spat out what was left of my teeth and sprayed the foxhole with my light machine-gun. When it jammed, I threw it in the face of a Jap who was still alive.' In the hand-to-hand struggle that followed Fitt managed to kill his enemy with his own bayonet. As he led his men across the top of the enemy position, Fitt witnessed the last, courageous charge of his company commander, Jack Randle. With the attack on the right-hand bunker stalled and casualties mounting, Captain Randle made a suicidal lone charge. Wounded many times, he lived long enough to pitch a grenade into the bunker before sealing the slit with his body. Randle's desperate heroism was recognised by the posthumous award of the Victoria Cross. Fitt always insisted that Randle had deliberately sacrificed his life to save his men. 'He had been hit early in the attack, and I told him to go down but he insisted on carrying on,' he recalled. 'Nobody could ever credit the bravery shown by that man.' Click here for Jack Randle's citation. Fitt's own part in the fighting had a bizarre conclusion. After bringing the survivors out, he was met by his CO, the redoubtable Lt Col Robert Scott. 'I had an old field dressing wrapped around my face,' remarked Fitt, 'and he said, 'They've got you then. Let's have a look.' The MO took of the bandage and Colonel Scott laughed and said, 'Well, you never were an oil painting!' Whether or not it was due to shock, Fitt remembered bursting out laughing himself. Bertie Robert Fitt, who was born in Marham, a small west Norfolk village, on 9 January 1915, enlisted in the Norfolk Regiment in 1933 at the age of 18. His father was unimpressed. 'You've made your bed, now you'll have to lie in it,' he declared. By then, he had already inherited the name 'Winky', by which he would be remembered, from an uncle, who was a gamekeeper. After initial training, he was posted to the 1st Battalion in India. He received his baptism of fire during operations in Waziristan on the North-West Frontier, in the spring of 1937. Promotion, however, in peacetime was slow and Fitt, already noted as something of a colourful character, was only a Lance Corporal at the outbreak of the second world war. However, when the 1st Battalion returned to an embattled England in the summer of 1940, Fitt found himself transferred to the 2nd Battalion, then rebuilding after having been all but destroyed during the retreat to Dunkirk. As an NCO instructor he gave early evidence of his superb leadership qualities. During the fighting at Kohima and, subsequently, in the long advance through Burma, Fitt acquired a justly deserved reputation as a first class fighting soldier. Burma veteran Arthur C Storey, who served with him, later recalled: 'He was a soldier first and last. Like everybody he liked his beer and a bit of fun, but he was a real fighting man. He was the sort of man you'd follow to hell and back. He never asked anyone to do anything he wouldn't do himself.' Evacuated to hospital after being wounded at Kohima, he managed to wangle his way out after only three days and returned to the battalion under his own steam. Officers had boundless respect for his energy and dedication. A resourceful patrol leader, he was frequently assigned those missions where skill and courage were at a premium. Having come through the remainder of the Burma campaign unscathed, Fitt, a keen boxer, rejoined the 1st Battalion in Berlin after the war, as a Company Sergeant Major. His last campaign was in Korea, where the Royal Norfolk's 10 month tour of duty involved a return to trench warfare not dissimilar to that experienced by their forebears in the first world war. Shortly afterwards he was promoted and posted back to England as RSM of the Regimental Depot at Britannia Barracks. There, during the next eight years he became a memorable figure to thousands of National Servicemen undergoing basic training. Maj Ben Chapman DSO, former OC Training Wing at the Depot, recalled: 'He wasn't a bullying type of RSM. He was a man who knew what soldiers went through and knew what was required.' He retired in January 1960 after 27 years service, having out-lasted his old county regiment, which had been amalgamated with the Suffolk Regiment, by four months. In recognition of his distinguished record he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal. Tall and powerfully built, with a ramrod straight back and booming voice, 'Winky' Fitt was every inch a soldier. As fearless on the battlefield as he could sometimes appear fearsome on the parade ground, he will be remembered as one of the outstanding personalities in the long history of the Royal Norfolk Regt; a man who instilled discipline by example and combined compassion with a natural dignity. He never regretted his decision to join the army. 'The Regiment,' he once remarked, 'was my life.' Even after he retired to successfully pursue a second career as transport and general service manager of the Norwich based May and Baker chemical manufacturing company, he never forgot the men with whom he had served. Maj Sam Hornor said of him: 'He considered all the men in the Regiment were his responsibility and they all tended to turn to him when they needed help.' An enthusiastic supporter of the Royal British Legion and Burma Star Association, he was a stalwart member of the Royal Norfolk Regiment Association, where he brought his considerable force of personality to bear on the annual money-raising raffles. It was said, not unreasonably, that few could resist his appeals. Bert Fitt is survived by his wife, Marion (May), a teacher, whom he married in 1942 while his unit was based at Hessle, near Hull, and their two daughters, Margaret and Barbara.' Steve Snelling of the Eastern Daily Press Mourners at the St Faith's funeral service, conducted by Maj The Revd Hugh M 'Dickie' Davies (died 2002), overflowed the capacity of the chapel. Winky's widow Marion wrote: 'It has been a great consolation to me and my family to realise how well-loved and respected 'Winkie' was, and this has enabled us to replace some of the sadness with pride.' And see pages N5, N8, N15, N16, N17 and N20 in this issue, plus B&C Issues 85, 86 and 87 Winkie Fitt and The Rum and More Rum D Coy? for references to this remarkable legend. CITATION FITT
577220 Sgt (A/C/Sgt) Bertie Robert Burma
: At Kohima, Assam. For extreme ability and conspicuous
gallantry whilst commanding a Platoon on 4, 5 and 6 May
1944. WINKY FITT
In B&C No 88 Jun 97 on page N8, Paul Boxall recalled that at the Coronation in 1953, the late Winky Fitt did not have a uniform to wear until the afternoon. Here is the evidence in a photograph taken that morning, kindly sent in by Mr Gordon K Reynolds of Lowestoft. Pte Reynolds GK, A Coy 4th Battalion The Royal Norfolk Regt, is third from the right in the back row.
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B&C Norfolk Editor