Everything about Peter De La Billi Re totally explained
General Sir Peter Edgar de la Couer de la Billière KCB,
KBE,
DSO,
MC & Bar (b.
29 April 1934) is a former British soldier, who was Director of the
United Kingdom Special Forces during the
Iranian Embassy Siege and
Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in the
1990 Gulf War.
Early years
He was born as Peter Edgar Delacour to Surgeon
Lieutenant Commander Denis de la Billerie and his wife Kitty Lawley. On
22 May 1941, his father was killed when his ship,
HMS Fiji, was sunk by
German bombers in an attack southwest of
Crete.
He was educated at Wellesley House, Broadstairs and
Harrow. He originally enlisted as a
private in the
King's Shropshire Light Infantry in 1952. He was later
commissioned as a
Second Lieutenant into the
Durham Light Infantry. During his early career as an officer he served in
Japan,
Korea and
Egypt.
Entry into SAS
In 1956, he attended and passed Selection for the
22 Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment. During his first SAS tour, he served in
Malaya during the
Malayan Emergency and
Oman, where he was
mentioned in despatches and won the
Military Cross in 1959. After his initial tour with 22 SAS, he returned to the Durham Light Infantry to run recruit training, before taking up the post of Adjutant of
21 SAS - the London based
Territorial Army (reserve) SAS regiment. In 1962, he was attached to the Federal Army in
Aden. In 1964, he failed
Staff College but was appointed Officer Commanding A Squadron 22 SAS. From 1964-1966, A Squadron was deployed to
Borneo for the
Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation. For his actions during this period he was awarded a
bar to the Military Cross.
After this tour, he re-attended Staff College, and, this time, passed. After Staff College he was posted as G2 (intelligence) Special Forces at Strategic Command. He then served a tour as second-in-command of 22 SAS, of which he was Commanding Officer 1972-4. For service in Oman, he was appointed a Companion of the
Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1976.
He then served in a number of administrative posts before returning to the regiment as Director, 1978-82. It was during this period that the SAS shot to public fame as a consequence of their storming of the
Iranian Embassy in 1980. In 1982, he was appointed a Commander of the
Order of the British Empire (CBE). After the SAS he was appointed Military Commissioner and Commander of British Forces in the
Falkland Islands 1984-5 and then
General Officer Commanding Wales 1985-90.
In 1987 he was appointed Knight Commander of the
Order of the Bath. In 1991, he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE).
Gulf War
Despite being due for retirement he was appointed
Commander-in-Chief British Forces in the
1990 Gulf War - in effect the second in command of the coalition headed by
Norman Schwarzkopf. His past experience of fighting in the area, knowledge of the people and some fluency in the language overrode concerns about his age. In this role, he was largely responsible for the use of SAS and other special forces in significant roles in that conflict. His experience in 22 SAS allowed him to convince Schwarzkopf to employ special forces in various roles. Prior to this, Schwarzkopf was resistant to the use of special forces due to his experiences in Vietnam where US special forces (in this context special forces refers to all US special forces, not just
the Special Forces - ie the green berets) performance, in his opinion, was generally poor.
Retirement
By the end of his career he'd risen to the rank of
Lieutenant General. In order to allow him to receive the pension benefits of full general he was given the newly created
sinecurist post of Middle East Advisor to the
Secretary of State for Defence. He retired in 1992.
In 1993, he received
Canada's
Meritorious Service Medal,
Saudi Arabia's
Order of King Abdul Aziz, 2nd Class and was made a Commander of the
United States'
Legion of Merit.
He has written or co-authored 18 books, including an autobiography, a personal account of the Gulf War and a number of works about the SAS.
The SAS traditions about not reporting operations means that this generated considerable tension.
He is currently a patron of the UK based international development charity, FARM-Africa having served on the Board since 1992 and as Chairman from 1998 to 2001.
Further Information
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