5th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards

Michael Anstice

North Korean forces crossed the 38th Parallel in June 1950 and invaded South Korea. American ground troops were immediately ordered in and, after Britain and its main Commonwealth partners pledged their forces to maintain South Korea's independence, these were integrated as the 1st Commonwealth Division. In October China entered the war.

Anstice was a troop leader in B Squadron 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards (5 RIDG). His Regiment, equipped with Centurion main battle tanks, was supporting the 1st Battalion The Black Watch, and deployed in a strategically important position along a complex junction of ridges – known as "The Hook" – which dominated the Samichon River valley.

On the evening of November 18 1952 the Chinese launched a massive attack on "The Hook" and 5 RIDG came under heavy and continuous shelling, mortar and small arms fire. The Black Watch were forced back and at one o'clock the next morning, their CO asked for a tank to lead his men back to the top of the "The Hook" and to give support and searchlight assistance in the confused and bitter fighting.

Several tanks had already been hit and Anstice, appreciating the extremely slim chances of getting a tank up the narrow track in the darkness, decided to go himself. One side of the track was open to a precipitous drop and, on the way up it, sustained shelling and accurate sniper fire forced him to close the hatch – making the ascent yet more hazardous.

With his tank immobilised, and under intense shell and mortar fire with fierce close-quarter fighting going on all around him, Anstice succeeded in getting the wounded man out of the driving compartment and into the turret. Then, with the wireless operator driving, he reversed his tank down the hill to a point where he could evacuate his casualty.

He then went back to another fire position and continued to engage the enemy. At first light the Chinese, unable to consolidate their position, withdrew. Anstice was awarded an immediate MC. His skill and courage in an action which lasted for some nine hours, the citation stated, was far in advance of what might have been expected of a very young and inexperienced officer.

Michael John Christian Anstice, the son of Vice-Admiral Sir Edmund Anstice, was born at Goodamoor (now Dartmouth Zoological Park) on October 5 1929. After Wellington and Sandhurst, he was commissioned in 1949 into the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards.

3rd Rock From The Sun ~ aDeLiNe'Z Perspectives ~ - The Charge of ...

"Light Cavalry Overture"
By Franz von Suppé (1819-1895)

Opening with a solo trumpet call, Suppé's overture to Die Leichte Kavallerie immediately suggests a military tale. After the rest of the brass join the trumpet for a cadence, a solo horn repeats the entire gesture.

In typical Suppé fashion, loud and soft segments alternate as a solo flute tries to present a theme, but is interrupted by outbursts from the orchestra before the opening trumpet melody returns, this time in several brass instruments and accompanied by an intense, repeated figure in the high strings.

All this serves as an introduction to the second section of the overture, which begins with a rapid pulse in the woodwinds supporting the main theme in the violins. Out of this grows the famous, "galloping" brass theme, which is almost immediately later taken by the entire orchestra, fortissimo.

A slow, quiet passage leads to a clarinet solo that introduces a plaintive string theme with a distinctly, "eastern" flavor, created through the strategic placement of half steps. This is the "Hungarian" theme of the operetta, presented here at length. The galloping returns, and after a full statement, the opening trumpet call mingles with the galloping theme to create a crashing close.

...The Story...
The Charge of the Light Brigade was a disastrous cavalry charge led by Lord Cardigan during the Battle of Balaclava on October 25, 1854 in the Crimean War.