Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Wace Roberts
Unit : Headquarters, 6th Airborne Division
Army No. : 38529
Awards : Distinguished Service Order
Lieutenant-Colonel Roberts commanded the 2nd Battalion The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in Normandy. In the reorganisation which followed, he was made Chief of Staff at Divisional Headquarters. For his conduct in these roles he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order:
Lieutenant-Colonel Roberts commanded a battalion in this division in Normandy and was GSO 1 (Operations) from September 1944 to May 1945.
In both appointments he performed very gallant and distinguished services. As a battalion commander he showed a fine example during the long weeks of hard and costly fighting which followed the landing in Normandy. His battalion was always in good heart, and in spite of heavy casualties rose splendidly to the occasion when the moment came to advance.
After becoming GSO 1 of this division, the various operations projected or executed naturally brought him great responsibility and arduous labour. Lieutenant-Colonel Roberts never spared himself. He was particularly successful in organising the move of the division to Belgium in December in extremely difficult circumstances. The successful completion of the planning for the crossing of the Rhine was largely due to his devoted efforts.
In the actual operation Lieutenant-Colonel Roberts showed outstanding gallantry. After a hazardous landing, he showed great determination in setting up and maintaining Divisional Headquarters in the face of the enemy. His services on that day and in the long advance which followed were carried out without thought for his personal safety and were of the very greatest value to me [Major-General Bols] and the division.