The war hero from Hartford who broke free from Colditz Castle

He was born in June 1902 to wealthy parents at Sandiway House, Littledales Lane, Hartford, the only son of Captain John Bolton and Clara Littledale. Ronald attended St Aubyn’s School in Rottingdean and then Eaton College.

In 1911, when Ronald was eight years old, the family had moved to Bunbury House, Bunbury. On finishing his education, he attended the Royal Military College at Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Kings Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC).

In 1923 he served with the British Army of the Rhine, India, Palestine, and Northern Ireland, rising through the ranks to Major. At the start of the Second World War, he took part in the defence of Calais with the 30th Infantry Brigade.

This Brigade was ordered by Churchill to fight to the last man to enable as many troops as possible to escape at Dunkirk. They were recently featured in the Darkest Hour film with Gary Oldman.

On the May 26, 1940, ‘Ronnie’ Littledale was captured by a German patrol.

He was marched with other captured officers for ten days and then by train ending up at Oflag V11C at Laufen.

During March 1941 he was transferred with about 400 officers to Fort 8, Stalag XX1D at Fosen. He made several attempts to escape and in May 1941 with Lt Mike Sinclair and Lt, later Brigadier Gris Davies-Scourfield, he escaped by hiding in a handcart that took the rubbish to a pit outside the camp.

They met up with the Polish underground but after eight months of freedom were recaptured in March 1942 at Sofia, Bulgaria. The local police, promising help, sold them to the Germans.

At the end of May, he escaped again but was caught the following November. After spending time in a military prison in Vienna, in July 1942, he was sent to OFLAG 1VC.

Colditz Castle, believed by the Germans to be escape-proof. It was a camp for officers with a history of escaping and ‘Ronnie’ Littledale certainly fitted the bill.

In October of that year, he escaped with three other – Captain Pat Reid, who wrote the book The Colditz Story which subsequently became a major film and TV series, Lt/Cdr William Stephens RNVR and Flight Lt Howard D Wardle.

Sandiway House, where he first lived

With Stephens, he made it to neutral Switzerland. Then with an officer who had earlier escaped from Colditz, he made his way to Spain.

They arrived on January 30, 1943, and were held in cramped and filthy conditions for a month until they were handed over to the British Consul and travelled to Britain via Gibraltar arriving in the U.K. in May 1943, he was awarded the DSO and was promoted.

Lieutenant Colonel Ronald Bolton Littledale DSO. Returned to France after D-Day in command of the 2nd Battalion Kings Royal Rifles.

They were in action in Airaines, France on September 1, 1944, when he went forward with the Anti-Tank Battery Commander and Major Bernays. They had an escort of machine-gun carriers.

When rounding a bend, they came face to face with a German anti-tank gun which opened fire at point-blank range.

Lieutenant Colonel Littledale was killed instantly as was his driver and the anti-tank battery commander. Major Bernays managed to reverse quickly and rescued the rest of the party.

The local people recovered the bodies, and the mayor, asked if he could organise the funeral for the brave British soldiers who had given their lives for his village.

The following day they were buried with coffins draped in Union Jacks, and the whole village of Airaines followed behind, and the graves were covered in wreaths and flowers.

Colditz during the war. Image: RCAHMS/PA

He is buried in Airaines Communal Cemetery near Amiens in France.

The final words in a tribute published in The Times, as written by Billie Stephens who was with him in Colditz: “He was one of the finest most loyal and most unselfish men I have met during my entire life.

“His wonderful example and his absolute single-mindedness to his duty was a great help to us all. He died for his ideals. He would ask for no finer ending.”