Peter de la Billière
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General Sir Peter Edgar de la Couer de la Billière (b. 1934) KCB, KBE, DSO, MC & Bar is a British soldier, who was Director of the UKSF during the Iranian Embassy Siege and Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in the 1990 Gulf War. He is often referred to as DLB.
He was born as Peter Edgar Delacour, to Surgeon Lieutenant Commander Denis de Labillerie, and his wife Kitty Lawley. 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.
In 1952, he attended and passed Selection for the 22 Special Air Service Regiment - the famous SAS. During his first SAS tour, he served in Malaya (the "Emergency") and Oman, where he won the MC. After his initial tour with 22 SAS, he returned to the DLI to run recruit training, before being offered the post of Adjutant 21 SAS (Artist's Rifles) - the London based Territorial Army (reserve) SAS regiment.
In 1962, DLB 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 "Confrontation". After this tour, DLB re-attended Staff College, and passed this time. 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. He then served in a number of desk jobs 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. 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.
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. 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 Norman 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 was generally poor. He was awarded the Legion of Merit (Grade Chief Commander) at the successful conclusion of the conflict. By the end of his career he had 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.
He has written a number of books, including Storm Command and Looking for Trouble. SAS traditions about not reporting operations meant that this generated considerable tensions.
Categories: Cleanup from September 2005 | All pages needing cleanup | 1934 births | Anglo-French people | Living people | Old Harrovians | British Army generals | Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath | Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire | Companions of the Distinguished Service Order | Meritorious Service Decoration (Canada) | Recipients of the Legion of Merit
