Harry Mainwaring was born on in 1919 in Manchester and was educated at Manchester Grammar School before, in 1938, going up to Queens College, Cambridge, to read Theology, intending to become a priest.
On the outbreak of war, he undertook officer training before being commissioned into the Royal Artillery. Treat your gunners as you would your ghillies, their instructor had advised. Harry was posted to 9th Battery, 53rd Heavy Regiment RA on coastal defence duties in Suffolk. His battery landed in France soon after D-Day equipped with four 155mm Long Tom heavy field guns with a range of up to 17 miles.
While looking for targets in Normandy, Mainwaring came across a group of 50 enemy tanks harboured behind a ridge and ready to pounce on the British as they pushed forward down the road from Bayeux to Caen. Despite being in a highly exposed position, his OP was only 300 yards away, he called down fire from all British guns within range.
On another occasion his OP was close to Carpiquet aerodrome, near Caen. The Luftwaffe was still flying from that base and was taking a heavy toll on the Allied advance. Mainwaring's guns knocked out nine Tiger tanks dug in around the perimeter and the next day the aerodrome was in RAF hands.
Driving through a French village in his Bren gun carrier, he found himself in the middle of a large convoy of Germans brewing up their lunch. He darted down a side road before they had time to react but came under friendly fire as he returned to the British lines and was saved only by frantically waving his bright orange recognition scarf.
In August 1944, his orders were to support a reconnaissance squadron which was near Tinchebray, south-east of Vire, and coming under heavy enemy shelling. He believed that the Germans were using the church tower at the village of Frenes as an observation post. There was a farm track leading in that direction but he did not know if it was mined. He drove his Bren gun carrier to a nearby farmhouse to find out, but the place was deserted and smashed up; the farmer lay dead in the hall. Eventually he managed to get a direct view of the tower, and called down a controlled shoot at a range of 10,000 yards. Crouching in a hedge and in direct line from his own battery, he had to rely on the pinpoint accuracy of his guns not to kill him when they destroyed the enemy OP.
The following day, as he was driving towards Flers, a young man jumped out of a ditch and waved him down. Robert Duguey turned out to be the mayors son and a member of the Resistance. He said that there were still Germans in the town, and marked their positions on Mainwaring's map. As they reached the town centre, they came under fire from an anti-tank gun which was covering the exit routes from Flers to the Falaise pocket. A shell crashed into a building yards from them.
Harry with his OP assistant, driver and a captain of a recce regiment, carrying only small arms, crept through the narrow streets in an outflanking movement. Duguey was with them but Harry insisted that he was unarmed for, if he was caught, the Germans would revenge themselves on his family. Despite being greatly outnumbered, they rushed the gun crew from a cemetery side gate and dealt with them. For this action and for his outstanding service in the campaign, he was awarded an MC.
The mayor of Flers celebrated the liberation of his town by giving Mainwaring a 25th birthday party (this would be repeated on his 75th birthday, using the same candles).
By the end of the war Harry Mainwaring had been twice mentioned in despatches. He then returned to Cambridge, where he switched from Theology to Economics. He had lost none of his Christian faith, but after his experiences in the war he did not feel that he could become a priest.
Having graduated he rejoined the Army in the rank of major and served in the Royal Army Education Corps. His first assignment took him to Korea on a two-year posting. Aged 50 he took voluntary retirement as a lieutenant-colonel on the Regular Commissions Board, and for the next 15 years worked at the Cambridge Institute of Education. Devoting himself to helping people to develop their potential, he took an active part in the Scout movement and, aged 65, retired as County Commissioner for Cambridgeshire. Moving to Denston in Suffolk, Mainwaring was a stalwart supporter of the Royal British Legion and also served as parish chairman, churchwarden and lay reader, playing a leading part in restoring the 15th-century church.
