Douglas Webster St Aubyn Berneville-Claye (26 November 1917 – 1975), born Douglas Berneville Claye, was a British Nazi collaborator and member of the SS British Free Corps during the Second World War.
Early life Douglas Berneville Webster Claye was born in Plumstead, London on 26 November 1917, the son of a Staff Sergeant in the Royal Army Service Corps. His subsequent name change to Douglas Webster St Aubyn Berneville-Claye, achieved by adding one of his given names to make the hyphenated "Berneville-Claye" occurred much later, but where "St Aubyn" came from is unknown. (To avoid confusion, hereafter he'll be referred to as Berneville-Claye.) His father's family, the Clays, Websters, and Wainwrights, were industrial working-class from Leeds, Yorkshire. His father, Frederick Wainwright Claye, and mother, Daisy, were married in Woolwich Register Office on 14 September 1912. His father was awarded an MBE in 1919 for "valuable service rendered in connection with military operations in France", and retired in the rank of captain in 1920.Scott, Michael, From Churchill's SAS to Hitler's Waffen SS: The Secret Wartime Exploits of Captain Douglas Berneville-Claye (Pen & Sword, 2022) - Chapter 1
Berneville-Claye was educated in local schools and in March 1933 enrolled at the Army Technical School at Chepstow. However, in August 1934, he was discharged from the Army Technical School and returned to his parents' pub at Little Ouseburn, a village on the Roman road between Ripon and York. Having retired from the army after long service, his father and mother ran a pub there from December 1933 to November 1936. It was at his parents' pub that he met Ada Metcalfe, a scullery maid, and their relationship resulted in a daughter, Margaret ("Maggie") Metcalfe, born in August 1935, both of whom he abandoned. Maggie was the first of some ten children that Berneville-Claye would eventually sire. Meanwhile, in December 1934, he joined the 16th/5th Queen's Royal Lancers at York, which is where he learned to ride, and he served with the regiment until June 1936, when he was discharged.Scott, Michael, From Churchill's SAS to Hitler's Waffen SS: The Secret Wartime Exploits of Captain Douglas Berneville-Claye (Pen & Sword, 2022) - Chapter 1
Having left the Army in the summer of 1936, Berneville-Claye secured work as an instructor at a riding school near Thames Ditton, and, having met Irene Palmer, they married, legitimately, in October 1936. However, the following year he left Irene, while she was pregnant with their daughter, Yvonne, who was born in June 1937. When Irene next heard of him a decade later, it was in a tabloid newspaper, following his court martial in April 1946. Meanwhile, in August 1937, he re-enlisted in the Army, this time with the 12th Royal Lancers. However, in October 1938 he was discharged again from the Army, for the third time as "services no longer required". Following his Army discharge, from October 1938 until the summer of 1939, it appears that he worked as a freelance journalist in London and later in Leeds. In the interim, in June 1938 he met Nina Payne, in Torquay. The following year, in March 1940, Berneville-Claye married the heavily pregnant Nina and she became his second wife, albeit bigamously, and shortly thereafter she gave birth to their son, Graeme.Scott, Michael, From Churchill's SAS to Hitler's Waffen SS: The Secret Wartime Exploits of Captain Douglas Berneville-Claye (Pen & Sword, 2022) - Chapter 1
Second World War On the outbreak of the Second World War, Berneville-Claye volunteered for the Royal Air Force and was accepted as an aircrew trainee at Cardington and then went to Cambridge for aircrew training, this being his fourth period of military service within 6 years. However, he was discharged in March 1940 as "unlikely to make an efficient pilot". His discharge (after some seven months, and close to the end of his training) was just three days after his second (and first bigamous) marriage to Nina Payne. However, the bigamous nature of this marriage would only come to light much later, at Berneville-Claye's April 1946 court martial.Scott, Michael, From Churchill's SAS to Hitler's Waffen SS: The Secret Wartime Exploits of Captain Douglas Berneville-Claye (Pen & Sword, 2022) - Chapter 1
Following this, Berneville-Claye found a job in an aircraft factory and, in late 1940, joined the Home Guard. He borrowed his father's old uniform and began wearing it in public, with a set of RAF pilot's wings attached. While doing so he was involved in a traffic accident, and after hospital treatment was sent to a convalescent home for officers. While there, he stole another officer's cheque book and after a police investigation was discovered to have obtained the sum of £5 10s by deception. In January 1941, he appeared before magistrates and was additionally fined £7 for impersonating an officer. Although he was remanded for trial, the charges were eventually dropped because he had repaid the money he had stolen and agreed to be bound over for two years.
Active service It was at this time that Claye started referring to himself by his invented moniker, the Honourable Douglas St Aubyn Webster Berneville-Claye, with the title Lord Charlesworth. He also cultivated for himself a "smart" accent to complement the aristocratic family background that he invented. In January 1941, he enlisted as a private soldier in the West Yorkshire Regiment, this being the 5th (or 6th if one counts the Home Guard) period of military training. However, he did not stay in the ranks for long. At enlistment, he claimed to have been educated at Charterhouse School, Magdalen College, Oxford, and Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and as a result was selected for officer training. His officer training commenced in June 1941 and was conducted at Pwllheli and Sandhurst. Somewhat surprisingly, he passed; perhaps on account of it being a relatively short 4-month war course, for an "Emergency Commission".Scott, Michael, From Churchill's SAS to Hitler's Waffen SS: The Secret Wartime Exploits of Captain Douglas Berneville-Claye (Pen & Sword, 2022) - Chapter 1
In October 1941, having been granted his commission as a second lieutenant, Berneville-Claye joined the 11th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, on the Isle of Wight, and then in November the battalion was posted to Dorset, and thereafter to Somerset. In January 1942, he was placed in close arrest, again charged with cheque fraud and court-martialled, but he carried out his own legal representation (claiming to be a barrister). The court record states that, besides being educated at Charterhouse, Oxford and Cambridge, he was a barrister in civilian life, and that he conducted his defence with a good degree of skill. He persuaded the court that the cause of the cheques being dishonoured was neglect rather than dishonesty. He got off lightly and was only sentenced to be reprimanded. Nonetheless, his commanding officer evidently took a dim view of things, for the following month in February 1942 he was posted from 11th Battalion, West Yorkshires to 2nd/5th Battalion, West Yorkshires in Folkestone. However, by June he was struck off strength of that battalion for embarkation overseas.Scott, Michael, From Churchill's SAS to Hitler's Waffen SS: The Secret Wartime Exploits of Captain Douglas Berneville-Claye (Pen & Sword, 2022) - Chapter 1
By June 1942, Berneville-Claye had been assigned to the Infantry Base Depot at Geneifa in Egypt. It may be that it was originally intended that he should subsequently join 2nd Battalion, West Yorkshires, at that time in Tobruk. However, he arrived at a turning point in the Desert War, for Tobruk fell to the enemy in June, and GHQ Middle East then planned a series of concurrent large operations including raids upon Tobruk and Benghazi Harbour. The raid on Benghazi Harbour, dubbed Operation BIGAMY, was assigned to the commander of L Detachment of the Special Air Service (SAS), Major David Stirling. However, Stirling required some 200 men for the Benghazi raid, and at this stage he only had 100 in his squadron-sized force. Thus, he was forced to recruit more men and first sought them from amongst the Middle East commando forces, but he also looked wider including the Infantry Depot, and during this trawl Berneville-Claye volunteered, having evidently charmed Stirling.Scott, Michael, From Churchill's SAS to Hitler's Waffen SS: The Secret Wartime Exploits of Captain Douglas Berneville-Claye (Pen & Sword, 2022) - Chapter 2
Thus, in August 1942, Berneville-Claye joined the SAS. However, with no time for any formal SAS training before Operation Bigamy scheduled for September, he and a number of other men recruited in Stirling's trawl would have to rely upon "on the job" training. However, the Benghazi raid (as well as the Tobruk raid) both suffered from poor security; and, close to the target, Stirling received word that the enemy was expecting his force. Regardless, he was instructed by GHQ Middle East to continue with the attack but, with the element of surprise lost, the SAS force was beaten back by a well-prepared enemy and had to withdraw across the desert.Scott, Michael, From Churchill's SAS to Hitler's Waffen SS: The Secret Wartime Exploits of Captain Douglas Berneville-Claye (Pen & Sword, 2022) - Chapter 2
In the aftermath of Operation Bigamy, the majority of temporary attachments to the SAS were returned to their units, but Berneville-Claye was selected to continue service with the SAS, in A Squadron. Berneville-Claye arrived back in Cairo in late September and was promoted to war substantive lieutenant. This was a period of momentous change for the SAS itself, which was expanded from squadron size and granted regimental status within the British Army on 28th September 1942. Berneville-Claye was formally gazetted to the strength of the 1st SAS Regiment, on 1st October, following its formation as a regiment.Scott, Michael, From Churchill's SAS to Hitler's Waffen SS: The Secret Wartime Exploits of Captain Douglas Berneville-Claye (Pen & Sword, 2022) - Chapter 3
Berneville-Claye next took part in the second of his three major operations with the SAS. This being the SAS role in supporting the Eighth Army, in the Second Battle of El Alamein, codenamed Operation Lightfoot, planned for the night of 23/24 October 1942. The SAS role was to operate behind enemy lines, preceding, during and in the aftermath of Operation Lightfoot, conducting raids on enemy lines of communications, including attacks against enemy airfields. The Second Battle of El Alamein was an emphatic success, and, with it, Allied fortunes changed in the North African campaign.Scott, Michael, From Churchill's SAS to Hitler's Waffen SS: The Secret Wartime Exploits of Captain Douglas Berneville-Claye (Pen & Sword, 2022) - Chapter 3
The previous year, in 1941, the US had entered the war, and joint Anglo-US forces were now poised to land in French North-West Africa, in Operation Torch, during November. With A Squadron's role in support of Operation Lightfoot successfully concluded, the SAS began to prepare for their next task. This was Operation Palmyra, the SAS role in supporting Eighth Army's push westward to Tripoli, which was scheduled to begin in mid-December 1942. Again, the SAS role was to conduct behind-the-lines raids on the enemy. This was Berneville-Claye's third distinct operation with the SAS. It was also his final, for it was during this period that he was captured by the enemy.Scott, Michael, From Churchill's SAS to Hitler's Waffen SS: The Secret Wartime Exploits of Captain Douglas Berneville-Claye (Pen & Sword, 2022) - Chapter 3
Capture by the enemy