When Captain Brian Horrocks was laid low with epidemic Typhus in Krasnoyarsk, the prospects looked bleak because the mortality rate was so high and the hospitals were so inadequate. However, Captain Eric “Georgik” Hayes, who had been with Horrocks in Siberia for almost a year was determined to help him survive. He escorted the semi-unconscious invalid to a private infirmary and visited him daily with extra food, often staying the night by his bed, wrapped in a raincoat. Without this aid, Horrocks would not have survived and the history of World War II would have been very different, but what about the man who played such an important part in Horrocks’ survival?
Trying to find out more about his character, a big breakthrough came when I discovered an archive donated by Jeremy Fairbank to the University of Leeds, which contained important material from his time before joining the Army. After attending grammar school in Lincolnshire, he was articled to solicitors before enlisting in the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry at the beginning of the war and eventually commissioning from Sandhurst into the Norfolk Regiment. He was an ideal foil for Horrocks’ exuberance, being more cerebral and measured, but this did not stop him from making the most of his Russian experiences and reaching the rank of Major General. He commanded 3rd Infantry Division in World War II before a stint as the senior British military commander in Nigeria and his final appointment as Head of the British Military Mission to China, where he was involved in the surrender of Japan. Sadly he died following a short illness not long after the end of the war.
Horrocks wasn’t the only prisoner to suffer from epidemic typhus and tomorrow, I will reveal what happened to the other two soldiers who contracted this pernicious disease.
Epidemic Typhus Killed More People in Siberia in 1920 Than Any Other Cause
Rupert Wieloch 