Adrian Carton de Wiart: The Unkillable Soldier Who Enjoyed War
- Daniel Holland
- Jun 18, 2024
- 8 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
There are historical figures who seem larger than life, but Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart is one of the few who genuinely lived a life that appears to rewrite the limits of human endurance. A soldier who fought in three major wars, survived a catalogue of injuries, removed his own damaged fingers, escaped prisoner of war camps in his sixties, and lost an eye and a hand before performing some of the most extraordinary acts of bravery ever recorded, he remains one of the most remarkable characters in British military history.
If a novelist had invented him, readers might say the character was unrealistic. Yet every improbable detail of his story is documented, witnessed, and preserved in letters, diaries, and official reports. Even those who served alongside him struggled to describe him without resorting to understatement. One officer simply said that he was the bravest man he had ever met. Another noted that his presence on a battlefield was enough to steady an entire unit. For Carton de Wiart, danger seemed not merely a part of his life, but the very thing that made him feel most alive.
His autobiography, Happy Odyssey, contains the unforgettable line:
“Frankly, I had enjoyed the war.”
This really does sum up the gung-ho attitude Adrian Carton de Wiart had for life in general.
Early Years And A Restless Character
Adrian Carton de Wiart was born in Brussels on 5 May 1880 into a wealthy Belgian family with aristocratic connections. His father, Leon, had business interests in Egypt, which meant the young Adrian spent part of his childhood abroad before being sent to England for schooling in 1891.
Even at school, he showed signs of the determination and restlessness that would define his adult life. Teachers reported that he seemed unable to tolerate routine. There is a story from these years of him slipping away from school grounds simply because he craved a sense of adventure. One housemaster observed that Adrian had a remarkable knack for creating excitement where none existed.
He later studied law at Balliol College, Oxford, but his heart was not in it. When the Second Boer War broke out in 1899, he saw an opportunity too tempting to resist. Leaving Oxford without a degree, he enlisted under a false identity, giving a fake age of twenty five. He was nineteen, not yet a British citizen, and had not received parental permission. None of that mattered to him. The urge to fight had taken hold.
His first experience of war came quickly and brutally. He was shot in the stomach and groin during action in South Africa and had to be sent home. But if he felt any fear, it did not show. Friends later recalled that he treated injuries with the same irritation one might reserve for a stubborn cold. They were inconveniences, not deterrents.
He would have to wait more than a decade before he could return to battle, but the pattern of his life had been established. Wherever conflict existed, he somehow found a way to be there.
Somaliland And The Loss Of An Eye
By the time the First World War began, Carton de Wiart was already serving with the Somaliland Camel Corps. In November 1914 he took part in an attack against the forces of Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, often referred to as the Mad Mullah. During an assault on a fortified enemy position he was shot in the face, the bullet destroying his left eye and removing part of his ear.
A fellow officer later described the moment, noting that Adrian did not alter his pace except to unleash a stream of furious language. The wound was severe, though he seemed to treat it as a natural consequence of being where the action was.
He returned to London to recover, where doctors fitted him with a glass eye. It lasted only a few days. He found it so uncomfortable that he reportedly removed it while riding in a taxi and threw it out of the window. From then on he wore the black eye patch that would become central to his striking appearance.
Carton de Wiart recuperated at a nursing home in Park Lane. Staff soon became familiar with him, and over the years he returned so frequently after subsequent injuries that they kept a set of pyjamas permanently ready for him. It became something of an inside joke. Whenever he was wounded, they were prepared.
Despite the severity of his injuries, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his actions in Somaliland and wasted no time lobbying to be sent where he believed the real action was located: the Western Front.
The Western Front And The Hand He Removed Himself
Carton de Wiart returned to France in 1915 to join the British forces fighting near Ypres. Almost immediately, during the Second Battle of Ypres, he faced another catastrophic injury. German artillery fire shattered his left hand. When a doctor hesitated to amputate two of the ruined fingers, he simply tore them off himself. A surgeon later removed the rest of the hand.
Once healed, he went before a medical board. Despite missing an eye and a hand, he convinced them he was fit for frontline duty. Those who were present said that his force of will was stronger than any argument they could make against him.
This resilience impressed his men. One soldier wrote that the sight of their commander, with his eye patch and empty sleeve, inspired confidence. If he could lead calmly under fire, they felt they could follow.
The Somme A Reputation Forged In Fire
In 1916 Carton de Wiart took command of the 8th Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment and led them into the Battle of the Somme, where his reputation reached legendary status.
He was witnessed pulling grenade pins out with his teeth and throwing them using his remaining arm. His ability to perform these actions with precision under fire earned profound respect from his soldiers. One private reportedly said that seeing him in the trenches made them feel the battle could be won, regardless of circumstance.
It was at La Boiselle that he performed the act for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. With commanding officers killed around him and enemy attacks intensifying, he took control of the situation, personally leading counterattacks and holding the position despite overwhelming pressure.
His citation for the Victoria Cross emphasised his total disregard for danger. Yet in his autobiography, he did not even mention receiving the medal, later telling a friend that the award belonged to the entire regiment. According to him, every man present had shown equal courage.
During another action on the Somme, at Devil’s Wood, he was shot through the back of the head. His batman, A Holmes, recalled how the bullet missed the spinal cord by a margin so slim it was considered miraculous.
Some senior officers believed his habit of placing himself directly in the line of fire bordered on recklessness. This may explain why he was never made a divisional commander. Commanding a division required long hours of office work, administrative commitment, and patience for bureaucracy, none of which were his strengths. He preferred terrain, trenches, and immediacy.
Yet to the men he led, he was the image of courage. His arrival at the head of a brigade in November 1918 produced one of the most vivid descriptions of him ever recorded. A.S. Bullock wrote:
“He arrived on a lively cob with his cap at a rakish angle, and a shade where one eye had been. His arm was missing and his coat carried eleven wound stripes. Cold shivers went down the back of everyone in the brigade.”
He proceeded down the line, inspecting the men. Bullock, standing first, recalled that Carton de Wiart noticed his untidy bootlace despite having only one eye. The glare he gave permanently etched itself into his memory.
The Inter War Years And A Life In Poland
After the First World War, Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart settled in Poland and for many years lived on the estate of the wealthy Radziwiłł family. He was granted use of the large property at Prostyń in the Pripet Marshes, eastern Poland, owned by Prince Karol Mikołaj Radziwiłł, whose family inherited a vast domain in that region.
During these inter-war years he embraced country life: hunting, fishing, riding across the estate’s forests and lakes. Locals described him as courteous and straightforward, deeply engaged with the land and the people who worked it. His days at Prostyń offered a rare calm after years of combat and upheaval.
This chapter ended in 1939 when the Soviet advance overran the region, the estate was lost, and Carton de Wiart left Poland permanently.
Return To Service The Second World War
When the Second World War began, he was once again called into action. In 1940 he commanded British forces during the Norway campaign and later worked in Northern Ireland in a defensive capacity.
But his most dramatic wartime experiences were still ahead.
In April 1941, while heading to Yugoslavia to establish a British military mission, his aircraft was shot down over the Mediterranean. He survived the crash, swam ashore, and was captured by Italian forces.
He arrived at the prisoner of war camp in his sixties, missing a hand and an eye. Most men in such a situation would have resigned themselves to imprisonment. Carton de Wiart planned his escape immediately.
He attempted to flee several times. On one occasion he managed to evade recapture for eight days while trekking through the Italian countryside. That he stood out so clearly yet managed to avoid being detained spoke both to his determination and a degree of luck. His appearance was unmistakable, yet locals sometimes assumed he was simply an eccentric wanderer.
The Italian authorities found him unmanageable, though not hostile. Eventually he was released as part of diplomatic arrangements to allow him to serve Britain’s interests elsewhere.
Winston Churchill appointed him personal envoy to Generalissimo Chiang Kai shek in China. Churchill admired him greatly, referring to him as a model of honour and military virtue, and wrote the foreword to his autobiography.
Final Years In Ireland And A Peaceful End
After the war, Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart retired to County Cork, where he spent his remaining years fishing and enjoying the quiet he had so rarely known throughout his life.
He died in bed on 5 June 1963 at the age of eighty three. It was a gentle end for a man who had survived some of the most violent experiences of the twentieth century.
His legacy endures as one of the most extraordinary personal stories in British military history. A man who met war with energy, faced injuries with indifference, and displayed a level of bravery that bordered on disbelief, he remains an icon of unshakeable determination.
Military historian Lt Col James Cook, of the Royal Artillery, believes his example continues to resonate today.
"Carton de Wiart did have a habit of getting injured but this is simply testament to his belief of leading from the front. He inspired his men with the simple and eternal words, 'follow me'. These words remain the mark of a truly courageous leader, be it on the Western Front a hundred years ago, or today in military operations around the world."
Carton De Wiart was awarded the Victoria Cross for actions at La Boiselle. The Times newspaper carried the following notice on September 11, 1916:
"For the most conspicuous bravery, coolness and determination during severe operations of a prolonged nature. It was owing in a great measure to his dauntless courage and inspiring example that a serious reverse was averted. He displayed the utmost energy and courage in forcing our attack home. After three other battalion commanders had become casualties, he controlled their commands, and ensured that the ground won was maintained at all costs. He frequently exposed himself in the organisation of positions and of supplies, passing unflinchingly through fire barrage of the most intense nature. His gallantry was inspiring to all."
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