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Casper, Alexander Carl Peter, son of Lieut.-Col. Emil Hans Casper and Una Margaret, d. of Sir Edward Parrott MP LLD, of Edinburgh; b. 23 Aug. 1923; adm. Jan. 1937 (A); left Apr. 1941; RM 1942-5 (Lieut.), 45th Commandos BLA; killed in action at the crossing of the Weser 6 Apr. 1945. Castellain, Geoffrey Charles, son of E. L. F. and Anne Castellain of Chelsea; b. 19 Feb. 1920; adm. Sept. 1933 (KS); left July 1938; Ch. Ch. Oxf., matric. 1938; 2nd Lieut. 16th/5th Lancers 1941, transf. SASR Apr. 1944; killed in action (W. Europe) Oct. 1944.

Alexander Carl Peter Casper was born on the 23rd of August 1923 the son of Lieutenant Colonel Emil Hans “Bill” Casper, Royal Artillery, and Una Margaret (nee Parrott) Casper of 11, Acacia Grove, Dulwich, London SE21. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Ashburnham from January 1937 to April 1941.
On leaving school he was commissioned in the Royal Marines and was posted to No. 45 Royal Marine Commando.
At 4.30am on the morning of the 6th of April 1945, No. 45 Commando assembled at Stolzenau where they were briefed for an assault crossing of the River Weser where they were to pass through a weakly held bridgehead on the far side of the river and were to push on to capture the village of Leese, one and half miles inland. Once they were across the river a bridge was to be constructed across it to allow more British forces to cross the river. At 1.15pm, nine assault landing craft began crossing the river supported by artillery and machine gun fire. Although the landing craft were under continuous enemy fire during the crossing they suffered no casualties. Once they had landed on the far side the Commandos advanced south along the river bank under the cover of its steep banks. The German positions, which were held by the 12th SS Training Battalion, were set back some one hundred yards from the river bank across open ground which made it impossible to make a direct attack on them. After hand to hand fighting the men of D Troop gained a foothold in the enemy trenches nearest to the river after which A Troop passed through them and pressed on against “fanatical” opposition. At the same time, B Troop, with a Section of E Troop, made their way towards the cover of a nearby railway embankment but, by 4pm, the bulk of the Commandos were still pinned down and forward progress was painfully slow. It was decided to recall the men of B and E Troops from their forward position and to consolidate the positions on the river bank to await reinforcements. They came under heavy fire through the evening and into the night when they were told that there would be no fresh troops coming forward to support them. After midnight they received orders to fall back to the bridgehead area but while they were doing this they came under an attack from the SS at 3am which they drove off with heavy casualties among the enemy. They held the bridgehead for the remainder of the 7th of April.
Captain John Day of No. 45 Commando later wrote: - "At one of our brief pauses as we moved along the river bank I found myself crouching beside a young subaltern, Peter Casper, whose men were endeavouring to provide us with some covering fire. During a lull in the firing we heard shouting from the German positions. Peter said "They want to surrender", leapt to his feet, took off his beret, and waved it at the enemy. Two or three bullets cracked at us and Peter Casper fell dead at my feet."
He is buried at Hanover War Cemetery Plot 7, Row K Grave 7.

Cass, William Geoffrey, son of Thomas Beard Cass, of Westminster; b. April 29, 1900; adm. Jan. 14, 1915 (R); left July 1918; R. M.C. Sandhurst; 2nd Lieut. East Kent. Regt. Dec. 17. 1919; Lieut. Dec. 17, 1921; M.B.E.; d. 28 Oct. 1982.

CASS, WILLIAM, son of Michael Cass, and Jane Thickbroom (IGI); b. 30 Nov 1810; adm. 4 Feb 1820; BB 1820; left Whitsun 1828; Guy’s Hospital; subsequently medical student in Dublin; MRCS 1833, LSA 1835; MD Aberdeen 1855; served as medical officer in Royal Navy for five years; became medical practitioner at Cowes, Isle of Wight, in partnership with his brother-in-law, Sir William Carter Hoffmeister; Apothecary in Ordinary to Royal Household at Osborne, 18 Dec 1845; m. --, dau. of Charles William Hoffmeister, Portsea, Hampshire, and sister of Sir William Carter Hoffmeister MD FRCS LRCP; d. 12 Apr 1878.

CASSON, JOSEPH; b.; in school list 1737; BB 1739-41 (Chapter Muniments 33772-3).

Castellain, Geoffrey Charles, son of E.L.F. and Anne Castellain, of Chelsea; b. Feb. 19, 1920; adm. as K.S. Sept. 21, 1933; elected to Ch. Ch. Oxon. July, matric. Michaelmas 1938; 2nd Lieut. 16th/5th Lancers March 8, 1941; transferred to 2nd S.A.S.R. April 22, 1944; killed in action in West Europe Oct. 1944.

Geoffrey Charles Castellain was born at Windlesham, Surrey on the 19th of February 1920 the only son of Ernest Frederick Castellain, a cotton broker, and Annie Ethel (nee James) Castellain of The Gale House, Fritham, near Lyndhurst in Hampshire. He was educated at Temple Grove School, Eastbourne and at Westminster School where he was admitted as a King’s Scholar and was up College from September 1933 to July 1938. He played the part of Crito in the school production of “Epilogus in Andriam in 1935. He was a member of the 2nd Rowing VIII in 1937 and 1938 where he rowed at No. 4 and was a member of the Officer Training Corps where he achieved Certificate A in March 1937 and was promoted to Lance Corporal in September 1936.
He matriculated for Christ Church, Oxford on a Classical Scholarship in 1938 and graduated with a 2nd Class in Classical Moderations in 1940. He attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst from where he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 16/5th Lancers, Royal Armoured Corps on the 8th of March 1941. He transferred to the 2nd Special Air Service in April 1944 and was attached to A Squadron.
In September 1944, fifty one men of the 2nd Special Air Service were briefed for Operation Pistol. This was to involve the parachuting of four small teams into the Vosges Highlands, in the north of the Alsace-Lorraine area of France, where they were to disrupt road and rail communications between Metz and Nancy and on the approach to the Rhine Plain in support of the American advance in the area. They were to operate in an area roughly bounded by Saverne, Metz, Saarbrucken and Dieuze Due to the unsuitability of the terrain for forming a base of operations the men were to carry out their missions and then to find somewhere to lay up before making a next one. They were split into four groups, A, B, C and D and were to be dropped by parachute at four different drop zones. After landing, they were to split into smaller sub teams with each one being given a set of specific missions to achieve after which they were to head back towards the American lines in the west. Geoffrey Castellain would operate with B Group in the area of Sarreguemines.
The men took off from RAF Keevil in Stirling aircraft on the night of the 15th/16th of September 1944. One group was unable to jump due to thick fog but and, although B Group was able to jump from a height of 800 feet, they passed through low cloud and landed some seven miles from their drop zone.
When on the ground they split into their sub groups with Geoffrey Castellain leading sub group B2, which was made up of Corporal J. Laybourne, Private F. Wrobel, Private H.W.C. Arnold, Private J. Stainton and Private Christopher Ashe. Sub group B1 headed for the area of Ingwiller
B2 is known to have blown up a railway line near Sarreguemines
On the 2nd of October the men of B2 joined another SAS team who were part of an earlier operation code named Operation Loyton. Ten days later Geoffrey Castellain died of wounds. The rest of the group made their way to the American lines some time later.
Christopher Ashe had been captured by the Germans on the 23rd of September and was executed by them at Gaggenau on the 25th of November 1944.
Casualties for the operation had been four officers, five NCOs and five other ranks. When the Americans advanced through their area of operation they found one officer, one NCO and three other ranks from Operation Pistol still operating.
He is commemorated on the war memorial at Christ Church, Oxford and on the Special Air Service, SOE, GHQ Liaison Regiment war memorial at the National Arboretum.
He is buried at Moussey Churchyard, Grave 7.