Departures of note

In the final months of the Second World War, Derek Mills-Roberts, a British commando brigadier, was present at the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. When Generalfeldmarschall Erhard Milch, a senior Luftwaffe commander, surrendered his ceremonial command baton to him, Mills-Roberts, angered by the atrocities he had witnessed, struck Milch over the head with the baton until it broke. The broken pieces were later retrieved by his batman and given to Mills-Roberts' wife Jill, who had the baton restored at Swaine Adeney Brigg, though the replacement shaft was slightly longer than the original. Years later, when Jill sold the baton at auction, the Milch family contested ownership, claiming it was stolen, but a UK magistrate ruled it legitimate war booty, and the baton was sold to an American collector in Florida.

Mills-Roberts was born on 23 November 1908 in England. He attended Liverpool College and trained as a solicitor at Lincoln College, University of Oxford, where he met his close friend Lord Lovat. Their friendship began after a heated argument and exchange of blows, but they became inseparable. After graduating, Mills-Roberts worked for his father's law firm. On 3 October 1936, he was commissioned into the Irish Guards Supplementary Reserve of Officers as a second lieutenant, having been an officer cadet in the University of Oxford contingent of the Officer Training Corps.

During the war, Mills-Roberts served in No. 4 Commando under Lord Lovat as second-in-command. On 3 March 1941, he took part in a successful raid on the German-occupied Lofoten Islands in Norway, where commandos destroyed fish-oil factories, petrol dumps, and 11 ships, seized encryption equipment and codebooks, captured 216 German troops, and brought back 315 Norwegians who chose to accompany them to Britain. In August 1942, he was involved in the disastrous Dieppe Raid, where his unit's task was to secure the flanks and destroy coastal batteries; the raid failed heavily. For his actions, he was awarded the Military Cross on 2 October 1942.

By October 1942, Mills-Roberts was a lieutenant (temporary captain) and acting major. He was soon promoted to lieutenant colonel and given command of No. 6 Commando, stationed in North Africa, earning the Distinguished Service Order on 22 April 1943. During the Normandy landings in 1944, his unit captured the port of Ouistreham and linked up with the 6th Airborne Division on the eastern flank of Sword. He received a Bar to his DSO on 21 June 1945. By June 1945, he was a temporary brigadier. He later commanded the 125th Infantry Brigade from 1947 to 1951. In the 1951 New Year Honours, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He died on 1 October 1980 at age 71.