Major Peter Cochrane: Officer who received the DSO and the MC for his outstanding courage taking on the Italians in Africa

Cochrane destroyed nine enemy lorries in 1940, helping to disrupt the advance into Egypt of an Italian army that outnumbered British and Empire troops by six to one

Cochrane: he went on to fight at Monte Cassino; he later published a study of leadership and camaraderie

For a young officer to delight the high command once might have been luck. For him to do it twice in four months betokened brilliance.

It was 1940, when Britain stood alone. The officer was James Aikman Cochrane, always called Peter, a 21-year-old 2nd Lieutenant with the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders. Leading a platoon on the night of 22-23 October 1940 in his first action, near Sidi Barrani on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, he destroyed eight enemy lorries and later, under heavy fire, a ninth, as well as taking a prisoner.

The raid helped disrupt the advance into Egypt of an Italian army that outnumbered British and Empire troops by six to one. The enemy, instead of proceeding as expected, had posed a problem by putting up fortifications, and Cochrane's success in taking an objective despite imperfect intelligence and with a dearth of equipment heartened the British.

Then, on 3 February 1941, at the battle of Keren in Eritrea, Cochrane single-handedly destroyed two machine-gun posts and killed 13 of the enemy before holding on to the ridge he had been ordered to occupy, encouraging his men for another 12 days while all the time under fire from snipers and machine gunners.

"During the advance the hill was found to be very strongly held by an Italian grenadier company and by native Eritrean troops," the recommendation for an award says. "Although he realised the opposing force was vastly superior to his own, and that strong reinforcements were being sent forward, he, in order to prevent the enemy gaining any advantage decided to continue the advance… Throughout the operation 2nd Lieut. Cochrane displayed courage, leadership and powers of endurance of the highest order."

The recommendation for his Military Cross for the lorries raid was signed by Lieutenant General Henry "Jumbo" Wilson, General Officer Commanding in Chief British Troops in Egypt. That for the Distinguished Service Order, awarded for the Keren attack, bore the pen-stroke of "Chiefy" himself, the General Officer Commanding in Chief Middle East, Sir Archibald (later Viscount) Wavell.

Both generals had been under pressure from an impatient Winston Churchill to give the British public and the Empire a military triumph. It was a tall order: Mussolini's divisions had been pouring ashore since Italy's declaration of war on 10 June. France had fallen and a cross-Channel German invasion at home seemed imminent. The vast theatre of war from the Western Desert to the Horn of Africa, where Il Duce planned to extend a new Roman Empire at the expense of British colonial possessions, demanded from the British defenders complex preparations for its defence – of roads, wharves, and petrol dumps – beyond Churchill's understanding.

For all these reasons, the double achievement of the civil engineer's son newly down from studying law at Wadham College, Oxford, came at the just the right moment, and Wavell, in the field, personally pinned Cochrane's DSO to his chest. The newspapers reported both actions. Of the aftermath of the first, Cochrane recalled: "The only disagreeable consequence was being ordered to talk to a war correspondent… I really was ashamed of what the chap had written, a ludicrous tale of derring-do."

The same episode, by his own, more modest account, had entailed little trouble from the enemy while the platoon smashed up the eight lorries with picks, a sledgehammer and Molotov cocktails. The raiders were noticed only when the engine of the last lorry, which they had left undamaged, was started up – " a very noisy diesel". Worse, the driver, a Libyan soldier whom they had taken prisoner, was unfamiliar with the vehicle and could move forward only at a crawl in the lowest gear.

"I was kneeling on the passenger seat with my pistol against the poor prisoner's head," Cochrane recalled. "They were now shooting tracer anti-tank shells at us; two whistled through the canvas hood and one skipped over the bonnet." In the end he and his men set the lorry ablaze and returned with the prisoner to their lines. British papers reported the second occasion under the headlines: "Scots Officer wins DSO" and "Exploit at Keren against Italians", with a War Office statement "describing this officer's bravery".

Cochrane's own recollection, again, is diffident: "The main defence consisted of two light machine-gun positions... one of them was overlooked by a crag and it looked as though it would be simple to lob grenades into it if one could perch on top… I clambered up and pulled some Mills bombs from my haversack, pitching them down with real malice... Unfortunately there was an overhang of rock off which my grenades bounced harmlessly. I could see Corporal Watson of 14 Platoon... he brought his section under cover of some thorn bushes... gave a copy book five order, 'enemy in sangar [a fortified position]... Fire!' and hit eight of the nine men in it... We then had to climb fast again to knock out the second gun."

The attack left 14 enemy dead. Soon after, Cochrane was wounded and taken prisoner. He was released from hospital in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, when the British took it, having won the battle of Keren in April.

General Wavell may have sensed a meeting of minds with the enterprising junior officer saluting him. Their shared talent was literary – Wavell was an acclaimed biographer and anthologist, Cochrane, the author, a generation later, of a much-praised study of leadership and camaraderie, Charlie Company, and destined to make a career in publishing.

Cochrane, educated at Loretto School near Edinburgh, was sent during his recuperation to Washington to represent the British army at an International Student Assembly. There he met Louise Booth Morley, one of the organisers, and they were married in London in 1943. They would have two daughters, who survive him.

After fighting at Monte Cassino – of which he wrote, "It was far worse than Keren because there were far more guns" – and during the Allied advance through Italy until the end of the Second World War, Cochrane worked first for the publishers Chatto and Windus, then at a book printer's, Butler and Tanner. In retirement he sat on the literary committee of the Scottish Arts Council.

James Aikman (Peter) Cochrane, soldier and publisher: born Glasgow 12 May 1919; MC 1940, DSO 1941: married 1943 Louise Booth Morley (died 2012; two daughters); died Edinburgh 5 December 2015