GROUPS AND SINGLE DECORATIONS FOR GALLANTRY
1340
A Second World War ‘Italy’ M.M. group of four awarded to Rifleman Jadu Gurung, 1st Battalion 5th Gurkha Rifles
(Frontier Force)
MILITARY MEDAL, G.VI.R. (4525 Rfmn. Jadu Gurung, 5 R.G.R.) engraved naming; 1939-45 STAR; ITALY STAR; WAR MEDAL 1939
-45, these unnamed, first with minor edge bruising, good very fine (4) £800-1000
M.M. London Gazette 26 October 1944. ‘... in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in Italy.’
Recommendation states: ‘At San Angelo on 12th May 1944 this stretcher bearer showed the greatest personal courage under fire. In
company with 64485 Rfn. Sherbahadur Tamang he worked unceasingly and untiringly throughout the day over ground swept by small
arms and bombarded with mortar and gunfire. Between them they evacuated forty-two casualties, many of them dressed and carried in
from ground overlooked by the enemy.
When dressings ran out, he used his own and collected others from the dead. By his splendid courage and devotion to duty, he saved
many valuable lives and did much to keep up the moral of his comrades by his determination to get casualties back quickly under the
most adverse conditions.’
Rifleman Jadu Gurung, 1st Battalion 5th Gurkha Rifles (Frontier Force) was awarded the Military Medal for his courageous actions as a
stretcher bearer during the Gari River Battles, April-May 1944, which formed part of the operations to breach the German Gustav Line.
Ten immediate awards were made to members of the 5th G.R. for the battles - one D.S.O., one I.O.M., three M.C’s., two I.D.S.M’s. and
three M.M’s. Sold with copied gazette extracts, recommendation and campaign details.
1341
A particularly fine Second World War Burma operations M.M. group of five awarded to Private V. Conetta, Royal
Sussex Regiment, who accounted for 16 of the enemy in a protracted action at Pinwe, prior to being wounded in a
subsequent engagement in November 1944
MILITARY MEDAL, G.VI.R. (6148677 Pte. V. Conetta, R. Suss. R.); 1939-45STAR;BURMA STAR;DEFENCE AND WAR MEDALS 1939-45,
mounted court-style as worn, generally good very fine (5) £1600-1800
M.M. London Gazette 22 March 1945. The original recommendation states:
‘On the morning of 14 November 1944, near Pinwe, the enemy launched a
counter attack on one of our Battalion positions. The main weight of this attack
fell on the sector held by the Company of which Private Conetta was a member.
In the early stages of the attack, Private Conetta fired his L.M.G. to great effect
with coolness and determination, although he was being mortared and was
constantly under the fire of an enemy medium machine-gun and an L.M.G. at
almost point-blank range. By his action all further efforts by the enemy to close in
on the position failed. Later, when our counter-attack was launched, the enemy
had worked their automatics through the very thick jungle to within 25 yards of
our perimeter. In the face of this withering fire, our counter attack in this sector at
first wavered but Private Conetta, on his own initiative and alone, crawled
forward with his Bren, carrying his magazines in his pocket to within 15 yards of
the enemy M.M.G. With great coolness and an utter disregard of the fire to which
he was being subjected, he got his gun behind a tree stump and proceeded
systematically to wipe out all the members of the M.M.G. crew and their escort.
In all he killed 10 Japanese, including the officer commanding the M.M.G.
detachment, before capturing the M.M.G. itself. Inspired by his example, the rest
of his section resumed their attack. Later, by his quickness in engaging fleeing
targets, he accounted for 6 more of the enemy who would otherwise have
escaped. Throughout the next 10 days, until he was wounded on 24 November
1944, he displayed conspicuous bravery in any action in which he took part.’
Victor Conetta was serving in the 9th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment at the
time of the above cited deeds, which unit originally arrived in India with view to
joining Combined Operations. In the event, not enough amphibious craft could
be supplied for the Battalion to sustain such a role, and it reverted to a regular
infantry operations in Burma from January 1944 to May 1945, initially in the
Arakan and afterwards in North Burma with 72 Brigade of the 36th Division. And
it was at Pinwe in November 1944, that Conetta won his M.M., an action best
described in Battalion’s history, The Shiny Ninth:
‘The rest of that day and the 14th was spent in more patrols and counter patrols with losses on both sides. Who would take the
initiative, and who would make the first mistake? It was the Japanese who did both. At 0710 hours, in the middle of the C.O.’s “O”
Group, the Box was attacked by the largest force of Japs seen so far. It must be presumed that their patrols had reported the existence of
a whole battalion concentration and they had been ordered to annihilate it. If so, the Japanese commander must have forgotten the
Arakan and the lesson of 7 Div. Box. Being stuck up in the North he had probably never heard of it, but Colonel Oliver had not
forgotten and the Box was a very tight one indeed. There were Brens about every five yards and one platoon of ‘A’ were defending a
perimeter segment only ten paces long.
A section of the Manchester Regiment were positioned on the railway track with a perfect field of fire North and South. It must be
stressed that a Box, whether of Division or battalion strength, is not purely defensive. Inside are mobile fighting patrols ready to deal
with any enemy who got through the perimeter and this was a decisive factor. The attack, and the mopping up inside the perimeter,
lasted five hours, at the end of which sixty Japanese were counted [10 of them thanks to Conetta]. Material captured included a heavy
M.G. [Conetta again], two L.M.Gs, two grenade dischargers, several rifles, documents and one prisoner of war. The Royal Sussex
casualties were three killed, fifteen wounded and one missing. Slit trenches cannot be dug for mules, unfortunately, and forty of them
were killed. During the battle, the Battalion received news that they had been awarded the Freedom of Brighton! Brigadier Aslett, who
had arrived towards the end of the fray had been greeted with a hail of enemy fire.’
www.dnw.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212 |
Page 213 |
Page 214 |
Page 215 |
Page 216 |
Page 217 |
Page 218 |
Page 219 |
Page 220 |
Page 221 |
Page 222 |
Page 223 |
Page 224 |
Page 225 |
Page 226 |
Page 227 |
Page 228 |
Page 229 |
Page 230 |
Page 231 |
Page 232 |
Page 233 |
Page 234 |
Page 235 |
Page 236 |
Page 237 |
Page 238 |
Page 239 |
Page 240 |
Page 241 |
Page 242 |
Page 243 |
Page 244 |
Page 245 |
Page 246 |
Page 247 |
Page 248 |
Page 249 |
Page 250 |
Page 251 |
Page 252 |
Page 253 |
Page 254 |
Page 255 |
Page 256 |
Page 257 |
Page 258 |
Page 259 |
Page 260 |
Page 261 |
Page 262 |
Page 263 |
Page 264 |
Page 265 |
Page 266 |
Page 267 |
Page 268 |
Page 269 |
Page 270 |
Page 271 |
Page 272 |
Page 273 |
Page 274 |
Page 275 |
Page 276 |
Page 277 |
Page 278 |
Page 279 |
Page 280 |
Page 281 |
Page 282 |
Page 283 |
Page 284 |
Page 285