Exceptional Naval and Polar Awards from the Collection of RC Witte
That was enough for Gus. Together with Sindall and Beeley he marched straight down to the boat and collected their uniforms and side arms. He also told Sindall to raise the White Ensign at the rear of C.M.B. 7. The ‘uniforms’ they had brought with them didn’t amount to much - sea jackets and a uniform cap - but they would have to do. Cumming might have insisted that they must only be used in an emergency, but as far as Gus was concerned that emergency was now.’
Luckily, as it transpired, Agar was able to persuade the local Commandant of the true nature of his team’s mission, thereby quickly dispelling any further suspicion and gaining Marshall’s release. And as a founder-member of the unit, his young Midshipman was subsequently present in more than his fair share of operations, smuggling agents and the like across the water and, according to Ferguson’s Operation Kronstadt, was the ‘best shot with a Lewis gun on the Flotilla’: small wonder then that Agar sometimes took him as a crew member, though when the former won his V.C. for the sinking of the Russian cruiser Oleg on the night of 16-17 June 1919, Marshall had to be content with observing the night action from atop the Russian Orthodox Church at Terrioki, along with his good friend, Sub. Lieutenant Edgar “Sinbad” Sindall, R.N.R.
A few weeks later, at the end of July, “Sinbad” and Marshall were despatched in C.M.B. No. 7 to provide cover to any downed aircraft from a bombing raid on Kronstadt led by Major David Donald, R.A.F. In the event the gallant airmen required no assistance, but C.M.B. No. 7 got into a close-run engagement with a Soviet patrol vessel. Operation Kronstadt takes up the story once more:
‘C.M.B. 7 immediately swung into the attack, making a line straight for the distant Soviet vessel. Although Sindall was still two miles away the sea forts had clearly been warned by the lookouts in the lighthouse because two of them opened fire with their massive naval guns. The shots were well wide but, even so, Sindall began steering a zigzag course to throw off their aim, all the while closing on his target. Either the Soviet patrol boat could not see C.M.B. 7 or she was trying to lure C.M.B. 7 in because she did not turn and run. She held steady to her course in front of the line of the forts. Sindall closed to nine hundred yards, ignoring the shellfire directed at him, and then Gus [Agar] saw the tell-tale swerve which showed that C.M.B. 7 had released its torpedo. Almost immediately Ed Sindall realised that the torpedo was going to miss. The Soviet patrol boat accelerated and changed course towards him. But rather than run “Sinbad” headed straight for them. The patrol boat opened fire with a small-bore deck gun and a shot landed just yards away from C.M.B. 7's port bow. Sindall came on, giving the wheel just a slight nudge to throw off the Soviet gunner's aim. The two boats were now so close that the sea forts ceased fire for fear of hitting their own men. At 400 yards' range Sindall put the wheel hard over and as C.M.B. 7 disappeared behind a wall of spray Richard Marshall let fly with both Lewis guns. Osea's marksman had the satisfaction of seeing his tracer stream into the Soviet boat, killing or wounding the gun crew. Sindall brought C.M.B. 7 around in a full circle to give Marshall another shot, but the Bolshevik captain had seen enough. He turned and ran for the line of the forts. Sindall chased him for half a mile, but although Marshall kept firing he failed to hit anything vital and the speed of the Soviet boat did not decrease. Finally, the sea forts opened fire again and, mindful of Gus's orders, Ed Sindall broke of the attack. Together with C.M.B. 4 they turned from home.’
Kronstadt and beyond
Events at Kronstadt on the night of 18-19 August 1919 need little explantion here, well-recorded as they are in Agar’s Baltic Episode and, more recently, in Harry Ferguson’s Operation Kronstadt, but for the records sake Marshall accompanied Agar in C.M.B. No. 7, together with “Sinbad” Sindall and motor mechanic Beeley, and a smuggler-pilot. Having piloted two
C.M.Bs to the main entrance to the harbour, Agar released a torpedo into the smaller military harbour, as a result of which there was a tremendous explosion, Marshall meanwhile spraying the “Bolos” with his twin-Lewis for good measure. This part of her task completed, C.M.B. No. 7 withdrew to the main entrance to Kronstadt harbour to act as a type of ‘gatekeeper’.
The morning following the raid, the Soviets bombed Terrioki, but it was a token raid that caused no damage to the
C.M.Bs, Nonetheless, Marshall asked for permission to set up the two Lewis guns from the much damaged C.M.B. No. 4 on the roof of the Terrioki Yacht Club.
Two V.Cs were won in the raid, namely those awarded to Commander C. C. Dobson, R.N., and Lieutenant G. C. Steele, R.N., while the remaining honours comprised six D.S.Os, eight D.S.Cs and 15
D.S.Ms, one of the D.S.Cs, of course, going to Marshall.
Far less known, however, are the dozen or so trips made by Agar and the likes of Marshall on agent courier trips to Kronstadt, both before and after the famous raid, the last of which nearly ended in disaster. Agar takes up the story in his autobiography, Footsteps in the Sea:
‘It was to be our last trip and curiously enough our thirteenth (my lucky number!). Gefter begged to come with me as he said he knew the exact spot where to look for the boat. Marshall and Beeley volunteered without hesitation. We had also a contrabandist. Quite a party! The weather favoured us; it was calm, with some cloud. Several searchlights were sweeping the sky and a powerful one from the large fort on the northern end of Kronstadt was trained on to water level, parallel to the chain of forts, sweeping ominously to and fro. We had to cross its beam, but I thought we could slip through by cracking on full speed when the time arrived. As usual, we started off from the Yacht Club shortly after one o'clock. A nasty swell from the south west caused the boat to bump unpleasantly as we skimmed the water. Little did we know it at the time but this swell later proved a " life-saver" for us. We made for the gap between Nos. 8 and I. Searchlights are most deceiving when seen from the water. I knew this well from my experience in the destroyer Ruby and torpedo boat No. 23. From the boat end it looks often as if one is in the beam, which is seldom the case. Only when the light is focused on the object can it be seen, and then only momentarily, if the light is sweeping. To the remainder of the crew, however, it was most alarming and for the contrabandist simply terrifying. Cool and tough, as always, Gefter alone seemed unmoved. As we approached the forts the effect became worse. I put up a piece of smoked glass which I kept handy to shade my eyes. This helped a little. Soon two more lights were trained on us from dead ahead. By now the boat was going very fast indeed, as I increased almost to full speed to dodge the first beam and steered by my compass for what I thought to be the line of forts, but was actually the Island of Kronstadt. I decided then to turn back towards Terrioki as we were being fired upon quite heavily and the chances of getting through seemed to me very small. Anything to shake off those beams of light. I twisted the boat, zig-zagging, but somehow they held us and, if one light went off, another would come on. We did not seem to be getting any farther away from them. I realised then that I had lost my direction and could no longer rely on the compass, nor could I see any stars overhead which would give me an idea where we were going. It was a dreadful predicament and I knew it. To reduce speed would make certain of getting hit by shells from one of the forts, so we had to keep on like a hare fixed in the headlights of a motor car. A thought flashed through my mind (they do on occasions like this), how amusing it must be for the Control Officer in the forts! I had a suspicion that one of the rudder ropes must have parted, for the wheel failed to make much impression on the rudder. We seemed to be turning in circles, which became larger as we went on at speed in what appeared to be full daylight, as the searchlights lit up the water. This later proved to be correct, for in that short time our boat, travelling at sixty miles an hour, must have described first a complete circle and afterwards a large semi-circle arc of three miles towards the northern end of Kronstadt Island. Suddenly there was a terrific bump followed by a bang, and we were flung down to the bottom of the boat. It was as if we had suddenly run into a brick wall at the speed we were travelling, only I suppose in our case the water took part of the shock. Most of us were temporarily knocked out or stunned as if we had been in a railway train and come suddenly to a full stop when travelling at sixty miles an hour. Obviously we had fetched up against something-but what?
The sudden change from the roar of the engine to complete silence seemed uncanny. One by one we picked ourselves up from the bottom of the boat. Marshall was, I think, the first to come to life. Beeley was lying spread-eagled over the engines. I thought he was dead until I heard him say, "I'll get her going again, sir." The searchlights for some reason or other were switched off. The one that remained was operated from a large fortress so close to the right of us, that the beam swept over our heads as it described its mechanical sweep of the water backwards and forwards. Marshall handed round a tot of rum which revived us, after which we were able to take stock of our surroundings. We had in fact run on to a rock breakwater between Fort No. 5 and the northern end of
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