CAMPAIGN GROUPS AND PAIRS 526
Four: Staff Sergeant J. D. Hanton, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers 1939-45 STAR; ITALY STAR; DEFENCE AND WAR MEDALS, M.I.D. oak leaf, all unnamed, nearly extremely fine (4)
Ex Strong Collection, D.N.W. 18 May 2011. M.I.D. London Gazette 29 November 1945 (Italy).
With original named M.I.D. certificate; together with copied W.W.2 medal application form; M.I.D. index card and copied service notes.
x527
Five: Gunner J. E. Squire, Royal Artillery 1939-45 STAR; FRANCE AND GERMANY STAR; DEFENCE AND WAR MEDALS, these unnamed; EFFICIENCY MEDAL,
G.VI.R., 1st issue, Territorial (878015 Gnr., R.A.) cleaned, gilded and plated, mounted court style for wear
Four: to a Canadian recipient 1939-45 STAR; FRANCE AND GERMANY STAR; CANADIAN VOLUNTEER SERVICE MEDAL, with overseas clasp; WAR MEDAL 1939-45, Canadian issue in silver, all unnamed, mounted as worn, very fine and better (9)
£70-90 528 £70-90
‘I could hear and feel the shells bursting around us and even smell the fumes of the exploding shells which burst so close that the shrapnel ripped in with an awful twanging sound. I heard someone cry over the intercom “That last one got me.” Then my intercom went dead. The wire had been cut by a piece of shrapnel ... A short while after I felt a thump on my leg and knew I was hit ... The [American] M.O. gave us two and half bottles of whiskey between us and we made very short work of that - and did I need it. On examination the next day, we counted 188 flak holes and how none of us were killed is still a mystery. The skipper received an immediate award of the D.F.C. and he deserved it.’
Sergeant P. A. Anderson, R.A.F., recalls the occasion on which his Halifax of No. 51 Squadron took severe punishment over Nordstern one night in September 1944
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An evocative Bomber Command campaign group of three awarded to Sergeant P. A. Anderson, Royal Air Force, who completed a busy tour of operations as a Mid-Upper and Rear Gunner in Halifaxes of No. 51 Squadron
1939-45 STAR; FRANCE AND GERMANY STAR; WAR MEDAL 1939-45, good very fine (3) £300-400
Anderson qualified as an Air Gunner at No. 1 A.G.S. Pembrey in December 1943 and commenced his operational tour in No. 51 Squadron, a Halifax unit operating out of R.A.F. Snaith, in August 1944. He was to serve as both a Mid-Upper and Rear Gunner in Flying Officer L. C. Ainsley’s crew throughout his tour.
His early sorties - as described in detail in an accompanying manuscript - largely comprised daylight trips to targets in France, namely V. 1 sites and enemy airfields and railway marshalling yards. But German targets also made up 51’s operational agenda, the Squadron participating in the attack on Homberg on 27 August 1944, the first time Bomber Command had visited the Ruhr by day. As Anderson would later recall, ‘When we approached the target I could see a huge black cloud of flak bursts. It was really terrifying ... We bombed with the second wave ... and then got the hell out of it.’
It was in the course of 51’s next day light operation to Germany on 11 September 1944 - an attack on the plant at Nordstern, near Gelsenkirchen - that Anderson was slightly wounded and his Wireless Operator seriously so. As per the above quoted extracts from his account of the operation, he and his crew were lucky indeed to make it home, their Halifax’s airframe being holed in 188 places. His skipper was awarded an immediate D.F.C. (London Gazette 31 October 1944, refers), the recommendation stating:
‘This officer is a most competent pilot and first class captain of aircraft. One night in September 1944, he was detailed for an attack on a synthetic oil plant at Nordstern. When nearing the target area the aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire and the starboard engine was rendered unserviceable. Shortly afterwards the aircraft was hit in the port aileron, making it difficult to steer correctly. In spite of this Flying Officer Ainsley continued to the target and bombed it. On the turn for home the bomber was hit once more. The port engine was affected and the hydraulic system was put out of action. After crossing the English coast the defective port engine became useless. Flight Lieutenant Ainsley thereupon headed for the nearest airfield where he made a safe landing with the undercarriage retracted. This officer set a fine example of skill, courage and tenacity.’
Notwithstanding the momentous events of 11 September, pilot and crew carried out five further sorties before the month’s end, namely attacks on Kiel and Neuss, and three daylight outings to France. Dusseldorf and Bochum followed in November, and Upladen, Cologne and Osnabruck in December, Anderson noting in his Flying Log Book that an Me. 110 was beaten off over the latter target on the 5th and claimed as a ‘Probable’.
Then in the period January-April 1945, he and his crew carried out another 15 trips to Germany, Cologne and Hamburg being among the the targets. Tour-expired - a total of 35 sorties with 78 hours by day and 198 by night - Anderson was posted to a Transport Command unit.
Sold with the recipient’s original R.A.F. Navigator’s, Air Bomber’s and Air Gunner’s Flying Log Book (Form 1767 type), covering the period November 1943 to December 1945, together with his pocket diary for 1944 and a related Exercise Book containing his hand written accounts of his first nine operational sorties.
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