Groups and Single Decorations for Gallantry
However, one of Scurfield’s officers on Hunter had been awarded the Empire Gallantry Medal for assisting him during the aftermath of the explosion. In 1937 the E.G.M. was a lesser honour than the Albert Medal, but by 1941, as a result of the decision to convert every E.G.M. into a George Cross, his G.C. now outranked Scurfield’s A.M. An award of either the George Cross or the George Medal to Scurfield A.M. would have emboldened those officials who highlighted the anomalous position of the A.M. after the mandatory conversion of the E.G.M. The final, conservative, decision was to award Scurfield a Military O.B.E. (which at the time also outranked the Albert Medal but not to the extent that the George Cross did).
“Enemy in Sight”
In July 1941 Scurfield took command of the splendid Tribal-class Fleet Destroyer H.M.S. Bedouin. He spent a long, cold winter escorting Arctic convoys to Murmansk in Russia and participating in the Boxing Day 1941 Commando attack on the Lofoten Islands. Meanwhile, in the Mediterranean, Rommel had begun another offensive in Cyrenaica and the blockade and Siege of Malta was approaching a climax. The Admiralty decided to send two strongly escorted relief convoys to Malta simultaneously from opposite directions, one east to west from Alexandria and the other west to east from Gibraltar, in the hope that at least a few ships carrying much-needed supplies of ammunition, fuel and food would be able successfully to run the gauntlet of German and Italian forces. Scurfield was the Senior Officer of the destroyers safeguarding the east-bound convoy, known as the ‘Harpoon Convoy’.
On 15 June 1942, after four days of mounting air and submarine attacks, the convoy was south of Sardinia, entering waters considered too risky for capital ships, so the most powerful escort vessels turned back to Gibraltar at dusk. Towards midnight, Scurfield was informed that the 7th Cruiser Division of the Italian surface fleet had sailed from Sicily. At daybreak, two powerful modern cruisers and their destroyer escorts appeared, dead ahead of Bedouin. Scurfield wrote: “This is what I had been training for for twenty-two years… It was a great moment… Up went the signals “Enemy in Sight”, “Steam for Full Speed’, “25 Knots” and “Form Single Line Ahead” and I led my five ‘Fleets’ up towards the enemy. It was a situation very much as we had envisaged and everyone knew what to do… the cost was not to be counted – the Italians must be driven off… Otherwise it was within their power to destroy us and then the convoy at their pleasure.
“The cruisers opened fire almost at once and the first salvos fell astern of the Bedouin… the shooting seemed to be unpleasantly accurate... we shifted our fire to the leading cruiser at 12,400 yards. By this time we were starting to get hit… we appeared to be straddling the enemy and must have been hitting… The ship had received more punishment than I knew, and I felt in my bones that she would not be able to go much further”. Scurfield fired all his torpedoes at a range of 5,000 yards. Then Bedouin was hit in her gearing room by a shell from the main armament of one of the cruisers, which put both of her engines out of action. “We scored no hits, I fear, nor did any of the others who fired torpedoes, but the enemy made a large alteration of course away from us and broke off the action… We were at least left masters of the battlefield and the convoy had got a good start”.
Bedouin had been hit at least twelve times, eleven men had been killed and six more mortally wounded. Of the other British destroyers, only one, H.M.S. Partridge, had significant damage. Partridge took Bedouin in tow while Scurfield sent the other, undamaged destroyers back to protect the convoy. In the end, two out of the initial six merchant ships arrived at Malta, delivering enough supplies for the island to hold out until September. None of the ships in the convoy from Alexandria reached Malta.
Early in the afternoon Scurfield ordered his tow to be slipped, due to enemy air activity, and sent Partridge away, so it would present less of a target. Thanks to the efforts of his engineers, Bedouin was just getting underway again when suddenly an Italian SM 79 bomber appeared through the smoke. It was engaged by every gun, but managed to drop its torpedo before coming down in the sea. Bedouin was hit in her engine room and sank within five minutes. After spending several hours in the water, the 213 survivors were spotted by a German aircraft and rescued by an Italian Red Cross ship.
His well-deserved D.S.O. was gazetted in September 1942 and sent to his next of kin, his wife, Mary Katherine (née Lee), known to all as ‘Dena’.
‘He Who Enters These Portals Renounces The World’
In July 1942 Scurfield arrived at his first Prisoner of War camp, a former monastery south of Naples. The sombre statement quoted above had been inscribed above its main entrance centuries earlier, but it aptly described Scurfield’s situation during his long captivity. Several moves between camps, geography and the unpredictability of the Italian guards precluded any escape attempts. When the Italians surrendered in September 1943, those responsible for guarding Scurfield’s camp kept its security arrangements in place until German troops arrived. He was subsequently sent to Germany, finally ending up in Marlag ‘O’, a camp near Bremen.
On 9 April 1945, British forces reached Bremen. The Germans decided to evacuate the camp and march their prisoners to Lubeck, 80 miles away. As Senior British Officer, Scurfield issued instructions to the prisoners to take over the initiative from the demoralised German guards and to slow progress as much as possible, in the hope that the victorious Allies would overtake them as the war in Europe drew towards its end: “March discipline to be preserved. Important to show the Germans we can run the show. In case of a strafing attack split 2 ranks, 1 to right, 1 to left.”
In the mid-afternoon of the second day’s march, 11th April, six Allied fighters made a low-level strafing run on the column of prisoners, believing them to be German soldiers. An eye-witness reported that: “Commandeer Scurfield, without any thought for his own safety and after assessing the situation, strode up and down the road ordering everyone to disperse.” He was hit by friendly forces’ cannon fire in his back and both legs, and died a few hours later. He is commemorated by name in Becklingen War Cemetery, Niedersachsen, Germany.
The group is sold with original Warrants of Appointment for the D.S.O. and O.B.E., together with forwarding letter for the latter; named condolence slip and card box of issue for Second World War medals addressed to his widow at Lake House, Petersfield, Hants; ribbon bar for Jubilee medal, miniature ribbon bar for the Albert Medal and Jubilee medal, and an additional piece of Albert Medal ribbon; and a copy of David Scurfield’s extensive illustrated biography of his father, entitled Bryan Scurfield: A Portrait of a Destroyer Captain in the Royal Navy; with vignettes of a family at war 1902-1945.
www.dnw.co.uk all lots are illustrated on our website and are subject to buyers’ premium at 24% (+VAT where applicable)
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