Groups and Single Decorations for Gallantry
On enemy retaliation: ‘The single U-class submarine not in Tunisian waters at this time was P. 37/Unbending (Lieutenant E. T. Stanley). She was in the southern approaches to the Strait of Messina when, at dawn on 23 January [1943], she sighted two tugs towing an 8,000-ton ship, escorted by two E-Boats and a torpedo boat. She was the Viminale (8,500 tons), the charioteers’ victim at Palermo, patched up and on her way to the repair yards at Messina. Stanley fired three torpedoes, scoring two hits, but the counter-attack was immediate and accurate. The depth-charges having caused considerable damage in the submarine, including thirteen cracked batteries, she was forced to return to base ... ’
On a clandestine mission: ‘In mid-March Unbending sailed with a train-wrecking party, three Commandos led by Lieutenant Lee, Dorset Regiment, whose target was ‘a railway tunnel close to the beach’ on the east coast of Calabria. Lieutenant “Otto” Stanley remembers the infectious enthusiasm these men exuded, a welcome antidote to the gloom the ship’s company had been feeling since the loss of their C.O.P.P. crews earlier in the month.
Stanley writes of ‘the usual anxious moments’ before surfacing, ‘until the bridge has been manned and a search of the horizon had confirmed no ships were in sight’. But ‘reason quickly prevailed over nerves’. The Folbots and their occupants were slipped over the side and Unbending withdrew while the raiders paddled off in the dark. Stanley goes on:
‘Lee reached the shore in the planned position, but unfortunately tore the skin of his Folbot against a rock on beaching. He and his companion carried out a reconnaissance and completed their plans for entering the tunnel. Exact details of what happened at the other end of the tunnel have never been obtained; it appears that both men landed safely but the moment was too great for one of them, who lost his head and opened fire with his Sten gun, effectively alerting the guards at both ends of the tunnel. To proceed with the operation became impossible and Lee and his companion had to beat a hasty retreat ... They set out to search for a boat and were fortunate, around dawn, to find a small fishing boat which its owner was about to launch. Both were immediately commandeered. The boat put to sea, pulled by the reluctant Italian, and headed for the line 180 degrees from the west end of the tunnel, which had been agreed as the rendezvous.’
On board the submarine everyone was fearing the worst: ‘We dived at dawn and Lee’s hammock was sadly taken down from its position in the gangway, where it had been so roundly cursed by every sailor for the past three days. A diving patrol was established up and down the rendezvous line ‘just in case’. Sleep proved elusive.
It was a couple of hours after dawn when the welcome summons was passed forward: ‘Captain in the control room.’ An excited Officer of the Watch pointed out a smudge of smoke to the eastward, just visible through the high power periscope ... The convoy steamed steadily on, hugging the coast, and was soon seen to consist of three cargo ships and a small destroyer. An E-boat could also be heard.
A fresh breeze was blowing, which would satisfactorily hide torpedo tracks and any feather the periscope might make through careless handling. Altogether, attack conditions were perfect and by the time the submarine was abeam of the convoy, and within 2,000 yards range, two ships were conveniently overlapping, so that the four torpedoes fired could be spread over both targets.’
That morning of 14 March, Unbending sank both Citta di Bergamo (2,163 tons) and Cosenza (1,471 tons). It was some consolation both to the submarine, and to Lieutenant Lee who had been a witness from a distance. According to Stanley, the two soldiers and their Italian companion, after many vicissitudes, finally landed in Sicily:
‘There, unfortunately, the Italian fisherman proved a liability and, before they could put to sea again, they were captured. Lee did not remain a prisoner of war for very long, and it was a great day, some four months later, when he sought me out in a shore establishment in England and told me his side of the story.’
In addition to Hall’s D.S.M., five other ratings were similarly honoured, and eight mentioned in despatches, while Stanley added a D.S. O. to his accolades and his “Jimmy the One” a D.S.C.
Hall saw out the rest of the war in North America, at least initially with the training boat L.26, and then after the war continued to serve in a number of boats including H.M. Submarines Sportman, Truncheon, Taciturn, Sentinel, Trump, Totem and Sea Devil, joining the latter in April 1955. Later that same year he received his Naval L.S. & G.C. medal and was promoted to Chief Petty Officer. Serving in H.M.S. Trenchant during the Suez Crisis in 1956, he received the N.G.S. medal with ‘Near East’ clasp and his final sea going service was in the newly constructed H.M.S. Porpoise, which he joined in 1957. Hall was awarded the British Empire Medal (Military) in the New Year Honours List of 1959 and was finally discharged to shore on a pension on 10 July 1962.
www.dnw.co.uk all lots are illustrated on our website and are subject to buyers’ premium at 24% (+VAT where applicable)
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
