A mounted group of thirteen miniature dress medals attributed to Brigadier J. M. “Mad Mike” Calvert, the famous Chindit and S.A.S. leader

Distinguished Service Order, G.VI.R., with Second Award Bar, silver-gilt and enamel; 1939-45 Star; Burma Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Malaya, G.VI.R.; U.S.A., Silver Star; France, Legion d’Honneur, gilt and enamel, with rosette on riband; Belgium, Order of Leopold II, gilt and enamel, with rosette on riband; France, Croix de Guerre 1939-40, with palm; Belgium, Croix de Guerre, with palm; Norway, King Haakon’s Liberty Cross, gilt and enamel, mounted court-style as worn, with Spink & Son, London label on reverse, generally good very fine, together with related Amherst 7 April 1945 S.A.S. commemorative medallion, bronze-gilt, by Melinand, obverse, opened parachute bearing assorted battle honours and regimental crest and motto, reverse, a line of parachutists about to jump, with ‘Amherst 7 Avril 1945’ to left, 73mm., the edge with impressed inscription, ‘Brigadier J. M. Calvert, D.S.O.’, in fitted F.I.A., Lyon card box of issue, and Ville de Paris commemorative medallion, bronze-gilt, by M. Delannoy, obverse, the city’s arms and motto, reverse, central engraved inscription, ‘Brig. Gen. J. M. Calvert, D.S.O.’, and ‘Ville de Paris’ above, 50mm., in its fitted box of issue, these extremely fine (15) £400-500

Michael Calvert, Orde Wingate’s most intrepid Chindit column commander, really requires no introduction here, his wartime career and subsequent command of the S.A.S. in Malaya already the subject of countless publications, although David Rooney’s Mad Mike is worthy of mention for setting the record straight; also see Spink, 17 July 1997 (Lot 610), for his full-size Honours & Awards.

Calvert commenced the War as a Captain in the Royal Engineers, seeing action in Norway before embarking on duties of a more clandestine nature - thus his booby-trapped piers on the South Coast, ‘so as to bring instant death to any stormtrooper trying his luck on a one-arm bandit.’ But it was as the gallant leader of “Calvert’s Commandos” in the Burma retreat in 1942 that he really came to the attention of his seniors, not least Orde Wingate - as Calvert later recalled, ‘He knew all that I knew about unconventional warfare and a lot more; he was streets ahead of anyone else I had spoken to ... Even at that first meeting something of the driving inspiration inside Orde Wingate transferred itself to me.’ So opened a legendary chapter in both men’s lives, Calvert winning a brace of D.S.Os for his outstanding gallantry and leadership in the main Chindit operations of 1943-44, and a Silver Star from General “Vinegar Joe” Stilwell - but he remained modest in the extreme, describing one bayonet charge that developed into a free-for-all as ‘just like an officers’ mess guest night.’

Ordered home towards the end of 1944, “Mad Mike” - as he was now known in the British press - took command of the 3rd and 4th (French) S.A.S. and 5th (Belgian) S.A.S., in which capacity he oversaw “Operation Amherst” in April 1945, causing considerable confusion and casualties behind German lines, and winning himself further accolades from our Allies; his Norwegian Liberty Cross was awarded in respect of his advance visit to Stavanger in May 1945, prior to the arrival of two S.A.S. Regiments and 1st Airborne, in the course of which he took control of German forces of all arms.

Post-war, he formed the Malayan Scouts, out of which emerged 22 S.A.S., but the effects of his long active service career began to catch up with him and he was invalided home. After leaving the Army, he wrote three books, the classic of war literature Fighting Mad, his compelling account of the Chindit campaign Prisoners of Hope, and a definitive Dictionary of Battles. While in the 1970s he submitted reports to the Foreign Office, and travelled to Vietnam, Rhodesia, Angola, Mozambique and Northern Ireland, advising on guerilla warfare. Described by his Times obituarist as ‘one of the most colourful and unorthodox characters thrown into prominence by the Second World War,’ the undoubtedly modest and courageous Calvert died in November 1998, aged 85 years.