A Second World War evacuation of Dunkirk D.S.C. attributed to Commander A. N. P. de Costobadie, Royal Navy, who also won a “mention” as C.O. Boarding Parties during the Vaagso Raid in December 1941, when he came under accurate sniper fire

Distinguished Service Cross, G.VI.R., reverse officially dated ‘1940’ and privately engraved ‘A. N. P. de C.’ hallmarks for London ‘1939’, the reverse in its Garrard & Co. Ltd. case of issue, extremely fine £800-1000

D.S.C. London Gazette 16 August 1940:

‘For good services in the withdrawal of the Allied Armies from the beaches of Dunkirk.’

The original recommendation states:

‘He displayed good judgment and initiative throughout the operation, frequently under fire from shore artillery and under air bombardment, particularly when he found himself the Senior Officer afloat off La Panne beach on the evening of the 29th, and his personal efforts in organising the various inshore boats and the troops ashore resulted in more than 1,000 troops being lifted from the beach to his ship and other offshore craft, there being no Army officers present in charge of the troops.’

Ackroyd Norman Palliser de Costobadie was decorated for his command of the river gunboat H.M.S. Locust during Operation “Dynamo”, his ship not only evacuating around 1,000 troops but also carrying out valuable shore bombardments and assisting in getting the crippled sloop Bideford back to Dover. He subsequently received his D.S.C. at a Buckingham Palace investiture held in September 1940.

Following Dunkirk, de Costobadie participated in Operation “Archery”, the Vaagso raid carried out in December 1941, on which occasion he was appointed C.O. Boarding Parties and embarked in H.M.S. Onslow. By the end of the operation five enemy merchantmen had either been sunk, run aground or abandoned, and Costobadie was ordered to board three of them - namely the Fohn, Fritzen and Eismeer. And, as evidenced by an interview he undertook with the recorder of Combined Operations after the raid, from which the following extracts have been taken, he came under accurate fire on several occasions:

‘When pulling from the the Onslow to the Eismeer we were sniped at by, I think, a single sniper. He was firing from the hills and his shooting was very accurate ... The Eismeer was anchored with her bows pointing south. We got inboard over the port side of the vessel and I was handed a loaded rifle from the whaler. I should explain that, as far as I can judge, the sniper was about 400 to 500 yards away on the side of the hill to starboard ... Midshipman Hayes went with me to get the ladder and while we were doing so the sniper fired two shots which hit the paint work just behind us. I handed Hayes the rifle and told him to lie down behind the bulwarks, near to a bollard lead and return the fire of the sniper. This he proceeded to do very coolly. He exposed himself time and again, trying to locate the sniper and hit him ... At this time when I was trying to get hold of the ladder I still did not realise how bad the firing was and I, therefore, made a mistake, for I ordered the whaler to drop away from the port side of the Eismeer. As soon as she got clear of the ship she came under the fire of the sniper, and the seaman at the stroke oar was hit and mortally wounded ... With this object in view I took one of the seamen and we tried to get on to the fo’castle and tried to weigh anchor. Several times as we showed ourselves the sniper had a crack at us. I saw that it was a bit rough on the fo’castle, so I sent the seaman down below to see if there was anyone still in the ship. While he was below, I tried to crawl to the cable and unshackle it. The sniper, however, made things too hot for me. If I went on I thought I should be hit. I, therefore, left off trying to unshackle the cable and get the ship underway and returned to the Captain’s cabin, which I searched. I collected the ship’s papers and took them back to the Onslow in the whaler, which had returned for us. We were sniped at all the way back. The boat was punctured and an oar broken. I should mention that throughout the proceedings on the Eismeer, the Onslow was directing machine-gun fire against the sniper, but without effect, as his whereabouts on the mountain side could not be discovered. On the way back in the whaler I was pulling at No. 3 oar and there were five oars altogether. I was never so glad in my life as when we rounded the bows of the Onslow and came under shelter from the sniper ... ’

The Commander, who was mentioned in despatches for his part in “Archery” (London Gazette 3 April 1942 refers), died in February 1947, aged 38 years.