Auction Catalogue

27 June 2007

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations and Medals

Washington Mayfair Hotel  London  W1J 5HE

Lot

№ 820

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27 June 2007

Hammer Price:
£26,000

An exceptional Korea War M.C. group of thirteen awarded to Major R. E. Austin, Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, late The King’s Regiment, who displayed outstanding leadership and bravery in the Battle of the Hook: in the last hour of daylight prior to the Chinese mounting their attack, the Dukes were subjected to a barrage of incoming shells at a rate of 1,000 an hour

Military Cross
, E.II.R., the reverse officially dated ‘1953’ and privately inscribed, ‘Major R. E. Austin (62586), D.W.R., Third Battle of the Hook, Korea, 28-29 May 1953, L.G. 8 Dec.’; 1939-45 Star, privately inscribed, Major R. E. Austin, 7 Green Howards’; Africa Star, privately inscribed, Major R. E. Austin, H.M.S. Ark Royal’; France and Germany Star, privately inscribed, ‘Major R. E. Austin, 8 D.L.I.’; Defence Medal 1939-45, privately inscribed, ‘Captain R. E. Austin, 2 King’s R.’; War Medal 1939-45, privately inscribed, ‘Major R. E. Austin, D.W.R.’; General Service 1918-62, 2 clasps, Palestine 1945-48, Cyprus, M.I.D. oak leaf (Major, D.W.R.); Korea 1950-53 (Major, M.C., D.W.R.); U.N. Korea, privately inscribed, ‘Major R. E. Austin, M.C., D.W.R.’; Africa General Service 1902-56, 1 clasp, Kenya (Major, M.C., D.W.R., Att. 3 K.A.R.); Coronation 1937, privately inscribed, ‘Lieut. R. E. Austin, The King’s Regt.’; Special Constabulary Long Service, E.II.R. (Ch. Supt., D. & B.C.), the ‘D. & B.C.’ privately inscribed; U.S.A., European, African and Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, privately inscribed, ‘Major R. E. Austin, King’s R.’, mounted court-style as worn, clasp side-carriages and clasps adjusted for mounting, generally good very fine (13) £8,000-10,000

M.C. London Gazette 8 December 1953. The original recommendation states:

‘Major Austin, having volunteered to accompany his Battalion to Korea, commanded a Rifle Company throughout the fighting. Under his leadership, he kept his Company up to a very high standard of fighting efficiency and by his meticulous attention to the welfare of his men he ensured that morale remained high. In moments of danger he always remained calm and handled his Company with boldness and skill. During the Chinese attack on the HOOK, Major Austin was in command of the Reserve Company. Exposing himself to considerable danger from enemy artillery and mortar fire, he placed himself in a good position of observation and passed back valuable information throughout the battle. His personal bravery and outstanding leadership during the fighting in Korea have been an example to all.’

Mention in despatches
London Gazette 7 January 1949:

‘In recognition of gallant and distinguished services in Palestine during the period 27 March to 28 September 1946.’

Rudolf Edmond Austin was born in March 1914, the son of Brigadier-General H. H. Austin, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., an explorer and author in addition to his distinguished career in the Royal Engineers. In fact Rudolf came from a long line of soldiers traceable back to the Restoration in 1660 on the Austin side, and on his mother’s side from the Habsburgs of Austria - ‘hence his name and his looks’.

Educated at the Imperial Service College, Windsor and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Austin was originally commissioned in The King’s Regiment as a 2nd Lieutenant in February 1934. Quickly advanced to Acting Captain on the outbreak of hostilities, and to Acting Major in the following year, he transferred to the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment in early 1942. However, his subsequent wartime career also included periods of attachment to the Green Howards and Durham Light Infantry, in addition to what appears to have been an unhappy time as a chemical warfare expert, or, as his obituarist put it - ‘a wrong horse’.

Advanced to substantive Major in February 1947, he won a “mention” for his services in Palestine, but returned home in time to join the 1st Battalion as C.O. of ‘A’ Company prior to its embarkation for Korea in September 1952. Throughout the ensuing winter, the Dukes’ distinguished themselves by their efficient and aggressive patrolling, Austin leading one such sortie in January 1953, a successful enterprise that was later described by him for the regimental journal,
The Iron Duke. But it was primarily for his subsequent gallantry in the Battle of the Hook in May 1953 that he won his M.C., when placed in charge of the Reserve Company to plug gaps in troublespots and, equally important, to carry out vital observation duties, the whole while exposed to considerable danger from enemy artillery and mortar fire.

The Chinese assault proper began on the night of 26-27 May, when, following a heavy calibre artillery bombardment, a wave of infantry overran the Dukes’ forward positions in a fierce hand-to-hand encounter. Simultaneously, three separate waves of the enemy attacked from the “Ronson Spur”, but were repelled with heavy loss. But with characteristic bugle-blowing fanaticism, the enemy returned in force, again and again, their ranks being filled by an estimated eight companies, from three battalions - the whole specially trained. But at length, after 48 hours of constant action, the Dukes gained the upper hand, and pushed back the Chinese in a series of gallant counter-attacks, a saga that was later recorded for posterity by Austin, for he ‘became the regimental historian, collecting and collating evidence of the battle for both War Office and depot records’. And of the scene that confronted the defenders on the morning of the 29 May, he wrote:

‘The scene of devastation that was unfolded in the grey dawn that followed was indescribable. Bunkers were smashed to matchwood, communication trenches that had the night before been six to eight feet deep were now scarcely knee high. Shredded sandbags and smashed pieces of barbed wire littered the area, the dead Chinese, many in fragments from the murderous effect of our artillery fire, rounded off a scene that rivalled the most gruesome illustrations in Dante’s Inferno. The Chinese casualties have been estimated at 250 killed and 800 wounded. The total of British casualties of all categories was 149 of whom 24 were killed and 20 missing, and of the latter 16 have since returned ... ’

Austin’s final stint of active service was as a Major on attachment to the 3rd King’s African Rifles during the Mau Mau troubles and, following a spell on the Staff, he resigned his commission in 1959. Thereafter, he settled down to a life as a farmer, near Dorchester, but ‘loving uniforms and para-military activities, he joined the Dorset Special Constabulary in 1962, ending up as a Special Chief Superintendent much respected in that county’. He died in 1975.