Auction Catalogue

21 September 2007

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations and Medals

Washington Mayfair Hotel  London  W1J 5HE

Lot

№ 864

.

21 September 2007

Hammer Price:
£5,800

A particularly fine Second World War tank commander’s M.C. and escaper’s Bar group of eight awarded to Major E. E. Tonks, 10th Hussars (Royal Armoured Corps), who, having won his first decoration for ‘courage and determination of the highest order’, when he ‘advanced on foot alone, and with a Bren gun killed or wounded the crew of the anti-tank gun that was holding up the advance’, was taken P.O.W.: having then enjoyed a meeting with Rommel - and a ride in his staff car - he set about engineering his escape, a goal that was finally achieved in early 1944, following a shoot-out with a German patrol

Military Cross
, G.VI.R., with Second Award Bar, the reverse of the Cross officially dated ‘1944’ and privately inscribed, ‘Capt. E. E. Tonks, 10th R. Hussars’, and the reverse of the Bar officially dated ‘1944’; 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals; British Fire Services Association Long Service, bronze, with ‘B.F.S.A.’ clasp, the reverse of the suspension device officially inscribed ‘E. E. Tonks’ and the edge numbered ‘3402’; British Fire Services Association Long Service, silver, the reverse of the ‘Twenty Years’ suspension device officially inscribed ‘E. E. Tonks’ and the edge numbered ‘1856’, together with a set of related miniature dress medals (exclusing the B.F.S.A. awards), generally good very fine (16) £4000-5000

M.C. London Gazette 3 August 1944. The original recommendation states:

‘On 23 January 1942, at Saunnu, this officer was commanding a troop of tanks when they came under heavy and close range fire from anti-tank guns. Lieutenant Tonks’ tank was hit almost immediately, and burst into flames. The advance of the remainder of the Troop was held up. Showing courage and determination of the highest order, Lieutenant Tonks advanced on foot alone, and with a Bren gun killed or wounded the crew of the anti-tank gun that was holding up the advance, thus allowing it to be continued and saving further casualties. This officer’s coolness, devotion to duty and complete disregard for his personal safety was an inspiration to all.

Two days later, this officer was captured and has now succeeded in escaping. He got away to our troops in Southern Italy, a distance of some 700 miles. Again, this officer showed his customary initiative, determination and courage in making good his escape. Out of 1850 P.O.Ws in his camp, under 50 escaped.’

The following covering remarks were attached to this recommendation, dated 21 March 1944, by Brigadier C. B. Harvey, C.O. 29 Armoured Division:

‘The attached recommendations for immediate awards went in to 2 Armoured Brigade H.Q. approximately the last two weeks of February 1942. I did not put them forward again, as I was informed that recommendations for officers and O.Rs that had become P.O.Ws in the meantime would be attended to when they were back in our hands. It appears that the recommendations for these two officers were, in fact, lost. Recently Lieutenant Tonks escaped and is back in the U.K., and Lieutenant Wyatt is known to be at leave in Italy. I would like to put these recommendations forward again with the remark that during my command of 10th Royal Hussars there were none more richly deserved.’

Bar to M.C.
London Gazette 9 November 1944. The original recommendation states:

‘Captured at Msus on 25 January 1942 by the Germans, Lieutenant Tonks was imprisoned at Tripoli, Capua, Padula and Bologna (Camp 19). Whilst at Padula he took part in several tunnel schemes; the last one was conceived by him and he had already worked on it for sometime before divulging it to the Escape Committee. This had, however, to be abandoned when a concrete wall was reached.

After the Armistice, Lieutenant Tonks, braving the German fire which burst forth as the mass evacuation was commencing, successfully evaded recapture. During his journey he met a party of paratroops, dropped to guide P.O.Ws to the coast, and remained with five of them in a peasant’s hut on the mountain for a few days. He was then instrumental in saving them from a German patrol. A Sergeant remained behind, and the others compelled a German officer they had captured to lead them through the lines, but all except Lieutenant Tonks were wounded slightly when the German caused a mine to explode; in the confusion, the German escaped. They proceeded a little further before staying in a hut for the night. The next day they ran into some anti-personnel mines and one of the party was killed. The sound of the explosion caused Americans to find them and the wounded were sent to hospital.’

Edward Edmund Tonks was born in September 1913 and enlisted in the 16th/5th Queen’s Royal Lancers shortly before the outbreak of hostilities. Quickly selected for officer training, he was commissioned in the 10th Royal Hussars from Sandhurst in 1941, and embarked for the Middle East that November. Here he fought with distinction as a Troop Leader in command of three Honey tanks, right up until his capture on 25 January 1942, just 48 hours following the deeds that won him his first M.C.

As evidenced by the nature of the recommendation for his second M.C., Tonks was always a reluctant prisoner, and he was unlucky to have been captured in the first place, his tank having shed one of its tracks mid-battle. Even so, the enemy had to approach him with extreme caution and superior numbers, their first attempt having ended in near-disaster as he loosed off a revolver round into the windscreen of their approaching truck. An hour or two later, while being interviewed by an enemy officer in a tent, Rommel stepped in and, having exchanged salutes, he asked Tonks with a wry grin whether he had enjoyed himself, the latter replying that he had “until now.” He was then placed in Rommel’s staff car and taken to where some other officers of the Brigade were being held.

Of his subsequent adventures in Italy, he later wrote an account for the
Royal Hussars Journal, a detailed account that adds greatly to the bland statements recounted in the recommendation for his second M.C. He once woke up atop a haystack, where he had rested for the night, to find the farm in question surrounded by German troops - they stayed for ten days, a near-collapsed Tonks being grateful to receive some cheese, apples and wine from the farmer on the enemy’s eventual departure. And this just days after a bullet had nearly hit him in the head, as he ran alongside a railway line with an enemy scout car in hot pursuit.

At length, Tonks was put in touch with a team of British parachutists, the whole making their way towards Monte Cassino with a view to crossing over to our lines, but on emerging from their mountain hut one morning, he was startled to be confronted by a German officer and four soldiers coming down a track. Tonks takes up the story:

‘The officer called on me to put my hands up and as he said this one of our party put his head out of the hut. The German officer told me to get the rest of the party out. I went into the hut and told them to come out shooting. The noise was deafening, the soldiers were killed, the officer was wounded and gave in. He said he wanted to come with us ... We decided that we had to move quickly and the German said he would lead us through the enemy lines. He was ordered to move in front and one of us had a gun in his back. We were supposed to be a working party and we followed the German in single file passing through one line of German positions so close I could have touched any of the German soldiers we passed. We got down into the valley without incident. We were suddenly challenged by a German sentry. We didn’t answer but scrambled up the hillside into the woods and ran like hell ... Passing along a narrow road we came to a wire fixed to several posts along the way I had chosen to take. I indicated to the German to cross over the wire which he was reluctant to do. We ordered him over and followed him into the wood only to discover we had run into a minefield ... ’

It was here that every member of the team was wounded, except Tonks, and that the German officer made his escape, but he managed to lead his comrades out of the minefield to safety. Not long afterwards, following a further mine explosion that attracted the Americans, Tonks was able to hand over the German officer’s briefcase to Allied intelligence, and was given ‘a whole roasted chicken and a bottle of wine, and shown a camp bed where I slept despite the fact the tent leaked.’

Post-war, Tonks became an instructor at Sandhurst and later transferred to the Royal Army Service Corps as a Fire Adviser. And when the Army Fire Service was civilianised he decided to stay on, finally retiring in 1969. He died in September 1986.

Sold with his original Institution of Fire Engineers Graduation and Fellowship Certificates, in the name of ‘Edward Edmund Tonks’, and dated 18 February 1956 and 1 October 1973, together with four post-war photographs, a copy of the
Royal Hussars Journal in which his wartime memoir was published, and a paperback copy of Horned Pigeon, by George Millar, D.S.O., M.C., in which Tonks is mentioned.