Auction Catalogue

19 & 20 March 2008

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations and Medals

Washington Mayfair Hotel  London  W1J 5HE

Lot

№ 820

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20 March 2008

Hammer Price:
£4,800

A rare and emotive Second World War Normandy operations M.M. awarded to Lance-Corporal W. H. Short, 2nd (Airborne) Battalion, Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Regiment, who, having been decorated for leading an assault on an enemy position - Bren gun firing from his hip - was killed in action in the Ardennes in January 1945

Military Medal
, G.VI.R. (14209889 L. Cpl. W. H. Short, Oxf. & Bucks. L.I.), in its card box of issue, complete with original registered forwarding package, extremely fine £4000-5000



M.M. London Gazette 21 December 1944. The original recommendation for an immediate award - approved by Montgomery - states:

‘On 25 August 1944, at Manneville La Raoult, Private Short was a member of the leading section of his platoon ordered to infiltrate through an enemy position. The leading section came into contact with an enemy post. Private Short, firing his Bren from the hip, killed the two sentries and when the enemy replied with grenades and machine-gun fire, Private Short, with complete disregard for his personal safety, continued to fire from the hip and put the enemy to flight. When his Section Commander was wounded he took charge of the section and continued to press home the attack. It was owing to his personal bravery that the objective was reached and his conduct and bearing was an example to his section and platoon.’

William Henry Short, a native of Langport, Somerset, was a member of the 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Regiment as early as 1942, so would have been among those men trained in an airborne role on the formation of the 6th Air-Landing Brigade in May 1943, and indeed those who were landed on D-Day - as a member of ‘C’ Company, his glider would have touched down on Landing Zone ‘W’. Thereafter followed bitter fighting, a determined enemy counter-attack on the 7 June pushing the Battalion back from Escoville to Herouvillette.

But it was for his deeds in the attack on Manneville La Raoult in August 1944 that he won his immediate M.M., an account of which, written by Lieutenant F. B. Scott, C.O. of Short’s platoon, survives - his gallant actions clearly prompted the enemy to make a hasty retreat, Scott also recalling that they left behind a wounded man who cried “Mercy, mercy”.

Withdrawn to the U.K. in September 1944, the Battalion returned to the fray in the Ardennes at the time of the battle of the Bulge that December, in which operations, during an attack on Bure on 5-6 January 1945, Short was mortally wounded - his platoon took several casualties from an 88mm. gun position. Writing home to his next of kin a few days later, Major J. Granville, his Company Commander, stated:

‘It is with the deepest grief that I have to inform you of the death in action of Lance-Corporal Short, M.M. As his Company Commander and on behalf of us all, we offer to you our deepest sympathy in your loss - for it is a great one. There was never a finer man and as a soldier he was unequalled. I had the honour to recommend him for the M.M. when we were in Normandy, his courage and bravery in battle were indeed an example and inspiration to us all.

You will have read of the exploits of the Airborne Division in the papers and will realize the circumstances of your son’s death. He was severely wounded leading his men and the finest medical attention was unable to save his life. He now lies with his comrades who fell with him in a military cemetery. We all join in sending you our deepest sympathy - the memory of his actions will always be with us.’

Short, who was 22 years of age, is buried in the Hotton War Cemetery, Belgium, his gravestone bearing the following inscription composed by his family:

‘Deep in our hearts
His memory is kept
We loved him too well
to ever forget’

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including the above quoted letter of condolence from Major J. Granville, dated 15 January 1945, together with others similar from the 2nd Battalion’s Padre, dated 10 January 1945, and another Padre based at a Casualty Clearing Station, this dated 8 February 1945 - ‘He was brought back for medical attention very soon after wounding, but in spite of all that could be done for him it was not possible to save his life, and he passed away peacefully and without pain’; official Infantry Record Office communication reporting his death in action, dated 10 January 1945, and a headstone inscription form from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the reverse of which bears the inked inscription quoted above, ‘Chosen by mother, brothers and sisters’; a handwritten copy of a letter written by his mother requesting the return of a leather attache case believed to be in the Army’s possession, together with an update on the status of patenting ‘a certain article’ which my son invented; two local newspaper cuttings, and an O.B.L.I. cap badge.