Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A fine Second World War landing craft operations D.S.M. awarded to Sick Berth Attendant M. Fay, Royal Navy, already a veteran of the Dieppe raid and the Sicily and Salerno landings, prior to being decorated for his part in “Operation Brassard”, the costly landings on Elba - an action ‘fought in total darkness, relieved only by the light of gunfire and the flash of explosions’ and a ‘night that saw a thousand and one acts of bravery

Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (S.B.A. M. Fay, D/MX. 71839), extremely fine £1600-1800

D.S.M. London Gazette 7 November 1944:

'For distinguished services in operations carried out in the face of determined opposition from the enemy which led to the capture of the Island of Elba.'

The original recommendation states:

‘I cannot speak too highly of the conduct of S.B.A. Michael Fay. This rating was at Dieppe, Sicily and Salerno. During the six months we have been together he has been indefatigable and of unbelievable assistance to me in establishing sick bays in Malta and Naples. His experience of conditions on beaches was invaluable in the preparations we made for the landing on Elba. During the landing he was imperturbable and worked valiantly. During the first night he worked right through in spite of the gale, doing his utmost for the patients in the open well deck of the L.C.T.’

Michael Fay, a native of Prescot, Liverpool, was serving in “B” L.C.T. Squadron at the time of the Elba landings on 17-19 June 1944, and was recommended for his D.S.M. by Surgeon Lieutenant Henry R. Shepherd, R.N.V.R., himself shortly to be awarded the D.S.C.

The main assault on Elba in June 1944 was carried out by French troops, with the support of R.N. Commandos, and assorted ships and landing craft manned by the R.N. and U.S.N. - among the latter a P.T. Boat commanded by the film star, Douglas Fairbanks, Jnr., who was awarded the French Croix de Guerre. In terms of the D-Day landings in Normandy, which had taken place 10 days earlier, the operation may well have been classed as a ‘little sideshow’, but in terms of enemy opposition and resultant gallantry it was anything but little - in fact “Operation Brassard” proved to be an extremely costly enterprise, the R.N. Commandos alone suffering losses of 38 killed.

As confirmed by Rear-Admiral Troubridge’s post-operational report, Allied intelligence had grossly underestimated Elba’s defences - rather than ‘under 800 Germans, preponderantly Poles and Czechs of low morale and all set for evacuation’, the Allied assault was met by a force of ‘2,600 Germans who fought extremely well’, while the local defences were formidable in the extreme, for ‘they had excavated caves in the granite cliffs flanking the beaches and installed 155mm., 88mm. and machine-guns in them’. Added to which, ‘behind the beaches, exactly ranged on the likely places of disembarkation, were heavy mortars’.

A Landing Craft crew member takes up the story:

‘We had no inkling that this task would be anything but easy, but as it unfolded it turned into the worst landing I ever took part in. We passed through a small opening into the harbour, which was overlooked on both sides by high ground. A death trap if ever I saw one. I was terrified of the whole layout. As we entered the harbour, they commenced firing at us with everything they had. They poured phosphorous shells into the troop ships, the panic amongst the troops, especially the poor Senegalese, was total. They jumped or were pushed overboard to try to escape this frightening and diabolical weapon. The shore batteries continued to blast them with 88mm. artillery. They hit them with every conceivable weapon from every vantage point. I am convinced they knew exactly when and where the landings were to take place and with typical German thoroughness, had prepared for it. After the initial landing, we picked up a few wounded Commandos from the jetty and thankfully cleared the harbour and took them back to Corsica. That night saw a thousand and one acts of bravery which, I hope one day, will be told’.

It would be interesting to speculate whether Dieppe raid veteran Michael Fay also found “Brassard” worse than any of his previous operations. More certain is the fact he ‘worked valiantly’ throughout the landing, latterly in a gale as he tended the wounded in the open well deck of an L.C.T. - and all in darkness punctuated ‘by the light of gunfire and the flash of explosions’ (Rear-Admiral Troubridge’s report refers).