Orders, Decorations and Medals

Five: Electrical Artificer 4th Class A. Hardie, South African Naval Force, attached Royal Navy - who was wounded in action when H.M.S. Cornwall was sunk by Japanese aircraft in the Indian Ocean, 5 April 1942

1939-45 Star; Pacific Star, clasp, Burma; Defence and War Medals; Africa Service Medal, these all officially named (68041 A. Hardie) mounted as worn, very fine and better (5) £250-300

In the Indian Ocean on 8 May 1941, the heavy cruiser, H.M.S. Cornwall, encountered the German Auxiliary Cruiser, Pinguin, posing as the Norwegian vessel Tamerlane. After a 27 minute action, during which the Cornwall suffered a power failure and several gunnery hits, the Pinguin exploded and sank - of the crew of 401, only 60 members were rescued, and of the 238 allied prisoners held aboard the vessel, only 24 survived. The Pinguin was the most successful German raider of the war, responsible for the sinking, mining or capture of 32 allied ships.

Operation ‘C’, the Japanese naval sortie into the Indian Ocean, 31 March-10 April 1942, was designed to destroy British naval sea power in that theatre and to support the invasion of Burma. The raid was centred around the Japanese 1st Carrier Fleet (Vice Admiral Nagumo) composed of six aircraft carriers and some 350 aircraft. The mainly British Eastern Fleet with three aircraft carriers (Admiral Somerville) fearing an attack on Ceylon, had been concentrated at the Maldive Islands. When an early expected attack on Ceylon failed to materialise, the heavy cruisers Cornwall and Dorsetshire and the R.A.N. destroyer Vampire were sent to escort the aircraft carrier Hermes to Trincomalee for repairs. Having completed their task and with the prospect of an imminent attack on Ceylon the two cruisers made for the fleet in the Maldives. On 5 April the cruisers were located by a Japanese reconnaissance plane, after which they were attacked by 53 carrier-borne dive bombers. Without any air support, the two cruisers were overwhelmed and sunk. The loss on board the Cornwall amounted to 10 officers, 149 British, 16 Maltese and 23 South African ratings killed. Over 1,100 survivors from the two ships, having fended off sharks, were picked up the next day by British destroyers. Amongst the survivors from H.M.S. Cornwall was Electrical Artificer A. Hardie who had been wounded in the action. To complete the disaster as far as the British were concerned, on 9 April, H.M.S. Hermes, sent to sea without any aircraft, together with the Vampire and the corvette Hollyhock were attacked by Japanese bombers and sunk.

Less than 500 Pacific Stars were awarded to South Africans, and less than 300 were awarded with the Burma clasp.

With registered envelope for the medals addressed to ‘Mnr/Mr A. Hardie, Kingard House, Main Road, Kalk Bay, Cape Town’. Hardie’s Pacific Star and Burma clasp, ship and wound are confirmed in South African Recipients of the Pacific Star or Clasp, by MacEoin Bisset.