Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An extremely rare Kronstadt raid D.S.M. group of three awarded to Chief Motor Mechanic H. E. Sadler, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, who went in to action in Dobson, V.C’s leading boat, Coastal Motor Boat 31

Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (M.B. 2499 H. E. Sadler, Ch. M.M., R.N.V.R., “C.M.B. 31”, Cronstadt Harbour, 18 Aug. 1919); British War and Victory Medals (M.B. 2499 H. E. Sadler, C.M.M., R.N.V.R.), minor official corrections to the first, polished, nearly very fine (3) £4000-5000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Exceptional Naval and Polar Awards from the Collection of RC Witte.

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D.S.M. London Gazette 11 November 1919. The original recommendation - for a C.G.M. - states:

‘He was in charge of one engine of Coastal Motor Boat No. 31 in the attack on Kronstadt harbour on the morning of 18 August 1919. This boat torpedoed the Bolshevik battleship Andre Pervozanni.’

Harry Eric Sadler, who was born in September 1895, entered the “Wavy Navy” as a Chief Motor Mechanic in London in April 1918.

Subsequently enrolled for service in Coastal Motor Boats (C.M.Bs), he found himself ordered to Bjorko in the Baltic in the summer of 1919, in one of eight C.M.Bs intended for use in a raid on Kronstadt harbour, under Commander C. C. Dobson, D.S.O., R.N.

And accompanying them in that daring enterprise on the night of 18-19 August - but only as an observer - was Augustus Agar, V.C., who had already established a secret base at Terrioki on the Finnish shore north of Kronstadt, from whence, in addition to carrying out a courier service for agents in his C.M.B., he had executed a brilliant solo attack on the Russian cruiser Oleg in Kronstadt harbour on 16-17 June, winning a V.C. in the process - and a price of £5,000 on his head from the irate Bolsheviks.

Of subsequent events on 18-19 August, much has been written, not least by Agar in Baltic Episode, but the following account of Dobson’s fortunes in C.M.B. 31, with Sadler as his mechanic, is taken from The Victoria Cross at Sea, by John Winton:

'At 1 a.m. on 18 August, the eight C.M.Bs led by Commander C. C. Dobson in C.M.B. 31, left Cowan's base at Bjorko Sound, thirty miles east of Kotlin Island. The C.M.Bs were manned by two officers and an Engine-Room Artificer, and each had a Finnish smuggler on board with local knowledge of the Bay. They reached the north side of the island at about 4 a.m. just as the diversionary bombing attack by twelve R.A.F. Sopwith Camels was taking place, and slipped past a row of forts which were supposed to be armed with heavy 11-inch, 9-inch and 6-inch guns (in fact, at least two forts had only rifles and machine-guns). However, the guns' crews were caught completely napping and even when the C.M.Bs roared into the inner harbour at about 4.25 a.m., many of the guns could not fire because they feared to hit each other or because they could not depress far enough.

Three C.M.Bs had been detailed to sink the destroyer Gavril at the entrance but their torpedoes ran too shallow and missed. Assisted by searchlights from the forts Gavril retaliated and eventually sank three C.M.Bs. Meanwhile, the others swept into the harbour in two columns. C.M.B. 31, conned by Lieutenant McBean [and with Saddler aboard], reached the inner jetty and torpedoed the battleship Andrei Pervozvanni. The C.M.B. stayed for a time in the harbour, under heavy machine-gun fire, whilst Dobson directed the other C.M.Bs before retreating under the shelter of the harbour walls to the open bay.

On the run into harbour the C.O. of C.M.B. 88, Lieutenant Dayrell-Reed, was shot through the head and killed. His body slumped over the steering wheel so that the motor boat began to career out of control. The second-in-command, Lieutenant G. C. Steele, manhandled his dead Captain's body away from the controls and took charge himself, steadying the boat on course once more for her target, the battleship Andrei Pervozvanni. Steele fired one torpedo at 100 yards range, and then had to manoeuvre the C.M.B. in a very confined space to get a clear shot at the other battleship, the Petropavlosk, which was obscured by the hull of the Andrei Pervozvanni and shrouded in the smoke from her. Steele only just had enough room to turn but headed for the entrance, firing at the machine-guns along the wall as he went, and he too gained the safety of the bay outside, where Agar in C.M.B. 7, who had been acting as a kind of traffic marshal, was waiting. There, Lieutenant Bremner in C.M.B. 24 also arrived, having torpedoed and sunk the submarine depot ship Pamyat Azova. Both battleships sank in the inner harbour, as the remaining C.M.Bs roared across the water back to base.

This brilliant coup de main severely embarrassed the Cabinet, who were at that very moment conducting delicate negotiations with the Bolsheviks for the withdrawal of the large British land forces then in Archangel. The raid also had another unexpected and unfortunate political effect. The Russian Baltic Fleet, and especially the Kronstadt garrison, had been scornfully critical of the Bolsheviks. The audacity of the raid caused them to turn temporarily over to the Bolshevik side. However, Victoria Crosses are happily not awarded by politicians, and Dobson [S.N.O. and Sadler's skipper] and Steele were duly gazetted on 11 November 1919, the first anniversary of Armistice Day.'

Sadler was demobilised in December 1919; sold with copied research.