Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Sold by Order of the Recipient’s Direct Descendants
Proceeds to be donated to the Welsh Guards Afghanistan Appeal

A fine Second World War North-West Europe operations M.B.E. group of five awarded to Captain P. V. Francombe, 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry (R.A.C.), who was twice wounded in action
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Military) Member’s 2nd type breast badge, in its Royal Mint case of issue; 1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, M.I.D. oak leaf, these latter in their original addressed card forwarding box, together with a companion set of miniature dress medals, extremely fine (10)
£400-500

M.B.E. London Gazette 11 October 1945. The original recommendation states:

‘As Regimental Technical Adjutant, Captain Farncombe has proved a tower of strength throughout the campaign in N.W. Europe. Not only has he performed his own duties of repair and recovery, frequently under fire, with the greatest courage and efficiency; but he has also been responsible for the technical stores department, which is handled by the Quarter-Master in most regiments. For a considerable period the Regiment was without an E.M.E., when he controlled the work of the L.A.D. in addition. Furthermore, in the last few months, the Regiment has twice been converted from tanks to Buffaloes and once back to tanks, which has given him a tremendous amount of extra work, yet he has always been cheerful, hard-working, helpful and efficient.

During the Ardennes offensive he had a number of particularly difficult tasks of recovery and repair under arctic conditions and on ice-bound roads, yet he never let himself be defeated. Again, during Operation “Plunder” at the time of the crossing of the Rhine, he went from Squadron to Squadron quite oblivious of the intermittent enemy harassing fire and was in fact hit on the head and knocked momentarily unconscious. On recovering consciousness he continued to work as though nothing had happened. I cannot speak too highly of his conduct throughout this period. He has been mainly responsible for the mechanical efficiency of the Regiment, without which its tactical successes would have been impossible.’

Philip Venables Francombe, who was born in October 1908, was a pre-war Gunner in 252 (City of Oxford) Anti-Aircraft Battery, Royal Artillery (Territorial Army), and was called-up in early August 1939.

Subsequently commissioned in the Royal Armoured Corps (R.A.C.), he served in the 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry from its arrival in France in June 1944 up until the German surrender in May 1945, a period that witnessed heavy fighting in Normandy, including Caen, and afterwards at the capture of Le Havre. Moving thence to Holland, the regiment was involved in the yet further bitter fighting during the Ardennes offensive, followed by the crossing of the Rhine in March 1945, when, re-equipped with Buffalo amphibious tanks, it helped carry the assault wave across the river. For his own part, Farncombe was twice wounded, firstly on 29 October 1944, when he sustained a perforated eardrum, and again on 22 March 1945, when he was hit in the scalp and knocked out - but on both occasions he remained on active duty - a fine record that resulted in a “mention” (London Gazette 22 March 1945 refers) and the award of his O.B.E. He was demobilised in September 1945.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation and several photographs, including the recipient’s Buckingham Palace forwarding letter for his M.B.E., and related Central Chancery letter for the warrant, dated 24 November 1948; an old hand written copy of the recommendation for his M.B.E.; his M.I.D. certificate, dated 22 March 1945; a letter from an ex-C.O. from Warnford Hospital, thanking him for his hard work, dated 3 March 1945; War Officer telegrams and letters reporting his wounds in October 1944 and March 1945; and much besides, from his call-up notice, dated 6 August 1939 though to a copy of German surrender signal received from R.H.Q. in May 1945.