Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A fine Second World War D.S.M. awarded to Greaser F. Hilberg, Merchant Navy, who was decorated for his gallant deeds - aged 57 years - during the famous clash between the armed merchant cruiser H.M.S. Alcantara and the German raider Thor in July 1940: added to which Board of Trade records appear to reveal him as the winner of the D.C.M. and M.M. in the Great War

Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (A. 1018901 F. Hilberg, Gsr., H.M.S. Alcantara), ship’s name officially corrected, good very fine £1800-2200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Awards to Merchant Seamen and D.E.M.S. Gunners.

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D.S.M. London Gazette 27 December 1940:

‘For good services in action against an enemy raider.’

The original recommendation states:

‘For outstandingly valuable work in dealing with the inrush of water into the engine-room through a shell hole in the ship’s side.’

Francis Hilberg, who was born in Swansea in April 1883, appears to have joined the Mercantile Marine at the end of the Great War, his Board of Trade identity photograph depicting him in Army uniform with the ribands of the D.C.M. and M.M. - the nearest match to be found in the London Gazette to date is Private G. F. Hilbourne of the 8th Battalion, East Surrey Regiment, who was similarly decorated for actions in 1918.

Hilberg joined the ship’s company of the Alcantara in December 1939, an armed merchant cruiser (ex Royal Mail Line) commanded by Captain J. J. P. Ingham, R.N., a Jutland D.S.O., with Lieutenant-Commander C. Fellows-Gordon, R.N., ‘a great friend’ of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the American President, as his second-in-command.

In January 1940, having completed her refit, Alcantara was ordered to the South American coast, where she was to operate under the overall command of Rear-Admiral Sir Henry Harwood, whose three cruisers had recently won fame for the River Plate action against the Graf Spee. Indeed it was Harwood who ordered the Alcantara to patrol the “Pernambuco Watch”, and more especially to keep an eye on the island of Trinidade, in mid-July 1940, Naval Intelligence having good reason to believe that a German raider was due to arrive in the vicinity.

As Captain Ingham was about to discover, those suspicions were well-founded, for, on the morning of 27 July, his lookouts spotted a “stranger” on the horizon due East - it was the German raider Thor, commanded by Kapitan Otto Kahler, a talented cigar-smoking adversary, who had served in U-Boats in the Great War.

While Ingham was still signalling the Thor to reveal her identity - range 17,500 yards - the German commander ran up his battle ensign and opened fire, the beginning of a ferocious duel. Of the enemy raider’s first salvo, one shell burst over the Alcantara’s quarter deck, killing the trainer of the P4 6-inch gun and knocking out the ship’s W./T. aerials, thereby hazarding the ship’s entire gun-control system. Ingham signalled Harwood for assistance, just as another shell burst over the liner’s old tennis deck, causing considerable damage. Then another brace of projectiles from Thor’s third salvo slammed into the Alcantara’s unarmoured starboard side aft, tearing gaping holes, while a third burst just four feet above the waterline causing damage to the orlop deck. Added to which:

‘Enemy near-misses falling short burst on impact with the sea, throwing up geysers of white water heavily speckled with black which drenched the guns’ crews. Shrapnel and anti-personnel shells with time-and-percussion fuses were bursting in a continuous fusillade of sharp explosions overhead or on impact, sending jagged metal shards whistling through the air close to the unprotected heads of the men on deck, including the men at the guns, which had no shields.

One shell hit the old Promenade Deck just to starboard of the funnel, damaging the deck, bulkheads and alleyways and the wardroom, slicing electrical leads and engine room voice-pipes, starting a fire which was energetically doused by the Midship Fire Party. Its companion tore a four-foot hole in the funnel, inner funnel and the waste steam pipes inside. Seven boats and three life rafts were holed, the starboard cutter wrecked. All the loud racket of the shell bursts, coupled with the ship’s own guns firing, made it difficult for the sight-setters to hear orders from the Transmitting Station over their headphones, and the fall of shot soon indicated that the sights at the different guns had got out of step with one another, preventing salvo firing. The order “Check” went round. Firing was stopped while range and corrected deflection were passed to the guns, then re-opened. This had to be done repeatedly’ (Armed Merchant Cruisers, by Kenneth Poolman, refers).

Meanwhile, a hit abreast the fore end of the Alcantara’s engine-room caused much concern, the resultant damage reducing her speed. Luckily, however, with her guns now firing more accurately, she obtained a vital hit on the Thor, ‘a bright flash’ being seen abreast the raider’s foremast - two of her 6-inch shells had found their mark, causing considerable damage and casualties. Even so, the duel continued apace, until the Thor laid down a thick smoke-screen and opened the range, but not before a parting enemy projectile blew away part of the starboard side of the Alcantara’s bridge, causing four more casualties. For a moment it seemed the action had reached its conclusion, the Alcantara by now virtually stopped in the water. But to Ingham’s horror, the enemy raider suddenly burst through the smoke-screen, once more closing her adversary with three-gun salvoes. The Alcantara, now with a distinct list to port, replied in kind, and finally compelled the Thor to flee the scene for good.

The severely damaged Alcantara reached Rio de Janeiro under her own steam on 1 August 1940, where she was permitted to carry out vital repairs before returning to sea, while the Thor went on to become the most successful commerce raider of the War, claiming 22 victims totalling 150,000 tons - Kapitan Kahler was awarded the Knight’s Cross.

Awarded the D.S.M., Hilberg next joined the Princess Elizabeth as a Donkeyman, followed by time aboard the minesweeper Baltavia, but he was discharged owing to ill-health in early 1942, the result of having being gassed at Ypres in 1917.