Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A rare Second World War D-Day M.C. group of six awarded to Temporary Captain D. A. King, 81 Assault Squadron, R.E., whose specially adapted A.V.R.E. Churchill tank proved instrumental in enabling the 6th Green Howards - and C.S.M. Stanley Hollis, V.C. - to move forward off La Riviere beach on D-Day: equipped with spigot mortars that fired concrete-shattering 40lb. projectiles (a.k.a. “Flying Dustbins”), they were nonetheless vulnerable to the enemy’s much vaunted Panzerfaust

Military Cross, G.VI.R., the reverse officially dated ‘1944’; 1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Efficiency Medal, G.VI.R., 2nd issue, Territorial (Lt. D. A. King, (M.C.), R.E.), contained in an old leather glazed display frame, plated and lacquered, otherwise very fine or better (6) £2000-2500

M.C. London Gazette 31 August 1944. The original recommendation states:

‘This officer landed at H Hour on D Day 6 June 1944 on the La Riviere beach in command of a beaching team of A.V.R.E. & Flails supporting the 6th Green Howards. Owing to the rough water these teams landed in front of the DD tanks and came under the concentrated fire of beach defences. Captain King proceeded to attack and neutralise the enemy pillboxes. Hits from beach defence guns jammed the turret of Captain King’s tank and he found it necessary to dismount to free the turret and enable him to get his petard into action again. By this time the infantry had landed and were held up under the face of the sea wall by enemy small arms fire and grenades, which were being thrown over the wall. Captain King immediately called his two A.V.R.E. to join him and charged over the top of the wall and down into the road on the landward side. The sudden appearance of tanks over the top of the wall served to discourage the defenders and enabled the infantry to get in and mop up the position. Captain King displayed initiative and resourcefulness and rendered extremely valuable support to the infantry in difficult circumstances at a critical moment.’

Denis Aubrey King, who was from Hatch End, Middlesex, was appointed to 81 Assault Squadron, R.E., on the eve of the Normandy invasion and, as cited above, came ashore on D-Day in support of 6th Green Howards, when he commanded one of the unit’s Assault Vehicles, Royal Engineers (A.V.R.E.), in fact a Churchill tank fitted with a spigot mortar called a “Petard”, which fired a 40lb. demolition charge specially designed to shatter concrete over a distance of 80 yards - a charge nicknamed by A.V.R.E. crew as the “Flying Dustbin”. A glimpse of his tank in action on La Riviere beach - part of the King Sector on “Gold Beach” - is to be found in 50th Division’s history:

‘A lively and unorthodox action took place on the extreme right of this brigade front. Machine-gun fire from two concrete pill boxes and a reinforced house, assisted by rifle fire from German infantry behind the sea wall, held up the attacking infantry. Three A.V.R.Es of 81st Assault Squadron, under the command of Captain D. A. King, went into action to assist. The subsequent events are graphically described in the unit’s own account of the operation:

‘One pillbox was reduced by the petard fire and the other silenced by the infantry. But the Germans behind the sea wall continued to fire and throw grenades. By this time the Troop Commander’s patience was exhausted, so, leaving his Sergeant to petard the reinforced house, he led his and another A.V.R.E. up the beach, charged the wall, dropped four feet on to the roadway and shattered a number of German illusions. The enemy routed, the infantry advance continued.’ ‘