Auction Catalogue

10 & 11 December 2014

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Washington Mayfair Hotel  London  W1J 5HE

Download Images

Lot

№ 775

.

11 December 2014

Hammer Price:
£3,000

An outstanding Second World War M.C. and Bar group of nine awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel N. J. Gell, Royal Engineers: originally decorated for his ‘magnificent example of coolness and courage’ in vital mine clearance work on the opening day of El Alamein, he added a Bar to his M.C. for ‘a most remarkable standard of personal bravery’ during “Operation Goodwood” and beyond, up until being severely wounded in a minefield in Holland in October 1944 - post-war he became a building conservationist and one of the founding fathers of the Bath Preservation Trust, ‘property sharks and others intent on ruining the city finding themselves up against a formidable opponent’

Military Cross, G.VI.R., with Second Award Bar, the reverse of the Cross officially dated ‘1943’ and the reverse of the Bar ‘1946’; 1939-45 Star; Africa Star, clasp, 8th Army; Burma Star; Italy Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, M.I.D. oak leaf; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Palestine 1945-48 (Maj. N. J. Gell, M.C., R.E.), generally extremely fine (9) £3000-3500

M.C. London Gazette 18 March 1943. The original recommendation states:

‘On 23 October 1942, near El Wiska, while Major Gell’s Field Company were clearing gaps in the enemy minefields to permit the advance of an armoured division, the Officer Commanding became a casualty. Major Gell at once took over. His unit was working three different routes and W./T. communications had failed. He constantly visited each section under shell and machine-gun fire showing complete disregard for his own safety, encouraging and leading his men on to their dangerous work. On one occasion, when a section had been forced to take cover owing to heavy fire, by his personal example he led them into the minebelt and successfully opened the gap. He displayed a magnificent example of coolness and courage during the minefield clearance operations.’

Bar to M.C.
London Gazette 22 January 1946. The original recommendation states:

‘This officer has shown a most remarkable standard of personal bravery in leading his troops throughout the four months during which he commanded 246 Field Company, R.E. Amongst examples of courageous leadership his actions at Escoville, Sanneville, the Escaut crossing, Overloon and Verais are characteristic.

At Escoville on 18 July 1944, the attack of the leading company of the Infantry and its supporting armour was held up by an anti-personnel minefield. Major Gell, who was close at hand, immediately went forward, carried out a personal examination of the field under shell and small arms fire, started a party of his men on clearing a lane and personally directed the flails upon their arrival to sweeping the lanes which allowed the attack to continue.

Between 19-24 July, his company was engaged in shifts on opening heavily damaged routes in the Banneville-Sanneville area. Both of these places and the roads into them were under heavy shell and
Nebelwerfer fire for a great part of the time. Major Gell was indefatigable in directing the work at which he was almost always present. It was a particularly unpleasant task and called for great leadership and determination.

Prior to the crossing to the Escaut canal, Major Gell, whose company was allotted the tasks of handling the assault rafts and the Class 9 Bridge, carried out a daring reconnaissance of the canal in daylight and directed the operation from the towpath under small arms and shell fire.

During the attack on Overloon on 14 October, the leading tanks were held up by extensive minefields 300 yards short and in full view of the village. Major Gell’s Recce. Officer was blown up on a mine and became a casualty. Under sniper and very heavy
Nebelwerfer and shell fire, Major Gell personally set out the lane to be cleared and led the party. He organised the lane clearance and continued to direct mine clearance on the two axes for which his company was responsible until the operation was successfully completed, despite enemy defensive fire which was repeatedly brought down on the axes.

During the attack on Venraij on 17 October, the armour was held up by minefields covering the Molenbeek. Major Gell, with another Engineer Officer, went forward on to the open banks of the Beek to recce the minefield and the crossing. Enemy defensive fire was focussed on the only possible crossing place and the place was under short range enemy small arms fire. Major Gell knew that Shu mines were probably incorporated in the field.

Despite these conditions, the two officers examined the field with the utmost coolness and Major Gell himself uncovered several mines including Shu mines. In the process he was able to discover a gap between the minefield and the road through which the vehicles subsequently passed. During that recce the second officer was mortally wounded by small arms fire and Major Gell was himself wounded in the hand and leg. In a very weak condition he nevertheless made his way to a nearby tank and insisted on reporting details of the situation, and the result of his recce before allowing himself to be evacuated.’

Note: the
Nebelwurfer was a particularly vicious piece of artillery, being manned by a crew of four and equipped with six barrels capable of firing 75lb. 5.9-inch rockets to a range of 7,500 yards - the resultant impact and blast of these projectiles was particularly effective against infantry, both physically and psychologically.

Nigel James Gell was born in December 1918, the son of a naval officer who would later be responsible for organising the Jubilee Fleet Review in 1935, and the scion of a family with long military and imperial traditions. Educated at Wellington College and the R.M.A. Woolwich, he was commissioned in the Royal Engineers in August 1938 and went up to Corpus Christi where, although he had not come from a rowing school, he stroked the 1st VIII in the May 1939 races.

Having then been involved in a government research programme into the experimental use of petroleum-based substances in warfare, under Geoffrey Lloyd and his team, the outbreak of hostilities necessitated his transfer to regular duty with the 1st London Motor Division, R.E., in which capacity he was sent on detachment to the B.E.F. during the retreat to the coast, and was eventually evacuated from Boulogne in company with the Duke of Gloucester - and a canvas grip full of Champagne.

A Flame Warfare Officer to the R.E. in Kent in the interim, where he was employed in preparing coastal defences, Gell was ordered to North Africa in early 1942, where initially he was employed in the construction of a 30-mile long water pipeline from Tobruk to the Free French Forces. This task successfully completed, he joined 572nd Army Field Company, R.E., as an Acting Major, and it was in this capacity that he won his M.C. for the above cited deeds on the first day of the Battle of El Alamein.

In January 1943, Gell was posted to H.Q. 8th Army as a Staff Officer and was involved in the planning for the invasion and subsequent conquest of Sicily. Ordered home to attend Staff College, Gell pulled some strings and managed to get himself appointed a Brigade Major in 12 Army Group R.E., in which post he was given the responsibility of constructing the forward fighter airfields in Normandy, coming ashore on D-Day plus one. In July 1944 he took command of 246th Field Company, R.E., a component of 3 British Division, and within a fortnight of his arrival the Company was heavily involved in “Operation Goodwood”, the subsequent award of his second M.C. reflecting further - numerous - acts of gallantry in mine clearance operations.

Having recovered from his wounds, Gell was appointed a Staff Officer to the Chief Engineer at 14 Army H.Q. in Burma in early 1945, quickly adding a mention in despatches to his accolades (
London Gazette 20 March 1945, refers), and becoming one of a handful of recipients to win the distinction of wearing the Africa, Italy, France and Germany and Burma Stars.

Post-war, Gell was employed at the School of Military Engineering, Middle East and, on its closure, was appointed D.A.A. & Q.M.G. of a Brigade in Palestine (Medal & clasp). But he saw no further active service, being invalided out of the Army on account of his war wounds in 1951.

On his retirement he settled in Bath, taking up employment in the printing and publishing business, but he also became a noted building conservationist and a founding father of the Bath Preservation Trust:

‘With his background and temperament, he found the transition to civilian life difficult, as somebody who needed a good cause to fight, but he found one in resisting what is now called the Sack of Bath. In the late Fifties and early Sixties the city suffered quick-money property development and streets of smaller houses from the Georgina period were bulldozed ... In his old age he was a marvellous ambassador for the city, installed at exactly the same time each evening on the bar of the Lansdown Grove Arms with a glass of white wine and a pink tonic, immaculately dressed, answering endless local queries from visitors of every nationality. Bath owes him a great deal and will be a much poorer place without him, as will the correspondence columns of the Bath Chronicle, where he was never slow to point out what he considered to be the erroneous views of others, in particular the city planning committee’ (his obituary notice in
The Independent refers).

The Colonel died in November 1993.