Orders, Decorations and Medals Including five Special Collections

A Dieppe Raid D.S.M. group of six awarded to Able Seaman Ebenezer Luttig, Royal Navy, M.G.B. 320

Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (SSX.21885 E. Luttig, A.B.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star, clasp, France and Germany; Africa Star; Defence & War Medals, these last five all privately named, mounted as worn, good very fine (6) £1800-2200

D.S.M. London Gazette 2 October 1942: ‘For gallantry, daring and skill in the combined attack on Dieppe.’

Operation Jubilee, the raid on Dieppe, on 19 August 1942, had stronger naval and military forces than any landing of the war so far. Coastal Forces were heavily involved, and were represented by eight C class MGBs and four SGBs. They were used in a great variety of ways, but those most concerned with the actual landings were the experienced boats of the 14th MGB Flotilla and the newly commissioned SGBs. As in earlier raids, they once again formed the vanguard, leading in the fleet minesweepers right to the beaches, and covering the landing ships H.M.S. Princess Beatrix and H.M.S. Invicta. MGB 317 carried the Colonel of the South Saskatchewan Regiment, Colonel Merritt, later to win a Victoria Cross. Throughout the raid the boats were kept busy carrying out minor bombardments, rescuing damaged landing craft, and picking up R.A.F. pilots and casualties. Militarily the operation was regarded as a defeat and a disaster for the Canadians, who lost 65 percent of their personnel. But the lessons learned may well have contributed massively to the success of the subsequent landings in North Africa, Sicily, and Normandy. One Distinguished Service Cross and four Distinguished Service Medals were awarded to members of the crews of the Motor Gun Boats.