Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Acting Bombardier S. E. Davies, Royal Marine Artillery, who was Mentioned in Despatches and decorated for services with the Naval Mission to Serbia at the defence of Belgrade and subsequent retreat of the Serbian Army in 1915

1914-15 Star (R.M.A. 12733. Gr. S. E. Davies.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (R.M.A. 12733 Act. Bomb. S. E. Davies; Serbia, Kingdom, Silver Oblitch Bravery Medal; Serbia, Kingdom, Silver Medal for Military Virtue, generally good very fine and rare (5) £600-£800

M.I.D. London Gazette 21 January 1916: ‘For services with the British Naval Mission in Serbia.’ [2 officers and 2 ratings Royal Navy; 2 officers and 2 other ranks R.M.L.I., and 6 Gunners R.M.A.]

Samuel Eber Davies was born at Netherton, near Dudley, Worcestershire, on 18 February 1894, and enlisted into the Royal Marine Artillery at Birmingham on 20 October 1894, aged 17 years 8 months. He was promoted to Gunner in January 1913, and was appointed Acting Bombardier in September 1916, after which he was embarked aboard H.M.S. Repulse for the remainder of the war. He was discharged from the Royal Marine Artillery on 5 July 1922.

The purpose of the Naval Mission to Serbia was to prevent the Austrian monitors and patrol launches from using the Danube. As the Serbians had no floating forces and were weak in artillery, the Austrian monitors were free to bombard Serbian positions at will. Directly after the re-occupation of Belgrade by the Serbians in December 1914, a party of R.M.L.I. and seamen were sent hither from Malta. This mission was strengthened in February 1915 by the arrival from England of eight 4.7-in, guns, accompanied by eight R.M.A. ratings under Sergeant C. A. Pearce. The eight 4.7's were organised in four batteries of two guns each, the R.M.A. providing the higher numbers of No. 1 Battery, and seamen those of the remainder. The 4.7 batteries were widely separated to command the rivers, only the R.M.A. No. 1 Battery, under Sergeant Pearce, being close to Belgrade itself, its position being on Veliki Vrachar Hill, on the south-east of the city. By 1 October the Austro-Germans had effected a great concentration opposite Belgrade, and on the morning of the 3rd a terrible bombardment was opened. It was estimated that in the first 24 hours some forty-eight thousand shells fell upon the doomed city.

No one had better cause to appreciate the magnitude of Belgrade's bombardment than the occupants of No. 1 Battery on Veliki Vrachar Hill. Commanded by a Serbian artillery officer, with another Serbian officer as second-in command, the battery was composed of Sergeant Pearce with a Corporal and four gunners of the Royal Marines, and a small crew of Serbian soldiers to assist with the heavy work. Of the latter Sergeant Pearce said he could not speak too highly. For the first four days the battery reserved its fire, waiting for the first sign of the enemy to attempt to cross the river. On the 7th they could wait no longer, but opened fire on the batteries along the river front, and for the rest of that day carried on an engagement with no less than 24 Austrian guns. The inevitable happened. As soon as the battery opened fire the aeroplanes corrected the range, and the enemy shells, instead of passing overhead, began to fall upon it, slightly wounding Gunners Carter and Davies. They managed to keep up the unequal contest all day long, and most of the next day, until those two guns were all that was left of Belgrade's defences, and nearly the whole of the Austrian artillery was concentrated upon them. Inevitably, on the night of the 7th, the No. 1 gun was put out of action, and on the following day the No. 2 gun suffered a similar fate. In face of heavy fire, the breech blocks and carriers of both guns were stripped, and under cover of darkness the gun detachments retired to a small village a few miles from Belgrade. In all two were killed and fourteen wounded, these remarkably small casualties being attributed to the excellent construction of the battery.

Sergeant Pearce and his gallant little team now joined the rapid retreat of the Serbian army which began on the 12th November, in the face of the advancing Austrians and Bulgarians. Reaching Ipek in Montenegro in late November the most difficult part of the journey remained to be made. The way was across the mountains of Albania to Scutari. Winter had set in, the tracks were so bad and so congested with the debris of the Serbian army that all wheeled transport had to be abandoned, and there was in consequence a great shortage of food. On 13 December the men of the batteries reached Podgaritza, on the 15th Scutari, and on the 19th San Giovanni di Medua. Sergeant Pearce was by now ill with dysentery but the remainder of the party were embarked on H.M.S. Dartmouth and proceeded to England, where they arrived on 29 February 1916.

Sergeant Pearce and Corporal A. H. Turner were each awarded the D.S.M., and the four Gunners R.M.A. Gunners of No. 1 Battery (including Davies) were all mentioned in despatches for the battle of Belgrade. Pearce was uniquely awarded the Gold Medal for Bravery and the Gold Medal for Military Virtue, the other members of the battery between them being awarded a further 14 Serbian decorations, probably making them the most highly decorated battery in the history of the Royal Marine Artillery.

It is interesting to note that on 1 May 1915, a unit of the Scottish Women’s Hospital was attached to the mission, and that, on 21 December 1916, Samuel Davies married a Scottish lass, Williamina Trail, in Glasgow.

Sold with research, including copied record of service and copied extracts from Britain’s Sea Soldiers 1914-1918 - Royal Marines in Serbia, both of which confirm the two Serbian awards.