Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An extremely well-documented group of seven, together with a remarkable archive of photographs and documents, awarded to Major B. R. S. Dalton, Royal Artillery, late Royal Engineers, who served on Special Employment in North Africa during the Second World War in command of the Western Desert Section of the Army Air Photographic Interpretation Unit being twice mentioned in despatches, and continued to serve during the Sicilian and mainland Italian Campaigns; he was later decorated by the Americans for his services as an Instructor

1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; France and Germany Star; War Medal 1939-45, in card box of issue with enclosure slip; Efficiency Decoration, G.VI.R., 2nd issue, Territorial (2021630 Sjt. B. R. S. Dalton. R.E.) in named card box of issue; United States of America, Bronze Star, in case of issue; together with 3 M.I.D. oak leaves; riband bar for Africa Star and Efficiency Medal; and named card box of issue for 1st and 2nd clasps for Efficiency Medal, extremely fine (7) £600-£800

M.I.D. London Gazettes 24 June 1943 (Middle East); 13 January 1944 (Middle East).

United States Bronze Star London Gazette 14 November 1947 - ‘Major (temporary) Bernard Ralph Sparks Dalton (156899), Royal Regiment of Artillery’

The proposed citation states:
‘For exceptionally meritorious service to the Government of the United States in aiding organisation and operation of training at Photo Intelligence Center, Military Intelligence Service thereby assisting in accomplishment of its mission.’

Bernard Ralph Sparks Dalton was born in 1909 in London. He served initially in the Royal Engineers advancing to Sergeant and qualifying for the award of the Efficiency Medal (Territorial) per Army Order No. 29 dated February 1940. He was granted a Regular Army Emergency Commission as Second Lieutenant in the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 16 November 1940 and was posted to Heliopolis, Egypt in March 1941. The following month he became the fourth officer to join the newly formed Army Air Photographic Interpretation Unit. Posted to the Advanced Western Desert Force Section on 21 May 1941 under Lieutenant Peter Oldfield (later of the S.A.S.), he took command of this Section the following month. In July, the Western Desert Section joined 285 Wing of the Desert Air Force, whose photographic elements included 2 Squadron R.A.F., 60 Survey Squadron and 1437 Flight Baltimores flying long-range strategic missions. Later the same month, while preparing for Operation Crusader, Dalton was required to present his work to General Auchinleck:

‘I think one of my most treasured memories is of flying down to G.H.Q. Cairo on 25 July 1941 on a Lizzie (Lysander) to show General Auchinleck a selection of annotated air photos and mosaics defining the defences in front of our Army. I shall never forget seeing the General take a magnifying glass in his hand and get down on his hands and knees on the floor of the ‘War Room’ I suppose it was, and gaze earnestly, in the best Sherlock Holmes tradition, at the mosaics spread in front of him and ask searching questions as to how we knew that this was an 88mm and that was a minefield and so on. After spending some time with the General I think he was convinced that air photos had their uses even if they had their limitations.’ (‘History of Army Photographic Interpretation’ - a nine page hand written account by the recipient - with lot)

Aside from briefing the C-in-C and supplying Divisions and Corps with information on enemy defences, Dalton also gave sundry details of defences and terrain to the the S.A.S. and L.R.D.G. - on several occasions briefing Randolph Churchill during his period as Liaison Officer with these units. The A.A.P.I.U. joined 451 Squadron R.A.F. for the attack on Bardia on 27-28 December 1941 and continued up and down the Western Desert in 1942, receiving and interpreting photos from the R.A.F., and passing information to intelligence at speed. Dalton was promoted War Substantive Lieutenant on 16 May 1942 and Temporary Captain on Special Employment on 17 December 1942.

In January 1943, the unit interpreted the Mareth defences and the following month were at Castel Benito near Tripoli. Dalton was put on the ‘XO’ list in May 1943 for the planning of the invasion of Sicily and Italy and embarked for Malta in July, suffering heavy bombardment - the bombers attracted by an impressive fleet of Royal Navy ships in the harbour and the thousands of troops on the island. Landing at Syracuse, Sicily on 3 August 1943, Dalton’s unit continued to interpret photos under nightly air attack. Six weeks later, having been promoted War Substantive Captain and Temporary Major, Dalton arrived on mainland Italy and was constantly on the move for the rest of the year. His earlier work during the Desert Campaign was recognised by two mentions in despatches.

On 3 February 1944, Dalton was posted to the School of Military Intelligence at Matlock Hydro as an Instructor. Two months later he joined the American Photo Interpretation School at Kensington and in July he was posted to the Central Interpretation Unit at R.A.F. Medenham.

Dalton’s second clasp to his Efficiency Medal (territorial) was gazetted on 26 May 1950. He relinquished his commission on 19 February 1964, retaining the honorary rank of Major.

Sold with the following archive:
‘History of Army Photographic Interpretation’ - a nine page detailed summary of the recipient‘s service, hand written in April 1975; large officially bound folder entitled ‘Italian Ridotttas and Outposts’ containing large quantity of aerial photographs of Italian positions in North Africa in 1941, each with a detailed caption; large quantity of aerial photographs, subjects spanning a wide range of axis positions from 1941 to 1945, these mostly captioned either officially or in pencil, with date - of note is a mosaic of aerial photographs of Heraklion landing ground dated 26 May 1941 taken during the Battle of Crete and a well annotated aerial photograph of Remagen, Germany, the site of the first Allied crossing of the Rhine, showing the Railway Road bridge intact, dated 15 March 1945; a large quantity of reverse captioned photographs taken by Dalton during service in North Africa; folder containing quantity of the recipient’s correspondence, notes and official Intelligence Summaries; folder containing Air Photo Technical Data; a quantity of A.A.I.P.U. wartime maps of regions of North Africa e.g. Bardia, Bay of Salum, Tunis region, French North Africa, Bir Ghirba, Ain-el-Gazala, these mostly dated 1941 and worn to varying degrees; large German map of Libya entitled ‘Verkehrskarte von Nord-Libyen’ dated 1941; a bound folder entitled ‘Wild Flowers collected in Western Desert and Sicily during 1939-45 War’ - this containing a large quantity of well preserved dried and pressed wild flowers each annotated with date and location of collection, many named; a quantity of further documents, letters, papers and booklets relating to the recipient’s service.