Auction Catalogue

6 July 2004

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Grand Connaught Rooms  61 - 65 Great Queen St  London  WC2B 5DA

Lot

№ 848 x

.

6 July 2004

Hammer Price:
£1,400

A fine Second World War anti-U-boat operations D.S.M. group of five awarded to Temporary Engineer Lieutenant L. G. Green, Royal Navy

Distinguished Service Medal
, G.VI.R. (M. 38776 L. G. Green, C.E.R.A.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star, clasp, France and Germany; War Medal 1939-45; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 1st issue (M. 38776 C.E.R.A. 1, H.M.S. Trinidad), contact wear, otherwise generally very fine (5) £600-800

D.S.M. London Gazette 7 September 1943. The recommendation states:

‘During a night action with enemy submarines on the night of 11-12 May 1943, a confused melee at close quarters with two U-boats developed during which “Emergency Full Speed” was called for over a considerable period. The response from the Engine Room was such as to enable a successful outcome of the engagement to be achieved. C.E.R.A. Green has been the Chief E.R.A. of H.M.S.
Hesperus for and throughout the arduous winter months the machinery of the ship was kept running without a hitch in spite of much sea-time, and this was largely due to the skill and devotion to duty of C.E.R.A. Green.’

The above recommendation was penned by Captain Donald MacIntyre, D.S.O.**, D.S.C., who later published a wartime memoir,
U-Boat Killer, from which may be gleaned a very vivid picture of life in the Hesperus on convoy duty during Green’s time aboard.The following extract, however, has been taken from Clay Blair’s definitive history, Hitler’s U-Boat War, The Hunted 1942-43, and describes the brilliant actions of Hesperus on the night that Green won his D.S.M.:

‘Later in the day, MacIntyre in
Hesperus got a radar contact at five miles dead ahead of the convoy. This was the Elbe VII U-223, commanded by Karl-Jurgen Wachter, age twenty-seven, making his second patrol. MacIntyre put on flank speed and soon saw a wake. Too late, Wachter crash-dived. Racing over the swirl, MacIntyre fired a salvo of depth charges, plus one of the experimental 2,000-pound depth charges from a torpedo tube. These missiles exploded close to U-223, causing heavy external and internal damage and flooding, and drove the boat out of control to seven hundred feet. When the engineer reported that one of the electric motors was on fire, Wachter decided to surface and run.

MacIntyre heard Wachter blow his ballast tanks and was fully alert when the
U-223 popped up. He shot at the U-boat with his 4.7” main battery and all other guns that would bear. To MacIntyre’s astonishment, Wachter counter attacked. The Germans fired five torpedoes, all of which missed, and then attempted to ram the destroyer. MacIntyre manoeuvred out of the way and turned about to “gently” ram the U-223, nuzzling the boat over on her beam ends. Believing that U-223 was doomed, he then raced ahead to rejoin the convoy, which was thirty miles to eastward ... Upon rejoining the convoy that night, Hesperus detected by Huff Duff another U-boat about ten miles dead ahead. This was the IXC40 U-186, commanded by Siegfried Hesemann, age thirty, on her second patrol. MacIntyre raced ahead at flank speed. Too late, Hesemann in U-186 saw Hesperus and crash-dived. MacIntyre got a good sonar contact and let go several depth-charge salvos, which fell close and destroyed U-186 with all hands. After listening to her implode and break up, MacIntyre picked up some wodden debris that rose to the surface. He wrote that his men found “a gruesome piece of flesh” clinging to one piece of wood. Hesperus received sole credit for the killing of U-186.’

Although not mentioned in his recommendation, Green had also witnessed the destruction of the
U-191 in the previous month, her demise being described by MacIntyre in the following terms:

‘ ... Then we ran in again and, together with the ordinary depth-charges, we loosed on the hapless U-boat another new weapon, a one-ton depth-charge. This was virtually a torpedo without engines, with its body filled with explosive and fired from our torpedo tubes.

After this, strange noises began to be heard on the asdic, like those made by a submarine surfacing. Excitement was intense and we expected at any moment to see the U-boat break surface. It was obviously shallower, and the chance had come to use the Hedgehog again. Once more we ran slowly in and this time, at the order, the twenty-four bombs went sailing away through the air to land with a splash ahead of us.

Nobody even whispered as we waited in an agony of suspense as the bombs dived down towards their target. Never have there been such long-drawn-out seconds as the hand crept round the face of the stop-watch. Suddenly two sharp explosions thudded through the ship. ‘Got him, by God!’ yelled Bill, as he popped out of the asdic control cabinet, his face shining with excitement. And indeed we had. Gaping holes torn in her hull,
U-191 plunged to the bottom with all hands.’

Leslie George Green, who came from Peverall, Plymouth, was later commissioned in the Engineering Branch, with seniority of 1 April 1951, and was finally placed on the Retired List as a Temporary Engineer Lieutenant (Marine Engineering), the latter rank having been attained in January 1957.