Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Private H. Black, Durham Light Infantry

1939-45 Star; War Medal 1939-45; Efficiency Medal, G.VI.R., 1st issue, Militia (4858621 Pte., D.L.I.), good very fine (3) £140-160

Harry Black, who was born in December 1916 and was a native of Dublin, was taken P.O.W. in France on 28 May 1940, while serving in the 10th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, part of 70 Brigade, 23rd Division - of the 2000 men in the Brigade, 1400 had not fired a Bren gun and 400 had not completed their new course with the rifle. When they were subsequently surprised by the 8th Panzer Division on 21 May, they nonetheless fought back with rifles, sniping a number of enemy tank commanders in their open turrets. Only a handful of men escaped, and were reformed into a new Battalion under Lieutenant-Colonel C. D. Marley (a.k.a. “Marleyforce”). Black’s eventual date of capture would suggest he was one these men. Initially interned in Stalag VIII B at Lamsdorf, Black was subsequently employed in assorted K.D.Os (coal mining, farm work, etc.) and ended the War at Stalag 3A at Luckenwalde.