Auction Catalogue

5 April 2006

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

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

Lot

№ 1250

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5 April 2006

Hammer Price:
£3,600

A fine Second World War B.E.M. group of seven awarded to Company Quarter-Master Sergeant R. Linsley, 12th (Yorkshire) Battalion, The Parachute Regiment (A.A.C.) and Green Howards, who parachuted into Normandy on D-Day where his unit was heavily engaged at Ranville - he was subsequently wounded

British Empire Medal
, (Military) G.VI.R., 1st issue (4385293 C.Q.M.S. Robert Linsley); India General Service 1936-39, 2 clasps, North West Frontier 1936-37, North West Frontier 1937-39 (4385293 Sjt., Green Howards); 1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals; Army L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., Regular Army (4385293 C.Q.M.S., Green Howards), mounted court-style as worn, minor contact wear, generally very fine or better (7) £1200-1500

B.E.M. London Gazette 8 June 1944. The original recommendation states:

‘This N.C.O. has had unbroken service since May 1926, when he first joined the Green Howards. He has seen much foreign service including seven years in India and service in Shanghai during 1927-28. He was promoted to the rank of Sergeant in 1936 and became a Company Quarter-Master Sergeant in 1940. On conversion of this Battalion [the 12th] to a Parachute Battalion, he volunteered to become a parachutist although in fact a Company Quarter-Master Sergeant is not required to jump. His experience and example have contributed much to the efficiency of his Company. During the months of hard training he has shown himself a most capable and conscientious Company Quarter-Master Sergeant in the Field.’

Robert Linsley, who was born in Durham and enlisted in the Green Howards in May 1926, aged 19 years, served in the 1st Battalion as part of the Shanghai Defence Force in the late 1920s, and in India on the North West Frontier in the mid-to-late 1930s. An experienced N.C.O. by the renewal of hostilities, he was posted to the newly raised 10th Battalion at Tidworth in June 1940, which unit became the 12th (Yorkshire) Battalion, The Parachute Regiment (A.A.C.) in June 1943. As confirmed by the recommendation for Linsley’s subsequent award of the B.E.M., which must have been submitted in early 1944, he qualified as a parachutist and contributed much to the efficiency of his Company, and subsequently dropped with his unit on D-Day, when as part of Brigadier J. H. N. Poett’s 5th Brigade, the 12th Parachute Battalion was charged with seizing the village known as Le Bas de Ranville and securing a DZ for reinforcements due to land later in the day. Lieutenant-Colonel T. B. H. Otway’s
Airborne Forces takes up the story:

‘Meanwhile 12th and 13th Parachute Battalions had dropped at 0050 hours and were also scattered. When they moved from their rendezvous each battalion was not more than 60 per cent strong, though odd parties joined up during the day, but 12th Parachute Battalion seized Le Bas de Ranville area and the 13th Parachute Battalion the Ranville-Le Mariquet area. The Germans reacted swiftly against these units and attacked Ranville almost at once, but they were repulsed with the loss of a number of enemy prisoners of war and one German tank destroyed. At 1045 hours a further attack developed supported by self-propelled guns and one tank. By 1300 hours the enemy attacks had increased and the position of the 12th and 13th Parachute Battalions was critical, with the result that the leading Commando of 1 Special Service Brigade was diverted to the area to assist the airborne troops and was not released until evening ... In the fighting at Ranville there were many gallant actions but one was outstanding. Lieutenant J. A. N. Sims, 12th Parachute Battalion, was in charge of a position held by a few men. German infantry attacked, supported by two self-propelled guns, one of which Lieutenant Sims knocked out. The other gun killed his men one by one at point-blank range. However, the officer held his ground until the gun withdrew, leaving him with only three men.’

Whether Linsley was wounded in these early Normandy actions, or later, remains unknown, but his unit continued to be actively engaged until withdrawn to England that September. The Battalion returned to France at the end of the year and remained on active service until February 1945, when it was recalled home in readiness for “Operation Varsity”, the crossing of the Rhine. Having dropped at Hamminkelin that day, the unit advanced through Osnabruck to Celle, and thence to Radoneck and the crossing of the Elbe in May 1945.