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Auction: 19001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 396

THE GUNNERS

A Great War M.C. Palestine operations group of four awarded to Captain S. S. Ansley, Berkshire Battery, Royal Horse Artillery (Territorials), who was decorated for his gallant deeds at the battle of Sheria in November 1917

Military Cross, G.V.R., the reverse privately engraved, 'Lieut. S. S. Ansley, R.H.A.'; 1914-15 Star (Lieut. S. S. Ansley, R.H.A.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. S. S. Ansley), the third renamed, generally very fine or better (4)

M.C. London Gazette 26 March 1918; citation published 24 August 1918:

'For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. On the Battery coming under very heavy enfilading fire, all ranks were ordered to take cover, it being considered impossible to move the battery during daylight. He, however, volunteered to get the guns out of action, and by his splendid example encouraged the six men who helped him, all the guns and wagons being man-handled to a position of safety.'

Sidney Samuel Ansley - previously Ansbacher - was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the Berkshire Battery, R.H.A. (Territorials) in August 1914; he changed his surname to Ansley by deed poll in April 1918.

The Battery was embarked for Egypt in April 1915 and first saw action in Aden on 21 July, its 15-pounders engaging the enemy in a running fight. According to The Berks Royal Horse Artillery - A Fine Record of War Service, it was a day not easily forgotten:

'A pitiless sun beat down and the heat of the ground came through one's boots. Water was scarce and it was not until after dark that parched lips and swollen tongues were relieved. This was the first experience of that particular hardship which was destined to be the chief of all, during the Battery's soldiering abroad.'

Then, continues the same source, came the flies - in countless thousands - and hard on the heels of the flies came 'their natural successors, malaria, dysentery, septic sores and a dozen other complaints that sent 50 per cent of the Battery into hospital.'

Departing Aden in September 1915, the Battery - now equipped with 18-pounders - saw action in operations against the Senussi in the Western Desert of Egypt in 1916. Ansley and his fellow gunners were next heavily engaged in the First and Second Battles of Gaza in March-April 1917, where, as part of the Imperial Mounted Division, the Battery moved deep into the desert to the east of Gaza. However, it was for his part in the battle of Sheria on 6 November 1917, that Ansley won his M.C whilst attached to the Yeomanry Mounted Division; he was slightly wounded on the same occasion.

The Battery was to remain deployed in the Middle East for the remainder of the war, taking part in operations in the Jordan Valley and the advance on Damascus. It was about this time that Ansley was granted the acting rank of Captain, whilst serving as 2nd-in-Command of the Battery. He relinquished his commission in September 1921.


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Sold for
£850