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Auction: 19001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 445

'The dead and wounded on this ridge remained as a line of skirmishers, the Turks sweeping them with machine-gun fire at intervals throughout the day. Consequently men wounded early in the day were killed and all were riddled with bullets.'

The War Diary of the 1/11th Battalion, London Regiment, refers to heavy loss in the Second Battle of Gaza in April 1917, a fact well-known to Regimental-Sergeant Major R. M. Callender.

A rare Great War Palestine operations M.C. group of four awarded to Temporary Regimental Sergeant-Major R. M. Callender, 1/11th (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Finsbury Rifles), a veteran of the Gallipoli campaign who went on to distinguish himself in the Gaza battles of March-November 1917

Military Cross, G.V.R., the reverse privately engraved, '450206 Regt. Sergt. Maj. R. M. Callender, for Distinguished Service in the Field'; 1914-15 Star (1649 Sjt. R. M. Callender, 11-Lond. R.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (1649 T.W.O. Cl. 1 R. Callender, 11-Lond. R.), minor contact marks, generally very fine (4)

M.C. London Gazette 1 January 1918.

Richard Martin Callender landed at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli on 11 August 1915, as a Sergeant in 1/11th (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Finsbury Rifles), a component of 162nd Infantry Brigade in 54th (East Anglian) Division. Just four days later, the unit went into action at Kiretch Tepe Ridge, suffering over 350 casualties; further costly actions ensued up until the unit's withdrawal in November.

Having been advanced to the temporary rank of Regimental Sergeant-Major, Callender subsequently shared in the trials and tribulations of the operations in Egypt and Palestine, most notably at the Second Battle of Gaza, when his Battalion suffered losses of 107 killed and 265 wounded. Sent up to reinforce the 4th Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment, who had taken severe casualties in the attack north of Sheikh Abbas, the Battalion managed to advance the line a little but was soon brought to a halt with the heavy casualties noted above.

Callender - who had earlier been mentioned in General Sir Archibald Murray's despatch, dated 28 June 1917 - was awarded the M.C.


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