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Auction: 19001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 533

An unusual Second World War Coastal Forces' B.E.M. group of six awarded to Petty Officer J. R. Stiff, Royal Navy, who was decorated for his gallant damage control and rescue work when M.T.B. 710 was mined in the Mediterranean in April 1945

British Empire Medal, G.VI.R., Military (P.O. John R. Stiff, C/JX. 150937); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star, clasp, France and Germany; Italy Star; War Medal 1939-45; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., E.II.R. (JX. 150937 J. R. Stiff, B.E.M., P.O., H.M.S. Delight), mounted as worn, the last with minor official correction to ship, polished, nearly very fine or better (6)

D.S.M. London Gazette 6 November 1945:

'For great courage and coolness when M.T.B. 710, in which he was serving, struck a mine on 10 April 1945, and was lost.'

The original recommendation states:

'This rating displayed great courage and coolness whilst in the water, helping survivors to escape the detached and overturned fore part of the ship, where they were all trapped. He also saved the life of a badly injured man by holding him up in the water for 40 minutes.'

John Robert Stiff, a native of Colchester, Essex, may well have been present in M.T.B. 710 in her pre-Mediterranean sojourn in home waters. If so - and his 'France and Germany' clasp would support such a contention - he was likely present at a hotly contested Channel action on the 17 July 1944.

Moving to the Mediterranean as part of the 59th Flotilla in December 1944, and under the command of Lieutenant Anthony Bone, R.N.V.R., M.T.B. 710 quickly saw action. On the night of 13-14 February 1945, in the company of two other M.T.B.s, she met a group of heavily armed F-Lighters in the Quarnero Channel, near the east coast of the Istrian Peninsula. A close-range attack ensued and all three of the enemy lighters were sunk, but not without cost: 710 was hit abaft her bridge by a brute of an 88mm. shell, killing two of her crew and wounding others.

Stiff was again in action on the night of 12-13 March, 710 having just re-joined the flotilla after repairs; another enemy lighter was sunk. However, four nights later, 710 detonated a mine that damaged her shafts and she had to be towed to Mulat for further repairs.

Far worse was to follow on her return to the fray in April, when, on the night of the 10th, she struck another mine off Sansego Island, this time with heavy loss of life - namely 15 of her crew, including Anthony Bone, her C.O. But for the Herculean and gallant efforts of Stiff, the body count would undoubtedly have been higher.


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Sold for
£750