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Auction: 20001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - conducted behind closed doors
Lot: 854

(x) A Gallipoli Casualty group of three awarded to Private R. Davie, King's Own Scottish Borderers, late Highland Light Infantry, who was killed attempting to advance up Gully Ravine and capture Turkish-held trenches

1914-15 Star (19027 Pte. R. Davie. K.O. Sco: Bord:); British War and Victory Medals (19027 Pte. R. Davie. K.O. Sco. Bord.), good very fine (3)


Robert Davie was born around 1884 in Glasgow, the son of James Davie of 25 Kelvinside Ter South, Glasgow, Scotland. A grocer's clerk, he initially served with the Highland Light Infantry before transferring to the 1st Battalion, King's Own Scottish Borderers. The Battalion landed at 'Y' Beach at 4.45am on 25 April 1915 - one of three beaches allocated to the 29th Division during the Gallipoli landings and the most northerly on the Cape Helles Peninsula. Under Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald Koe, the 1st Battalion, K.O.S.B. advanced inland trouble-free, only four Turks being encountered, the sheer scale of surprise being exhibited in the War Diary entry for the Battalion:

'During the night the enemy brought up a machine gun on a pony, almost into our lines - this gun however was almost immediately put out of action.'

However the relative lack of opposition did not last long. An attack in strength by the Turkish 9th Division, coupled with conflicting orders, a lack of clear command and the death of Koe at sea from wounds received in action, resulted in the evacuation of positions and return to the landing trawlers; Casualties amounted to 296 officers, N.C.O.s and men (The War Diary of the 1st Battalion, K.O.S.B., refers).

Following this debacle, Davie joined the 1st Battalion on 25 May 1915 in time for the Third Battle of Krithia. A nine o'clock on the night of 3 June 1915 the Borderers paraded near 'W' Beach, received a benediction from their padre and prepared for a move up Gully Ravine. The next day, at 11.55am, following a tot of brandy, 'A' and 'B' Companies mounted their ladders and leapt over the parapet at the sound of whistles. The futility of the attack was recorded by Captain Paterson, who focussed upon George Calderon who commanded Platoon No. 8: as a Turkish machine gun opened fire along his parapet, he 'vanished in the smoke of battle'. He added with grisly detail:

'nearly all the corpses we got [back to our lines for burial] were hit six or seven times'.

Hemmed in at Gully Beach, the 1st Battalion, K.O.S.B., spent 25 June 1915 terracing the cliff. At 10am on 27 June they conducted a church service, before again moving up the Gully and massing in the trenches so hard-fought-over previously. At 11am the next day, following a two hour bombardment by Allied forces, the Battalion pushed forward and captured the trench J10. From here 'A' and 'B' Companies continued the advance capturing J11 and turning it into a fire trench, with one platoon advancing up the ravine. Despite the gains and relative success, casualties were high. The War Diary records 8 officers and 223 other ranks killed, wounded or missing.

It was during this assault that Davie was killed in action, his name being commemorated upon the Helles Memorial; sold with copied War Diary entries, research and MIC.

Source:
http://www.patrickmileswriter.co.uk/calderonia/?p=2937


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Sold for
£320

Starting price
£110