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Auction: 20001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - conducted behind closed doors
Lot: 955

Five: Private L. G. Hitchings, Dorsetshire Regiment, late Essex Regiment, killed in action in Normandy on 7 August 1944


General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Palestine (6584698 Pte. L. G. Hitchings. Essex. R.); 1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, good very fine (5)

Leonard George Hitchings was born in 1910 and served in Palestine with the Essex Regiment. Transferred to the Dorsetshire Regiment, he served with the 4th Battalion and would have landed in France on D+17, seeing their first heavy action during the battles around Malmot and Hill 112 from 10 July. The actions were fierce, the battle ending with street fighting with the SS panzergrenadiers for possession of a shattered village. At the close of play, just five officers and 80 men reassembled in Horseshoe Wood.

Rolling through the countryside and having been reinforced, Hitchings would have shared in the actions of Cahagnes, Jurques and Ondefontaine. Having been posted missing and wounded, Hitchings was recorded as having been killed in action on 7 August 1944. He is commemorated upon the Bayeux Memorial, Calvados, France.

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Sold for
£450

Starting price
£100