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Auction: 20002 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Space Exploration
Lot: 429

Three: Private L. D. L. Browne, 2nd (Airborne) Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment, who died during the first few hours of the Invasion of Sicily on 9 July 1943


1939-45 Star; Italy Star; War Medal 1939-45, all privately impressed '4925985 Pte. L. D. L. Browne. S. Staffs.', with O.H.M.S. box of issue named to 'Mr. D. L. Browne, "Larklands", Salty Lane, Shaldon, Teignmouth', and original medal award slip to 'Private L. D. L. Browne', good very fine (3)

Leslie Denis Lyndon Browne was born on 3 December 1908 at East Preston, Sussex, the son of Denis and Ethel Beatrice Browne, later of Shaldon, Teignmouth, Devon. A distiller's clerk by occupation, Browne lived alone at 193 Clerkenwell Close, Finsbury Park, before attesting for the 2nd (Airborne) Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment. He was killed in action on the opening day of Operation Husky - the Allied invasion of Sicily - where the Allies launched a large amphibious and airborne operation designed to take the island from the Axis powers in preparation for the assault on the Italian mainland.

To divert some German and Italian forces to other areas, the Allies engaged in several deception operations, the most famous and successful of which was Operation Mincemeat. Commencing on the night of 9-10 July 1943, Husky achieved all the strategic goals set out by the Allied planners, but this is not to say that the landings were initially successful; only 12 of 147 British gliders landed on target, whilst 69 crashed into the sea resulting in over 200 men drowning (Brigadier C. J. C. Malony, refers). Among those to get his feet wet was Major General George F. Hopkinson, commander of the British 1st Airborne Division, who, after spending several hours clutching a piece of wreckage, was eventually rescued by the landing ship H.M.S. Keren.

Nevertheless, success did occur, not least the successful capture of Ponte Grande and repulsion of counter-attacks by Lieutenant Louis Withers, in command of a platoon of the 2nd Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment - possibly including Browne. Over the ensuing six weeks the Allies drove all enemy land, air and naval forces from the island, thus enabling the Mediterranean sea lanes to be opened to Allied merchant ships for the first time since 1941. Mussolini was toppled from power and Hitler was forced to cancel major operations at Kursk in order to divert forces to Italy (The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944, refers). However the cost was high; from an initial strength of 160,000 personnel, the British, Canadians and Americans recorded approximately 5500 killed and 14,500 wounded, with nearly 4000 missing. Aged 34 years, Browne is buried at Syracuse War Cemetery, which still holds the graves of 100 unidentified servicemen from the Second World War, testimony to the ferocious fighting and dogged resistance experienced on the island.


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Sold for
£380

Starting price
£100