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Auction: 22003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 384

16 FEBRUARY 1940: THE "ALTMARK" INCIDENT

"To the glorious action of the Plate there has recently been added an epilogue - the rescue last week by the Cossack and her flotilla - under the noses of the enemy, and amid the tangles of one-sided neutrality - the rescue of British captives from the sunken German raider - your friend, the one you sunk. Their rescue at the very moment when these unhappy men were about to be delivered over to indefinite German bondage, proves that the long arm of British sea power can be stretched out, not only to foes, but also to faithful friends. And to Nelson's immortal signal of 135 years ago: 'England expects that every man will do his duty' - there may now be added last week's not less proud reply: 'The Navy is here!' "

Winston Churchill in his speech at the Guildhall, 20 February 1940.

A Second World War campaign group of six awarded to Able Seaman W. F. Thomas, Royal Navy, who was present aboard the destroyer H.M.S. Cossack at the time of the famous 'Altmark Incident'

On the night of 16 February 1940, in an episode that would be widely celebrated in the home press, Captain Philip Vian, R.N., C.O. of the Cossack, commanded a brilliant enterprise in neutral waters in Jossingfjord, Norway, when 300 British merchant seamen were rescued from appalling conditions in the holds of the German auxiliary ship Altmark

All of them were victims of earlier sinkings in the South Atlantic by the Graf Spee, prior to her demise in the River Plate, and their spectacular rescue was undertaken by a gallant boarding party from Cossack, armed with revolvers, rifles and bayonets

An indication of the controversy caused by Cossack's actions in neutral waters - in which six Germans were shot dead outright - was discovered by a British airborne unit that visited the scene of the rescue in 1945. They came upon a German signboard which read:

'Here on the 16th of February 1940, the Altmark was set upon by a British sea-pirate.'

1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star, clasp, France and Germany; Africa Star, clasp, North Africa 1942-43; Italy Star; War Medal 1939-45; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 1st issue (J. 105039 W. F. Thomas, A.B., H.M.S. Cossack), mounted as worn, minor edge bruising to the last, good very fine or better (6)

William Francis Thomas was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire on 28 June 1905 and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in November 1921.

At the outbreak of hostilities in September 1939, he was serving in the destroyer H.M.S. Cossack, and he was likewise employed at the time of her spectacular rescue of some 300 British merchant seamen on 16 February 1940.

Having qualified as a Leading Torpedo Man in the 1930s, Thomas was surely on full alert aboard Cossack as the operation proceeded.

As a result of the unfortunate delays caused by the implications of the Altmark being in neutral waters, and the presence of two Norwegian torpedo-boats ordered to prevent British intervention, Vian had patiently awaited Admiralty orders before embarking on his desperate mission, but when they arrived - with all the hallmarks of the First Sea Lord, Winston Churchill's hand upon it - he moved swiftly. Vian's account takes up the story:

'Having placed Cossack in a position from which our pom-poms could play upon Norwegian decks, whilst their torpedo tubes were no instant menace to us, I said we could parley no longer, and must board and search the Altmark forthwith, whether we fought them or not. Kjell's captain decided that honour was served by submitting to superior force, and withdrew. On rounding the bend in the fjord, Altmark at last came into view. She lay bows inshore, encased in ice, her great bulk standing black against the snow-clad mountains.

Thoughts of the six-inch guns with which the Altmark was said to be armed were naturally in our minds. Though our own guns were manned we were obviously an easy target, and the enemy's first shots might well immobilise us at once. There was nothing for it, however, but to go ahead and get to grips as quickly as possible.

The Altmark Captain was determined to resist being boarded. On sighting Cossack, he trained his searchlight on our bridge to blind the command, and came astern at full power through the channel which his entry into the ice had made. His idea was to ram us. Unless something was done very quickly the great mass of the tanker's counter was going to crash heavily into Cossack's port bow.

There followed a period of manoeuvring in which disaster, as serious collision must have entailed, was avoided by the skill of my imperturbable navigator, McLean, and by the speed with which the main engine manoeuvring valves were operated by their artificers.

Lieutenant Bradwell Turner, the leader of the boarding party, anticipated Cossack's arrival alongside Altmark with a leap which became famous. Petty Officer Atkins, who followed him, fell short, and hung by his hands until Turner heaved him on deck. The two quickly made fast a hemp hawser from Cossack's fo'c's'le, and the rest of the party scrambled across.

When Turner arrived on Altmark's bridge he found the engine telegraphs set to full speed in an endeavour to force Cossack ashore. On Turner's appearance, the captain and others surrendered, except the third officer, who interfered with the telegraphs, which Turner had set to stop. Turner forbore to shoot him.

It was now clear that as a result of her manoeuvres Altmark would ground by the stern, which she did, but not before Cossack, the boarding party all being transferred, had cast off, to avoid the same fate.

It was expected, with the surrender of the German captain, that the release of our prisoners would be a drawing-room affair. That this was not so was due to the action of a member of the armed guard which Graf Spee had put aboard. He gratuitously shot Gunner Smith, of the boarding party, in an alleyway. This invoked retaliation, upon which the armed guard decamped; they fled across the ice, and began to snipe the boarding party from an eminence on shore. Silhouetted against the snow they made easy targets, and their fire was quickly silenced by Turner and his men.

In the end German casualties were few, six killed and six badly wounded. The boarding party had none, save unlucky Gunner Smith, and even he was not fatally wounded.

Resistance overcome, Turner was able to turn to the business of the day. The prisoners were under locked hatches in the holds; when these had been broken open Turner hailed the men below with the words: "Any British down there?" He was greeted with a tremendous yell of "Yes! We're all British!" "Come on up then," said Turner, "The Navy's here!"

I received many letters from the public after this affair: a number wrote to say that, as I had failed to shoot, or hang, the captain of Altmark, I ought to be shot myself.'

'Mr. Smith, Gunner, in charge of the after party was shot from ahead as he advanced up an alleyway. Several ratings testify to being shot at, one lightly hit. Later on, when British prisoners were being released, a number of the German armed guard whom I only discovered after departure were seamen of Graf Spee, decamped over the stern of Altmark, and making their way across ice, reached an eminence on shore, from which they opened fire on boarding party on after deck. Following a most careful examination of witnesses, I have no doubt at all that the Germans fired first … '

Captain Philip Vian's official report on the incident, refers.

For full details of the 'Altmark Incident', see:

https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2019/03/26/hms-cossack-attacks-the-mv-altmark-ii/

https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2019/03/26/hms-cossack-attacks-the-mv-altmark-iii/

Subsequent career

Awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal in March 1941, and after participating in the Second Battle of Narvik, Thomas departed the Cossack in July of the same year.

He next joined the receiving ship Cormorant at Gibraltar in early 1942 and went on to see further action off North Africa, Italy and Normandy. He was released 'Class A' in October 1945.

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Sold for
£420

Starting price
£250