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Auction: 8010 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 107

The Highly Important G.C.B., K.B.E., Great War D.S.O., M.C. and Bar Group of Twenty-One to General Sir G.I. Thomas, Commanding Officer of the 43rd Western Division in North West Europe: His Leadership Spanned Eleven Months of Continuous Fierce Fighting, From the Bloody Battles of Caen to the Richswald, Via the Long and Heavily Contested Road to Nijmegen for the Attempted Relief of the Airborne Forces at Arnhem a) The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Military Division, Knight Grand Cross (G.C.B.) set of Insignia, sash Badge, 90 mm, silver-gilt, gold applique, and enamel; Star, 95mm, silver, silver-gilt, gold applique, and enamel, with gold retaining pin, with Evening Dress section of sash riband b) The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, 2nd type, Military Division, Knight Commander´s (K.B.E.) set of Insignia, neck Badge, 80mm including crown suspension x 65mm, silver-gilt, gold applique, and enamel; Star, 80mm, silver-gilt, gold applique, and enamel c) Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel, with integral top riband bar d) Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued, with Second Award Bar e) 1914 Star, with replacement Bar (2. Lieut: G.I. Thomas. R.F.A.) f) British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. Oakleaves (Major G.I. Thomas.) g) 1939-1945 Star h) France and Germany Star i) Defence and War Medals, M.I.D. Oakleaf j) Coronation 1953 k) France, Fourth Republic, Legion of Honour, Officer´s breast Badge, 54mm including wreath suspension x 40 mm, silver-gilt and enamel, with rosette on riband l) Netherlands, Kingdom, Order of Orange-Nassau, Military Division, Grand Officer´s set of Insignia, neck Badge, 85mm including crown suspension x 55mm, silver-gilt and enamel; Star, 81mm, silver, silver-gilt, and enamel m) Belgium, Kingdom, Order of Leopold, Military Division, Commander´s neck Badge, 100mm including crown and crossed swords suspension x 55mm, silver-gilt and enamel, uni-lingual version, with silver marks on suspension ring; together with an Order of Leopold, Military Division, Officer´s breast Badge, 75mm including crown and crossed swords suspension x 40mm, silver-gilt and enamel, uni-lingual version, with rosette and gilt L.III.R. palm on riband n) France, Fourth Republic, Croix de Guerre 1939, with bronze palm o) Belgium, Kingdom, Croix de Guerre, L.III.R., with bronze L.III.R. palm, generally good very fine or better (21) Estimate £ 16,000-18,000 G.C.B. London Gazette 5.6.1952 General Sir Gwilym Ivor Thomas, K.C.B., K.B.E., D.S.O., M.C. (1374), late Royal Regiment of Artillery. Colonel Commandant, Royal Regiment of Artillery. K.C.B. London Gazette 8.6.1950 General Sir Gwilym Ivor Thomas, K.B.E., C.B., D.S.O., M.C. (1374), Colonel Commandant Royal Regiment of Artillery, late Royal Regiment of Artillery. C.B. London Gazette 1.1.1944 Major-General Gwilym Ivor Thomas, D.S.O., M.C. (1374), late Royal Artillery. K.B.E. London Gazette 12.6.1947 Lieutenant-General Gwilym Ivor Thomas, C.B., D.S.O., M.C. (1374), late Royal Regiment of Artillery. D.S.O. London Gazette 26.9.1917 Capt. (A./Maj.) Gwilym Ivor Thomas, M.C., R.F.A. ´´For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. When his battery was being relieved the position was shelled by an intense bombardment, which lasted for over two hours and caused many casualties in both batteries. The pits and ammunition of one section caught fire, and he succeeded in extinguishing this. Later, the telephone pit and mess shelter were wrecked, and he immediately led the way to the rescue of wounded men inside. The camouflage nets of three more guns were then set alight, and the ammunition began to catch fire. This he also saved by tearing down the burning camouflage and smothering the smouldering ammunition, some of which had already begun to explode. Not until all the fires had been extinguished, and he had seen every man, both wounded and unwounded, clear of the position, did he seek cover for himself. His great gallantry and exceptional coolness throughout the whole of this time were worthy of the highest praise.´´ (citation Gazetted 9.1.1918) M.C. London Gazette 1.1.1917 Lt. (temp. Capt.) Gwilym Ivor Thomas, R.F.A. ´´For distinguished service in the field.´´ M.C. Second Award Bar London Gazette 26.9.1917 Captain (A./Major) Gwilym Ivor Thomas, M.C., R.F.A. ´´For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. During a heavy hostile shelling of his battery position two guns were hit and camouflage and ammunition were set on fire. He at once rushed to the spot and extinguished the flames, although subjected the whole time not only to heavy hostile shell fire but also to the risk from exploding ammunition. There is no doubt that his courageous and prompt action saved a very serious disaster.´´ (citation Gazetted 9.1.1918) M.I.D. London Gazette 14.12.1917 Capt. (A./Maj.) Thomas, G.I., D.S.O., M.C., R.F.A. ´´For distinguished service in the field.´´ M.I.D. London Gazette 22.3.1945 Maj.-Gen. G.I. Thomas, C.B., D.S.O., M.C. (1374), Commands and Staff, late R.A. ´´In Recognition of gallant and distinguished services in North West Europe.´´ M.I.D. London Gazette 9.8.1945 Maj.-Gen. G.I. Thomas, C.B., D.S.O., M.C. (1374), Commands and Staff, late R.A. ´´In Recognition of gallant and distinguished services in North West Europe.´´ M.I.D. London Gazette 4.4.1946 Maj.-Gen. G.I. Thomas, C.B., D.S.O., M.C. (1374), Commands and Staff, late R.A. ´´In Recognition of gallant and distinguished services in North West Europe.´´ Netherlands, Knight Grand Officer of the Order of Orange Nassau with Swords London Gazette 18.7.1947 Lieutenant-General Sir Gwilym Ivor Thomas, K.B.E., C.B., D.S.O., M.C. (1374), late Royal Regiment of Artillery. ´´In Recognition of distinguished services in the cause of the Allies.´´ Belgium, Commander of the Order of Leopold with Palm London Gazette 15.2.1952 General Sir Gwilym Ivor Thomas, K.C.B., K.B.E., D.S.O., M.C. (1374), Colonel Commandant, Royal Regiment of Artillery. ´´In Recognition of distinguished services in the cause of the Allies during the 1939-1945 War.´´ Belgium, Croix de Guerre 1940 with Palm London Gazette 15.2.1952 General Sir Gwilym Ivor Thomas, K.C.B., K.B.E., D.S.O., M.C. (1374), Colonel Commandant, Royal Regiment of Artillery. ´´In Recognition of distinguished services in the cause of the Allies during the 1939-1945 War.´´ France, Officer of the Legion of Honour, and Croix de Guerre with palm, not Gazetted, but both awarded in 1945. General Sir (Gwilym) Ivor Thomas, G.C.B., K.B.E., D.S.O., M.C., was born on the 23rd September, 1893, the son of John Thomas (Pencerd Gwalia), Harpist to Queen Victoria and King Edward VII. He was educated at Cheltenham College, and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and commissioned Second Lieutenant, Royal Field Artillery, 20.12.1912. During the Great War he commanded a Battery on the Western Front, was twice wounded, and thrice decorated. Between the Wars he passed the Staff College, served as Adjutant of a T.A. Battery, and became a Brigade Major of the 1st Division. In 1938 he was appointed G.S.O.1 at the Home Office Plans Division where he did useful work in the organisation of the Air Raids Precaution system. A few months before the outbreak of War, in the rank of Brigadier, he was appointed Deputy Director of Organisation, and subsequently held the appointments of a Divisional C.R.A. and a C.C.R.A. prior to promotion to Major-General and application of his ´´supremely lively and critical brain´´ to the command of the Wessex Division in May 1942. Over the next two years Thomas put his Division through a gruelling and relentless course of training exercises in the country around Folkestone, which conveniently resembled the Normandy bocage. He was a hard task master and seemingly omnipresent. It was his intention that when his men went into battle ´´they would encounter no conditions worse than those they had been subjected to on exercises and would not be asked to do anything except kill.´´ It was a view that was to earn him the nickname in the Division of ´´Von Thomas´´. Features, geographical and man-made, which would be encountered on the Continent were recreated using ´´cloth models´´ set up in huts and halls around Kent, and the assessment of even the most minor were not complete without the attendance of the Major-General. ´´Whether the problem under discussion was the occupation of a reverse slope position, the passage of a mine-field, or the layout of the Bren Guns, he missed nothing. The slightest flaw in reasoning, the least departure from principle, the most successfully concealed ignorance brought immediate and devastating retribution. For many they were an ordeal, physical because they were almost invariably held in unheated huts and lasted many hours, and moral according to the mental capacities of the individual concerned.´´ Thomas firmly expected all arms of the Division not only to train and fight as teams, but to think as teams as well, and while he was quick to detect an error, he was also always ready to listen to the younger Officers. ´´In fact his ready sympathy with them and his ability to detect potential capacity to command resulted in the Division going overseas with a magnificent team of junior commanders, imbued with his aggressive outlook.´´ On D-Day minus one Thomas assembled all his Officers in the Ritz Cinema in Hastings and revealed the exact nature of the task ahead. He closed his briefing by telling them that on the Continent they could dress as they pleased. He himself was to adopt a singularly distinctive attire- ´´high oiled boots, light-coloured riding breeches, battle dress blouse´´, cap with faded red band, and, in winter, a leather coat. In Normandy, where the Division was first employed in the capture of Caen and was engaged in the heavy fighting on the River Orne, he at once put into practice his concept of speed in war- ´´speed in terms of speed of thought and decision´´, which necessarily entailed the rapid issue of orders by quick and effective verbal communication. Remarkably, over the ensuing months, he never once issued a written order, being able to rely on the high standard wireless communication achieved in training. In the heat of battle, General Thomas was himself formidable on the air. ´´He had a voice which seemed able to blast its way through interference from wireless programmes, Fighter Command operations, other formations´´ activities, and even the worst splutterings and explosions of the wireless sets of the period.´´ In early August the Division took possession of Mont Pincon, a sinister and strongly held feature which had loomed large in the minds of Horrocks and the Senior Officers of XX Corps during training in England. Casualties by this time, however, were distressingly high, and ´´it was a matter of astonishment to Officers of other units that 43rd Division still retained any morale at all´´. Blasted forward from Mont Pincon by 300 guns at the disposal of General Horrocks and his C.C.R.A., Brigadier S.B. Rawlins, Thomas next dislodged the enemy from his new defence line on the River Vire. After the Falaise Pocket had been cleared, the Division raced ninety miles in six days to the Seine at Vernon. On the evening of the 22nd August Thomas was summoned by Horrocks to XXX Corps Headquarters and was given orders to force a crossing of the river and form a bridgehead of sufficient depth to allow the passage of the remainder of the Corps, this being two Armoured Divisions, one Armoured Brigade, and an Infantry Division. Immediately after the meeting Horrocks was taken ill and removed to Montgomery´´s Headquarters, Thomas duly evolved the plan by which the crossing was effected, which in turn allowed the Armoured Divisions to make their spectacular dash to Brussels. In September the Division took part in XXX Corps´´ attempt to force a sixty mile corridor through enemy held territory and so link up with Major-General R.E. Urquhart´´s 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem on the far side of the Lower Rhine opposite Driel. The Guards Armoured Division spearheaded XXX Corps´´ thrust on the afternoon of the 17th and the next day made contact with the southern end of the aerial ´´carpet´´ in the shape of the 101st U.S. Airborne Division between Eindhoven and Veghel. On the 19th the Guards made contact with the second strip held by the 82nd U.S. Airborne who had captured the road bridge over the Meuse intact. On the 20th British and American troops fought desperately to secure the Nijmegen bridges over the Waal. But between the Waal and the Lower Rhine, however, lay the difficult country of ´´The Island´´, which intersected by dykes and high banks was impossible for armoured vehicles and ideal for defence. Horrocks now pinned his hopes on Thomas´´ Division which was ordered up from the rear, but the Germans had cut the road at several points and although Thomas´´ men battled fiercely to re-secure it and drive back attacks, they were unable to keep pace with the British columns. Concerned by the massive traffic jams along the road, Horrocks told General Gavin, of the 82nd Airborne Division. "Jim, never try to supply a Corps up just one road". On the 22nd when the 43rd Division finally broke out from the chaos in Nijmegen, the greater part of it became embroiled in the hand to hand fight for Elst and the battle for Oosterhout directly beyond. Nevertheless leading elements of the Division were pushed through to the river where an initial attempt by the 4th Dorsets to reinforce the beleaguered 1st Airborne resulted in the virtual destruction of the Battalion. Ultimately Horrocks decided that the Airborne´´s position west of Arnhem was untenable, and that to ask Thomas to cross his Division was pointless. He told Thomas at a conference at Divisional Headquarters that he was to agree directly with Urquhart the time and details of the 1st Airborne´´s evacuation. Thomas´´ detailed plans, codenamed ´´Operation Berlin´´, was sent across to Urquhart on the morning of the 25th September and put into execution that night. Thomas´´ failure to reach his ambitious objectives was defended by Horrocks that the fault was his own and that he ´´should have ordered General Thomas to carry out a left hook across the Lower Rhinemuch further to the west.´´ In the face of a rapidly developing German counter-offensive on the corridor, Thomas, whose general abilities were evidently never in doubt, was next given the command of no fewer than five Infantry Brigades, and handed the bankrupt legacy of responsibility for the defence of the whole Island until early October when his Division was relieved by 101st Airborne Division and briefly withdrawn south of the Waal. Through the remaining months of 1944, Thomas and his Division were engaged in operations in Belgium including the capture of Geilenkirchen. In December he briefly assumed temporary command of XXX Corps in the absence of Horrocks to exploit the breakout from the Reichswald. The success of the Division in effecting the latter under the most atrocious conditions was Thomas´´ greatest triumph. After the War Thomas commanded the 1st Army Corps District British Army of the Rhine, and on relinquishing that appointment in 1947 was appointed K.B.E. Colonel-Commandant of the Royal Artillery between 1947 and 1957, he was promoted General in 1949 and became Quarter-Master General to the Forces in 1950. He was created K.C.B. the same year, and as Quarter-Master General was responsible for the movement of troops and supplies to Korea and Malaya. In 1952 he was advanced to a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. General Sir Ivor Thomas died on the 29th August, 1972. General Essame, one of Thomas´´ Brigade Commanders during the War, attributed the formidable record of the 43rd Division in no small way to his forceful character and the application of ideas distilled over two hard years in England. ´´By the time all the Division took the field in June 1944 he and all under his command had so completely identified themselves with each other as to make reference to his predecessors almost irrelevant. Indeed it is doubtful whether any other Divisional Commander of the period impressed his own personality and ideas on those under his command, or indeed on those above him, with greater or more incisive effects.´´ Provenance: Spink Medal Circular, April 1998

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