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Auction: 9033 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals & Militaria
Lot: 14

A Fine ´Military Division´ M.B.E., ´P.O.W. Escaper´s´ M.I.D. Group of Five to Major E.W. King, Royal Marines, Who Fought As Part of the Heroic Rearguard Action at Crete, Where He Was Wounded and Captured, 1.6.1941, Later Transferred to Germany as a P.O.W. He Made Three Unsuccessful Attempts to Escape By Tunnelling Before Successfully Escaping From A Forced March, 10.4.1945 a) The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, 2nd type, Military Division, Member´s (M.B.E.) breast Badge, silver b) 1939-1945 Star c) Africa Star d) France and Germany Star e) War Medal, M.I.D. Oakleaf, very fine, mounted as originally worn, with 2nd and 4th medals mounted on the wrong ribands, together with the following related items and contemporary documentation: - M.B.E. Royal Mint case of issue - Bestowal Document for the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E., dated 5.6.1952, this in glazed wooden frame - M.I.D. Certificate, dated 23.10.1945 Recipient´s Parchment Certificate of Service, covering the period 1.5.1931-3.3.1940 (the latter being his commission date); with a photo copy of his later Certificate of Service, covering the period 28.2.1940-31.1.1958 - Admiralty letter named to the recipient informing him of his award of the M.B.E., dated 5.6.1952 - Buckingham Palace Investiture Admittance Ticket, dated 15.7.1952, with seven photographic images from various stages of recipient´s military career (lot) Estimate £ 280-320 M.B.E. London Gazette 5.6.1952 Captain Eric William King, Royal Marines M.I.D. London Gazette 23.10.1945 Lieutenant (Acting Captain) Eric William King, Royal Marines ´For courage and resource in successfully escaping from enemy hands during the Allied advance into Germany on 7th April, 1945, and thus providing information of immediate value to the Allied attack.´ Major Eric William King, M.B.E., R.M. (1913-1982), born Margate, Kent; enlisted Royal Marines at Southampton, 1931; Sergeant 1939; commissioned Lieutenant the following year, and served as Acting Captain M.N.B.D.O. (Mobile Naval Base Defence Organization) from 10.3.1940; the function of the M.N.B.D.O. was to provide the fleet with a base in any part of the world, whether on the coast of a mainland or an island, within a week and to defend it when prepared; in April 1941 the M.N.B.D.O. was tasked with providing the fleet with such a base in Crete, unfortunately only the advanced groups (including King) had arrived before the German invasion of the island; on the 20th May the German airborne attack began and when the order came for the withdrawal to the south of Crete, Major R. Garrett, R.M., formed the M.N.B.D.O. into a rifle battalion which acted as the main part of the rearguard during the later stages of the evacuation of Allied forces from the island; while the main body withdrew from the Suda Bay area to Sphakia in the south of the island Garrett´s force were ordered to fight and hold their ground until the 1st of June - this they did to such an effect that they made a further two days of evacuation possible and thus enabling approximately 17,000 troops to fight again; unfortunately as the rearguard most of the Royal Marines, including King who was wounded, were captured on the 1st of June and taken prisoner of war by the German paratroopers; after a two month internment in various holding camps in Greece King was transported to Germany where he was held at Lubeck (Oflag XC), 8.8.1941-9.10.1941; Warburg (Oflag VIB), 10.10.1941-9.9.1942; Lichstatt (Oflag VIIB), 9.9.1942-7.7.1943 and in Marlag ´O´, 10.7.1943-10.4.1945; King´s M.I.9 Debrief offers the following detail about his escape attempts from these camps, ´Jan 1942 Oflag VIB. Tunnel. Also April 1942. Also May 1942 by Tunnel. Successful escape on 10.4.1945 with Lieut. Allan Howarth, R.N.V.R. on the march and rejoined troops 16 days later´; attached to King´s debrief is a report supplied by him and endorsed by the Senior British Officer at Marlag ´O´ which is entitled ´Escape From Germany Whilst Being Marched as Hostages From Prisoner of War Camp 17 Miles North East of Bremen, Towards Lubeck´; the report offers the following incite, ´On Monday the 9th April, 1945, orders were received from the Germans that all R.N., R.M., and R.A.F. Officers and other Ranks were to be marched from the Camp to an unknown destination.... as soon as the march commenced... I prepared to escape with sufficient food for 10 days and at the same time decided to wear the complete uniform and badges of Rank as Captain, Royal Marines. I left the Camp at 13.30 hours on Tuesday the 10th April, 1945 with the first Officers from Marlag ´O´, and marched and sat at the roadside jockeying for position until 17.35 hours when a favourable opportunity came for me to slip out from the column. For half an hour I stood still in the wood and then laid for another half an hour until the German Guards and Schutz-Polizei with hounds had left the area. Lieutenant Allan Howarth R.N.V.R., had also made the same venture and we joined forces and for the next 48 hours took cover and camouflage in a copse but we were forced to leave this as we were desperately in need of water....... we eventually penetrated the German A.A. positions and after 5 kilometres, reached a marsh with a fast running stream. We decided to stay near to this stream and hide up, as opposed to marching 20 miles south where our troops might be; so retraced our steps and took up position in what we thought was a thick wood, but in the morning, turned out to be a very scanty narrow one in which German Infantry and Mortar positions were being prepared. At dawn we dug a narrow trench with our knives and hands and camouflaged it sufficiently well as it turned out, so that the German soldiers preparing positions and telephone lines in the wood, two only 15 yards away, failed to locate us. It is amusing to record, although nerve racking at the time, that a German soldier chased a girl who headed straight for our hideout, fortunately for us he caught her two yards away where they stayed for 15 minutes - we had no inclination to see what was happening. After 48 hours in this position we had been able to reconnoitre the German Defences and it was obvious that they expected the British Troops to come from Bremen. The last report we had received on our Secret Camp Radio on the 10th April, 1945, was that our Forces were 5 miles S.E. of Bremen on the West Side of the Weser, so we decided to cross the marsh and hide-out for a few more days before proceeding south...... Owing to the shortage of food, poor water and bad weather we both were very exhausted and developed fever, however, we kept two hour watches and remained thus in this position for a further 10 days...... We ran out of food on the 20th April..... Owing to the full moon it was impossible for us to move during the night, and of course, not during the day without being seen by any of the large number of Germans and S.S. Marine division, who were living in our area. Our own sound location of gunfire and bombing and straffing during this period had made it obvious that the British Forces had moved east to Rotenburg and then north to Leven and might come south west towards the small village of Badenstedt which was half a mile from us, and our deductions were confirmed when the Germans made their front line defences in the village and the woods surrounding it with their second line just in the rear of us. At 06.00 hours on the 26th April, 1945, the tremendous British barrage commenced, and our position was soon in "no mans land" making it almost untenable as all "shorts" from Mortar and Artillery, Typhoons and Machine Guns fell around us, however, it was now absolutely impossible for us to move in any direction. At 17.00 hours I decided that we must leave our kit behind in our hide-out containing unfortunately, all my War Diaries, reports on men of my Battery in action at Crete and report of my treatment in Germany, and take cover from view and as much cover from fire as was possible to contact our lines which although unseen by us, in a position somewhere about 200 yards on the other side of Badenstedt. After a miraculous escape from German rockets and machine gun fire, we contacted the 6th Guards Armoured Forward Troops and were thankful that we had avoided being discovered on at least 20 different occasions and also resisted the numerous temptations to expose ourselves, by moving in the moonlight. The Squadron Commander asked us if we could locate on the map the German artillery which was causing them so much trouble and as we had just returned from the German Defences were able to pin point the 105mm and six barrelled rocket guns for him. It was a marvel to us to see that within 5 minutes six Typhoon aircraft smashed the target and the tanks proceeded on to their next objective. The Captain of the Scots Guards took us in a scout car with a German Officer, three German soldiers prisoners back to Brigade H.Q. where we met the forward elements of the P.W.X. Organization, who, within eight days, had us back in England´; King was subsequently M.I.D. for his vital ´spotting´; after the war he served as Adjutant at R.M. Lympstone, 1946-48; advanced Major 30.6.1954, and retired in 1958.

Sold for
£750