Beschreibung:

A Battle of Arras M.C. group of eleven awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel Gerald de Gaury, Hampshire Regiment, later Essex Regiment, wounded once at Gallipoli and three times in France; a noted Arabist, explorer, historian and diplomat who shared in the creation of the Arab states that emerged between the wars, he was the author of many books on the Middle East including his autobiography Traces of Travel Military Cross, G.V.R.; 1914-15 Star (2 Lieut. G. H. S. R. V. De Gaury, Hamps. R.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. G. H. S. R. V. De Gaury); General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Southern Desert, Iraq (Capt. G. H. S. R. V. De Gaury, Essex R.) this extremely rare to the British Army; 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Defence and War Medals; Coronation 1937; Iraq Active Service Medal, with clasp for Southern Kurdistan 1930-31, contact marks, otherwise very fine and better (11) £4000-5000 Footnote M.C. London Gazette 18 July 1917: Temp. Lieut. (acting Captain) Gerald Simpson Rutland Hillairiet Vere De Gaury, Hampshire Regiment: ‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He displayed the greatest gallantry and initiative in organising and leading bombing attacks. Although subjected to heavy machine gun and rifle fire he captured an important enemy post. His fine example and disregard of danger were of great value to his men.’ Gerald Simpson Rutland Hillairiet Vere De Gaury was born at Paddington on 1 April 1897. Commissioned into the Hampshire Regiment in August 1914 he served throughout the war in France, Belgium and at Gallipoli, during which he was wounded four times and awarded the Military Cross. He served in Gallipoli with the 10th Bn. Hampshire Regiment from June 1915 until he was wounded at Chunuk Bair on 10 August. He then joined the 1st Bn. in France and Belgium in July 1916. He was with B Company 1 Hamps in the Battle of Arras, on the left flank, when he won his Military Cross. He commanded C Company 1 Hamps at the Battle of Broodseinde (Passchendaele, 4 October 1917), and was wounded during operations in the summer of 1918. He returned to 1 Hamps in August 1918, in command of B Company, and was wounded during the attack on Drocourt-Queant Line on 2 September 1918, shot down by machine-gun fire, some six bullets being later found in his right leg. After the war he was employed with the Iraq Levies, April 1924 to January 1927; with the Iraq Army, February to September 1927; and was specially employed under the Air Ministry, September 1927 to June 1928 and March to May 1930. He took part in the operations against the Akhwan in the Southern Desert of Iraq, from January to June 1928, and was one of a small handful of British Army officers to receive the medal with this clasp. His lifelong connection with Arabia and its peoples began when he was posted in 1924 to Iraq which, despite excursions elsewhere, remained his deepest and most personal interest until the 1958 revolution. He was one of the very few whose services brought him into close and lasting friendship with the ruling families of Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In his early years he served with the British Mission and with R.A.F. Command taking part in operations in Kurdistan and Southern Iraq. In 1935 he accompanied Sir Andrew Ryan, the first British Minister to Saudi Arabia, on his first visit to King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud at Riyadh. In 1936-39 he was Political Agent in Kuwait and in the winter of 1939-40 again visited Riyadh as special emissary to Ibn Saud. He returned to Iraq as special envoy to his friend the Regent, Prince Abdul Illah, during the Rashid Ali Revolt of 1941 and took part in liaison with the rebels leading to their surrender. After the Iraq campaign de Gaury rejoined the Army to raise and command the Druze Cavalry which took part in General Maitland Wilson’s campaign against the Vichy French in Syria. His second-in-command in the Druze Cavalry was none other than Wilfred Thesiger, another great Arab expert. Other wartime assignments, including atta