Beschreibung:

Sold by Order of the Recipient ‘Exposing the ships of the Support Squadron [at Walcheren] had been a deliberate ploy to distract German fire while the Marines landed, and the casualties among the ships were heavy: only seven out of 27 survived unharmed. In March 1945 Smith was surprised, however, to learn from the London Gazette that he had been awarded, posthumously, a mention in despatches “for gallantry and great devotion to duty during the assault on Walcheren”. When Smith pointed out that it was another officer, Lieutenant Leonard George Smith who had been killed, and that he was alive and well, the Admiralty promptly awarded Smith the Distinguished Service Cross.’ John Jarvis-Smith’s obituary notice in The Daily Telegraph, 22 May 2015, refers. A fine Second World War “Operation Infatuate” D.S.C. group of five awarded to Sub. Lieutenant J. F. Jarvis-Smith, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, whose Landing Craft Gun (Large) took terrible punishment off Walcheren in November 1944, a direct hit on the bridge killing or wounding all present: he assumed command, brought the crippled vessel out of action and delivered its many wounded to a hospital ship Distinguished Service Cross, G.VI.R., reverse officially dated ‘1945’ and privately engraved ‘Lieut. J. F. Smith, R.N.V.R., D.S.C.’; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star, clasp, France and Germany; Africa Star, clasp, North Africa 1942-43; War Medal 1939-45, mounted court-style as worn, together with Normandy Veterans’ Medal, as presented to the recipient by the Regional Council of Normandy at an investiture in 1994, good very fine (6) £2000-3000 Footnote D.S.C. London Gazette 10 April 1945. John Frederick (afterwards Jarvis-) Smith was born in Streatham, London in March 1924. Educated at Woodmansterne Road Primary and Central School, Tooting, he was a chorister and London Y.M.C.A. singles tennis champion. Having joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (R.N.V.R.) in 1941, and participated in the North Africa landings at the end of the following year, Smith returned home to attend H.M.S. King Alfred, the “Wavy Navy’s” officers’ training establishment at Hove, Sussex. Graduating as a Midshipman in May 1943, he was allocated to landing craft duties, possibly as a result of his earlier experiences off North Africa. Be that as it may, he saw action off Sword Beach on D-Day in a Landing Craft Gun (Large) (L.C.G.(L.), which vessel continued to lend support fire on the left flank of the British landings for the remainder of the month. Walcheren - Posthumous M.I.D. - ‘Alive and well’ - D.S.C. Smith next saw action on 1 November 1944, as part of “Operation Infatuate”, the amphibious landings on the heavily defended Dutch island of Walcheren. His landing craft, L.C.G. (L.) No. 11, commanded by an Australian, Lieutenant T. M. Foggitt, R.A.N.V.R., was deployed in the Support Squadron, which force, as quoted above, suffered heavily. No. 11 closed to within 1,000 yards of the beach, her two 4.7-inch guns being used to soften up the enemy’s defences but, in common with many of her consorts, she was repeatedly straddled and hit by return fire. Gordon Holman, a war correspondent, takes up the story in his report, Big Guns v. Little Ships: ‘A quiet spoken Australian naval officer, wounded at the Westkapelle landings, told me yesterday the story of great gallantry of the men in the gun support vessels at Walcheren. Lieutenant T. M. Foggitt, R.A.N.V.R., is 38, married and with one small daughter in Brisbane, where he was an optician until he volunteered for the Navy. At Westkapelle he commanded one of the converted landing craft which gave gun support to the Commandos. These lightly built vessels fought at point-blank range with heavy German batteries at Walcheren protected by thick concrete which formed part of the formidable coast defences. “Heavy German guns opened up on us almost before they came into our range,” he said. “The guns in my vessel L.C.G. (L.) were manned by Royal Marines. They were anxious to