Innehållsförteckning för November 2022 från The Armourer

Ratisbon’s in America There’s a change of venue for the 15-22 October sale at Ratisbon’s as the European auction house is headed over to America for its 2nd USA Auction. All the lots up for grabs are available for international shipping so let’s see what’s on offer. A fascinating grouping to start, it’s the medals and uniform of Lieutenant Sumner Sewall, fighter Ace and 58th Governor of Maine. Comprehensive collection that was purchased directly form the family. Comes with letters between the family and collector, comprehensive research in four folios with many pictures from Sewall’s career, his plane and action during World War I. The lot feature one of his uniform tunics including two overseas caps and a pair of boots. Also, several framed pictures, his personal walking canes, souvenirs…

Twin auctions at C&T We have two auctions to report on from C&T, the first being a timed auction that ran from 11-21 August, concerning general militaria, the second being the Private Collection of Arms & Armour that took place in September. So, firstly to the timed auction then and a mixed bag of medals. These included American, Russian, British, both recent and WWII era, along with some badges. There were 24 items in total which someone snapped up for just £44.24 (include BP of 26.4%). A nice lot next, with British Cavalry badges. Mixed cloth and metal badges, to include cap and collar badges, Royal Horse Guards, Hussars and Lancers. There were 25 items in total, selling for £132.72. If you fancy collecting shoulder titles though, then lots of…

The vast focus on the main events of Napoleon Bonaparte’s One Hundred Days from 20 March to 8 July 1815 (really 111 days) that culminated in the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June the same year, has distracted from other parallel activities in Europe. Among them was Joachim Murat’s attempt to maintain his crown as the ruler of the Kingdom of Naples during the Neapolitan War. The Battle of Tolentino was the final action outside Tolentino (now Marche) Italy from 2-3 May 1815. This pitted Austro-Hungarian troops against French-styled Neapolitan forces. Joachim (1767-1815) was Napoleon’s brother-in-law through marriage to sister Caroline; a talented cavalry commander promoted from the ranks of the Garde Nationale and eventually Maréchal d’Empire in May 1804. When, in 1799, King Ferdinand IV of Naples and Sicily…

During the Vietnam War the northern forces could rely on support from China and the Soviet Union, but for the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, better known as the Viet Cong, the situation was rather miserable. They suffered from a lack of modern weaponry for their armed resistance against the government and the American military. To compensate these shortcomings, much improvisation was needed. With the end of the Indochina War and the division of Vietnam, the foundation stones for future conflicts had already been laid. Almost immediately, South Vietnam was struck by a civil war against the dictatorial acting President Ngô Ðình Diệm and his anti-communist government. He took ruthless action against any opposition and primarily persecuted the Communist Việt Minh that remained in the South. From isolated peasant…

At the Battle of Trafalgar in October 1805, the opening broadsides of Admiral Collingwood’s flagship Royal Sovereign and Nelson’s Victory, fired at close range, raked the upper deck crews of the Santa Ana and Bucentaure respectively, shattering superstructure and killing or wounding scores of Spanish and French sailors. While a certain mythology has been allowed to grow around the deadly accuracy and firepower of British naval gunnery during the Age of Sail, the historical evidence suggests that the written records may have been prone to exaggeration. The Royal Navy’s ships of the line during this period were rated in accordance with the number of gun ports in each vessel and of the six ratings usually only the first to the fourth were considered adequate to endure the rigours of battle.…

OBITUARY HM the Queen dies It was the end of an era when, on 8 September, Buckingham Palace announced that Her Majesty the Queen had passed away peacefully in her sleep. The 96-year old monarch was the Commander in Chief of the Armed Force and held honorary ranks in dozens of regiments in the UK and Commonwealth. Many of these military appointments will be inherited automatically by King Charles, just as HM The Queen inherited many from her father, King George VI. The Army’s Chief of General Staff, the Royal Navy’s First Sea Lord and the RAF’s Chief of Air Staff all gave regular reports to the Queen and the Navy’s flagship warship, the HMS Queen Elizabeth was named in her honour. Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the head of the…

The 12 October sale at Noonans features orders, decorations, medals and militaria. Let’s kick things off with a Great War 1916 ‘Courcelette, Somme’ set awarded to three brothers. The MM group of three was awarded to Private L Mann, 8th Battalion (90th Winnipeg Rifles), Canadian Infantry. His medals were Military Medal, British War and Victory Medals with Silver War Badge. His brother Private J Mann, 8th Battalion (90th Winnipeg Rifles), Canadian Infantry, was killed in action whilst attached to No. 2 Tramways Company, Canadian Engineers. His medals were 1914-15 Star, British War and Victory Medals, and a Memorial Plaque. Lastly, there was a British War and Victory medal to Private A Mann, 8th Battalion (90th Winnipeg Rifles), Canadian Infantry, who was killed in action at Courcelette, 26 September 1916, the…

On 20 July 1944, the 4th Battalion Coldstream Guards landed in Normandy with the 6th Guards Independent Tank Brigade, equipped with Churchill tanks. Operation Bluecoat provided plenty of action for them immediately, and they fought very hard for three weeks until the Germans began their long, fiercely fought retreat across France. The 6th Guards had certainly earned a rest and were pulled out for two weeks to refit. During this rest period the brigade Intelligence Officer gathered a number of fitters and left for the Falaise Gap, in between Chambois and Trun, where the Germans had just suffered a severe thrashing. Their job was to catalogue all the enemy equipment left in the area. A sizeable portion had been hurriedly abandoned under the Allied onslaught, and not destroyed. The idea…

In 1837, Samuel Colt founded the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company in Paterson, New Jersey, to make revolver-rifles and Paterson Revolvers. Yet Colt's enthusiasm was not matched by success and his manufactory failed in 1842 even though 2,700 revolvers had been made in several sizes. About 180 No. 5 Holster Pistols had been were acquired by the independent State of Texas in 1839-41, for the state navy. The Walker Colt When war with Mexico began in 1846, an army commanded by General Zachary Taylor was sent to the border. On 9 May, during the Battle of Resaca de la Palma, men of the 2nd Dragoons helped to disperse Mexican artillerymen so effectively that the future of horsemen in the US Army with revolvers in combat became obvious. Captain Samuel Hamilton Walker,…

I’ve always been fascinated by the Desert War, or more correctly the North African campaign which took place in North Africa from June 1940 to May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and in Morocco and Algeria (Operation Torch), as well as Tunisia. I’ve always been drawn to the equipment and uniforms of The Afrika Korps which was the German expeditionary force in Africa. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defence of its African colonies, the formation fought on in Africa from March 1941 until its surrender in May 1943. The unit's best-known commander was Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. Here we have a Luftwaffe Tropical Tunic (Tropenfeldbluse). In late 1940, with the impending German entrance into the North African campaign,…

It was a changeable day down in Kent on August Bank Holiday Monday, the weather veering from cold and windy to calm and blisteringly hot in an instant. What hadn’t changed was the sheer scope of the show. Where else could you watch Vikings and Anglo-Saxons whacking each other with swords and axes one minute, then immerse yourself in the battles of Northern France in June 1944 the next. That is the attraction of Military Odyssey, there really is something for everyone, with re-enactors everywhere and trade stands selling all manner of militaria from Third Reich medals and deactivated weapons to bow, helmets and yards of cloth. The ancient eras were the first to be represented with the vast encampment of Regia Anglorum showcasing ordinary men and women of the…

In 1851, at the end of a period of awarding retrospective Army and Navy medals for the Napoleonic Wars, it was decided to issue one to survivors of the contemporary campaigns in India. The resulting India Medal (known to collectors as The Army of India medal) produced some of the rarest clasps and combinations in the collectors’ field. Some clasps were issued in tiny numbers to surviving European recipients and to equally small numbers to Indian recipients. One of the rarest of the Army of India awards was given for the defence of the village of Corygaum in Maharashtra on 31 December - 1 January 1818. In 1817, the Governor General of India ordered local British forces to take action against the Pindaris who were raiding into British territory. Military…

The Warwickshire Yeomanry dates from 1794 when, as a result of a meeting held on 25 June that year, four troops were eventually raised under the overall command of the Earl of Aylesford. Troop locations were: 1 (Packington), 2 (Aston), 3 (Rugby) and 4 (Kineton). By the time of the photograph the regiment had been organised into four squadrons: ‘A’ (Birmingham), ‘B’ (Warwick). ‘C’ (Coventry) and ‘D’ (Stratford-on-Avon). Regimental headquarters were at St John’s, Warwick.…