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Auction: 12002 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals & Militaria
Lot: 442

The Remarkable Second War 1943 ´Aegean Operations´ D.S.O., 1918 ´Zeebrugge Raid´ D.S.C., Great War Albert Medal for Gallantry in Saving Life at Sea Group of Twelve to Captain G.D. Belben, Royal Navy, Posthumously Mentioned in Despatches When H.M.S. Penelope Was Torpedoed and Sunk Off Naples, 18.2.1944, ´Captain Belben Lost His Life From Ultimate Exhaustion As a Result of His Outstanding Bravery and Self-Sacrifice in Directing the Rescue of Survivors From the Water´ a) Distinguished Service Order, G.VI.R., silver-gilt and enamel, reverse of suspension bar officially dated ´1944´, with integral top riband bar b) Distinguished Service Cross, G.V.R., silver (Hallmarks for London 1918) c) Albert Medal, Second Class, For Gallantry in Saving Life at Sea, bronze and enamel, the reverse officially engraved, ´Presented By His Majesty To Lieutenant George D. Belben, D.S.C., R.N. For Gallantry in Saving Life On H.M.S. "Glatton" On 16th September, 1918.´ d) 1914-15 Star (Mid. G.D. Belben, R.N.) e) British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. Oak Leaves (Lieut. G.D. Belben. R.N.) f) 1939-1945 Star g) Atlantic Star h) Africa Star i) Italy Star j) War Medal, M.I.D. Oak Leaf k) Jubilee 1935, generally very fine or better, housed in a Spink & Son glazed display frame, with the following contemporary related items: - Bestowal Document for the Distinguished Service Order, dated 17.2.1944 - M.I.D. Certificate, dated 1.8.1944, with Admiralty Enclosure Letter, dated 11.8.1944 - Buckingham Palace Condolence Enclosure slip - Two Admiralty Letters to recipient´s wife confirming Belben´s death and his subsequent burial, dated 6.3.1944 and 17.3.1944 - Admiralty Letter confirming the award of the D.S.O., dated 24.4.1944 - Typed Citation For the Albert Medal - Typed extract from a letter describing the loss of H.M.S. Penelope, from Lieutenant-Commander R.L. Matheson, R.N. (senior surviving Executive Officer), dated 9.4.1944 - Letter to recipient´s wife concerning the events surrounding Belben´s death from the Reverend John Lewis, dated 11.9.1944 - Photograph of Belben with H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, during his visit to Portsmouth Dockyard, 1926 - Photograph of Belben with H.R.H. The Duke of York (later King George VI), during an inspection of a guard of honour, Portsmouth; with other copied ephemera (lot) Estimate £ 22,000-26,000 D.S.O. London Gazette 4.4.1944 Captain George Devereux Belben, D.S.C., A.M., Royal Navy (this appointment to date from 17th February, 1944) ´For undaunted courage, determination and endurance in H.M. Ships... Penelope... in many sweeps against enemy shipping in the Aegean under fierce and constant attack from the air, and in maintaining supplies to the islands of Kos and Leros until they fell to superior enemy forces.´ D.S.C. London Gazette 23.7.1918 Act. Lieut. George Devereux Belben, R.N. (Thetis) ´For carrying out his duties with perfect coolness and judgement under very heavy fire. On abandoning Thetis he took charge of the overcrowded boat, which was holed and partially waterlogged, and handled her most ably, keeping her afloat until picked up by a motor launch.´ A.M. London Gazette 31.1.1919 Lieutenant George Devereux Belben, D.S.C., R.N. [in joint citation with Sub-Lieutenant D.H. Evans, R.N.V.R., Petty Officer E. Stoker and Able Seaman E. Nunn] ´On September 16,1918, a serious explosion occurred amidships on board H.M.S. Glatton while lying in Dover Harbour. This was followed immediately by an outbreak of fire, the oil fuel burning furiously and spreading fore and aft. Efforts were made to extinguish the fire by means of salvage tugs. The foremost magazines were flooded, but it was found impossible to get to the after magazine flooding positions. The explosion and fire out of the after part of the ship, killing or seriously injuring all the officers who were on board with one exception. The ship might have blown up at any moment. Lieutenant Belben, Sub-Lieutenant Evans, Petty Officer Stoker and Able Seaman Nunn were in boats which were rescuing men who had been blown, or who had jumped, overboard. They proceeded on board H.M.S Glatton on their own initiative and entered the superstructure, which was full of dense smoke, and proceeded down to the deck below. Behaving with the greatest gallantry and contempt of danger, they succeeded in rescuing seven or eight badly injured men from the Mess deck, in addition to fifteen whom they found and brought out from inside the superstructure. This work was carried out before the arrival of any gas masks, and though at one time they were driven out by the fire, they proceeded down again after the hoses had been played on the flames. They continued until all chance of rescuing others had passed, and the ship was ordered to be abandoned when she was sunk by torpedo, as the fire was spreading, and it was impossible to flood the after magazines.´ M.I.D. London Gazette 19.2.1919 Lieutenant George A. [sic] Belben, D.S.C., A.M., R.N. (Zeebrugge) M.I.D. (Posthumous) London Gazette 1.8.1944 Captain George Devereux Belben, D.S.O., D.S.C., A.M., Royal Navy Captain George Devereux Belben, D.S.O., D.S.C., A.M., R.N., born Poole, Dorset, 1897; entered Royal Naval College Osborne, as Cadet, 1910, and then went on to Dartmouth, 1912; with the outbreak of the Great War he was serving as Midshipman, H.M.S. Cumberland (cruiser); appointed to H.M.S. Canada (battleship) as part of the Grand Fleet in 1915, before being appointed to H.M.S. Penelope (light cruiser) later the same year; served in the latter, rising to the rank of Lieutenant, as part of the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron, Harwich Force, 1915-1917; the Penelope suffered torpedo damage from a U-boat attack off the Norfolk coast, April 1916; volunteered for service in the Zeebrugge Raid, 23.4.1918, and was appointed to the blockship Thetis. Zeebrugge Raid - Blocking Operations Keyes´ despatch on the raid offers the following with regard to Thetis´s attempt, as one of three ships, to block the canal, ´Thetis (Commander Ralph S. Sneyd, D.S.O.) - Sighted the Zeebrugge Mole ahead, and signalled the fact to the ships astern. She was greatly assisted by rockets fired from Vindictive, which showed up the Mole extension and lighthouse, and also by Captain Ralph Collins in a motor launch, who hailed the Thetis and gave her the bearing of the lighthouse. After rounding the latter the barge-boom came into view, and Thetis was steered for the barge furthest from the Mole, opening fire at the lighthouse, and then at the barge, which is reported from subsequent observation to have been sunk. The ship was under a fairly heavy fire from the light guns on the Mole extension, but her captain did not see any firing from the 4.1-inch battery at the Mole head. As the ship approached what appeared to be an opening between the barges and the net obstruction extending to the south-eastward from them she commenced to swing to port. She was given full port helm, but ran into the nets between the two end buoys, and continuing to forge ahead, took the nets with her. The piers of the canal entrance were in sight when both engines were reported to have brought up. Thetis had thus cleared the net obstruction away enough to enable the ships following to pass to starboard of her, and she signalled them to do so. Being about 300 yards from the eastern pier-head, and having drifted slightly to port (shoreward), she appears to have grounded. She had a list to starboard, and was settling down, having been frequently holed along the starboard side by gunfire. She continued to be hit from the Mole, from craft alongside it, and from guns on shore east of the canal. One or two machine guns were also firing at the ship, her 6-inch forecastle gun engaging these guns until her own smoke made it impossible to see. Communication with the engine-room having broken down, a messenger was sent, and Engineer Lieutenant-Commander Ronald C. Bodie (Hercules) succeeded in starting the starboard engine, which moved the ship ahead; and being still aground aft, her head swung to starboard into the dredged channel. As she appeared to be sinking, the commander cleared the boiler rooms, sent the boat-keepers to their boats, ordered the smoke to be turned on and the ship to be abandoned. Owing to the death of the petty officer in charge of them, the forward firing keys were not in position; smoke and shell fumes prevented their being found, so that the charges were fired by the after keys; they detonated well, and the ship quickly sank. The ship´s company manned the one remaining cutter and pulled to M.L. 526 (Lieutenant Hugh A. Littleton, R.N.V.R.), which was lying near. Although crowded and holed in two or three places, the cutter was got away without confusion, due to the exertions of Lieutenant George A. [sic] Belben (Penelope), Commander Sneyd and Lieutenant Francis J. Lambert (Sir John Moore) being at this time disabled by gas.´ Cold Gallantry In Dover Harbour Having been awarded the D.S.C. for the Zeebrugge raid, Belben was appointed to H.M.S. Trident (destroyer), with whom he served as 1st Lieutenant; on 16.9.1918 he was present at Dover, when an explosion occurred aboard H.M.S. Glatton- having volunteered for Zeebrugge knowing full well what was likely to occur, this time he stepped into the unknown by boarding the blazing ship on his own initiative; At 6:15 on the evening of 16th September, Glatton´s midships 6-inch magazine had a low-order explosion that ignited the cordite stored there; flames shot through the roof of ´Q´ turret, starboard midside, and started to spread aft; Commander N. W. Diggle ordered the forward magazines flooded, but the crew were unable to flood the rear magazines as the flames blocked access to the magazine flooding controls; the seriousness of the situation was intensified by the fact that the ammunition ship Gransha was moored in close proximity; if Glatton´s rear magazine exploded and set off Gransha´s ammunition then there was a distinct possibility that the strength of explosion could have caused massive civilian casualties in Dover itself; it was into this situation that Belben, and the three other men awarded the Albert Medal for this action, entered; they continued to risk their lives to rescue the Glatton´s crew until the fire was too widespread and the order to torpedo the ship was given; Vice-Admiral Keyes, who had been walking with Commander Diggle when Glatton´s magazine exploded, boarded the recently arrived destroyer Cossack and ordered her to torpedo Glatton in an attempt to flood the magazine before it detonated; Cossack´s first 18-inch torpedo struck the anti-torpedo bulge amidships, but failed to explode because it had been fired too close; she fired again and blew a hole in Glatton, but the torpedo´s warhead was too small to penetrate through her bulge and the flaming ship stayed afloat; Keyes transferred to the destroyer Myngs and she fired her larger torpedoes successfully capsizing the Glatton and extinguishing the fire; approximately 60 men were killed, and 124 were injured, 19 of whom subsequently died of their burns. In Between The Wars Belben served in H.M.S. Danae, as part of the Special Services Squadron World Cruise, 1923-1924; specialising in gunnery Belben was posted to Whale Island, Portsmouth, and was present in the guard of honour for two royal visits during his time there; served in H.M.S. Cairo, in the Mediterranean, 1927-29; after a period at Staff College, he served as Lieutenant-Commander, H.M.S. Renown, 1930-31; promoted Commander and attached to the British delegation at the League of Nations Commission for two years; appointed Gunnery Officer, Home Fleet in H.M.S. Nelson, 1933; commanded the destroyer flotilla on the China Station, 1935-36, firstly from H.M.S. Daring and then in H.M.S. Wishart; served as Executive Officer, H.M.S. York (flagship of the American squadron), based in Bermuda, 1936-39. Another World War Belben was promoted Captain, 30.6.1939, and appointed to the command of H.M.S. Canton (Armed Merchant Cruiser), October 1939; during the early stages of the war she was mainly engaged on Atlantic Convoys; he served on the staff of the Naval Attaché in Washington, 1941, before being appointed the following year to the command of H.M.S. Penelope whilst she was refitting in Brooklyn after her time in Malta, where she had affectionately been known as H.M.S. Pepperpot due to the number of shell holes she had sustained whilst stationed there; following her re-fit she joined the 12th Cruiser Squadron, as part of the Mediterranean Fleet and took part in the follow up of Operation Torch; in June 1943 she assisted the destroyers Paladin and Petard with the bombardment of the Italian island of Pantelleria; during which the Penelope was hit once, but suffered no major damage; she also took part in the bombardment and assault on the island of Lampedusa which fell to the British forces on 12.6.1943; the following month Penelope carried out several diversionary bombardments (including Catania), as part of Operation Husky, the conquest of Sicily; she was similarly employed for the allied landings at Salerno, Italy, 9.9.1943; at the end of September the Penelope was sent to the Aegean, and in October she helped to support and maintain the British occupation of the Dodecanese Islands Leros, Samos and Kos; on 7.10.1943, ´one of the finest exploits occurred soon after the recapture of Kos, when a force led by Captain P.W.B. Brooking in the cruiser Sirius, accompanied by the cruiser Penelope (Captain G.D. Belben) and two destroyers completely destroyed an invasion force off Stampalia´ (The Times, December 1943, refers); the British ships had accounted for six enemy landing craft, one ammunition ship and an armed trawler; whilst retiring from this action through the Scarpanto Straits the British ships came under heavy attack from the air, with Penelope suffering bomb damage as a result; Belben was awarded the D.S.O. for his service in the Aegean. The Loss of the Penelope Belben´s ship was employed during the amphibious assault on Anzio (Operation Shingle), 22.1.1944, and took part in the bombardments of the Formia area; on the morning of the 18th February the Penelope left Naples to return to the Anzio area; she was struck by two torpedoes fired from U-410 and sunk off the Pontine Islands: ´From the time of the first explosion onwards, the behaviour of the ship´s company was magnificent. There was no outward sign of excitement and even little of tension. This was true of the survivors when in the water also, and their orderly conduct was quite outstanding when the rescue ships were picking us up. I am convinced that all this was due in great measure to the example always set by Captain Belben himself and to the continuous direction and care which he gave to the training of the ship´s company... Of Captain Belben´s actions on the bridge I have very little first hand knowledge, as I was on the bridge for a comparatively short time. He was completely calm then and all his orders were given exactly as they always had been, clearly and decisively. Personally I think there is no doubt that his orders were entirely governed by his determination to save the ship. Had we been able to get under way a minute earlier with our one remaining screw, the second salvo might have missed astern with a consequent chance of getting the ship back to harbour. From the information I have been able to gather, I am certain that Captain Belben endangered and then finally lost his life ensuring the safety of others. Captain Belben stepped into the water from the bridge along with the remainder of the bridge personnel. The first report I have is of Captain Belben swimming by himself. Later he was seen with a piece of wood about five feet long collecting any poor swimmers he could find and encouraging them to carry on. Subsequently he was heard directing them towards the nearer L.S.T. when it came close. He brought five ratings to the ship´s side and refused to leave them and accept rescue himself until all the others had been brought on board. Those who were brought alongside by Captain Belben were unable to say what happened in the water after they got on board. At what must have been about that time I came out on deck to see how the rescue work was going on. I noticed there was an American destroyer in the vicinity so I went on the bridge of the L.S.T. to ask the Captain to inform the destroyer that I considered there was a submarine in the vicinity... When I came down Captain Belben had been brought on board. There were two army doctors on board and I persuaded one of them to direct his attention for some time to Captain Belben. We had no success. He had obviously swallowed a quantity of oil fuel and his clothes were so soaked in oil fuel that it was with difficulty one could see the stripes on his sleeve. Had Captain Belben exerted himself less in his efforts to save others on arrival at L.S.T. 430 I am sure he would have retained enough strength to keep his head above water and oil. I used occasionally to go swimming with Captain Belben. He was a strong swimmer.´ (Extract from Lieutenant-Commander R.L. Matheson´s letter, refers). 417 of the crew, including Belben, were killed; for his gallant conduct during the sinking of the Penelope he was Posthumously Mentioned in Despatches, and it is possible to speculate that had he survived the action he would have been awarded another decoration; however, given his rank the only posthumous awards available were the Victoria Cross or an M.I.D. Captain Belben is buried in Miano Cemetery, Naples, and he is commemorated with the rest of his crew that lost their lives that day on a memorial in St. Ann´s Church, Portsmouth Dockyard.

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