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Auction: 25003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 179

A Second World War D.S.M. awarded to Able Seaman G. V. Woods, Royal Navy, who was decorated for H.M.S. Firedrake's successful encounter with the Italian submarine Durbo in October 1940, in which valuable documents were recovered by a boarding party

Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (SSX. 17822 G. V. Woods, A.B., R.N.), impressed naming, good very fine

D.S.M. London Gazette 3 December 1940:

'For courage and resource in recent successful actions against Italian submarines.'

George Verdun Woods was born in Suffolk on 10 May 1916 and signed-up for five years' service in the Royal Navy as a 'special service' seaman.

His subsequent date of joining the destroyer H.M.S. Firedrake remains unknown, but he likely shared in her part in the Narvik campaign in May-June 1940, when it said her skipper, Lieutenant-Commander S. H. Norris, D.S.O., D.S.C., R.N., used to lie on his back on the bridge, directing his coxswain as enemy bombs fell from above; nonetheless, she was twice damaged.

Be that as it may, we do know that Woods was serving in Firedrake when she sailed for the Mediterranean in late August 1940, for it was there, six or so weeks later - on 18 October - that she and her consort Wrestler accounted for the Italian submarine Durbo. The latter had earlier been attacked by two flying boats from No. 202 Squadron, but it was three depth charges delivered by Firedrake that appear to have caused the enemy submarine fatal damage. Compelled to surface, the Durbo was engaged by the main armament of both destroyers until it was apparent her crew intended to abandon her, following which two boarding parties managed to recover secret documents before the submarine sank.

Between them, the two destroyers picked up five officers and 43 ratings, the whole being described as 'ardent fascists' in a subsequent Admiralty report:

'Their morale appeared high and the crew had great admiration for their captain. They were intelligent and firmly believed in Mussolini.'

They might not have been quite so enthusiastic had they discovered that intelligence gleaned from the captured documents led to the sinking of another Italian submarine - the Lafole - just two days later.

Details of Woods's subsequent wartime career are not currently available, but assuming he remained in the Firedrake for the immediate future, he would have seen further action on the Malta run, including Operation 'Substance' in July 1941. On that occasion she was damaged by a 100-kilogram bomb that exploded off her port side and had to undergo lengthy repairs. What we do know for certain is that Woods was back in the U.K. by October 1941, for he was presented with his D.S.M. at Buckingham Palace in the same month. He died in Ipswich, Suffolk in February 1988.


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Estimate
£700 to £900

Starting price
£550