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Auction archive: Lot number 205

The exceptional and important Second War

Estimate
£60,000 - £80,000
ca. US$82,038 - US$109,384
Price realised:
£95,000
ca. US$129,894
Auction archive: Lot number 205

The exceptional and important Second War

Estimate
£60,000 - £80,000
ca. US$82,038 - US$109,384
Price realised:
£95,000
ca. US$129,894
Beschreibung:

The exceptional and important Second War S.O.E. ‘Force 133’ Balkan Operations D.C.M. group of eight awarded to Sergeant K. A. J. B. Scott, Royal Signals and Special Operations Executive, late King’s Royal Rifle Corps, who was ‘dropped’ into Eastern Serbia in April 1944, linking up with Major Frank Thompson’s ill-fated Operation Claridges in support of Bulgarian Communist Partisans. As anti-partisan reprisal operations closed in, Thompson took the fateful decision to lead his private army ‘T. E. Lawrence Style’ into Bulgaria, where, with Scott continuing to serve as wireless operator, they were repeatedly ambushed and fought running battles with the Bulgarian Army and Gendarmerie before being ultimately broken up. Starving and exhausted, Scott and Thompson were encircled and captured before being subjected to brutal beatings and threats under Gestapo interrogation. Learning of Thompson’s execution, Scott was then compelled to extract intelligence from S.O.E. Cairo via his wireless set but, cleverly ensuring that Cairo were not deceived, at great danger to himself he disclosed nothing, surviving fourteen nerve-wracking weeks under Gestapo orders until finally, with the Red Army closing on Sofia, he was released, finding his way to London via Istanbul and Cairo as the only British survivor of the mission. To be sold together with an important associated archive of material, elements of which include the recipient’s unpublished autobiography of his war years; private correspondence regarding the Claridges Mission between the recipient and both the author Stowers Johnson and the eminent historian E. P. Thompson, and a rare surviving S.O.E. original typescript of the recipient’s D.C.M. recommendation Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.VI.R. (6897910 Sjt. K. A. J. Scott R. Signals) with named card box of issue; 1939-45 Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Efficiency Decoration, G.VI.R., 1st issue, Territorial (6897910. Sjt. K. A. J. B. Scott. D.C.M. R. Sigs.); Bulgaria, People’s Republic, Order of People’s Liberty, breast star, gilt and enamel; Honoured Medal of Georgi Dimitrov 1923-1944, gilt and enamel; together with the recipient’s riband bar, cloth S.O.E. parachute qualification wings and King’s Royal Rifle Corps cap badge, nearly extremely fine (8) £60,000-£80,000 Sold by Order of the Family. ‘Our receiving station told us that the message was full of errors in transmission, and that the sending operator had omitted his security check message. Now the operator was a certain Sergeant of Signals, K. A. J. Scott who had the reputation of being one of the best operators our school had turned out. It was unthinkable that these errors could be accidental. We were forced to conclude that he had been captured and was operating under duress...playing back a set in enemy hands is a skilled operation involving double and sometimes triple bluff...So long as they were convinced that they were fooling us, Scott would be safe...We kept up this elaborate game for three months’ (Baker Street Irregular by Bickham Sweet-Escott refers) The exceptional and important Second War S.O.E. ‘Force 133’ Balkan Operations D.C.M. group of eight awarded to Sergeant K. A. J. B. Scott, Royal Signals and Special Operations Executive, late King’s Royal Rifle Corps, who was ‘dropped’ into Eastern Serbia in April 1944, linking up with Major Frank Thompson’s ill-fated Operation Claridges in support of Bulgarian Communist Partisans. As anti-partisan reprisal operations closed in, Thompson took the fateful decision to lead his private army ‘T. E. Lawrence Style’ into Bulgaria, where, with Scott continuing to serve as wireless operator, they were repeatedly ambushed and fought running battles with the Bulgarian Army and Gendarmerie before being ultimately broken up. Starving and exhausted, Scott and Thompson were encircled and captured before being subjected to brutal beatings and threats under Gestapo interrogation. Learning of Thompson’s execution, Scott w

Auction archive: Lot number 205
Auction:
Datum:
13 Jan 2021
Auction house:
Dix Noonan Webb
16 Bolton St, Mayfair
London, W1J 8BQ
United Kingdom
auctions@dnw.co.uk
+44 (0)20 7016 1700
+44 (0)20 7016 1799
Beschreibung:

The exceptional and important Second War S.O.E. ‘Force 133’ Balkan Operations D.C.M. group of eight awarded to Sergeant K. A. J. B. Scott, Royal Signals and Special Operations Executive, late King’s Royal Rifle Corps, who was ‘dropped’ into Eastern Serbia in April 1944, linking up with Major Frank Thompson’s ill-fated Operation Claridges in support of Bulgarian Communist Partisans. As anti-partisan reprisal operations closed in, Thompson took the fateful decision to lead his private army ‘T. E. Lawrence Style’ into Bulgaria, where, with Scott continuing to serve as wireless operator, they were repeatedly ambushed and fought running battles with the Bulgarian Army and Gendarmerie before being ultimately broken up. Starving and exhausted, Scott and Thompson were encircled and captured before being subjected to brutal beatings and threats under Gestapo interrogation. Learning of Thompson’s execution, Scott was then compelled to extract intelligence from S.O.E. Cairo via his wireless set but, cleverly ensuring that Cairo were not deceived, at great danger to himself he disclosed nothing, surviving fourteen nerve-wracking weeks under Gestapo orders until finally, with the Red Army closing on Sofia, he was released, finding his way to London via Istanbul and Cairo as the only British survivor of the mission. To be sold together with an important associated archive of material, elements of which include the recipient’s unpublished autobiography of his war years; private correspondence regarding the Claridges Mission between the recipient and both the author Stowers Johnson and the eminent historian E. P. Thompson, and a rare surviving S.O.E. original typescript of the recipient’s D.C.M. recommendation Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.VI.R. (6897910 Sjt. K. A. J. Scott R. Signals) with named card box of issue; 1939-45 Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Efficiency Decoration, G.VI.R., 1st issue, Territorial (6897910. Sjt. K. A. J. B. Scott. D.C.M. R. Sigs.); Bulgaria, People’s Republic, Order of People’s Liberty, breast star, gilt and enamel; Honoured Medal of Georgi Dimitrov 1923-1944, gilt and enamel; together with the recipient’s riband bar, cloth S.O.E. parachute qualification wings and King’s Royal Rifle Corps cap badge, nearly extremely fine (8) £60,000-£80,000 Sold by Order of the Family. ‘Our receiving station told us that the message was full of errors in transmission, and that the sending operator had omitted his security check message. Now the operator was a certain Sergeant of Signals, K. A. J. Scott who had the reputation of being one of the best operators our school had turned out. It was unthinkable that these errors could be accidental. We were forced to conclude that he had been captured and was operating under duress...playing back a set in enemy hands is a skilled operation involving double and sometimes triple bluff...So long as they were convinced that they were fooling us, Scott would be safe...We kept up this elaborate game for three months’ (Baker Street Irregular by Bickham Sweet-Escott refers) The exceptional and important Second War S.O.E. ‘Force 133’ Balkan Operations D.C.M. group of eight awarded to Sergeant K. A. J. B. Scott, Royal Signals and Special Operations Executive, late King’s Royal Rifle Corps, who was ‘dropped’ into Eastern Serbia in April 1944, linking up with Major Frank Thompson’s ill-fated Operation Claridges in support of Bulgarian Communist Partisans. As anti-partisan reprisal operations closed in, Thompson took the fateful decision to lead his private army ‘T. E. Lawrence Style’ into Bulgaria, where, with Scott continuing to serve as wireless operator, they were repeatedly ambushed and fought running battles with the Bulgarian Army and Gendarmerie before being ultimately broken up. Starving and exhausted, Scott and Thompson were encircled and captured before being subjected to brutal beatings and threats under Gestapo interrogation. Learning of Thompson’s execution, Scott w

Auction archive: Lot number 205
Auction:
Datum:
13 Jan 2021
Auction house:
Dix Noonan Webb
16 Bolton St, Mayfair
London, W1J 8BQ
United Kingdom
auctions@dnw.co.uk
+44 (0)20 7016 1700
+44 (0)20 7016 1799
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