Beschreibung:

The extremely rare 5-clasp India General Service medal awarded to Brigadier R. W. G. ‘Tin-Eye’ Stephens, O.B.E., British Security Service (MI5), late 1/18 Royal Garhwal Rifles and 2/2 Gurkha Rifles, Chief Intelligence Officer and Commandant of the infamous Camp 020 India General Service 1908-35, 5 clasps, Afghanistan N.W.F. 1919, Waziristan 1919-21, Mahsud 1919-20, Malabar 1921-22, Waziristan 1921-24, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Lieut. R. W. G. Stephens, 2/2/Gks.) extremely fine and extremely rare £1800-2200 Footnote Provenance: Lieutenant-Colonel Kingsley Foster Collection, Glendining’s, December 1951 (bought Spink); John Tamplin Collection. O.B.E., ungazetted, circa 1945. M.I.D. London Gazette 12 June 1923: ‘For distinguished service during the operations in Waziristan, April 1921 to December 1921.’ Robin William George Stephens was born in Alexandria in 1900, the son of William Henry Stephens of the Ministry of Education, Egypt. He was educated at the Lycee Francais in Egypt and Dulwich College where he distinguished himself in rugby and athletics. He left school in April 1918 to be a cadet at Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, then attended the Indian Army College at Quetta. Service with the Indian Army In April 1919, Stephens was commissioned into the Second Battalion of the 2nd Gurkha Rifles, forming part of 68 (Derajat) Brigade based at at Dera Ismail Khan. Just a month later the brigade was deployed in the Third Afghan War and the operations in Waziristan in 1919. On 1 November 1919, Stephens was appointed Orderly officer to the C.O.C. Number 2 Sector, Lines of Communication, Manzai, and in this capacity took part in the campaign against the Mahsuds in the winter of 1919-20. This period saw the most fierce fighting of all the North West Frontier campaigns and casualties were heavy. For much of the period he served as Cipher Officer, an unpopular job usually allocated to the most junior officers. The job reportedly entailed sitting up late at night, coding and decoding messages by the light of a hissing hurricane lamp, no doubt hoping that the glow of the lamp would not provide too tempting a target for the tribal snipers. On 12 June 1920, Stephens was detached from his regiment and served as a G.S.O. 3 until 15 October 1921, and then again from 3 November to 27 December 1921, with the Wana Column in southern Waziristan. He was mentioned in despatches for his services in this campaign. On 19 January 1922, Stephens transferred to the 39th Royal Garhwal Rifles. Early in 1922 the Garhwalis took part in the campaign on the Malabar coast against the Moploh rebels. The Malabar District lies on the south-west coast of India just to the north of Cochin, between the Western Ghat mountains and the Arabian Sea, and has been described as 'well off the beaten track' for the army in India. It is inhabited by the Moplohs, Moslems descended from Arab traders, who were vehemently anti-Hindu. After their leaders openly defied the Government in August 1921, police were sent to arrest the ring-leaders but were ambushed; a guerrilla war then broke out, in which up to 10,000 Moplohs were in the field. They concentrated on destroying railway facilities, forestry and tea plantation buildings, and attacking both civilians and the security forces. The Army responded by aggressive patrolling and succeeded in inflicting heavy casualties on the Moploh gangs. The larger gangs were broken up and, by the end of December, increasing numbers of rebels surrendered. By the end of February 1922 the civil authorities resumed charge and martial law was withdrawn. In 1922 the British decided to occupy the Razmak plateau and establish a considerable base there. The plateau lay near the boundary of the Mahsud and Wazir tribes and was thus well-sited as a base for expeditions against either. The Razmak Force, assembled along the Tochi River and slowly advanced southwards as the road progressed. The final advance, in January 1923, took place in a blinding snowstorm. I