A fine Second World War Coastal Forces D.S.M. awarded to Able Seaman J. H. Alexander, Royal Navy, who served as an M.T.B. Oerlikon gunner in several Channel firefights with E and R Boats

Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (A.B. J. H. Alexander, C/JX. 406780), edge bruising and contact marks, otherwise generally very fine £1000-1200

D.S.M. London Gazette 25 July 1944. The original recommendation states:

‘For efficiency and devotion to duty in the face of the enemy. H.M. M.T.B. 705 was twice in action with the enemy on the night of 14-15 March 1944 and on each occasion Able Seaman J. H. Alexander, the twin 20mm. Gunner, maintained an accurate and steady fire in spite of a very heavy return fire from the enemy and was largely responsible for setting an E/R Boat on fire. He has shown a continuous high standard of efficiency at all times and his coolness in action is outstanding. He has been in Coastal Forces for 11 months and been in five actions.’

As stated above, Joseph Henderson Alexander, a native of Neston, near Chester, had already taken part in several other actions in the Channel in 705, a case in point being the night of 23-24 December 1943, when, in company with another M.T.B. from the 59th M.T.B. Flotilla, based at Dover (and sometimes at Newhaven), 705 fought a fierce battle with several R Boats off Gravelines, severely mauling two of them with a classic Dog Boat broadside.

No doubt, too, Alexander was still serving in 705 when she formed part of the defensive screen off the Normandy beachhead in June 1944. On the night of the 8th-9th, in company with four other M.T.Bs from the 59th, she once again became embroiled in a ferocious firefight, this time with several E Boats off Cap D’Antifer. As Lieutenant-Commander D. H. Mason, R.N., the senior officer present, later reported, 705 ‘came under particularly concentrated bursts of fire’ as the range closed to several hundred yards. Alexander was clearly kept busy on his twin Oerlikon, firing 160 rounds, while similar post-action statistics report that three of his shipmates were wounded, one of them seriously. But as 705’s captain, Lieutenant A. H. Lewis, R.N.V.R., would later confirm, in those heady days off Normandy, damage and casualties were often repaired and replaced at break-neck speed:

‘M.T.B. 705 sustained quite serious damage and casualties in a conflict with E-Boats. The casualties were transferred to a frigate with a medical team aboard. On return to Newhaven, I expected the repairs to take several days, but as soon as we got alongside, the boat was besieged by about forty shipwrights, ordnance artificers and mechanics. In no time they were putting everything to rights, including an enormous tingle [a thin sheet of copper used as a temporary repair] over a large hole in the boat’s side, and the installation of a complete new 0.5 inch power turret. At the same time, replacements for the injured crew members were coming aboard with their kit bags. All the repairs were completed, the boat refuelled, and ammunition topped up by late afternoon, and by 1800 we were off again to our ‘box’ off the French coast’ (Lewis’s privately published memoir and Dog Boats at War, by Leonard C. Reynolds, O.B.E., D.S.C., refer).

Whether Alexander proceeded in 705 to the Mediterranean at the end of 1944 is not known, but it is worth noting that she struck a mine in the Maknare Channel which blew her stern off - she remained afloat for about 20 minutes. Two men were posted missing and another seriously injured.