A Russian St. George Cross for Bravery pair awarded to Petty Officer Mechanic N. E. Martin, Royal Naval Air Service, for service with the Armoured Car Division in Russia

Victory Medal 1914-19 (F.2870 P.O.M., R.N.A.S.); Russia, St. George Cross for Bravery, 4th Class, silver, rev. inscribed, ‘978487’, extremely fine (2) £1200-1500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to the Royal Naval Air Service and Armoured Car Squadrons.

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Nelson Ernest Martin was born in Paddington, London on 1 October 1895. A Motor Mechanic by occupation, he enlisted into the R.N.A.S. as a Petty Officer Mechanic on 29 December 1914. He served in No.15 Squadron in Belgium and France. On 1 December 1915 he embarked for Russia and served with No.1 Squadron Armoured Cars. His official record of service states:

‘Aug.-Novr. 1916. On detached service in Persia. Nov.-Dec. On detached service in Dobrudsha. In action Topolul. Dec. On detached service in Roumania. Galatz base. January 1917. At Tiraspol base. March. On detached service in Roumania. Galatz. 22nd May Returned to Tiraspol base. Awarded St. George Cross for “conspicuous gallantry in action” at Galatz. Cross No.978487. 8th June. Left Tiraspol base for service in Galicia. Telyache. 12th August. Left Proskurov Base for Brovary Base. 22nd August Aug. Left Brovary for England on leave. 18.9.17. Arrived in England. 3.4.18. Discharged unfit’.

Sold with a Russian diary for 1917, inscribed to ‘N. E. Martin, British Armoured Cars Russia’, with handwritten entries in pencil, 1 January-18 September, with additional entries made for 11 June, 1 July, 11 July. With a modern typed transcription of the diary entries. Together with an ornate discharge certificate (damaged) mounted on card, an original photograph of the recipient’s parents and copied service papers.

25 April: ‘Our 3pdr. fired from the new position, and the enemy replied with 6 inch h.ex. Killed two of our chaps, both pals of mine. J. Graham was blown absolutely away & P. Smith was terribly smashed, decapitated, disembowelled etc. All that could be found of J.G. was two bits of legs....’

Additional entry 11 June: ‘I was listening to the conversation of some soldiers this evening & it appeared that a day or two previously, during a discussion on peace, etc, one soldier gave a speech against making an advance (Russian). Another soldier, hearing this, picked up a piece of wood & hit the speaker on the head with it, killing him on the spot. A court martial ensued & after discussing the evidence, the court martial found that the prisoner had acted quite right, and awarded him with the Cross of St. George (4th Class)....’

1 July. Front Line Trenches Galicia. ‘The attack was timed for 10.00 am. At 9.55 enemy artillery opened up a heavy bombardment of the first line. Ten o’clock came & the soldiers having arrived some twenty minutes earlier, the order was given to mount the parapet. ... The enemy fire was devilish by this time. I opened fire about 10.05, my orders being to sweep the enemy trenches over the heads of the advancing infantry. I got a unique sort of souvenir. It is a Russian officers’ epaulette. The soldiers would not get out of the trench in our sector of the line, & the officer, who had been over himself & had come back, was telling us about it & he was that furious & ashamed, that he said that he would not command such men & ripped his epaulettes off, throwing them into the trench, from which place I afterwards recovered one. Another officer was beating the men over with a big stick. There is another incident, may be called humerous, may be called pathetic. It was this. About six soldiers were afraid to go over, but at the same time they were ashamed to stop back, one of our chaps from a trench mortar crew, a big Australian, was near & they called him, & pointing to their backs & then over the trench, he understood them to want putting over, so he gets on the step, & getting them by the slack of their clothing, he throws them over one after the other ’. In the book The Czar’s British Squadron, the Australian is named as Petty Officer Gardiner. He is very likely to be one and the same as Petty Officer Mechanic G. Gardner, who was to win the D.S.M. for his bravery that day (see lot 591).

26 July: ‘Left Proscurov about 11.30 am for the front on an armoured [car] we built ourselves. Arrived at the village where our camp is about 4.00 pm. This car is the ‘invention’ of our Sqdrn. Comdr. It is a Ford armoured body, put into a light lorry. The gun is mounted inside the armoured body. The driver is armoured in with odd pieces of plate, & the whole thing is the biggest piece of madness I have seen. The ‘Sketch’ photographer took ‘snaps’ of it’.