Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A fine Second World War “V.C. action” M.M. group of six awarded to Warrant Officer Class 2 V. W. Warner, The Rifle Brigade, who was decorated for his gallantry at Sidi Rezegh on 21 November 1941, when his survival was attributed to ‘one of those unaccountable miracles’ that sometimes occur in such desperate actions

Military Medal, G.VI.R. (817449 Cpl. V. W. Warner, Rif. Brig.); General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Palestine (817449 Rfmn. V. Warner, Rif. Brig.); 1939-45 Star; Africa Star, clasp, 8th Army; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, all in their card boxes of issue, extremely fine (6) £1600-1800

M.M. London Gazette 20 January 1942. The original recommendation - for an immediate award - states:

‘At Sidi Rezegh on 21 November 1941, this N.C.O. was an operator on the wireless of Column H.Q. when it was attacked and pinned down by the fire of 60 German tanks and infantry. When the control set which Corporal Warner was manning was hit and set on fire, he recovered the set, got it into another vehicle and, although under continuous fire in a very exposed position, brought it to safety. His promptness and resource in the face of great danger enabled this Column to remain in communication with the H.Q. Special Group. His complete disregard for his personal safety and his quick action was a fine lesson to all ranks.’

Victor William Warner, who was born in Farnborough in March 1915, enlisted in the Rifle Brigade in August 1933 and witnessed active service in Palestine between June 1939 and January 1940. And he was serving in the 2nd Battalion at the time of the above cited action at Sidi Rezegh on 21 November 1941, otherwise known as Operation “Crusader”. The Rifle Brigade in the Second World War, by Major R. H. W. S. Hastings, D.S.O., O.B.E., M.C., takes up the story:

‘When the Germans were ready their attack began. There were several attacks by dive bombing Stukas, though these were well clear of the Battalion. Enemy field guns shelled the position. In the rocky ground the motor platoons had been able only to scrape inadequate trenches. They were pinned to their weapon pits as soon as the enemy tanks came in sight. Battalion Headquarters were in full view, three eight-cwt. pick-ups with wireless masts, isolated on this bare ground. Realising that these would be an obvious target for the enemy tanks, the members of Battalion Headquarters crouched behind their vehicles, reporting while they could on the wireless what dismal information they had and requesting armoured help in a tone that made it quite clear that friends were not being mistaken for foes. Five Crusader tanks were sent over. These were set on fire before they could get near enough to engage the enemy with their 2-pounders. Two of the vehicles of Battalion Headquarters - and the Adjutant’s best hat - were soon in flames. Corporal Warner, of the Signal Section, jumped into the third, started it up, and drove it to safety without being put out of action - one of the unaccountable miracles of this desperate battle. The enemy tanks were now being engaged by the 25-pounders of the battery of the 60th Field Regiment and some guns of the 4th R.H.A. which had come into action behind them. Apart from these, unsuitable but brilliantly fought, there were three weapons capable of taking on the enemy tanks - two 2-pounders on their unarmoured portees under Ward Gunn (3rd R.H.A.) and one Bofors anti-aircraft gun commanded by Pat McSwiney. These three engaged the enemy as best they could, outranged and unarmoured as they were. The Bofors fired self-destroying 40-mm anti-aircraft ammunition and, though, it had the range, its effect on the Mark 111 and 1V tanks was not decisive.

The small party round the blazing pick-ups watched these three guns firing away at the enemy, watched the crews, completely composed, completely undaunted, picked off one by one. The enemy gave everything they had: machine-gun fire from the tanks and the supporting infantry, mortars, shells from the Mark 1V’s and the field guns. One 2-pounder was destroyed; the Bofors gun was set on fire. All the crew of the remaining gun were either killed or wounded, and the driver not unnaturally began to drive it out of the battle. Ward Gunn, at Battalion Headquarters, was joined at that moment by Bernard Pinney, the commander of “M” Battery, 3rd R.H.A. He said to Ward: “Go and stop that blighter!” and even then it seemed hard to be so described for driving a useless gun and dead crew out of action. Ward immediately ran out and stopped him and, together, they dragged the bodies off the portee and got the gun into action, Bernard Pinney joining in. No one could gauge the effect of this fire, because to look over the edge of a slit trench was suicidal. Dick Basset had already been wounded in the head and Tom Bird in the heel. A little dog was running round from trench to trench, trying hard to find its master and being distressingly friendly to each person in turn - distressingly because its movements attracted a hail of machine-gun fire. The Germans concentrated their fire on the burning vehicles of Battalion Headquarters and the one remaining gun. But at least the two nearest enemy tanks were blazing.

In a matter of seconds the portee was on fire, the off-side front wheel had been hit, and the tyre was blazing: two boxes of ammunition held in brackets behind the passenger seat were also in flames. Pinney took the Pyrene fire extinguisher and got the fire in the tyre under control; but the ammunition boxes continued to burn. Ward Gunn, who had kept on firing throughout, was hit in the forehead and killed instantly. Pinney pushed his body out of the way and went on firing until further hits made the gun unusable. He drove away unscathed. The next day in a comparatively quiet area a stray shell landed close enough to kill him. The driver, in normal times the Sergeant, No. 1 on the gun, crawled away to join Battalion Headquarters and got out with them later in the day. Both Ward Gunn and Bernard Pinney were recommended for Victoria Crosses and the award was given to Ward Gunn posthumously. One of the three Riflemen who witnessed the citation was Tom Bird, the future commander of “S” Company, the anti-tank company, whose exploits on the Snipe position were to rival those of Gunn and Pinney ... ’

Nor was 2nd Lieutenant Ward Gunn of the Royal Horse Artillery the only man to win a V.C. that day, a fellow rifleman from the 1st Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, to whom ‘A’ Company, 2nd Battalion, The Rifle Brigade, were acting in support, also winning a posthumous Cross, namely Rifleman John Beeley - see Focus on Courage, by Lieutenant-General Sir Christopher Wallace and Major Ron Cassidy, for further details; so, too, The Sidi Rezegh Battles 1941, by J. A. I. Agar-Hamilton and L. C. F. Turner.

Warner transferred to the Royal Army Ordnance Corps in February 1942 and to the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in October of the same year, and remained actively employed in the Middle East until returning to the U.K. in early 1944. He was finally demobilised in the rank of Warrant Officer Class 2 in March 1946.

Sold with the recipient’s original Regular Army Certificate of Service, and Soldier’s Service and Pay Book, together with a wartime newspaper cutting and a relative’s 1914-15 Star (G-3071 Cpl. A. J. Brockman, E. Kent R.).