Naval Medals from the Collection of the Late Jason Pilalas (Part I)

The post-War C.B.E. and Second War D.S.C. group of six awarded to Captain (E.) H. G. Southwood, Royal Navy, who was decorated for H.M. submarine Regent’s gallant mission to the Gulf of Kotor in April 1941, in order to rescue a British diplomat. After frantic negotiations with Yugoslavs and Italians alike, the absent diplomat failed to appear; more reliable were the two German aircraft that did, the pair of them machine-gunning and bombing Regent with consequent damage and casualties

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, C.B.E. (Civil) Commander’s 2nd type neck badge, complete with neck cravat in its Toye, Kenning & Spencer Ltd. case of issue; Distinguished Service Cross, G.VI.R., reverse officially dated 1941, hallmarks for London 1941; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; War Medal 1939-45, with M.I.D. oak leaf, mounted court-style as worn, good very fine (6) £3,000-£4,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Naval Medals from the Collection of the Late Jason Pilalas.

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C.B.E. London Gazette 1 January 1967.

D.S.C. London Gazette 30 September 1941:

‘For daring, enterprise and coolness in taking H.M. Submarine Regent into the port of Kotor to try to embark His Britannic Majesty’s Envoy-Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary accredited to the Government of Yugoslavia, and in keeping her there for nine hours though surrounded by large forces of the Italian Army.’

The original recommendation states:

‘This officer coolly went from compartment to compartment during the latter half of the bombing attacks, looking for defects. He arranged for the destruction of the remaining secret publications, the moment the order “Abandon Ship” was given. He gave every possible assistance to Sub. Lieutenant Anderson in taking charge and by his coolness kept up the spirits of the ship’s company.’

M.I.D. London Gazette 5 May 1942: H.M.S. Regent. Eight Mediterranean War Patrols from October 1940 to August 1941.

Horace Gerald Southwood was born in Portsmouth on 19 April 1912, and entered the Royal Navy an Engine Room Artificer Apprentice in August 1927. Having then served in the Mediterranean and Home Fleets in the battleships Resolution and Barham, he attended engineering courses at the shore establishment Fisgard and the R.N.C. Greenwich.

Commissioned as an Acting Sub. Lieutenant (E.) in July 1935, he next attended a submariner’s course at Dolphin and was serving as a Lieutenant (E.) in the Regent at the outbreak of hostilities. She was then stationed in the Far East in the 4th Submarine Flotilla but transferred to the 1st Flotilla at Alexandria, Egypt in April 1940. Initially employed on mine-laying duties, Regent transferred to regular war patrols in the Eastern Mediterranean and Adriatic in second half of the year, where she accounted for at least two Italian merchantmen.

But it was for his part in Regent’s gallant foray into the Gulf of Kotor in April 1941 that Southwood was awarded the D.S.C. On that occasion, having negotiated two minefields, Regent’s captain, Lieutenant-Commander H. C. Browne, R.N., was charged with obtaining the release of a British diplomat. Much has been written of subsequent events, for her nine-hour mission inside enemy territory was of an exceptional nature, comprising as it did two ports of call, much heated negotiation with Italians and Yugoslavs and then finally Regent coming under sustained attack.

Her first port of call was at Ercegnovi, where two Yugoslavs offered to inform the resident Italian commandant of Regent’s diplomatic mission, while she lay off the small harbour sporting her White Ensign. In due course, the Yugoslavs advised Browne to make for Zelenika, where an Italian commandant and staff officer were received with due ceremony on Regent’s fore-casing. Here, it was ascertained that a British officer would have to journey ashore for a meeting with an Italian Admiral at Kotor. Browne delegated one of his officers, Lieutenant Lambert, but only on the proviso the Italian staff officer remained aboard Regent in exchange.

Regent then lay off Zelenika all the forenoon, closed up at diving stations, awaiting Lambert’s return. When, however, two German aircraft appeared on the scene, Browne alerted Alexandria and Malta of his predicament. He then made his way to the bridge, joining his First Lieutenant and a Petty Officer, and it was at this moment that the two enemy aircraft commenced to bomb and machine-gun Regent. A related article, by George A. Brown, A Trip to the Dalmatian Coast, takes up the story:

‘The first run of bombs lifted Regent sufficiently out of the water to force air out of the ballast tanks and gave Lieutenant-Commander Browne the impression the pressure hull had been pierced and he gave the order to the Control Room to prepare to abandon ship. A fire was hastily lit with only waste in the engine room to burn the cypher books, and the fuses of the depth charges, carried to destroy the submarine, were laid. At the same time a compartment-to-compartment inspection was carried out to determine the extent of the damage.

It was possible at the end of the third or fourth bombing run, a few minutes after the order to prepare to abandon ship had been given, [for Southwood] to report to the bridge that the submarine appeared to have suffered no structural damage. The First Lieutenant was wounded in the chest, and the Petty Officer, who had a flesh wound, were assisted down the conning tower. The captain pressed the klaxon and Regent disappeared into her natural element.

Nine hours had now elapsed since Regent first entered Topla Bay and although Lieutenant-Commander Browne had promised Lieutenant Lambert that he would wait for him as long as possible, he appreciated it he was to leave the harbour at all, it had to be at night. Remaining dived, and conning the submarine through the periscope, he navigated her out through the entrance and through the minefields to the open sea, running the gauntlet of the fire of the shore batteries mounted on the surrounding hills.

Lieutenant-Commander Browne had several flesh wounds at the back of his neck and legs, partly from splinters and partly from machine-gun fire. However, he had lost little of the toughness which had gained him his Irish International and Naval rugby caps, and he remained in the Control Room until the submarine was safely in the open sea.

By this time stock of the situation had been taken and it was found that the battery had been badly damaged. Some 60 cells were cracked which necessitated disconnecting one of the three sections to the battery and reducing the voltage in the other two. A submarine without a battery is not a submarine at all and Regent was fairly lame. The five-day passage back to Malta was a weary and anxious time.

The Sub. Lieutenant, who had only joined the submarine a few days before, and the Engineer Officer [Southwood] were in two watches, which together with their other duties of navigating, cyphering, nursing the battery and so on, left them little time for rest. The captain was able to keep watch for the first day or so, with the assistance of a homemade shooting stick, until the weather deteriorated and the wound in his leg made it impossible.

Fortunately, enemy surface vessels, which were usually patrolling the Otranto Straits, were not encountered as it was unlikely Regent’s battery would have stood up to a prolonged attack and certainly not depth charges. The homeward passage was as uneventful as the outward one six days previously.

It became known afterwards that the British minister, together with about 50 Belgian, Dutch and Polish diplomats were held by the Italians in a hotel comparatively close to where Regent was lying, but although they were told she was there they were unable to make contact.

As soon as the Italian Admiral in Kotor heard that the Germans had bombed Regent he sent Lieutenant Lambert back with an Army Commandant. They put out in a small boat with a white flag but were too late for Regent had departed. Lieutenant Lambert was later exchanged for the Italian officer.’

Removing to the submarine depot ship Medway in August 1941, and afterwards to a staff appointment in the Engineer Overseer’s Department at Barrow-in-Furness, he returned to sea in the submarine Amphion in April 1944 and he was likewise employed at the war’s end.

Post-war, Southwood received promotion to Commander (E.) in December 1948 and to Captain (E.) in December 1958, and held several senior engineering posts, among them Chief Engineer of H.M. Dockyard, Singapore and Manager of the Engineering Department of H.M. Dockyard, Portsmouth. It was for his services in the latter post that he was awarded the C.B.E. in January 1967, just prior to being placed on the Retired List. Captain Southwood died at Newton Ferrers, Devon in March 1997.

Sold with his original C.B.E. warrant, dated 1 January 1967 (Captain, R.N.), and M.I.D. certificate (Lieutenant (E) Horace Gerald Southwood, D.S.C., R.N., H.M.S. Regent, 5 May 1942), together with several letters written by him in the post-war era, concerning the Regent’s mission, and a quantity of copied reports.