Medals to the Croker and Ekin Families

A well-documented Second War C.I.E. group of ten awarded to Major-General R. G. Ekin, 58th Frontier Force Rifles, later 5th Battalion, 13th Frontier Force Rifles, Indian Army, who served in Egypt and Palestine during the Great War, where he distinguished himself in the capture of the Turkish stronghold of Tabsor, capturing with just 20 men a target that had been assigned to a Battalion.

After seeing much action in Waziristan during the inter-War period, Ekin commanded the 46th Infantry Brigade in Burma during the Second World War, where he swam the 600 yards across the Sittang River to report to Divisional HQ after the bridge had been destroyed in the retreat from Burma. His services for the War effort being ‘of the highest order’, he subsequently served as General Officer Commanding, Bihar and Orissa, prior to Indian Independence, and during the course of his career was five times Mentioned in Despatches

The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, C.I.E., Companion’s 3rd type neck badge, gold and enamel, with short section of neck riband for display purposes; British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Capt. R. G. Ekin.); India General Service 1908-35, 3 clasps, Afghanistan N.W.F. 1919, Waziristan 1921-24, North West Frontier 1930-31 (Capt. R. G. Ekin. 58 Rfls.); India General Service 1936-39, 1 clasp, North West Frontier 1937-39 (Lt-Col. R. G. Ekin, 5-13 F.F. Rif.); 1939-45 Star; Burma Star; War Medal 1939-45, with M.I.D. oak leaf; India Service Medal; Jubilee 1935, unnamed as issued, mounted as worn, good very fine and better (10) £2,400-£2,800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals to the Croker and Ekin Families.

View
Collection

C.I.E. London Gazette 13 June 1946.
The official citation states: ‘Major-General Roger Gillies Ekin, Indian Army Commander, Nowshera Brigade.
Lately as a Brigadier he commanded a Brigade in Burma in 1942 with conspicuous success until owing to lack of numbers his Brigade was merged with another formation. He has since commanded Nowshera Brigade and by his outstanding ability, keenness and personality managed to build up and train raw units into a first class fighting machine in the shortest possible time. Apart from his essential military duties Brigadier Ekin by his example and devotion to duty created a co-operative and happy atmosphere throughout the station. His services to the War effort was of the highest order.’

M.I.D. London Gazettes 22 January 1919; 5 June 1919 (both Egypt); 12 June 1923 (Waziristan 1921); 20 June 1941 (Waziristan); and 28 October 1942 (Burma).

Roger Gilles Ekin was born on 18 November 1895, the son of Colonel T. C. Ekin, and was educated at Westminster School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant on the Unattached List for the Indian Army on 1 October 1914, a significant achievement as in those days the Indian Army only accepted those who had passed out in the first 35 in the final Order of Merit; a certain Bernard Montgomery had passed out 36th and had been rejected. Posted to the 55th Rifles, Frontier Rifles, on 16 December 1914, he served during the Great War in Egypt from 1916, escorting a contingent of reinforcement for the Indian Corps on the Western Front, before transferring to the 58th Frontier Force Rifles, and was promoted Lieutenant on 1 October 1916.

The following year, Ekin served during General Allenby’s campaign in Palestine, being present at the battles of Gaza, Megiddo, and Jerusalem. During the advance on Jerusalem in November 1917, the 58th Rifles were assigned to picquet the pass north-east of Latrun. The History of Palestine states that throughout history 26 attempts had been made to attack Jerusalem from the west, and all had failed; the 58th were therefore the first ever to penetrate and hold the pass, which allowed for General Allenby’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

Subsequently receiving orders to join the 232nd Brigade at Jimsu, Ekin is mentioned in the History of the 5th Battalion, 13 Frontier Force Rifles for his services on 11 December 1917:
‘“A” Company, under Lieutenant R. G. Ekin, assisted the 2/3rd Gurkhas in the capture of Budras village, putting an enemy machine gun out of acting and making prisoners of a Turkish officer and ten men.’

Promoted Captain, Ekin’s final action of the Great War came at the capture of the strongly held village of Tabsor on 19 September 1918, a Turkish strong-point, heavily protected by barbed wire and cactus hedges:
‘The Regiment advanced in two waves at 150 yards interval, “A” Company (under Captain Ekin) on the left of the first wave. Covered by an intense bombardment from our guns the line advanced, and came three minutes later under the enemy counter-barrage. The Turkish front line of defence was taken, and at soon after Tabsor village was encircled, its defenders flying in a westerly direction.’ (ibid).

A Record of the 58th Rifles, F.F., in the Great War 1914-19 adds the following detail: ‘During the advance on Tabsor, the Battalion was on a much broader front than was intended [Ekin himself says ‘The Battalion “side-stepped” several hundred yards to fill a gap vacated by a Battalion which had retired], and consequently Tabsor village itself, the assault on which the entire Battalion had been specially detailed, was actually encircled and taken by a mere handful of about twenty men under Captain Ekin and Jemadar Thakur Sing.’

For his services during the Great War in Egypt and Palestine, Ekin was twice Mentioned in Despatches, the latter Mention almost certainly for his gallantry at Tabsor, and was awarded the British War and Victory Medals.

Appointed Adjutant of the 58th Frontier Force Rifles in February 1919, Ekin saw further service during the Waziristan campaigns on the North West Frontier of India, taking part in the operations against the Wana Wazirs in 1920 in the column under Sir Walter Leslie, and served at Wana, Rogha Kot, and Dargai Oba in 1921, the fighting described as ‘the most desperate and costly in the whole history of the Frontier.’ For his services Ekin was again Mentioned in Despatches and was awarded the India General Service Medal with two clasps.

On 1 December 1922, the 58th Frontier Force Rifles was re-badged as the 5th Battalion, 13th Frontier Force Rifles. Appointed Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General in August 1924, in the inter-War years Ekin held various staff and regimental appointments, and saw further service during the campaign on the North West Frontier of 1930 when Peshawar was isolated, receiving a further clasp to his India General Service Medal.

Advanced Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel in 1936, Ekin was appointed Commandant of the Battalion in May 1937, then stationed at Thal, on the North-West Frontier, and commanded the Kohat Brigade in operations against Mehr Dil during the unrest fermented by the Faqir of Ipi in Waziristan in 1938, and the subsequent uprising in the Bannu and Kohat districts, where the Battalion was tasked with protecting a 30-mile stretch between Banda Daud Shah and Bannu (Medal and clasp).

Promoted Colonel in 1939, following the outbreak of the Second World War Ekin was appointed Commandant of the Tactical School, India, and then in 1941 was given command of the 46th Infantry Brigade, part of the 17th Indian Division; intended for service in Iraq, the division was instead sent to Burma at the end of 1941. In February 1942, having evacuated Moulmein in paddle steamers across the Salween estuary under Japanese shell-fire, and having fought a delaying action on the Bilin River, Major-General Smyth, V.C., the commander of the 17th Indian Division, decided to withdraw across the Sittang river, a more defensible obstacle. Ekin’s Times obituary takes up the story:
‘The river Sittang was a fast flowing river, 600 yards wide and crossed by a single railway bridge. Ekin was told his brigade was to be rearguard, although it was closest to the Sittang. He protested, arguing he should fall back straight away to secure the bridgehead, but was overruled. The bridge was lightly defended, and when the Japanese out-flanked the British by movement through the jungle, they overran the bridge defences, cutting off almost the entire Division. Smyth, fearing lest the bridge fall intact into enemy hands, gave orders for its demolition. This was done at 0530 hours on 23 February when two thirds of the division had yet to cross. It was a signal disaster that virtually lost Burma to the Japanese. Ekin’s brigade was caught on the wrong side of the river and he escaped by swimming, reporting at divisional headquarters in only a vest and his underpants.’ (The Times, 19 March 1990).

Having led the remnants of his Brigade across the Chidwin River at Shwegyin on 10 May 1942, Ekin subsequently led them in the 1,000 mile march across Burma back to India, displaying outstanding courage and resolution. His depleted brigade was not reconstituted, and instead he was subsequently given command of the Nowshera Brigade, which he commanded from 1942 to 1945. For his services during the Second World War he was promoted Brigadier, was twice Mentioned in Despatches, and was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire.

Post-War, Ekin was given the command of the Kohat Independent Brigade, which he commanded until 1946, before being appointed General Officer Commanding, Bihar and Orissa. He held this latter post during India’s transition to independence, and although there were significant challenges caused by partition, his firm and constructive support of the police prevented a bad situation becoming worse; in particular his deployment of troops into potential trouble areas and the provision of escorts for Muslim refugees limited damage and saved much bloodshed. Following Independence he retired from the Indian Army with the rank of Major-General.

Roger Ekin married Miss Phyllis Marian Croker in 1923, with whom he had one son and two daughters. Following the death of his first wife in 1967, he married Mona de Hamel in 1972. In retirement he was secretary of the Hereford Diocesan Board of Finance, and he died on 9 March 1990.

Sold with the following archive:
i) The recipient’s riband bars; two 5 Frontier Force Riffles cap badges; and cloth rank epaulettes;
ii) The recipient’s Bestowal Document for the C.I.E., named to Colonel (Temporary Brigadier) Roger Gillies Ekin, and dated 13 June 1946, with Central Chancery enclosure;
iii) The recipient’s Commission Document, appointing him a Second Lieutenant, Unattached List for Indian Army, dated 29 September 1914;
iv) The recipient’s five Mentioned in Despatches Certificates, dated 23 October 1918, 5 March 1919, 24 May 1922, 20 June 1941, and 28 October 1942;
v) Programme of the Investiture for the C.I.E., held at Government House, Ranchi, on 14 September 1946, which includes the official recommendation of the C.I.E.;
vi) A fine presentation photograph album, the inside inscribed ‘To Brigadier R. G. Ekin, To Commemorate a Happy Reunion, from the Officers, 5th Bn. Frontier Force Rifles, 16 October 1945.’;
vii) Various letters written to the recipient from high ranking Army Officers, including Field Marshal Sir Philip Chetwood; Field Marshal Lord Birdwood; General Sir Robert Cassels; General Sir Francis Tuker; Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Smith; Lieutenant-General Sir Tom Hutton; and General Maharaj Rajendrasinhji (later Commander-in-Chief, Indian Army post-Independence, who attributes his appointment to Ekin: ‘... You may not know this, but I have to thank you a great deal for my appointment, for it was the smashing good report that you gave me as one of your Sub-Area Commanders, which weighed with the Selection Board at that time in making me one of the first three Major Generals, and I have never looked back since.’;
viii) A copy of the Farewell Address delivered on the occasion of Ekin leaving the 5th Battalion, 13th Frontier Force Rifles, May 1940;
ix) Four Regimental Histories: The Frontier Force Rifles [the inter-War chapter on the 5th Battalion, 13th Frontier Force Rifles written by Ekin]; The Punjab Frontier Force 1846-1924; A Record of the 58th Rifles, F.F., in the Great War 1914-19; and History of the 5th Battalion, 13 Frontier Force Rifles [this with numerous annotations by Ekin], all bound in green cloth;
x) A fine portrait photographs of the recipient, and a coloured portrait;
xi) A large quantity of group photographs and contemporary photographs, a number of the latter annotated on the reverse;
xii) Two copies of The Piffer, the Regimental Journal, November 1963 and May 1975;
xiii) Copies of the recipient’s obituaries in The Times and the Daily Telegraph, and a copy of the address read at his funeral;
xiv) A fine presentation wooded cigar box, the lid carved with the regimental crest of the 5th Battalion, 13 Frontier Force Rifles;
xv) Various Invitations, Christmas cards, and other ephemera.