Orders, Decorations and Medals

The Second World War Coastal Forces operations C.G.M. group of seven awarded to Chief Petty Officer L. D. Lanfear, Royal Navy, an M.G.B. Oerlikon gunner who displayed notable courage in two firefights in the Straits of Dover in September 1941 - ‘having suffered multiple injuries, being in great pain and unable to stand’ during the second of these engagements, ‘he seized a stripped Lewis gun and directed rapid and accurate fire on the enemy until finally he collapsed from the effects of his wounds’

Conspicuous Gallantry Medal, G.VI.R. (P./JX. 154702 L. D. Lanfear, A.B., R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; War Medal 1939-45; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., E.II.R. (JX. 154702 L. D. Lanfear, C.G.M., C.P.O., H.M.S. Indefatigable), this last with slack suspension and official correction to ship’s name, contact marks, otherwise generally very fine (7) £12,000-15,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Ron Penhall Collection.

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C.G.M. London Gazette 21 October 1941. The original recommendation states:

‘Able Seaman Lanfear directs the Oerlikon gun in M.G.B. 43. During the action of the 8-9 September 1941, he displayed outstanding calmness and skill throughout the engagement and was largely responsible for the damage inflicted on the enemy. M.G.B. 43 was again in action with the enemy on the night of 11-12 September 1941 and for the second time he showed exceptional coolness and skill. When seriously wounded during this second engagement he displayed gallantry and devotion to duty of the very highest order. Having suffered multiple injuries, being in great pain and unable to stand, he seized a stripped Lewis gun and directed rapid and accurate fire on the enemy until he finally collapsed from the effects of his wounds.’

Leslie Douglas Lanfear spent several months in hospital recovering from his wounds but was able to attend an investiture at Buckingham Palace to receive his well-merited decoration from the King on 21 July 1942.

Of the action fought on the night of 8-9 September 1941, in the Straits of Dover off Blanc Nez, when M.G.B. 43 operated alongside M.G.B. 52, and a flotilla of M.T.Bs, Bryan Cooper in his history The Battle of the Torpedo Boats, states:

‘Fifteen miles away, the gunfire was seen by Lieutenant Stewart Gould from the bridge of M.G.B. 43. Together with M.G.B. 52, commanded by Lieutenant Barry Leith, R.N.V.R., this boat was racing towards the interception, having received a bearing from Dover Command headquarters. The boats altered course slightly to head directly for the lights flashing over the distant horizon ... As Gould headed for the distant gunfire, he too was wondering if now, at last, they were to have their chance. It would be galling for the M.T.Bs to have it all their own way; at this time there existed a friendly rivalry between the crews serving in the two types of craft ...The first to actually sight the convoy was Gould, in M.G.B. 43. He signalled the information to Dover Command and also to Pumphrey [Flotilla C.O. of the M.T.Bs].

As far as Gould could make out, there was one merchant ship and about six escorts, two of them armed trawlers and the remainder E boats. He decided to shadow the convoy until the M.T.Bs had time to close for their attack, and took station on the port quarter, about three-quarters of a mile behind. But the minutes passed and there was still no sign that the M.T.Bs had seen the convoy. All Gould knew was that they were several miles to the west. At 01-40, he decided to make a depth charge attack with the dual purpose of inflicting as much damage to the enemy as he could and also guiding the M.T.Bs to the area. Just at that moment, however, he saw small craft coming up astern of the convoy at high speed. It wasn’t where he expected to see the M.T.Bs, but they could have changed their position.

‘Thinking they might be our M.T.Bs,’ Gould later reported, ‘I challenged. This was answered by heavy and accurate fire from shell-firing machine-guns. I then saw they were German S boats, four of them, in line abreast.’

Both of Gould’s Lewis gunners, Able Seamen S. J. Beckett and E. Fletcher, were severely wounded by fragments of cannon shell, so that they were unable to take any further part in the action. M.G.B. 52 following, increased speed to 30 knots and engaged the enemy S-boats with full armament. Turning north, he then raced across the bows of the leading German boat and dropped a depth charge, set to go off at 100 feet. There was a dull explosion and no more was seen of the S-boat. Meanwhile, the other German boats were being repeatedly hit with Oerlikon [Lanfear] and Lewis gun fire, and after a couple of minutes they broke off the action and turned away to the south at high speed. Gould then set about the rest of the convoy, closing to within 600 yards and engaging with gunfire. The enemy were so demoralised by now that they were firing wildly in all directions, and at one point, as Gould later recalled, the trawlers were firing at their own S-boats ... the M.G.Bs broke off the engagement at 02.55 and set course for home ... On the way home, a Dornier 17 shadowed the two craft for about twenty minutes at a height of 500 feet. The plane was finally driven off by 43’s gunner, Able Seaman Lanfear. M.G.B. 43 finally arrived at Ramsgate at 09.20, after [the damaged] M.G.B. 52 had been taken in tow by a destroyer.’

Just three nights later, on 11 September 1941, Lanfear was back in action, this time when M.G.B. 43 closed with three armed trawlers and came under heavy fire from the enemy’s superior armament. The engagement lasted for 20 minutes, during which time, as related above, he displayed conspicuous gallantry though seriously wounded.

Lanfear’s C.O., Lieutenant P. F. S. “Stewart” Gould, R.N., won a brace of D.S.Cs during his time as C.O. of M.G.B. 43, the second of them for an extraodinarily gallant attempt to penetrate the enemy’s defensive screen during the famous “Channel Dash” of February 1942 - in the end, under a terrible fire, he engaged an enemy destroyer at 1000 yards range, so it is worth speculating whether Lanfear had by then returned to the operational scene: Stewart Gould fought his last action in an M.G.B. off Cape Bon in April 1943, witnesses afterwards stating that he was worthy of a V.C. - instead Their Lordships ordained that he be granted a posthumous “mention”.

A native of Marlborough who had joined the Royal Navy as a boy rating, Lanfear latterly served in the sloop Magpie, the first command of H.R.H. Duke of Edinburgh, and was finally pensioned ashore in 1962.

Sold with a well composed modern oil painting depicting M.G.B. 43 in the action of the 11 September 1941, the artist capturing the moment when Lanfear’s gun position was hit, together with two related sketches, and a bound set of photocopied action reports and recommendations appertaining to both of his September 1941 actions.