A rare and deeply poignant Second War ‘Operation Demon’ D.S.M. group of seven awarded to Commissioned Engineer L. F. Bartlett, Royal Navy, who was decorated for his gallant deeds aboard the destroyer H.M.S. Hero during the evacuation of Allied troops from Greece in April and May 1941. Described by one old hand as ‘far worse than Dunkirk’, the traumatic events are largely forgotten today, but bear witness to terrible suffering and loss

Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (L. F. Bartlett. Ch. Engn. Room Art. H.M.S. Hero.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 3rd issue, coinage head (M.34517 L. F. Bartlett. E.R.A.1. H.M.S. Courageous.) mounted as worn, the last with minor official correction to ship’s name, good very fine and better (7) £1,000-£1,400

Oliver Stirling Lee Collection, Dix Noonan Webb, December 2004.

D.S.M. London Gazette 11 November 1941:
‘For gallantry and distinguished services in operations in Greek waters.’

Leslie Francis Bartlett was born in Weymouth, Dorset, on 23 December 1903. He joined the Royal Navy at Portsmouth on 3 December 1921 as a schoolboy, later witnessing service aboard a wide variety of ships and shore establishments, including Warspite, Crocus, Fisgard, Ross and the light cruiser Cardiff. Awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in December 1936, he transferred to the destroyer Hero as Chief Engine Room Artificer 2nd Class on 26 July 1939 and was soon in the thick of the action during the Norwegian campaign, and that off Cape Spada on 19 July 1940. The latter encounter proved a short and violent affair where the cruiser H.M.A.S. Sydney successfully despatched one Italian cruiser and severely damaged another off the coast of Crete; it fell to Hero and her consorts to pluck 525 survivors of the Bartolomeo Colleoni from the Mediterranean Sea.

Successfully intercepting a Vichy French convoy of four merchant ships off Melilla on 1 January 1941, Hero was soon engaged in the British invasion of the Italian island of Kastelorizo, a prime site for a motor-torpedo base to challenge Italian naval might in the Dodecanese region. Transferred to escort duties in the spring, Bartlett witnessed the bombardment of Tripoli by Allied warships on 20 April 1941, before it soon became clear that the Metaxas defensive line had been overwhelmed and Britain, Australian and New Zealand were facing a critical situation in Greece. Sent to investigate the situation at Kalamata, the account by Leading Torpedo Operator A. L. Ward gives a detailed insight as to the sights witnessed by the crew of Hero at that time:
‘As we approached to within a few miles, we could see what seemed to be huge fires burning and, as we closed, tracer bullets could be seen flying from it seemed in all directions... Both sea boats (whalers) were lowered and, because the regular crews were closed up on the guns, manned by a motley crew, in fact anyone who could use an oar and was willing to have a go. The boats returned with many defiant, angry, worn out, tired and hungry troops... Under the control of the Chief Coxswain, the senior ratings organised the distribution of our passengers around the ship, in every conceivable nook or space on the upper deck, even under the torpedo tubes for the walking fit. A few swimmers did survive and these were, after a hot shower, given a variety of clothes from volunteers whilst their clothes were being dried out in the boiler room.’

Ward continues: ‘Long after collecting my demob suit in 1947, I was still occasionally awakened at night following dreams of the events at Kalamata in the Peloponnese. No other episode or incident such as dive bombing by Stukas, the action at Narvik, night action in the Mediterranean, or involvement in the relief of Tobruk and the later evacuation of Crete, affected me [so much] as did the retrieving of troops from the beaches of Kalamata. The cries of obviously exhausted men, making valiant attempts to swim from the shore, pleading for help, still echoes in my ears. “Can you see me?” some called out, and, peering into the inky night blackness, we would, with an effort of untruthful reassurance answer, “Yes, a few more strokes and you have made it!”; a cry, a gurgle and then silence, absolute silence and nothing that we on the waiting ship could do...’

Awarded the D.S.M., Bartlett later served aboard the minesweeping sloop Fraserburgh and the sloop Folkestone. Advanced Commissioned Engineer, he came ashore in September 1945, ending his career on attachment to the United States Navy Advanced Amphibious Base at Appledore.

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