Orders, Decorations and Medals

Four: Captain D. M. S. Ebben, South Wales Borderers, taken prisoner during the retreat from Tobruk

1939-45 Star; Africa Star; War Medal; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Palestine 1945-48 (Capt., S.W.B.) very fine (4) £100-120

Derek Michael Spanier Ebben was born on 21 October 1919, educated at Marlborough College, and commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Bn., South Wales Borderers, in November 1939. Having spent the latter years of the ‘30s in India, the 1st battalion were posted to Iraq in November 1941 in anticipation of a German attack. When it became apparent that no such attack was coming, they moved overland the following May to a position just outside Tobruk, which they were ordered to hold in cover of the general British withdrawal of forces from the area. This order, however, was almost immediately countermanded and a chaotic retreat ensued, exacerbated by lack of transport and the capture of the battalion’s reconnaissance officers by the Germans. Under heavy attack, and in unfamiliar and hostile terrain, over 500 men were lost, most taken prisoner. Captain Ebben was held prisoner at Oflag 79 until the end of the war. He retired in 1948 and subsequently served in the Colonial Service in Northern Rhodesia.