Orders, Decorations and Medals

The Second World War Coastal Forces D.S.M. group of six awarded to Petty Officer E. J. “Knocker” White, Royal Navy: having won a “mention” for his bravery off Crete in 1941, he added the D.S.M. and another “mention” to his accolades for his deeds as an M.T.B. Coxswain off the Dutch and Belgian coasts in 1944, one recommendation stating ‘This man is one in whom Britain may be proud for no head is held so high as his in action’ - a fact not lost on his skipper, Lieutenant G. J. “Mac” MacDonald, R.N.Z.N.V.R., a 21 year old Flotilla Commander with a D.S.O. and three D.S.Cs to his name

Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (JX. 144769 E. J. White, T./P.O.); Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, Palestine 1936-1939 (JX. 144768 E. White, A.B., R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star, clasp, France and Germany; Burma Star; War Medal 1939-45, M.I.D. oak leaf, mounted as worn, good very fine and better (6) £2000-2500

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

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D.S.M. London Gazette 13 July 1943.

Mention in despatches London Gazette 11 November 1941 (Crete) and 2 January 1945, the recommendation for the latter stating:

‘For extreme disregard for danger and outstanding coolness in the execution of his duty as Coxswain in M.T.B. 234 while in action against a heavily defended escorted enemy convoy on the night of 14-15 September 1944. During the three attacks in each of which the boat came under fire, Petty Officer White stood firmly at the wheel carrying out the orders given him with precision, alacrity and initiative which inspired all with confidence and pride and set an example suitably fitting the high traditions of the Service. This man is one in whom Britain may be proud for no head is held so high as his in action.’

Edwin John “Knocker” White was born at Aberdare, South Wales and entered the Royal Navy as a boy rating in 1935. Advanced to Ordinary Seaman around the time of his participation in the pre-war Palestine operations, his first wartime commission was aboard the destroyer H.M.S. Isis. Having served off Norway in 1940, she sailed for the Mediterranean where she quickly saw action in the evacuations of Greece and Crete - in the period 26-30 April 1941 alone, Isis embarked 1400 troops, around 250 of them from Kalamata ‘although the enemy were then in possession ashore’. White was mentioned in despatches.

On his return home from the Mediterranean, he joined the 21st M.T.B. Flotilla under Commander Peter Dickens, R.N., being appointed Coxswain to another distinguished Coastal Forces’s officer, Lieutenant G. J. “Mac” MacDonald, R.N.Z.N.V.R. As a result, he quickly found himself back under enemy fire, not least on the night of 7-8 August 1942, in what became known as the “Second Battle of Barfleur”.

A sharp introduction to Coastal Forces: “The Second Battle of Barfleur”

Such was the point-blank nature of the firefight enacted off Barfleur that night, that Dickens was moved to describe his own Number One’s survival as ‘one of those miracles of war that one comes to accept as normal - and that would be fine if they did not work the other way just as readily’. The officer in question, Lieutenant R. G. “Bob” Gaunt, S.A.N.F., was twice lifted off his feet, once by a ‘brute of a 37mm. shell’ and again when his M.T.B’s petrol tank ‘blew its top’ - nonetheless, though shocked and wounded, he displayed great gallantry in fire-fighting duties.

M.T.B. 241, with White at the helm and MacDonald in command, was one of two boats from the 21st M.T.B. Flotilla to accompany Dickens’ command, M.T.B. 237 that night, the small force slipping out of the Coastal Forces’ base Hornet at Gosport with the intention of finding business on an enemy convoy route off Cape Barfleur. They were not to be disappointed, a Le Havre-bound force of six enemy auxiliary vessels - four of them heavily-armed Minensuchboote (minesweepers) - emerging through the gloom after a tense hour’s wait. Dickens gave the order to attack, the three M.T.Bs crash-starting their main engines and approaching the enemy convoy through a curtain of fire at full speed, closing the range to a matter of yards.

Dickens’ boat, 237, was quickly hit by 20mm. fire, but worse was to follow when a 37mm. shell smashed into the wheelhouse, where Gaunt and a fellow officer were trying to navigate - incredibly, having been blown off their feet by the force of the explosion, both officers were seen to emerge from the impressive hole left by the shell. As for White in 241, but for the handy gunnery of an ancient mariner his fate may have been similar:

‘Mac took 241 away to the northwest at full speed to probe the enemy at another point, and almost immediately found himself crossing the RA 2s bows [an enemy motor minesweeper] at an acute angle. The encounter was a surprise to both though that did not prevent either from engaging; and since RA 2 was equipped with six guns of up to 37mm. calibre against 241’s twin machine-guns, and the range was 70 yards and closing, logic would suggest that the latter should have been taken apart ... [but] ... she was well within the scope of Able Seaman Gunner “Ginger” Harry in the 0.5-inch turret. He was an old man of forty-seven who sat hunched between the barrels, clenching between his no doubt toothless gums an old clay pipe; the bowl was downwards and it was unlit, not because he scorned to smoke it but because Edwin “Knocker” White the Coxswain, Welsh and a regular Petty Officer, made very sure he did not, perched as he was on top of the petrol tank. Harry let fly, rock steady and impervious to the enemy’s tracer, which is the only way to shoot straight when someone is shooting at you. He hit RA 2 ten times, wounded one man badly and one slightly, caused her gunners’ aim to falter, and perhaps was the reason for her ceasing fire altogether. At 40 knots 241 was soon out of danger, perhaps even before her crew fully realized they were in it. White told me, “It was very enjoyable that night when old Harry got going with his point fives.” ’

When, at length, the severely damaged 237 ‘blew her top’, it fell to White to bring 241 alongside her blazing hull, the survivors jumping over to safety, and the exhausted party reached Gosport in the early morning hours. Here, having found a sentry asleep on duty and an equally unconscious Officer of the Day, Dickens stormed in to his shore Captain’s sleeping quarters to deliver a sharp account of the evening’s proceedings and to inform him - his senior standing dazed in his pyjamas - that “not a soul in this benighted dump gives a damn.”

Further “firefights” 1943-44

Bearing in mind “The Second Battle of Barfleur” was pretty typical of the actions fought by the men of the 21st M.T.B. Flotilla over the next two or three years, or at least typical in the sense of the ferocity of such encounters, it seems extraordinary that “Knocker” White was wounded on only one occasion. Indeed it is clear from Dickens’ classic account of the Flotilla’s work up until his handing over command in mid-1943 - Night Action - that M.T.B. 241, with White at the helm, went on to fight in a host of similar point-blank firefights - far too many, in fact, to describe for the purposes of this exercise. But by way of summary, it is worth noting that the author dedicates whole sections of his book to clashes off Holland on the 19 January (“Hook”), 18 April (“Bullfight”), 21 April (“Bottom”), 29 April (“Ijmuiden”), 14 May (“Minesweepers”) and 25 July (“Noord-wijk”) 1943.

Of the action off Ijmuiden on the night of 29 April 1943, Dickens states:

‘The [enemy’s] 14th V.P. Flotilla suspected nothing until 0335 but then their reaction was very fast; 234 in the centre, and slightly ahead of the other two boats, was first to be seen and a concentrated fire was opened at 600 yards which I should call murderous except that no one was killed or even hurt. My sight was lined up on the third ship, speed setting five knots course south, but as soon as the shooting started the point of aim was obscured; I loosed off at a gunflash, but who could tell whether my hand shook a little? I could, and it did; furthermore the German Senior Officer in VP 1401 took the bold emergency action of turning his group towards us, combing the tracks. So I missed, but Mac was directly helped by the enemy’s concern with me and had a clear run in for a few more vital seconds. White told him, “If we don’t hit this time ... ”, and indeed it just had to be. Mac pressed in ever closer, the repeater sight did everything expected of it and White held the boat steady until the torpedoes were well into the water.

Then 241 was seen, fiercely engaged by her own target at close range, and White finished his sentence, “ ... We’ve had it.” She was only hit twice, one in the turret which slightly wounded Harry the Gunner but his life was saved by the bullet-proof plating, and then the enemy’s guns were carried below the surface. The enemy’s turn had helped 241 who had to fire from the quarter, because it meant that his beam was presented to the torpedoes when they arrived; one of them hit, and the explosion was so massive that spray fell on to 241 as she disengaged close astern.’

White’s D.S.M. - and MacDonald’s second D.S.C. - were awarded in respect of the action of 14 May 1943, when four M.T.Bs of the 21st Flotilla met the largest and most powerful force they had ever encountered, namely 12 fleet minesweepers and nine R-boats. On that occasion Dickens opted for a two-pronged attack, White steering 241 in the second of these amidst a torrent of enemy fire - and although 241’s torpedo appears to have missed the enemy minesweeper M 8, her consort found the mark. It was equally satisfying to see the surviving minesweepers then engage the R-boats as they closed to offer assistance to the stricken M 8.

Inevitably, perhaps, 241 finally fell to the enemy’s guns, in an action fought off the Dutch coast on the night of 30 March 1944, when five M.T.Bs took on a convoy of six merchantmen with an 18-strong escort, four M-class minesweepers, with a 6-strong escort, astern of this force, and eight R-boats ahead of it - horrendous odds indeed, especially since the enemy sighted the M.T.Bs before they could fully develop their attack. The latter’s response was swift and accurate, the minesweepers and R-boats putting down a curtain of heavy fire, and before White could properly disengage to the north-west, a 105mm. shell struck 241 a mortal blow underwater, in the engine room. Their boat completely disabled, MacDonald, White and the remainder of the crew were taken off by M.T.B. 224, and the crippled 241 taken in tow. About eight hours later, however, she rolled over and sank.

White’s final accolade, his second “mention”, was acquired for the above quoted action in the Nore area on the night of 14-15 September 1944 (see recommendation), during which one enemy vessel was sunk - this time, however, he was behind the wheel of MacDonald’s new command, M.T.B. 234.

By this stage, as Coxswain and Acting Petty Officer, “Knocker” White had acquired a reputation as a disciplinarian, Dickens explaining, ‘There were no defaulters in 241 because White, a big chap, had his own method of influencing people’. Nonetheless, he never did establish the identity of the crew member who filled 241’s 25-gallon water tank to the brim with Guinness, the whole having been removed from countless barrels that had been recovered from the sea one night by Dickens’ boat. Alas, news of this spectacular discovery had soon reached the the ears of H.M. Customs, who mounted a raid, but, as related to Dickens by White some 30 years later, someone on 241 was one step ahead of the game!

He ended his War as Coxswain of the escort carrier Atheling and was pensioned ashore in 1949.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation and related artefacts, including Admiralty letter of notification for the recipient’s D.S.M., dated 15 July 1943, together with Buckingham Palace investiture ticket for 28 September 1943 and a large framed photograph of him and fellow Coastal Forces’ recipients outside the Palace; his M.I.D. certificates, dated 11 November 1941 and 2 January 1945; a considerable amount of post-war correspondence and research in respect of H.M.S. Isis and, framed and glazed, ‘The pennant of H.M.S. Isis - all that remained after the battle of Crete, June 1941’, as gifted to White by that ship’s commanding officer, Captain C. S. B. Swinley, D.S.O., D.S.C., after the War; and assorted books, including a copy of Night Action, M.T.B. Flotilla at War, by Captain P. Dickens, D.S.O., M.B.E., D.S.C., with presentation inscription, ‘Edwin White, D.S.M. - With gratitude and admiration, Peter Dickens, 1975.’