The Ron Penhall Collection

The Second World War Sicily operations D.C.M., North Africa operations M.M. group of seven awarded to Sergeant H. H. “Happy” Hampson, Royal Tank Regiment, who, having displayed notable gallantry in the “Cauldron” battles in North Africa, excelled himself in Sicily as commander of 5 Troop, ‘C’ Squadron, 44 R.T.R.: in a single day in July 1943, he was more or less personally responsible for the destruction of 8 enemy tanks, 5 field-guns, 29 trucks, 4 staff cars and 2 motor-cycles, and the capture of an Italian General, 3 Brigadiers, 4 Staff Officers and numerous other ranks - his own tank received 9 direct hits of varying calibre on the same occasion

Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.VI.R. (7902353 Sjt. H. H. Hampson, R. Tank R.); Military Medal, G.VI.R. (7902353 Sjt. H. H. Hampson, R. Tank R.); 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals, contact marks, very fine and better (7) £5000-6000

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

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D.C.M. London Gazette 21 October 1943. The original recommendation states:

‘At 0900 hours on 13 July 1943, Sergeant Hampson’s troop was put under command of 6th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, and ordered to advance with two sections of carriers from Solarino along the main road to Palazzolo Accreide. Soon after the advance the carriers were held up by a burning lorry across the road. Sergeant Hampson’s troop took over the lead and he himself pushed the vehicle out of the way with his tank. Coming round the next bend he sighted an Italian ammunition lorry and motor-cycle and put them both out of commission. Almost immediately an R. 35 was sighted and also knocked out. Sergeant Hampson then moved up to the burning ammunition lorry and sighted eight R. 35s, four staff cars and one truck. He was fired on and received nine direct hits but himself knocked out one R. 35, the four staff cars and truck. This completely blocked the road, so Sergeant Hampson got out of his tank and with another member of his crew [Corporal F. “Franky Boy” Lea, M.M.] went forward on foot to find a way round, being under machine-gun fire for most of the time. He encountered and took prisoner the Napoli Divisional Commander and half of his staff, and then others gave themselves up. He then organised a clearing party and removed the obstacles.

His tank had been damaged about the gun so he changed tanks and continued the advance. He had not gone far when a 105mm. opened up on him and also an anti-tank gun at 600 yards range. His Browning jammed but he knocked out the guns with H.E. Almost immediately he engaged a large number of trucks and some R. 35s, knocking out three R. 35s and several trucks. The advance then continued to Melilli and another R. 35 fell to Sergeant Hampson’s gun. At Melilli he found two R. 35s and several trucks abandoned. The advance to Palazzolo Accreide continued without further incident. The total bag of the troop, mainly falling to Sergeant Hampson’s guns, was 8 R. 35s, 5 guns, 4 staff cars, 2 motor-cycles, 29 trucks and numerous other undamaged vehicles.’

M.M. London Gazette 24 February 1942. The original recommendation states:

‘On 26 November 1941, Sergeant Hampson’s tank was struck repeatedly and finally, on reaching the German lines, burst into flames. Sergeant Hampson, who was the tank commander, ordered the crew to evacuate the tank, which was blazing furiously.

During the evacuation, the crew were shot at by the enemy and one member of the crew severely wounded. The wounded man was helped into a slight hollow and Sergeant Hampson found that the First Aid Medical Kit had been left on the tank. Without hesitation, he ran back to the blazing tank, climbed inside and brought back the First Aid Box with which he dressed the wounded man, being heavily machine-gunned whilst doing so. The enemy made signals to the small party after surrounding them and Sergeant Hampson carried the wounded man on his back. On a counter-attack being made, Sergeant Hampson extricated his crew and succeeded in reaching our own lines.’

Henry Hare “Happy” Hampson was ‘a man of medium height, bushy eyebrows, fair hair and spare of frame’, according to Squadron Sergeant-Major S. W. Clark, a fellow member of ‘C’ Squadron, 44 Royal Tank Regiment (whose post-war typed notes are included). Also according to Clark, Hampson, native of Wigan, was nicknamed “Happy” because he was so impressed by his Army rations and uniform, these being in ‘marked contrast to the hard times he had before the war in civilian life in the days of the depression’. He was not, however, the smartest of soldiers, and ‘never managed to get his trousers to hang over his anklets properly, or to get a good bow at the back of his beret ... he was last seen by one of his troop on Euston Station from the rear, recognised by a few inches of ribbon hanging down from the back of his beret - a happy chap was Harry!’ (Clark refers).

Whatever Hampson’s shortcomings on parade ground etiquette, he was ‘a tiger when things were hot in battle’, a contention supported by the staggering statistics behind his D.C.M.-winning exploits in Sicily, not to mention his earlier actions in North Africa: other sources, among them an unpublished account of that memorable day by Corporal F. “Franky Boy” Lea, M.M., a fellow member of 5 Troop, actually credit Hampson and the unit with even greater success. Of the capture of the Italian General and his staff, Lea states:

‘However, Happy decided to reconnoitre the road on foot, so we handed over command to our respective radio operators, putting the co-drivers in the turrets to load if required. We had had a good shoot but the road was blocked almost solid by wreckage, most of it burning. So we took to the rocks and after a bit of a climb up the montainside we could see a fairly straight length of road beyond the blockage we had created. “O.K., Frank,we’ll just do the best we can and push them over the edge. Right, let’s go,” said Happy. As we turned to go back to the Troop, Happy gripped my arm and pointed down to the enemy side of the blockage - there was a cave-like recess in the face of the hillside and in it were some figures in Italian uniforms. No orders were needed for this one. Both of us slowly climbed down onto the road and crept up towards the cave. We could hear voices, one of which was giving orders. Happy said, “Come on, let’s go.” Raising his voice he called on the enemy to come out. There was no response so he fired a burst of his Tommy-gun into the cliff above the cave. Now they started to jabber amongst themselves, so I yelled at them to come out or I’d toss a grenade in. That did it, and out they came, all 30 of them, led by a very “dandyfied” Captain in a light grey uniform. There followed a Major-General, three Brigadier-Generals, four assorted Staff Officers and a variety of N.C.Os and Sergeant-Majors. The officers were wearing their medals and Sam Browne-style belts with Berreta automatic pistols in grey leather holsters. Happy asked them for their arms (in French, his Wop wasn’t so good). The non-commissioned ranks dropped theirs in the ditch and all the officers handed over theirs, except one. He, a Colonel, refused to do so as we were not commissioned officers. A quick prod in the belt buckle with my pistol settled that arguement. “Right,” ordered Happy, “Fall in and move pronto.” We slowly moved off down the road towards our blokes. As we skirted the smouldering wreck of what had been their vehicles, the poor little General crossed himself and averted his eyes from the dead bodies of his soldiers. The “dandyfied” one made a queer sort of sobbing sound and was sick violently. The rest looked scared and one of them took out a rosary chain and started to pray as he walked along. Once clear of the mess on the road, Happy ordered me to run ahead to warn our lads of our coming, as he had previously ordered all movement on the road to be blasted. The boys saw me coming in and waved back in answer to my yell, so I ran back towards Happy and we brought our “game bag” in ... ’

Sold with Corporal F. “Franky Boy” Lea’s original handwritten 24pp. account of the recipient’s D.C.M.-winning action in Sicily on 13 July 1943 (‘It was as hot as hell that day, the grass was yellow and parched and the black volcanic rocks reflected the sun like polished basalt ... whilst the heat inside the tank was almost unbearable’); together with a series of copy photographs captioned by Lea which graphically illustrate the advance of 5 Troop and the carnage left in its wake; and a wartime map of Sicily, with annotation marking the Troop’s advance.