A VERY UNUSUAL MILITARY MEDAL (BATTLE of CAMBRAI)
14th Battalion DURHAM LIGHT INFANTRY.

& WW2 POLICE COMBINATION GROUP OF FIVE:


To:
42998 Pte E. STEVENS. 14/ DURHAM L.I.
Previously 3066, Pte E. STEVENS "DERBY YEOMANRY"
Enlisted: 11th December 1916

Twice Wounded in Action ...
GUN SHOT WOUND TO EAR,
GUN SHOT WOUND TO LEFT FOREARM.
Discharged Unfit 7th February 1919

MILITARY MEDAL
WAR & VICTORY PAIR
DEFENCE MEDAL 1939-45 (Civil Police)
Special Constabulary Medal (With Long Service 1949 Clasp)

14th DLI fought a very costly war with 25 officers & 699 other ranks killed in action, with many more wounded. The unit were heavily involved at Cambrai where they famously did great work while walking with & behind the then newly introduced tanks.


[THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI]
The Battle of Cambrai was the first successful use of maturing combined arms tactics by the British. On 20 November the 2nd and 14th battalions of the 6th Division were to pass through the assaulting forces and take the Hindenburg Line support trench; both battalions reached their objective with a total loss of 30 killed or wounded. On the next day, 3 companies from 14th battalion assisted tanks and squadron of cavalry in taking the village of Cantaing (north-west of Marcoing). The advance came to a halt as the Germans brought their reserves into the battle. The 11th battalion had been consolidating the ground behind the 4 mile advance of 20th Division but on 29 November its scattered companies were involved in fighting the German counter-attack on the ridges north of Gouzeacourt. The 14th battalion (together with the 1st battalion Shropshire Light Infantry) was ordered across the Canal du Nord on the night of 2 December to trenches facing Masniere, one of which was only 2–3 feet deep.

It was during the Cambrai action, probably during the taking of the village of Cantaing on 21st November 1917 that Edwin Stevens won his MM for gallantry in action.
(London Gazette 23rd February 1918).

An unusual combination with a rare Derby Yeomanry pair.
Edwin Stevens served in the Derbyshire police during WW2 and was a special constable after the war.

Group is EF on original ribbons and comes complete with MIC & many pages of surviving paper copies concerning medal rolls & the woundings etc.











A RARE GROUP. £995.00