Chinese Civil War incident D.S.M.group of (7) Medals to Royal Navy
Anextremely rare Chinese Civil War incident D.S.M. group of seven awarded toChief Petty Officer J. Baldock, Royal Navy, among those who boarded thecaptured steamer Wanhsien amidst ‘a hurricane of bullets’ in September 1926.
Pair:Private J. Baldock, Hampshire Regiment
BritishWar and Victory Medals (31593 Pte. J. Baldock, Hamps. R.) good very fine (9) -Provenance: R. C. Witte Collection, Dix Noonan Webb, September 2012. One ofjust 10 inter-war awards of the Distinguished Service Medal.
D.S.M.London Gazette 16 May 1927: ‘The King has been graciously pleased to approve ofthe award of the following decorations and medals to officers and men of H.M.Navy and the Mercantile Marine, in recognition of their services at Wanhsien,Yangtze River, China, on 5 September 1926, and the connected events.
Toreceive the Distinguished Service Medal: ‘Ordinary Seaman Joseph Baldock, O.N.J. 108966 (Po.), H.M.S. Kiawo ... [one of] the remaining surviving members ofthe boarding party, who acted with courage and resource in extremely tryingcircumstances.’
JosephBaldock was born in Portsmouth on 23 April 1908, the son of Private J. Baldock,Hampshire Regiment, and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class on 16November 1923. Joining the cruiser Despatch in the Far East in January 1925,and following his advancement to Ordinary Seaman, he was among thosesubsequently transferred to the Kiawo for the rescue operations on the Yangtzein September 1926.
TheSteamer Wanliu, owned by Messrs. Butterfield & Swire, ran into difficultieswith General Yang's soldiers at Yunyang when the Chinese claimed that twosampans were capsized by the ship’s wash and several of their soldiers drowned,in addition to claiming the loss of many thousands of dollars which had been onboard. Wanliu’s captain denied this account of the incident and stated that hisship was boarded by armed soldiers and had been fired on whilst endeavouring toescape. As a reprisal General Yang - one of Wu Pei Fu’s supporters - seized thetwo Butterfield & Wire ships Wanhsien and Wantung at the port of Wanhsien,placing 300 soldiers aboard the vessels, and confining the officers in theirquarters.
As aresult, in early September 1926, the Royal Navy mounted a rescue mission withthe gunboats Cockchafer and Widgeon, and the steamer Kiawo, the latter owned byMessrs. Jardine Matheson & Co., but taken over by the Royal Navy and mannedby four officers and 60 men, most of them drawn from the crew of the cruiserDespatch. Initially placed under the command of Lieutenant-Commander H. D. C.Stanistreet, D.S.O., R.N., by the time of the action Kiawo was actually underCommander F. C. Darley, R.N., the S.N.O. Armed With Stings, The Saga of aGunboat Flotilla, by A. Cecil Hampshire, takes up the story:
Inthe event, the Kiawo and her consorts faced fierce competition long before theyeven reached their quarry. Cecil Hampshire continues:
‘Unknownto them no fewer than eleven field guns were now covering the warships. In hisyamen Yang was gleefully anticipating the humiliating rebuff he was about toadminister to the British.
Thensuddenly round the bend of the river appeared the Kiawo, the black smokegushing from her funnel and the creaming bow wave piled up at her forefoot asshe stemmed the 8-knot current giving the impression of high speed. The timewas 6.15 p.m. As she foamed up river towards the waiting city and the warshipsand merchantmen anchored off its waterfront the Red Ensign was hauled down fromher jackstaff and two White Ensigns broke out and billowed her yardarms. Therewas no need for further deception: she was a unit of the British Fleet on HisMajesty’s Service.
Buteven before she revealed her true identity sporadic rifle fire broke out fromthe river banks and bullets began zipping around her. Making no attempt atretaliation she steamed past the Cockchafer and, skilfully handled, nosedalongside the Wanhsien. On the latter’s fore deck a group of Chinese squattedaround a cooking pot, to all intents and purposes peacefully eating theirevening meal. As the bugler on board the Kiawo sounded the twos Gs to signalthe grapnel party to secure alongside, one of the Chinese put down his bowl andbegan to help with the grappling-irons. To Darley gazing down from the bridgeit seemed that the operation would indeed be a walkover. The bugler sounded the“Charge”, and the British sailors began swarming aboard the Wanhsien.
Butthe moment the first British bluejacket set foot on her deck all hell brokeloose. From machine-guns set up within the cover of the companionways, fromriflemen hidden in deckhouses, cabins and behind barricades of sandbags ahurricane of bullets blasted the sailors to death. Along both banks of theriver and from prepared positions on the waterfront rifles, machine-guns andfield batteries opened fire on the Kiawo and the two warships ... In theWanhsien the Kiawo’s men had accomplished part of their task. But with hertiers of decks, numerous passages and doorways the Wanhsien was a difficultship to board. Despite the murderous fire of the Chinese defenders the bridgeparty had managed to attain their objective, and Thomson and his officers andfive of the steamer’s crew were safely transferred to the Kiawo. But the navalcasualties were severe ... ’
Infact three officers and four men were killed, and one officer and eight menwounded. Among the former was the S.N.O., Commander F. C. Darley, R.N.:
TwoD.S.Cs, two C.G.Ms and four D.S.Ms were awarded for the action, all but one ofthe D.S.Cs and one of the D.S.Ms to the gallant crew of the Kiawo. In the wordsof one correspondent, ‘It was Zeebrugge on a small scale, a manifestation ofthe same splendid spirit that animated the greater deed.’
Aseries of shore appointments then ensued, including time at the Southamptonbase Shrapnel in mid-to-late 1943, but he returned to sea in the newly launcheddestroyer Wakeful in the period February-July 1944, prior to ending the War inthe old harbour ship Cormorant.
Confirmedin the rank of Chief Petty Officer in December 1945, Baldock was still servingat the end of the decade.
Soldwith the recipient’s original Certificate of Service and Gunnery HistorySheets, in addition to an old newspaper cutting announcing awards for theWanhsien incident and other research and some original group photos etc.
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