THE VICTORIA CROSS AND WWII CAMPAIGN MEDALS AWARDED TO COMMANDER DONALD CAMERON, ROYAL NAVY RESERVE, HAS BEEN ACQUIRED PRIVATELY BY THE LORD ASHCROFT VC COLLECTION
4 September 2023


( select to enlarge )
Medal entitlement of Commander Donald Cameron,
Royal Naval Reserve ( HM Midget Submarine X.6 )

  • Victoria Cross
  • 1939-45 Star
  • Atlantic Star
  • War Medal ( 1939-45 )
  • Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal ( 1953 )


The Victoria Cross medal group awarded to Commander Donald Cameron, Royal Naval Reserve, HM Midget Submarine X.6, has been acquired privately by the Lord Ashcroft VC Collection. The award of the Victoria Cross to Lieutenant Donald Cameron ( X.6 ) and Lieutenant Basil Place ( X.7 ) was for an attack on the German Battleship "Tirpitz" in the Kaafiord, North Norway.


For the award of the Victoria Cross

[ London Gazette, 22 February 1944 ], Kaafiord, North Norway, 22 September 1943, Lieutenant Donald Cameron, Royal Naval Reserve.

Lieutenants Place and Cameron were the Commanding Officers of two of His Majesty's Midget Submarines X.7 and X.6 which on 22nd September 1943 carried out a most daring and successful attack on the German Battleship "Tirpitz" moored in the protected anchorage of Kaafiord, North Norway.

To reach the anchorage necessitated the penetration of an enemy minefield and a passage of fifty miles up the fiord, known to be vigilantly patrolled by the enemy and to be guarded by nets, gun defences and listening posts, this after a passage of at least a thousand miles from base.

Having successfully eluded all these hazards and entered the fleet anchorage, Lieutenants Place and Cameron, with a complete disregard for danger, worked their small craft past the close anti-submarine and torpedo nets surrounding the "Tirpiz" and from a position inside these nets, carried out a cool and determined attack.

Whilst they were still inside the nets a fierce enemy counter attack by guns and depth charges developed which made their withdrawal impossible. Lieutenants Place and Cameron therefore scuttled their craft to prevent them falling into the hands of the enemy. Before doing so they took every measure to ensure the safety of their crews, the majority of whom, together with themselves, were subsequently taken prisoner.

In the course of the operation these very small craft pressed home their attack to the full, in doing so accepting all the dangers inherent in such vessels and facing every possible hazard which ingenuity could devise for the protection in harbour of vitally important Capital Ships.

The courage, endurance and utter contempt for danger in the immediate face of the enemy shown by Lieutenants Place and Cameron during this determined and successful attack were supreme.

Donald Cameron and Basil Place were invested with their Victoria Crosses by King George VI at Buckingham Palace on the 22nd June 1945.


Note: Donald Cameron and Basil Place finally placed the charges underneath the battleship where they went off an hour later doing so much damage that the "Tirpitz" was out of action for months.

Acquisitions

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Iain Stewart, 4 September 2023