D.S.O. Group to Brigadier C.H.V. Pritchard / Vaughan, C.O. of 2nd Independant Parachute Brigade, Royal Welch Fusiliers
Distinguished Service Order, George VI, reverse suspender dated 1945, minor damage to centre cypher, 1939-45 Star, Africa Star,Italy Star, Defence Medal, War Medal, General Service Medal 1918, Clasp Palestine 1945-48 (un-named filler replacement), mounted on original bar, GVF. Medals came directly from his family estate sale.
The group is complete with the original D.S.O. bestowal scroll, personally signed by King George VI, Brigadier Pritchard's office stamp, bullion wire parachute wings, Parachute Regiment canvas title, Airborne Division printed title, ribbon bars (both pin-on and sew-on), named French Paratroopers breast badge, engraved on the rear "Brigadier C.H.V. Pritchard" with a small metal plaque "Hommage du General A. Demetz et des officiers de la 25e. Div. Aeroporte".
Brigadier Chares Hilary Vaughan Pritchard changed his surname by deed poll from Pritchard to Vaughan after inheriting the Nannau estates in North Wales in 1956. The medals were purchased from the estate sale, his Greek Commander of the Order of King George I with Crossed swords was unwittingly split from the group by the auctioneer, and sold separately. Comes with copy of Greek Citation, Obituary from The Times, but is deserved of more research.
Brigadier Pritchard was educated at Sherborne and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, joining the Royal Welch Fusiliers in 1927 and was ADC to the Governor and C. in C. Gibraltar from 1931 to 1932. In the period before the war he was Adjutant of the RWF Depot and went to the Staff College at Camberley. Thereafter he served as Adjutant of the 53rd Welsh Division, CO of the 6th Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers, which became a Parachute Battalion after landing at Normandy and serving in the early Normandy campaign. He served in North Africa, France, Greece and Palestine, commanding the 2nd Independent Parachute Brigade Group from 1943 to 1946. (Further details on the Brigade's wartime exploits are below). He Commanded Airborne Establishments 1946-48 and retired in 1949. He was a D.L. and Justice of The Peace for Merioneth and also High Sheriff of Merioneth from 1956-58. He married in 1935, the Hon. Mary Patricia Monck, younger sister of the 6th Viscount Monck and had four daughters. A photograph of him is in the R.W.F. WW2 History, meeting the King whilst the C.O. of the 6th Bn RWF. His DSO was awarded for service in Greece. The citation has not been found in the National Archives and is though to still be in the War Office, but the citation for his Greek award is as follows :
"He served as commander of the first landing 68 parties for the liberation of Salonica. Through his untiring and continuous efforts he offered our country invaluable aid in the task of establishing order in the first days of liberation. He furthermore laid the foundation for the reorganization of the Greek Authorities in the town."
2nd Independent Parachute Brigade
In late 1943, the 2nd Parachute Brigade was deployed in Italy. The brigade
was detached from the 1st Airborne Division in Nov 1943 and remained in
Italy as the 2nd Independent Parachute Brigade.
In Jul 1944, the 2nd Independent Parachute Brigade was withdrawn from
operations in Italy to prepare for the task of the invasion of Vichy
France, Operation Dragoon. The brigade, under the command of Brigadier C H V Pritchard, consisted of 4th, 5th (Scottish), 6th (Royal Welsh) Battalions and 1st Independent Platoon (Pathfinders), The Parachute Regiment. The area allotted to the brigade was between La Motte and Le Muy with the task of destroying the enemy and denying him access to the area until relieved by the sea-borne invasion forces. The operation took place in the early hours of 15 Aug 1944 and by 1015 hours, despite a widely scattered drop in difficult weather conditions all initial objectives had been secured. The 2nd Parachute Brigade consolidated and exploited its positions until relieved by the ground troops on 17 Aug.
In Oct 1944 the German withdrawal from the Balkans was imminent. A force
consisting of 2nd Independent Parachute Brigade Group, under the command of Brigadier C H V Pritchard, and 23 Armoured Brigade (acting in an infantry role) was allocated the task of securing Athens, maintaining law and order and bringing relief to the Greek peoples. The 2nd Independent Parachute Brigade included the 4th, 5th (Scottish), 6th (Royal Welch) Battalions, The Parachute Regiment and 1st Independent Platoon (Pathfinders) The Parachute Regiment.
On 12 Oct 1944 a company of the 4th Battalion seized Megara airfield by
parachute assault in a 35mph wind. The remainder of the brigade followed
and by 15 Oct Athens had been secured. The brigades spent the next three
months following up the retreating Germans and maintaining law and order
throughout the country. In Athens, however, vicious riots between rival
political factions involved the troops in serious and bitter street
fighting against Greek rebels during Dec 1944 and early Jan 1945. The
scope of these activities may be judged by the fact that at the time the
2nd Parachute Brigade was feeding 20,000 civilians a day and on one day of the final battle they killed 170 rebels, wounded 70 and took 520 prisoners.
Post War Changes
The end of the Second World War inevitably brought about huge changes in the formation and composition of the British Armed Forces.
The 1st Airborne Division, after a brief deployment to Norway in May 1945,
where divisional headquarters was renamed Headquarters Norway Command, was disbanded in Nov 1945.
44th Independent Parachute Brigade TA was formed from 44th Airborne
Division TA, when that formation disbanded.
The 6th Airborne Division replaced 1st Airborne Division as Strategic
Reserve when the 1st Airborne Division was disbanded at the end of
WWII. The 6th Airborne Division began moving to Palestine on 15 Sep 1945, arriving at Haifa after ten days at sea, and deploying to camps in the Gaza area. Palestine had good training facilities and airfields. Their role was initially as Strategic Reserve for Middle East Land Forces. However the
political situation was deteriorating by then, and 6th Airborne Division
took over internal security responsibility for the southern sector of
Palestine; a very different role from that of their wartime experience. By
1948, the 6th Airborne Division HQ was located at Haifa, with 3rd Parachute
Brigade in Nazareth.
When the British evacuated Palestine in April 1948, the 6th Airborne
Division was disbanded.
British airborne forces were now reduced to one brigade, the 2nd Parachute
Brigade Group then located in Germany. This became the nucleus of the
post-war regular airborne force and was moved to Aldershot and redesigned
16th Independent Parachute Brigade Group in 1948. The new formation took the numbers 1 and 6 from its illustrious predecessors. From the remnants of the 1st and 6th Airborne Divisional Signals, signallers were brought together to form the 16th Independent Parachute Brigade Group Signal Squadron.
