Able Seaman Colin Grazier, GC was posthumously awarded what, for "bravery and steadfast devotion to duty", he displayed on 30 October 1942 in action in the eastern Mediterranean when capturing codebooks vital for the breaking of the German naval "Shark" Enigma cipher from the sinking, the Enigma machines were a series of electro-mechanical rotor cipher machines developed and used in the early- to mid-20th century to protect commercial, diplomatic and military communication?
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Colin Grazier Able Seaman Colin Grazier, GC was posthumously awarded the George Cross for the "outstanding bravery and steadfast devotion to duty in the face of danger" which he displayed on 30 October 1942 in action in the eastern Mediterranean when capturing codebooks vital for the breaking of the German naval "Shark" Enigma cipher from the sinking  .
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Enigma machine The Enigma machines were a series of electro-mechanical rotor cipher machines developed and used in the early- to mid-20th century to protect commercial, diplomatic and military communication. Enigma was invented by the German engineer Arthur Scherbius at the end of World War I. Early models were used commercially from the early 1920s, and adopted by military and government services of several countries, most notably Nazi Germany before and during World War II. Several different Enigma models were produced, but the German military models, having a plugboard, were the most complex. Japanese and Italian models were also in use.
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Operation Compass Operation Compass was the first large Allied military operation of the Western Desert Campaign (1940–1943) during the Second World War. British and other Commonwealth forces attacked Italian forces in western Egypt and Cyrenaica, the eastern province of Libya, from December 1940 to February 1941, with great success. The Western Desert Force (Lieutenant-General Richard O'Connor) with about 30,000 men, advanced from Mersa Matruh in Egypt on a five-day raid against the Italian positions of the 10th Army (Marshal Rodolfo Graziani), which had about 150,000 men in fortified posts around Sidi Barrani and in Cyrenaica.
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Guy Griffiths Guy Beresford Kerr "Griff" Griffiths (6 June 1915 – 12 July 1999) was a Royal Marine pilot. He served as a pilot during the Second World War and gained notoriety as a prisoner of war for using his artistic skills to forge documents and provide misinformation by feeding Nazi intelligence with fake sketches of British aircraft. After the war he continued to fly various types of aircraft as a test pilot and has the distinction of being the first Royal Marines officer to fly a helicopter.
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Action of 16 March 1917 The Action of 16 March 1917 was a naval engagement in which the British armed boarding steamer "Dundee" and the "Warrior"-class armoured cruiser HMS "Achilles" fought and sank the German auxiliary cruiser SMS "Leopard" , which sank with all 319 hands and the six men of a British boarding party.
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HMAS Napier (G97) HMAS "Napier" (G97/D13) was an N class destroyer serving in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) during World War II. Built during 1939 and 1940, the destroyer was commissioned into the RAN, although she was ordered and owned by the British government. During 1941, "Napier" operated in the Mediterranean, before being transferred to the British Eastern Fleet at the start of 1942, then to south Atlantic operations in early 1944. In 1945, "Napier" was assigned to the British Pacific Fleet, and spent the rest of World War II in the fight against Japan. After the war's end, the destroyer was decommissioned and returned to the British. She was sold off in 1955, and broken up in 1956.
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HMAS Steady Hour HMAS "Steady Hour" (12) was a channel patrol boat of the Naval Auxiliary Patrol of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) during the Second World War. During the 31 May 1942 Japanese attack on Sydney Harbour, "Steady Hour" deployed 17 depth charges against the Japanese midget submarine "M-21" in Taylor's Bay. The submarine's two crew members destroyed their vessel with demolition charges and committed suicide.
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Polish Enigma double A Polish Enigma "double" was a machine produced by the Polish Cipher Bureau that replicated the German Enigma rotor cipher machine. The Enigma double was one result of Marian Rejewski's remarkable achievement of determining the wiring of the Enigma's rotors and reflectors.
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SS Automedon The SS "Automedon" was a passenger and cargo steamer which was shelled and sunk on 11 November 1940 during World War II by the German surface raider "Atlantis". She was carrying Top Secret documents to the British Far East Command, the capture of which is thought by some to have played a prominent part in the Japanese decision to enter World War II.
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George Gosse George Gosse, GC (16 February 1912 – 31 December 1964) was a mine clearance specialist in the Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RANVR) during the Second World War. He was awarded the George Cross for the heroism he displayed between 8 May and 19 May 1945 in Bremen Harbour in Germany. His citation was published in the London Gazette on 30 April 1946.
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George I. Falgout George Irvin Falgout, born 28 October 1922 in Raceland, Louisiana, enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve 19 February 1942. He was killed in action in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal 12 November 1942, while serving in "San Francisco" (CA-38), heavily damaged in the battle. Seaman Second Class Falgout was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his great heroism and determination to defend his ship even at the cost of his life, when he remained at his gun, firing at a Japanese aircraft until it crashed into his station.
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Ted Briggs Albert Edward Pryke "Ted" Briggs MBE (1 March 1923 – 4 October 2008) was a British seaman and the last survivor of the destruction of the battlecruiser HMS "Hood" . He remained in the Royal Navy after the Second World War and was later commissioned.
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HMS King George V (41) HMS "King George V" (pennant number 41) was the lead ship of the five British "King George V"-class battleships of the Royal Navy. Laid down in 1937 and commissioned in 1940, "King George V" operated during the Second World War in all three major theatres of war, the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Pacific, as well as part of the British Home Fleet and Pacific Fleets. In May 1941, along with HMS "Rodney" , "King George V" was involved in the hunt for and pursuit of the  , eventually inflicting severe damage which led to the German vessel sinking. On 1 May 1942 the destroyer HMS "Punjabi" sank after a collision with "King George V" in foggy conditions. "King George V" took part in Operation Husky (the allied landings in Sicily) and bombarded the island of Levanzo and the port of Trapani. She also escorted part of the surrendered Italian Fleet, which included the battleships "Andrea Doria" and "Caio Duilio" , to Malta. In 1945 "King George V" took part in operations against the Japanese in the Pacific.
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William James Lanyon Smith William James Lanyon Smith {'1': ", '2': ", '3': ", '4': "} (born 1 December 1922) is a former New Zealand naval officer. He served in the Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve during World War II and was second-in-command of a midget submarine during an attack in Singapore codenamed Operation Struggle, for which he was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order.
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Ludomir Danilewicz Beginning in 1933, after the Cipher Bureau's mathematician-cryptologist Marian Rejewski reconstructed the German military Enigma rotor cipher machine, AVA built Enigma "doubles" as well as all the electro-mechanical equipment subsequently designed at the Cipher Bureau to expedite routine breaking and reading of Enigma ciphers.
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SS Cyclops (1906) SS "Cyclops" was a British cargo steamship of Alfred Holt and Company (Blue Funnel Line). She was built in Glasgow in 1906, served in both the First and Second World Wars and survived two German submarine attacks in 1917. A German submarine sank her in January 1942 off the coast of Nova Scotia, killing 87 of the men aboard her. This was the first attack of the Kriegsmarine's "Unternehmen Paukenschlag" ("Operation Drumbeat") to destroy Allied merchant shipping in the Western Atlantic.
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Fraser Barron James 'Fraser' Barron DSO & Bar, DFC, DFM (9 January 1921 – 20 May 1944), was an officer of the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) who was killed in flying operations during the Second World War. Barron was one of only four New Zealanders to be awarded a bar to his DSO and was considered a standout bomber pilot of the war.
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Prince Charles (Q ship) HMS "Prince Charles " was a 274 Tonne collier converted to a Q-Ship of the Royal Navy during World War I. In the afternoon of 24 July 1915 off North Rona in the Outer Hebrides, "Prince Charles ", commanded by Lieutenant William Penrose Mark-Wardlaw, sank the German submarine SM U-36. The sinking was the first by a Q-Ship working alone without the assistance of a British submarine.
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Operation Battleaxe Operation Battleaxe was a British Army operation during the Second World War in June 1941, to clear eastern Cyrenaica of German and Italian forces and raise the Siege of Tobruk. It was the first time during the war that a significant German force fought on the defensive but the operation failed as British forces attacked strong defensive positions created by German General Erwin Rommel. The British lost over half of their tanks on the first day and only one of the three attacks succeeded.
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Operation Excess Operation Excess was a series of British supply convoys to Malta, Alexandria and Greece in January 1941. The operation encountered the first presence of "Luftwaffe" anti-shipping aircraft in the Mediterranean Sea. All the convoyed freighters reached their destinations. However, the destroyer "Gallant" was disabled by Italian mines; and Axis bombers severely damaged the cruiser "Southampton" and the aircraft carrier "Illustrious".
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Operation Portcullis Operation "Portcullis" was a British naval operation to deliver a convoy of four merchant ships to the Mediterranean island of Malta. It occurred during November and December 1942, at a time when the strategic situation in the region had radically changed in the Allies' favour and convoys were under reduced threat.
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Peter Cundy Wing Commander Peter John Cundy DSO, DFC, AFC, TD (3 October 1916 – 4 August 2005) was a British pilot credited as one of the top U-boat killers of the Second World War. At RAF Coastal Command he was involved in new techniques for locating and destroying enemy submarines – among these air-to-sea radar and weapons.