THE MILITARY CROSS AND BAR GROUP TO CAPTAIN (LATER LIEUTENANT-COLONEL) J.C. COOMBES, 4TH BATTALION OXFORDSHIRE AND BUCKINGHAMSHIRE LIGHT INFANTRY AND TRENCH MORTAR BATTERIES (LATER EAST SURREY REGIMENT), WHO WON HIS MC FOR THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME, 1916 AND WHO UNUSUALLY WAS AWARDED A BAR TO HIS MC WHILST ATTACHED TO THE AMERICAN ARMY, GERMAN SPRING OFFENSIVE 1918. Five: Military Cross, George V, with second award bar, unnamed, as issued British War and Victory Medals (Captain), M.I.D. oak leaf on Victory Medal 1939-45 Defence and War Medals. The Victory Medal officially renamed, generally Almost Extremely Fine.
Group accompanied by 16 pages of photocopied documents from Lieutenant-Colonel Coombes's Officers Papers file, photocopied Medal Index and Mention in Dispatches cards, along with photocopied extracts from London Gazette, and original official citation for bar to Coombess Military Cross.
John Cecil Coombes, born 1/5/1895, in the town of Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, originally enlisted at Westminster on 3/9/1914 into the 20th (3rd Public Schools) Battalion Royal Fusiliers as 4688 Private. At the time of enlistment Coombes gave his as his next of kin his father, George John Coombes of Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, and his trade as that of chemists assistant. Coombes was discharged from the 20th Royal Fusiliers on 8/4/1915 on being granted a commission (Coombes did not see overseas service with that battalion, his service with that battalion amounting to 218 days at home). He was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, 4th Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 7/4/1915 and first saw active service in France, entering that theatre of operations on 4/1/1916. In France the 4th Battalion Ox & Bucks formed part of 145th Brigade, 48th (South Midland) Division. In the spring of 1916 Coombes took a course of instruction in France in the use of the Stokes Mortar, and was promoted Lieutenant 24/4/1916, and placed in command of the 145th Trench Mortar Battery, the Trench Mortar Battery of the 145th Brigade, 48th Division, in which his old battalion of the Ox & Bucks was still serving. He was promoted Captain, still commanding 145th Trench Mortar Battery, 14/6/1916. Coombes relinquished command of the 145th Trench Mortar Battery in August 1917, when he was appointed ADC (Temporary) to General Fanshawe, General Officer Commanding 48th Division. Following the entry of the United States into the war, in October 1917 Coombes was attached to the British Mission to the American GHQ in France, as a Lecturer and Demonstrator (undoubtedly in trench mortar work, since the citation for the bar to his Military Cross, which his service records indicate was won whilst Coombes was attached to the American GHQ in France, specifically refers to him being in command of a Trench Mortar Battery at the time - see citation below). In September 1918 he was recalled to serve with the British 66th Division, and attached to the 18th King's Liverpools, according to his Army Records with a view to his being place second in command of that battalion. Following the armistice, Coombes was attached to 66th Division Headquarters as Acting Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General. Captain Coombes was demobilised in France, April 1919.
Both Coombess Military Cross and Mention in Dispatches were won whilst he was serving with the 145th Trench Mortar Battery. Coombess MC, which his service records confirm was for the battle of the Somme (1/7/1916-18/11/1916), when Coombes was commanding 145th Trench Mortar Battery, was announced in the London Gazette of 1/1/1917 (no citation). His Mentioned in Dispatches, which service records confirm was for the third battle of Ypres (20/8/1917-10/11/1917, during which period Coombes successively commanded 145th Trench Mortar Battery, was ADC to General Fanshawe and then seconded to the American GHQ in France), was announced in the London Gazette of 4/12/1917, page 10064. The second award bar to his Military Cross, which service records confirm was for the German Spring Offensive of 1918 (21/3/1918-29/4/1918, when Coombess service records indicate he was attached to the American GHQ in France), was announced in the London Gazette of 26/7/1918. The following is the citation for the bar to Captain Coombe's Military Cross: "For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He did invaluable work holding up the enemy with his trench mortar battery when all troops in his vicinity had been forced to withdraw and his unit was more than half depleted by casualties. He then collected a party of men and fought a gallant rear-guard action from house to house through a village, inflicting considerable casualties on the enemy and holding him up till almost cut off with only eight men left. Two days later, when the situation on the right flank of his division was critical, he on two occasions went over to the brigade on the right under heavy shell fire and brought back valuable information as a result of his reconnaissances. He displayed fine courage and initiative throughout the operations."
Coombes volunteered for service during WW2, being appointed 142175 Lieutenant, 10th Battalion East Surrey Regiment, on 29/7/1940. At the time of re-enlistment he gave the name of his next of kin as his mother, Mrs G. Coombes, of Great Missendon, Buckinghamshire. Coombes took part in the No. 7 Junior Officers Course, 169 Officer Cadet Training Unit, Aldershot, 6/9/1940 to 30/9/1940, passing out with a "very satisfactory" grade. Promoted Captain 1/10/1940, he was subsequently attached to the Headquarters North Devon Sub Area, Fremington, 21/4/42, with the rank of Staff Captain. Promoted Major, 16/3/1944, Coombes was posted for service to the No. 198 POW Camp on 20/10/1944. The London Gazette of 16/4/1948 records Coombes as having retired on 3/4/1948 and being granted the honorary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel (service papers, however, record Coombes as having relinquished his commission and being granted honorary rank some years later, on 15/3/1954).
Coombes married Marion Louise in May 1928. He was a member of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and a Justice of the Peace for Buckinghamshire from 1922.
Group accompanied by a selection of contemporary photographs, including one of Captain Coombes in uniform seated in the back of a lorry with a lady dressed in military uniform (probably F.A.N.Y.) and another officer, probably taken in France, WW1, a post-war photograph of Coombes taken in Shanghai, China, wearing tropical whites and pith helmet, and six photographs taken in Egypt in 1931, these six photos all in civilian clothes, and including some group photos.
There is only one officer with the name J. Coombes recorded as having seen service during WW1, John Cecil Coombes, the recipient of the medals llisted here.
NOTE: There is a discrepancy in official records regarding the date on which Coombes's Military Cross was gazetted. Official citation that accompanies group states 4/6/1917, whereas London Gazette states 1/1/1917. Since service papers confirm MC was for the battle of the Somme, the date that appears in the London Gazette would appear more likely to be the correct date.
