Eric Gascoigne Robinson

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Eric Gascoigne Robinson
16 May 1882 - 20 August 1965

Eric Robinson, VC from Gallaher Cigarette Cards
Place of birth Greenwich, London
Place of death Royal Hospital Haslar
Allegiance Flag of United Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Navy
Years of service 1897 to 1942
Rank Rear Admiral
Unit Royal Navy
Battles/wars Gallipoli Campaign
Awards Victoria Cross and others

Rear-Admiral Eric Gascoigne Robinson, VC, OBE (May 16, 1882 - August 20, 1965) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He earned his award with a string of daring operations whilst a Lieutenant Commander with the fleet stationed off the Dardanelles during the Gallipoli campaign in World War One, including the single-handed destruction of a Turkish naval gun battery and the destruction of a captured British submarine under fire from Turkish shore artillery.[1]

Following these exploits he was badly wounded at the frontline on the Gallipoli Peninsula, but recovered and served continuously for the remainder of the war and into the Russian Civil War. In 1939 aged 57, he again volunteered for military service and spent three more years at war, commanding convoys during the Second battle of the Atlantic. During his lengthy and action filled career, Robinson remained a highly-efficient officer who conducted himself with meritorious service through four wars and amassed a large collection of awards and honours.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Born in 1882 at Greenwich in South-East London to John and Louise Aveline, the son of the chaplain of the Royal Naval College at Greenwich, Eric Robinson's youth was spent in preparation for a life at sea which began when he was just fifteen in 1897. Joining the HMS Victory (then a training ship) and rapidly progressing to the battleship HMS Majestic and then the light cruiser HMS Endymion, in which he took part in suppressing the Boxer Rebellion in China. It was here, aged just 18 that he saw his first action with the relief force, being wounded in action, mentioned in dispatches and gaining a reputation as a daring and resourceful officer.[2] He remained in China serving on a Yangtze gunboat for several years before returning to England and becoming a torpedo specialist at HMS Vernon in 1907.

In 1910, Robinson was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and spent his time between the torpedo school HMS Vernon, the depot ship HMS Thames and the HMS Blenheim and HMS Amethyst on active service. In 1913 he married Edith Gladys who soon gave birth to the first of three children. Robinson was injured in a train accident shortly after his wedding,[3] but was not seriously hurt and soon recovered, being dispatched to the Mediterranean Sea at the outbreak of World War One on board the old battleship HMS Vengeance.[2]

[edit] The Gallipoli campaign and the Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross

The first exploit in his Victoria Cross nomination was the result of his close friendship and working relationship with another aggressive officer, Roger Keyes, whom he had first met in China fifteen years before. Keyes was asked by his superior, Admiral John de Robeck to prepare an assault on the Turkish gun battery at Orkanieh (also known as Achilles' Tomb),[4] a position between Kum Kale and Yeni Shehr on the Southern shore of the Dardanelles.[5] This position had withstood fire from the battleships of the Allied fleet during the preceding weeks. Robinson was suggested as the leader of a commando force of sailors and Royal Marines whose job was to destroy the battery and then withdraw on the 26 February.

Turkish defences at the Dardanelles, March 1915. Kum Kale can clearly be seen on the Southern shoreline.
Turkish defences at the Dardanelles, March 1915. Kum Kale can clearly be seen on the Southern shoreline.

Robinson accepted the mission without hesitation and his force landed without being noticed in the early morning, destroyed two small artillery pieces and made fast progress towards the main battery before being pinned down by Turkish snipers in the mid-afternoon. The white naval uniforms of the sailors proved an easy target for the Turks, and casualties mounted as Turkish reinforcements were brought up to cut the raiding party off. Instead of withdrawing in the face of this threat, Robinson marched his men on through gullies and came out close to a small rise behind the main battery. The open ground of the rise was covered by several Turkish snipers, but realising the importance of removing the artillery overlooking the sea passage, Robinson delegated responsibility for leadership of the party onto a junior officer and made the climb alone, dodging bullets in his white uniform until he crested the rise unhurt, emerging a few minutes later and starting back apparently unconcerned by the increasingly heavy gunfire directed at him. He was said to be "strolling around . . . under heavy rifle fire . . . like a sparrow enjoying a bath from a garden hose".[6] The battery had been ungarrisoned, and Robinson was able to lay fuses which destroyed the large 9.4" main gun and two anti-aircraft emplacements within the position. Withdrawing in good order, Robinson evaded the Turkish reinforcements and then directed gunfire from the fleet onto their positions, including a force garrisoning an ancient tomb, causing them heavy casualties.[6] An immediate recommendation for the Victoria Cross was put forward by Admiral de Robeck who had observed proceedings from the HMS Queen Elizabeth offshore.

[edit] The E15 mission

The wreck of HMS E15 following Robinson's action
The wreck of HMS E15 following Robinson's action

During March in the run up to the landings on the peninsula, Robinson lead four sorties into the extensive sea minefields around the beaches and bays of Gallipoli. On one of these, his minesweeper was struck by small calibre shells 84 times and others were scarcely less dangerous but in spite of Turkish resistance, Robinson was able to clear wide lanes for the invasion forces to utilise.[1]

Robinson volunteered in April for an even more dangerous mission following the Turkish capture of the grounded submarine HMS E15. All efforts to destroy this craft had so far failed and it was considered vital for naval morale that the submarine not be allowed to remain in Turkish hands. Robinson took command of two motor launches from the battleships HMS Triumph and HMS Majestic and attached a torpedo to each before entering the Dardanelles under cover of darkness on the 18 April. Despite heavy and accurate Turkish fire from artillery and machine guns, Robinson's boat (from HMS Triumph) was able to fire a torpedo but missed. Calling up the Majestic boat, he ordered it to fire as well, this time scoring a direct hit and wrecking the grounded submarine. As the small craft turned to go, they were caught by searchlights and subjected to heavy and accurate gunfire which holed Majestic's boat causing her to sink fast. Robinson again did not hesitate, turning back to the scene and rescuing the survivors before calmly returning to the Allied fleet. It was estimated that the Turks fired at least 500 heavy calibre rounds of ammunition at the two boats in just a few minutes[7]. A German officer present noted that "I have never on the course of the war seen an attack carried out with such pluck and fearlessness".[7] It has also been commented that this action should have brought Robinson a second Victoria Cross,[2] but in the end it was merely added to his previous citation and practically ensured its confirmation. As a reward for this operation, he was promoted to Commander by special decree.

[edit] Later war service

In August, Robinson was sent to Anzac Cove as a naval liaison officer and on his second day there was badly wounded near the front line, forcing his evacuation to England, where King George V presented him with his medal at Buckingham Palace. Returned to the Mediterranean in December 1915 following recuperation, he took over the coastal monitor HMS M21, in which he shelled Turkish positions throughout Egypt and Palestine and was awarded another mention in dispatches and the Egyptian Order of the Nile, 4th Class.[8] Returning to England in the summer of 1917, he narrowly missed selection for the operations against Zeebrugge and Ostend due to his war wounds and instead trained crews of coastal torpedo boats, a role which then led to a distant posting in the Caspian Sea during the Russian Civil War, fighting the Bolshevik forces along the Russian coastline with a squadron of coastal torpedo boats and forcing the surrender of several enemy forts through aggressive tactics. These achievements would later win him the Imperial Russian Order of St. Anne, 2nd Class.[9] His most infamous achievement at this time was leading a small coastal motor boat inside the harbour of Fort Alexandrovsk, where he sank a barge and prompted a mass surrender from the garrison.[7]

[edit] Peacetime and Second World War service

Following this period of extended service, Robinson was brought home, presented with the Order of the British Empire[10] by the King for his Caspian Sea service and promoted again on board HMS Iron Duke, to Captain. Robinson enjoyed a period of inactivity between the wars, serving in a series of training establishments and dockyards as well as a brief stint with the Far East Fleet during which he received the Japanese Order of the Sacred Treasure, 3rd Class for his services.[11] In 1925 he was inducted into the Freemasons and remained a prominent member of the Navy Lodge for the rest of his life.[12] The organisation still commemorates him in their publications.[13] He retired aged 51 in 1933 as a rear-admiral and remained so for six more years until the Second World War broke out. An old man, Robinson nevertheless immediately offered his services and for three years commanded convoys across the Atlantic Ocean for which he was presented with the Norwegian King Haakon VII's Freedom Cross.[11] Eventually a bout of ill-health caused by a combination of the strain of long service, his old age and the death of his son Midshipman Edward Cordeaux Robinson in the sinking of the cruiser HMS Neptune in December 1941,[14] prompted a second retirement in 1942.

Settling at Langrish, near Petersfield in Hampshire, Rear-Admiral Eric G. Robinson died peacefully in Haslar Naval Hospital at Portsmouth on the 20 August 1965 being buried at his local church which he had served over the previous twenty years as warden.[11] For unknown reasons, his grave was not provided with a headstone until 1998 although a large plaque to him dedicated by his sister in 1969 surmounts the altar. Following investigations by the Naval VC Association, his gravesite in the churchyard was discovered, and a Commonwealth War Grave placed over the site.[13] At the dedication ceremony for his new headstone over 150 friends, relatives, Masons and servicemen were present and Admiral Derek Reffell read a eulogy which stated; "The admiral was a hero, but more importantly he was a naval man from the finest mould. Now at last we can accord him the dignity he deserves"[11]

[edit] Citations

Admiralty, 21st April, 1915

Lieutenant-Commander Eric Gascoigne Robinson has been specially promoted to the rank of commander in His Majesty's Fleet in recognition of the distinguished service rendered by him on the night of the 18th April, 1915, as Commanding Officer of the force which torpedoed and rendered useless Submarine E.15, thus preventing that vessel from falling into the enemy's hands in a serviceable condition, Dated 20th April, 1915.

The London Gazette, 23rd April, 1915[15]


Admiralty, 16th August, 1915

The following awards have been made in recognition of services during operations in the vicinity of the Dardanelles prior to 25th-26th April:-

The King has been graciously pleased to approve of the grant of the Victoria Cross to Lieutenant-Commander (now Commander) Eric Gascoigne Robinson, R.N., for the conspicuous act of bravery specified below.

Lieutenant-Commander Robinson on the 26th February advanced alone, under heavy fire, into an enemy's gun position, which might well have been occupied, and destroying a four-inch gun, [16] returned to his party for another charge with which the second gun was destroyed. Lieutenant-Commander Robinson would not allow members of his demolition party to accompany him as their white uniforms rendered them very conspicuous. Lieutenant-Commander Robinson took part in four attacks on the mine fields - always under heavy fire.

The London Gazette, 13th August, 1915[17]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b P.21, The Naval VCs, Stephen Snelling
  2. ^ a b c P.22, The Naval VCs, Stephen Snelling
  3. ^ This incident was probably the Ais Gill rail crash which killed 14 in Cumbria on the 1 September 1913.
  4. ^ P.218, Symbol of Courage, Max Arthur
  5. ^ P.19, The Naval VCs, Stephen Snelling
  6. ^ a b P.20, The Naval VCs, Stephen Snelling
  7. ^ a b c P.23, The Naval VCs, Stephen Snelling
  8. ^ The London Gazette, 5th December, 1915, Retrieved on the 15 January 2007
  9. ^ MQ Magazine, Issue 11, October 2004, Letters, "Admiral Robinson VC", Carl Clayton, Retrieved on the 5 February 2007
  10. ^ The London Gazette, 11th November 1919, Retrieved on the 24 January 2007
  11. ^ a b c d P.24, The Naval VCs, Stephen Snelling
  12. ^ MQ Magazine, Issue 9, April 2004, Letters, "'Double VC' initiation", Charles Sprinks, Retrieved on the 5 February 2007
  13. ^ a b MQ Magazine, Issue 13, April 2005, Letters, "Admiral Robinson VC", Secretary, Navy Lodge No. 2612, Retrieved on the 5 February 2007
  14. ^ Commonwealth War Graves record for Edward Cordeaux Robinson, Retrieved on the 18 January 2007
  15. ^ The London Gazette, 23rd April, 1915, Retrieved on the 15 January 2007
  16. ^ This is probably a typo, later investigations clearly state that the gun was 9.4", not 4".
  17. ^ The London Gazette, 13th August, 1915, Retrieved on the 15 January 2007
  18. ^ a b Both books by Snelling contain the same information as part of different collections.

[edit] References

[edit] External links


Persondata
NAME Robinson, Eric Gascoigne
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Royal Navy admiral and First World War Victoria Cross recipient
DATE OF BIRTH 16 May 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Greenwich, London
DATE OF DEATH 18 August 1965
PLACE OF DEATH Portsmouth
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../e/r/i/Eric_Gascoigne_Robinson_2ede.html"