NOW SOLD!! Probably One Of The Most Historical Original British Royal Naval Officer's Sword of WW2, Of the Lt Commander Involved In The Capture of Kriegmarine U Boat, U110. The Most Important Maritime Combat Event of WW2, ‘Operation Primrose’
Every single day we try our upmost to acquire, and thus offer to our collectors, interesting and fascinating souvenirs of history going back thousands of years.
Today is no exception. We are showing the RN officer's sword, and the WW2 Kriegsmarine Dirk from Kptlt. Fritz Julius Lemp Top Secret Code Room Cabin. It was from U110 that men from HMS Bulldog recovered an Enigma Machine, and the Kapitan's all too vital super top secret Kriegsmarine code books, his service dagger, film of U110 at sea {filmed from the conning tower} and several other vital pieces. The dagger was 'retreived' by the Royal Naval engineering officer, a former Secret Service Section Officer. Lt. Commander Dodds, who boarded the U110 to ensure it was safe to tow to an allied safe port after its capture {it was however ordered to be scuttled} and this was his sword. When called up from the RNR before the imminent outbreak of war, Lt. Commander Dodds was promoted Lt-Commander and sent to serve, from September 1939 until June 1940, in the Secret Service Section of the Admiralty in London, on the staff of Vice-Admiral Gordon Campbell.
When wearing this sword, as used in his service aboard HMS Bulldog, he was personally decorated with his Distinguished Service Cross by His Majesty King George VIth, the king, who confirmed, when he spoke to Lt.Commander Dodds as he awarded him his DSC gallantry medal, that his involvement in the ultra top secret action was probably the most important and top secret maritime combat success of the entire war.
This stunning historical sword is in superb condition and has a deluxe etched blade, that still has its original frosting. It is offered as a testament to this Officer’s magnificent, devoted and heroic service to his country and the Royal Navy, and his love of his personal heroes, Nelson, Kipling, Rhodes, and Churchill. It was due to their mutual love of Nelson that the previous owner of this sword and dagger, acquired them from Mr Dodds’s widow, sometime after his death, that was due to severe illness, likely caused by his war service, in 1963, aged just 61.
"The Secret Capture"
U-110 was captured by the Royal Navy on May 9 1941. This was perhaps the most important capture of the entire war and was so secret that even the crew of U-110 did not know of it! U-110, under the command of Kptlt. Fritz Julius Lemp, had been attacking a convoy in the Atlantic south of Iceland together with U-201 (Oblt. Adalbert Schnee), when Lemp left his periscope up too long (probably to confirm a kill: he sank two ships totalling 7500 GRT that day) and the escort corvette HMS Aubretia sighted it and rushed to the scene and began depth charging.
U-110 survived the first attacks, but then HMS Bulldog and HMS Broadway joined the hunt. U-110 was forced to surface, and HMS Bulldog immediately set course to ram (its commander realised it might be possible to capture U-110, and veered aside at the last moment) which caused Lemp to order "Abandon Ship". Lemp assumed the boat would be sunk, and its confidential material would go down with it. When he was in the water he realised the boat was not sinking, and attempted to swim back to prevent capture. That was the last seen of him. Members of U-110s crew later claimed he was shot in the water by the British boarding party, but that was never confirmed.
The boarding party commanded by Lt David Balme, followed by Lt Commander Dodds, made several journeys between U-110 and HMS Bulldog to collect whatever they could get their hands on inside the boat. This proved to be very fruitful, as U-110 was abandoned in a hurry, and being a Type IXB U-boat, did not sink as rapidly as a Type VIIC would have. It is almost certain that many U-boats were sunk as a result of the material found inside U-110, including from the kapitan's code room an Enigma machine with rotors set, current code books & his kriegsmarine officer's dirk. Dodds and his men joined Balme and the others in collecting charts, books and any other equipment and materials that could be removed, and passed them to the motor boat. A few other trophies were collected as well. Dodds and Balme took pairs of Zeiss binoculars, a Eumig cine camera with which they filmed the interior, Lemp’s Iron Cross, the submarine’s Visitor Book and other pieces. The naval ratings were most impressed by the sight of fresh fruit and good food in the magnificent galley. Lemp’s Knight’s Insignia of the Iron Cross was returned many years later to his sister by Baker-Cresswell
The day after the capture, the British Admiralty realised the importance of this, and that if the Germans knew the boat had been captured, they would assume the worst and change their codes and cipher system. The boat was accordingly ordered to be scuttled while being towed to Britain, the surviving crew were taken straight to Iceland to be interned, and everyone involved in the capture sworn to secrecy. 15 of U-110's crew died in the action and 32 were interned.
This amazing and supremely important action was portrayed in the Hollywood movie, U-571, but its name changed and the capture was made, not by the Royal Navy, but by American vessels.
This event was the subject of a British parliamentary motion in 1999 condemning the portrayal of the capture of U-110 and subsequent breaking of German codes as an American success in the film U-571.
KptLt. Lemp had previously achieved great success in his second U boat, U-30, sinking 17 ships and damaging two, including the British battleship HMS Barham (04). She was the first U-boat to make use of the French bases in July 1940, and on 14 August 1940 Lemp, aged 26, became the seventh U-boat commander to be awarded the Knights Cross.
The secret was the capture of the Enigma machine by the Royal Navy from U-110. We have the Kriegsmarine dagger, Kptlt. Fritz-Julius Lemp (Knights Cross) taken from the captain's map room of U110 by the RN officer of HMS Bulldog, who was the Lt Commander Chief Engineer of HMS Bulldog, who had to inspect U110 to enable towing after all the ships booty, including the enigma machine and code books, officer's dagger, had been stored aboard HMS Bulldog.
The Captain of Bulldog realised how important the items recovered from U-110 were, so decided not to send an informative radio message about the capture which avoided the Germans learning of the loss, instead sailing to Iceland and then Scotland with the German prisoners kept isolated. Acquiring an Enigma machine was of some help, but the capture of the code books was of immense help to the Government Code and Cypher School in that the codes were still valid until 30 June 1941 enabling six weeks of unfettered and immediate access to the German naval code, their insight making the breaking of future German naval codes much easier.
Kptlt. Lemp’s U-boot’s dirk, and the Lt Commander's RN sword, was sold by the family by a special auction in Bonhams about 20 years ago. Including the letters of provenance, scanned admiralty photos of the RN officer holding his sword, and catalogue etc. that we now have. Some of the paperwork and copies of the photographs we will offering with Lt Commander Dodds Royal Naval officer's sword that is to be offered for sale seperately.
The Lanes Armoury partner's both agree these pieces are probably two of the most historically important service items from the entire WW2, of the Royal Navy’s and Kriegsmarine’s combat history. The sword of Lt Commander Dodds and the U110 dirk are likely only comparable to the dirk of Kapt. Hans Langsdorff, of the Kriegsmarine Pocket Battleship, Graf Spee, if it was to appear one day. Before the secret of U110 was revealed, The Graf Spee and the Battle of the River Plate was likely the most famous engagement of the Royal Navy vs the Kriegsmarine in WW2.
Photographed together with the dagger, and with letters of provenance, scanned admiralty photos from original film taken aboard U110, photo of the sword worn by Lt Commander Dodds and all the full relevent history. All the above were initially sold by the family who owned them, all together, around 20 years ago.
Both sword and dagger with provenance were offered by us for sale separately, but have been acquired by a collector together in order to the keep the integrity of their history together since 1941
Film by a 1941 Pathe News War photographer { link below} of the tragic sinking of British capital ship, the Battleship HMS Barham.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdrISbwy_zI
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