Medals of SAS hero shot by Nazis after D-Day secret mission to be sold at Staffordshire auction
Medals of an SAS soldier who was murdered by the Nazis during a daring mission behind enemy lines 80 years ago are going under the hammer through a Lichfield auctioneers.
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Consigned to Richard Winterton Auctioneers, the medals were awarded to Corporal Kenneth Bateman, who was parachuted into occupied France hours before the D-Day Landings on June 6, 1944 as part of Operation Bulbasket.
The Second World War mission was deemed so secret the full story only came out following the release of classified documents decades later.
Serving with B Squadron of the Special Air Services, 24-year-old Cpl Bateman was among a group of elite soldiers working with French Resistance fighters tasked with disrupting the movement of German troops as the Allied invasion got underway.
But Bateman and his comrades were captured by the Germans and shot on July 7 1944 in accordance with Hitler’s infamous ‘Kommandobefehl’ Commando order.
The soldier’s medals were finally claimed by a relative almost six decades later.
The framed collection of six medals include the France and Germany Star, 1939-1945 Star, 1939-1945 War Medal, Defence Medal, The Africa Star and The Italy Star.
Also included in the frame is his 8th Army Bar which would be added to The Africa Star.
