Bidspirit auction | Capt Phillip Gardner VC Victoria

Capt Phillip Gardner VC Victoria Cross winner signed 50th ann WW2 cover Operation Crusader js50/41/7. November and December 1941 saw some of the fiercest fighting of the north African campaign - culminating in the allied relief of Tobruk. It was in late November 1941, south-east of Tobruk, that Captain Philip ”Pip” Gardner, who has died aged 88, won a Victoria Cross while serving with the 4th Royal Tank Regiment (RTR), 32nd Tank Brigade. On the morning of November 23 1941, Gardner was ordered to take two Matilda tanks and go to the rescue of two armoured cars, halted about 200 yards apart and being blasted by heavy enemy shellfire. The other tank provided covering fire while Gardner manoeuvred his own close to the nearest car. He dismounted from his tank and, under intense anti-tank and machine-gun fire, secured a towrope. Seeing an officer, legs shattered, lying beside the armoured car, Gardner lifted him into the vehicle. Giving the order to start the tow, he returned to his tank - at which point the rope broke. Again leaving the safety of his tank, Gardner returned to the armoured car, but was hit in the arm and leg. He still lifted the officer out of the car and carried him back, placing him on his tank's back engine louvres - and holding him on. Shells rained down, killing the loader, as the Matilda was driven to safety. Good condition Est.