Bars to British War Medal

[Yorts]

In was initially propsoed by the Admiralty to award 68 different bars for attachment to the BWM, a proposal which was dropped on account of cost in 1923. Whilst the qualifying criteria is obvious for the majority, can anyone provide me with qualifying dates for the following clasps:

Red Sea

Mesopotamia

Pacific Islands

German East Africa

German SW Africa

Eastern Baltic 1918-19

Serbia 1918-19

Black Sea

Caspian Sea

Russia

North Russia 1918-19

Cameroons

Marmora S/M

Heligoland Bight S/M

Were sailors / marines who qualfied for a 'battle' clasp also intended to be entitled to a sea clasp for the same year e.g. were recipients of 'Jutland 31 May 1916' also intended to be entitled to North Sea 1916?

What did the navy define as the narrow sea and home sea?

Does anyone have any details of the action covered by the clasp Leopard 16 March 1917?

Thanks and Regards,

Alex.

[DirtyDick]

You would probably have to look for the authorisation documents, which I guess would be housed at the NA.

The bar for "Mamora S/M" would have been for those RN submarines operating in this area, the Sea of Mamara, during the (approximate) period of the Gallipoli land campaign. They achieved great success in this venture against incredible odds, leading to the award of several VCs to COs and a host of lesser awards to their crews.

For the "Pacific Islands" clasp, I would assume that this would be for RN crews that transported and supported ANZACs in taking German Pacific territories in 1914.

The Narrow Seas would - presumably given their nautical origin - mean the Kattegat & Skaggeratt (sp?) lying between Denmark and Norway and Sweden. This was the focus for much activity by light forces and RN submarines spent a lot of effort mining these waters to hinder any German naval forces coming via the Baltic.

[Michael Lowrey]

Alex,

Leopard clasp would be for the destruction of the disguised German surface raider Leopard on March 17, 1917 by HMS Achilles and HMS Dundee. The battle happened at 65°54'N, 0°22'E with the Leopard sinking with all hands.

Best wishes,

Michael