The Victoria Cross won by Private George Allan Mitchell for actions at Damiano Ridge during the Italy campaign, estimate £250,000-300,000 at Morton & Eden.
The medal will be sold by Morton & Eden on February 29 and is estimated to fetch £250,000-300,000. The decision to sell is driven by the necessity to renovate and then maintain the regiment’s memorials and building in Horseferry Road, Westminster.
The VC it has chosen to sell was won by Private George Allan Mitchell for a series of actions he led on the night of January 23-24, 1944 at Damiano Ridge during the Italy campaign. At the time, Mitchell was a mortarman in the 1st Battalion of the London Scottish Regiment, engaged in driving the German army out of Italy following the Salerno Landings.
On the night, with no officers or senior NCOs available, he led four successive attacks with rifle and bayonet on enemy machine gun emplacements. He was killed minutes later when an enemy soldier, who had surrendered, picked up a rifle and shot him.
The Victoria Cross won by Private George Allan Mitchell for actions at Damiano Ridge during the Italy campaign, estimate £250,000-300,000 at Morton & Eden.
David Kirk, director at Morton & Eden said: "The citation relating to this award is quite remarkable, and according to our records it has been over 20 years since a comparable Second World War ‘Army’ VC of this kind has come up for auction."
A spokesman for the Regimental Trustees said: "The decision to sell the Mitchell V.C. has not been an easy one. However, we’re in austere times and sacrifices need to be made."
He added, "Our Horseferry Road HQ is the heart of the Regiment [now serving as Scots Guards] and it’s still home to the famous and celebrated London Scottish Pipes & Drums, the London Scottish Regimental Museum and a number of Regimental societies."
