Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood
Lot 134
A pair of Third Reich period 7 x 50 Kriegsmarine binoculars by Ernst Leitz GmbH, Wetzlar recovered from U-3008:, stamped to back plates with alphabetic ordnance code 'BEH' and numbered '459863', rubberised eye caps and black crackle finish , together with black leather case stamped with Kriegsmarine mark to cover, 23cm high.*Notes- The binoculars and their original case were 'liberated' by Lieutenant-Colonel Norman Tailyour, Royal Marines, then Commanding Officer of 27 Battalion RM, part of the Canadian First Army that captured Wilhelmshaven on 28th April 1945. On 13th May 1945 about 200 German warships and submarines surrendered. Norman Tailyour was in command of the Royal Marines guarding the surrendered fleet and he acquired these binoculars on 13th May 1945 from U-3008: a Type XXI U-boat that then served in the United States Navy for several years. Her final German Commanding Officer had been Kapitäleutenant Helmut Manseck. Norman Tailyour used these binoculars at sea in his motor yacht (ex Royal Navy ML 286) and carried them when the Commanding Officer of 45 Commando throughout the Eoka campaign in Cyprus and then at Suez in November 1956 when his commando conducted the first ever opposed helicopter assault from the sea. He carried them,also, when commanding the 3rd Commando Brigade, Royal Marines, in the Far East in 1961-62. He retired from the Royal Marines as General Sir Norman Tailyour KCB, DSO and bar, Commandant General 1984-1988. Before that he gave them to his son Major Ewen Southby-Tailyour (later Lieutenant-Colonel, RM, OBE, Sultan of Muscat's Bravery Medal for gallantry during the Dhofar War) who used them in 1978-1979 while carrying out his surveys of the Falklands beaches; surveys which were then used to plan and conduct the re-invasion following the Argentinean invasion in 1982. Ewen Southby-Tailyour was eventually appointed OBE and was voted the 1982 British Yachtsman of the Year for this work. The Royal Navy's ML 286 was purchased direct from the government by the Tailyour family in 1952. ML 286 was a Fairmile B Class motor launch in the 21st Coastal Motor Launch Flotilla when, under the command of Temporary Sub-Lieutenant GW Haworth RNVR, she operated as an inshore hospital ship on D-Day (6th June 1944) for the Assault and Post-Assault phases of Operation Neptune. She was later sold into the civilian market when the Tailyour family bought her with all her ancillary equipment.*Provenance- By direct family descent.
