Collection of photographs and ephemera relating to Jean Albert Errard of the Free French forces, £3200 at Tennants.
Jean Albert Errard joined the submariners at the age of 19 and was one of the first to join the Free French forces before being sent to Dakar, Gabon and French Equatorial Africa and taking part in the Syria campaign in 1941.
He later joined Captain Philippe Kieffer’s group of commandos and after taking part in the disastrous 1942 Operation Jubilee, a raid on Dieppe, he was awarded the Croix de Guerre with a bronze star for his actions.
Errard – known as ‘Shell Head’ due to the unusual shape of his head – parachuted into France in 1943 and went to work with the French Resistance, later dropping behind enemy lines before the D-Day landings where he was responsible for harassing the enemy. He escaped the Germans with the help of the religious order of Malestroit who hid him in their convent.
The Longwy (pottery in northern France) charger that was part of the collection relating to Jean Albert Errard of the Free French forces that made £3200 at Tennants.
The collection was consigned by a private north of England source and estimated at £400-600, but took £3200 from a London buyer.
An unusual item included in the collection was a Longwy Pottery Charger, numbered 021 and inscribed A Notre Camarade S.A.S. Jean Errard.
