ËœTHE SILVER-GILT MOUNTED PRESENTATION MAMELUKE SWORD TO LIEUTENANT GENERAL GEORGE SIR RONALD SCOBIE, K.B.E., C.B., M.C. BY THE GREEK ARMY, BY WILKINSON, LONDON SILVER HALLMARKS, 1946, with curved polished blade double-edged towards the point, etched with olive fruit and foliage, palmette, the presentation inscription and the Patriotic inscription 'ΈΛΛΑΔΙ ΓΑΡ ΣΠΕΥΔΟΝΤΕΣ ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΗΝ ΠΕΡΙΘΕΙΝΑΙ?', rectangular ricasso etched 'Wilkinson' on the back-edge, silver-gilt hilt comprising cross-guard cast and chased with olive foliage in low relief, decorated in the centre with a classical profile bust on one face and with the crowned Royal cypher 'GRVI' enclosed by the Most Noble Order of the Garter on the other, back-strap chased with foliage, a pair of ivory grip-scales (small ages cracks) retained by a pair of rivets with gilt heads, and with its original knot, in its scabbard with silver-gilt mounts cast and chased with palmettes and strapwork in low relief against a punched ground comprising chape, middle-band with a ring for suspension, applied in enamel with the Most Honourable Order of the Bath on one face and the Greek Order of George 1st, gold cross (military division) on the other, locket with a further ring, decorated in blue enamel with the dates 1944-46 on a scroll on one face and a military emblem on the other, and remaining in very fine condition throughout, 82.0 cm blade Sir Ronald Mackenzie Scobie (1893-1969) was educated as a scholar at Cheltenham College and at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, he was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in February 1914. He excelled at all sports and shortly before the outbreak of war played rugby for Scotland against England, Ireland, and Wales. Scobie was sent out to France in October 1914. Though wounded shortly after his arrival, he recovered to fight in the trenches for the remainder of the war, being twice mentioned in dispatches and winning the Military Cross. Promoted captain in 1917, he received his brevet majority just two years later. In September 1920 he returned to England, where for four years he commanded a company at Woolwich. From 1927 to 1931 he was a staff captain, and later a brigade major, at Aldershot, before spending three years overseas as director of military artillery at the Royal Military Academy, Australia, during which he was promoted brevet lieutenant-colonel. On 9 February 1927 he married Joan Duncan (b. 1904/5), daughter of William Henry Sidebotham, a solicitor, of Farnham, Surrey and they later had a daughter. By 1939 Scobie was in London, as a full colonel and assistant adjutant-general at the War Office, and on the outbreak of war was made deputy director of mobilization, a role at which he excelled. In late spring 1940 he went out to the Middle East to serve as deputy adjutant-general on General Wavell's staff before being appointed, in August, as a brigadier, general staff, in the Sudan. There, under General Sir William Platt, he helped plan the northern arm of the massive pincer that broke Italian military power in east Africa. Scobie with Platt captured Agordat in February 1941, broke the kernel of Italian resistance at Keren in March 1941, and finally took the whole of Eritrea. In the opinion of General Sir Frank Messervy, a fellow officer and friend, it was Scobie, through his diplomatic handling of two quarrelling divisional commanders and his insistence on persevering with the attack, who saw the crucial battle of Keren through to its victorious end. In October 1941, a month before Sir Claude Auchinleck launched his 'Crusader' offensive against Rommel, Scobie, now a major-general, was appointed to succeed General Moreshead as commander of the garrison of Tobruk. After leading the 70th British division in by sea to relieve the Australian de