MEMENTOS tracing the life of an unsung Second World War hero from Cheshire will be auctioned in Nantwich this month.

General Sir Miles Dempsey masterminded the invasion of Italy and commanded 83,000 troops in the British Second Army during the D-Day Normandy landings, making successful assaults at Gold, Juno and Sword beaches.

After liberating Brussels and Antwerp, Dempsey was knighted on the battlefield by King George VI and became the first British officer to cross the Rhine on March 23, 1945.

The objects in the two-day Peter Wilson auction on November 27-28 are being sold by his great nephew, James Dempsey, who lives near Chester.

He said: "I am proud of my great uncle's achievements and was able to assist the author of Miles Dempsey's biography which was published only a couple of years ago.

“The huge role he played in the Allied victory is starting to receive the recognition it surely deserves.

"The general ordered his diaries to be destroyed following his death in 1969 on the actual 25th anniversary of the D Day landings.

As a result, he never wrote an autobiography. I hope these items which span most of his life and career will find new owners who will appreciate the immense history attached to them".

The auction includes a military compass by Martins of Birmingham, a British Army uniform trunk, a hand coloured engraving, a silver-mounted wine ewer and a watercolour by Dempsey's close friend and Illustrated London News artist, Bryan de Grineau.

Elsewhere is a late 19th century bow-fronted mahogany apprentice chest, a Gordon Russell Ltd mahogany card table with felted interior, a Kurk Kashan rug, a Beswick pottery model racehorse and two watercolours of country scenes by Irish contemporary artist Frank Egginton.

For further information, contact the auctioneers' militaria specialist Chris Large on 01270 623878 or auctions@peterwilson.co.uk