Africa Star

The Africa Star was awarded for a minimum of one day’s service in an operational area of North Africa, between the 10th June 1940 and the 12th May 1943 both dates inclusive.

The operational area was the whole of the area between the Suez Canal and the Straits of Gibraltar, together with Malta, Abyssinia, Kenya, Sudan, The Somali Islands and Eritrea. Those areas not bordering the Mediterranean only qualified for the Africa Star between the 10th June 1940 to the 27th November 1941.

Bar: NORTH AFRICA 1942-43 Awarded for service with the Royal Navy or Merchant Navy from the 23rd October 1942 to the 12th May 1943. A silver rosette on the ribbon denotes this bar

The crews of a total of 503 vessels in support of the operations in North Africa during the above dates qualified for the bar including the following RFA’s –

RFA Abbeydale                                                    RFA Brown Ranger                             RFA Cherryleaf

RFA Derwentdale                                               RFA Dewdale                                       RFA Dingledale

RFA Ennerdale                                                    RFA Maine (3)                                      RFA Nasprite

RFA Petrella

RFA Viscol – while the ship received a Battle Honour for this service, the crew, for some strange reason did not qualify for the bar.