VCs of the First World War: Spring Offensive 1918 E-Book

Gerald Gliddon

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 474

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

At the end of 1917, after three years of trench warfare on the Western Front, the Allied armies of Britain and France, and those of their main opponent, Germany, had reached a point of exhaustion and hibernation. On March 21 1918, the German Army launched a massive assault on the Western Front, hurling fifty-nine divisions into battle against the British Fifth Army, smashing through British lines and advancing 40 miles per week. More offensives were to follow throughout the spring, including at Aisne and Marne, with the aim of ending the war before American forces could reach the Continent and reinforce the Allied lines. Nevertheless, although the German Army left the British Army reeling, the Tommies retreated in good order and fought all the way. It was during these bloody battles, which lasted until July 1918, that fifty-seven men stood out for acts of extraordinary daring and bravery. To these men the highest military honour was awarded – the Victoria Cross. This book reveals the true extent of their bravery, their backgrounds and their lives after the war.

Leseprobe

CONTENTS

Title Page

Acknowledgements

Preface to the 2013 edition

Introduction

C.G. Robertson

E.F. Beal

J.C. Buchan

E. de Wind

W. Elstob

R.F.J. Hayward

M.A. James

A.E. Ker

J.W. Sayer

C.E. Stone

J.S. Collings-Wells

H.G. Columbine

H. Jackson

C.L. Knox

F.C. Roberts

C. Bushell

J.R. Gribble

A.C. Herring

J.T. Davies

W.H. Anderson

A.H. Cross

A.M. Toye

T. Young

A. Mountain

B.A. Horsfall

B.M. Cassidy

S.R. McDougall

O.C.S. Watson

G.M. Flowerdew

P.V. Storkey

J.H. Collin

R.G. Masters

J. Schofield

E.S. Dougall

A. Poulter

J. Forbes-Robertson

T.T. Pryce

J.J. Crowe

J.T. Counter

J.E. Woodall

C.W.K. Sadlier

T.B. Hardy

J. Hewitson

G.B. McKean

W. Beesley

W. Gregg

W. Ruthven

G.W.St G. Grogan

J. Halliwell

J. Kaeble

P. Davey

T.L. Axford

H. Dalziel

W.E. Brown

A.C. Borella

J. Meikle

R.C. Travis

Sources

Bibliography

Plate Section

Copyright

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank once again the staff of the following institutions for their assistance during the research for this book: the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the Imperial War Museum, the National Army Museum and the National Archives at Kew. In addition, I would also like to thank the archivists and curators of the many regimental museums who responded to my requests for information.

Where recently taken photographs have been included, their owners have been acknowledged with each individual illustration.

As was the case with my two earlier books in the VCs of the First World War series, Donald C. Jennings of Florida has been immensely kind in supplying me with pictures of the majority of graves or memorials included here.

Most of the maps reproduced in this book first appeared in Military Operations France and Belgium, edited by J.E. Edmonds, Macmillan/HMSO, 1922–49.

Maurice Johnson once again spent many hours in the National Archives on my behalf, searching out and reading the appropriate War Diaries. It was hardly surprising to learn that material for the beginning of the Spring Offensive was in short supply. So many units, especially in the forward forces, were simply overwhelmed in the first part of the battle.

Other individuals who also gave assistance include Peter Batchelor, who also compiled the index, for which I am grateful, John Cameron, Jack Cavanagh, Colonel Terry Cave CBE, David Cohen, Peter Harris, Dennis Pillinger and Steve Snelling. Other people who provided material but whose names are not listed here have been acknowledged in the Sources section at the end of the book.

PREFACE TO THE2013 EDITION

The History Press have decided to re-issue the VCs of the First World War series in new editions and I have taken advantage of this decision by revising and updating the texts of the current volume.

Since the initial research for this book was carried out nearly ten years ago, there has been an increasing interest in and awareness of the stories and lives of the men who were awarded the nation’s and the Commonwealth’s highest military honour. Evidence of this can be found in the amount of new books being published on the subject; the re-issuing of servicemen’s records by the National Archives and the accessibility of other records of family history, which are now available via Ancestry, the family history magazine. The internet has also played a major part in the increase in the availability of information. Finally, the founding of the Victoria Cross Society in 2002 by Bran Best has encouraged further research and publication of informative articles on the holders of the Victoria Cross.

One of the heartening consequences of this new interest in the subject is in the erection of new or replacement headstones on some of the graves of these brave men, and it is hoped that, in time, every man who has a grave will have it properly marked.

Gerald Gliddon, October 2012

INTRODUCTION

At the end of 1917, after three years of trench warfare on the Western Front, the two main Allied Armies, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French, and their main opponent, the German Army, had reached a point of exhaustion and hibernation. At the same time various changes had been made which led to a re-alignment of the two sides.

Firstly, the revolution in Russia had led to the collapse of their military involvement in the war, which in turn released a great number of extra men and equipment, and the German Army was no longer obliged to conduct a major campaign on two fronts. In addition, Italy had collapsed and Rumania had sued for peace.

On the Allied side, the French Army in 1917 had endured the failure of the Nivelle Offensive on the Aisne and had also had to cope with a series of mutinies within its ranks. Although the French Army, with over a hundred divisions to draw upon, was far bigger than the British could hope to put into the field, its morale was extremely low and in early 1918 the French handed over an extra 25 miles of line to the British. In the Allies’ favour, the German submarine campaign to prevent supplies getting through from the USA to Britain had been a failure in 1917. However, the trump card for the Allies was the announcement of the involvement of America in the war. With the USA’s seemingly inexhaustible supply of both men and supplies, it was felt that, whatever the Germans might achieve, in the long term their efforts would inevitably end in defeat, probably in 1919. However, General (Gen.) J. J. Pershing, in command of the American Army, was not intending to throw the lives of his men away piecemeal and was planning to enter the conflict only when his army was equipped and ready to be used to fight as an individual force.

Discontent was not confined to the French Army, however, and the BEF was riddled with rumours that Field Marshal (FM) Sir Douglas Haig was to be replaced, as David Lloyd George, the British prime minister, considered him to be a squanderer of men’s lives, and the high casualties of the Passchendaele offensive in the autumn of 1917 reinforced this view. However, although in his diary Haig indicates that he was prepared to step down, he knew that his position was pretty safe as there was simply no better commander, either British or Dominion, who could take his place. Lloyd George therefore adopted another tactic in order to prevent Haig from seeking yet another costly offensive. He simply starved him of manpower.

The period from January to mid-March 1918 was one of the quietest of the whole war and the Allied line was now 126 miles long. To the south of the Allied lines was General Sir Hubert Gough’s Fifth Army of twelve infantry divisions and three cavalry divisions. They were responsible for about 42 miles of front, with the southernmost section of about 10 miles thought to be unsuitable for fighting. Overall, they were responsible for about a third of the British sector of the Western Front. Gough was convinced that it was his thinly held line which was going to have to bear the full brunt of the German offensive, which was known to be in preparation. To his left was Gen. Byng’s Third Army of fourteen divisions; two more than Gough had and yet with a line of only 28 miles to look after. This included the Flesquières (Cambrai) Salient and a position on the left of the Fifth Army at Gavrelle, about 6 miles to the north-east of Arras. To the left or north of the Third Army were the British First and Second Armies, covering 33 miles and 23 miles respectively. The Flesquières Salient was to be held as a false front.

The build-up to the German offensive over the first three months of 1918 was all too obvious to the British; even the date of 21 March could be guessed at as a result of interviewing German prisoners. The Germans sometimes called their offensive Operation Michael, after the German patron saint, and sometimes Kaiserschlacht, the Kaiser’s battle. When it began in the early hours of 21 March, it consisted of a bombardment which lasted for several hours. A great stroke of good fortune for the German Army was the presence of a thick mist, especially in the area where the attack was planned, namely the line held by the Fifth Army. However, the mist, which was much less dense on the Third Army front, turned out to be a mixed blessing for both sides, as neither always had the visibility that it required. The attackers, when they began to break through the Allied lines, operated on a front of 50 miles and the total number of divisions that were involved in the initial fighting came to sixty. Despite Gough’s warnings about the vulnerability of his line, his orders were not altered and his troops had little choice other than to fight and then retreat in good order. In fact, at many points, the Fifth Army simply collapsed under the overwhelming German onslaught, in which the enemy used a mixture of gas, rifle and machine-gun fire, accompanied by artillery. Despite the swiftness of the German advance, Gough was still to hold the lines of the River Somme at all costs; there was to be no withdrawal from this position. On the 26th, Gough was ‘to delay the enemy as long as possible without being so involved as to make retirement impossible’.

On the left of the Fifth Army, Gen. Byng’s Third Army was hanging on despite its right flank being exposed. The holding of the Flesquières Salient had not been a good plan to follow and made the situation even more confusing than it might have been.

An Allied conference took place at Doullens on 26 March to discuss the serious situation on the British Fifth Army front (Gen. Gough had not been invited) and also the possibility of a united Allied command structure. FMl Haig was quite willing to serve under Gen. Foch, the chief of staff of the French Army, to co-ordinate the Allied command. Sir William Robertson was to cease being the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), and Foch told Haig that the decision would give Gen. Pétain a morale boost after the French Army mutinies of 1917. Despite this increase in co-operation, however, the French seemed in no hurry to assist the British Army defend the River Somme line and, indeed, were much more preoccupied in defending Paris, which was now being threatened by German long-range guns.

In his memoir of the Fifth Army, Gough writes of a visit by Gen. Foch to his headquarters (HQ), whereby the Frenchman harangues his British colleague for his inadequate handling of the Fifth Army. Naturally, Gough was unhappy about this incident and at not being invited to the Doullens conference in the first place. He must then have realised that his days as commander of the Fifth Army were numbered.

On 3 April, a week after the Doullens conference, Lloyd George told Haig that Gough must go and this was confirmed in a cable sent by Lord Derby the next day. History has not really made up its mind about the career of Sir Hubert Gough and to give him his ‘bowler hat’ for the poor performance of the Fifth Army during the March Somme battles does seem a trifle unfair. If anything, he should perhaps have been given the sack for ‘underachieving’ in earlier campaigns in the Salient, or at Bullecourt in 1917, or on the Somme in 1916. As on most occasions when the careers of his colleagues were threatened, Haig stood by his friend when the news came through from London that he was to go. However, if Haig complained too much then the spotlight would inevitably be turned upon his own performance. So loyal was Haig to Gough after he had been sent home in early April, that it was not until 16 June that one reads the following note of exasperation in his published diary:

I am sorry that he is talking so stupidly but I don’t think it would be any use writing to him. Some of his friends are advising him to keep quiet. I am doing all I can do to help him, but, as a matter of fact, some orders he issued and things he did were stupid – and anything of the nature of enquiry would not do him any good.

By 5 April the Allied line had been severely dented but, despite the collapse of the British Fifth Army, the German Army had overstretched itself and was running out of supplies. Gough had been replaced by Sir Henry Rawlinson and the Fifth Army was made the Reserve Army.

The German commander, Gen. Ludendorff, decided on a change of plan and on 9 April his army mounted an attack, under the name ‘Georgette’, between Ypres and La Bassée. The German Fourth Army were to take on the British Second Army under General Plumer and the German Sixth Army was to be pitched against General Horne’s First Army. After progressing for 10 miles and beginning to threaten the Channel ports, Ludendorff decided to call off the assault at the end of April as he was unable to make a strategic gain. Meanwhile, on 9 April, Lloyd George stated in the House of Commons that the fighting strength in France and Flanders was greater on 1 January 1918 than a year before. In fact, it was 41,000 men less. Three days later, Haig issued his famous ‘backs to the wall’ order in which he called upon the BEF to fight it out: ‘Every position must be held to the last man: there must be no retirement. With our backs to the wall, and in believing in the justice of our cause, each one of us must fight on to the end.’

From early May, the Germans moved southwards with their plans of attack and decided to take on the French from 27 May in a campaign which lasted until 6 June. The British were still involved, under the French command with their British IX Corps. Later the British were also involved in the Marne fighting from 20 July–2 August as, once again, Paris was threatened with enemy occupation.

This book does not pretend to be a full-blown military history of the 1918 German Spring Offensive, a subject on which there are already a good many volumes. It is one of a series covering the lives and deeds of the men who won the VC in the First World War, and is a collective or group biography of the fifty-seven men – 60 per cent of them officers – who won the VC in the period from March to the end of July 1918 while serving in the British Army on the Western Front.

Despite the poor showing of the British Fifth Army in March 1918, this book ends on a note of optimism for the Allies as they prepared their great counter-blow against the German Army which would, in turn, lead to the end of the war within a hundred days.

C.G. ROBERTSON

West of Polderhoek Château, Belgium, 8/9 March

In the first months of 1918, only one Victoria Cross was awarded to a British soldier on the Western Front: G58769 Lance Corporal (L. Cpl) Charles Graham Robertson of 10th (S) Royal Fusiliers, on 8 March. This was thirteen days before the start of the German Spring Offensive, codenamed Operation Michael. The fighting in this part of 1918 hardly receives any attention in the history books and the importance of the attempted German breakthrough overshadowed what had gone on in the period between the closedown of Third Ypres at the end of October 1917, followed by the Cambrai battle, and the famous 21 March date.

The Allied line in the Ypres Salient bent round the easterly side of Polygon Wood and ran southwards to the west of Polderhoek Château before crossing the Menin Road and bending in a south-westerly direction.

At 6.30 a.m. on 8 March 1918, the enemy began a bombardment which grew fiercer and continued for ten and a half hours, with only a brief pause. The shelling was particularly heavy to the north of the Menin Road. On the front of the 13th (S) Royal Fusiliers (11th Brigade (Bde), 37th Division (Div.)), no attack was carried out by the enemy but the bombardment had resulted in casualties. To the left of the 13th, the 10th Royal Fusiliers, who had been in support at the commencement of the shelling, were, by the afternoon, providing reinforcements for the 13th (S) King’s Royal Rifle Corps who had been attacked. They had sent up D Company (Coy), which included L. Cpl Charles Robertson MM (Military Medal). The History of the Royal Fusiliers states that the situation provided him ‘with an opportunity for an action calling as much on his skill as his heroism’.

His citation in the London Gazette of 9 April 1918 stated:

For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty in repelling a strong attack by the enemy on our position. On realising that he was being cut off, L.-Corpl Robertson sent back two men to get reinforcements, and remained at his post (with only one other man) firing his Lewis gun and killing large numbers of the enemy, who were in range on his right. No reinforcements came up, and, realising that he was being completely cut off, he withdrew, with the only survivor of the garrison of the post, to a point about ten yards further back, where he successfully held his position. Here he again stayed for some considerable time, firing his Lewis gun and inflicting casualties on the enemy. The position was, however, made impossible for him by the heavy hostile bombing and machine-gun fire, so he was forced again to withdraw and arrived at a defended post. At this post he got on top of the parapet with a comrade, mounted his gun in a shell-hole and continued firing at the enemy, who were pouring across the top and down an adjacent trench. He had not been firing long when his comrade was killed and he himself severely wounded. He managed to crawl back, bringing his gun with him, but could no longer fire it, as he had exhausted all his ammunition. L.-Corpl. Robertson was alone throughout these operations, except for the presence of one other man, who was later killed, and the most determined resistance and the fine fight which he put up undoubted prevented the enemy from making a more rapid advance. His initiative, resource and the magnificent fighting spirit are worthy of the highest praise.

Although Robertson’s was the first military VC to be gained in 1918, he had to wait, probably owing to his severe wounds, until two days before the Armistice before he was decorated by King George V in the Ballroom at Buckingham Palace on 9 November 1918. He was discharged from the Army a few weeks later on 19 December and was given the Silver War Badge.

Charles Graham Robertson was born in Penrith, Cumberland, on 4 July 1879, the only son of James and Catherine Robertson. James was a gardener and, later, the family moved to Dorking in Surrey, living on the north-eastern edge of the town in a road named Riverside. Today, this road consists of terraced cottages and is a cul-de-sac ending in a railway embankment.

As a boy Robertson sang in Pixham Church choir and the church is around the corner from Riverside at the point where Leslie Road meets Pixham Lane. He attended the local National School (later St Martin’s) and then moved on to Dorking High School.

After finishing his education Robertson took part in the Boer War as a trooper in the 34th Coy (Middlesex) Imperial Yeomanry. During the Great War he transferred from the cavalry to the infantry and became a member of the Royal Fusiliers, arriving in France on 19 November 1915. His MM was gazetted on 2 November 1917. In March 1918, he was severely wounded in the stomach during his VC action and returned to England, spending some time in a hospital in Ipswich; he was not expected to survive. However, a surgeon from Guy’s Hospital took an interest in Robertson’s case and, after two intricate operations, he began to recover. He returned to Dorking for a few days’ leave from hospital in December 1918 and the townspeople turned out in their thousands to welcome him home at a special presentation.

A procession was formed which included Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, boys from schools that he had attended, the National and St Paul’s, local volunteers and the town band. Robertson was taken by brougham to the High Street, where the two horses were unharnessed and the carriage was then pulled to the Red Lion Hotel by soldiers who had been wounded and later discharged, called the Silver Badge men. The presentation took place in front of the decorated inn and Mr J.B. Wilson, chairman of the local council, made a speech, as did Lord Ashcombe and the MP for Reigate.

Robertson was subsequently presented with an award by the population of Dorking. At first he was unwilling to accept any gifts, but eventually he gave way and was duly presented with a gold watch and chain, along with a gift of cash which he directed to a deserving charity. He resumed work for the railway as a booking clerk and, for the rest of his life, served as a clerk in the London offices of the LNER. He was very active in local affairs and served with many organisations. At one time he was a member of the Dorking Football Club and was a keen cricketer and strong swimmer. However, his wounds curbed his sporting activities, although he loved to watch sports at Pixham, his local parish, or at Westcott, a village to which he often walked. He took an active part in the work of the local British Legion, who elected him vice-president. He liked nothing better than to walk over Box Hill, a well-known beauty spot outside Dorking, and at one time he used to swim in the River Mole near Castle Mill.

He served as a sergeant in the Home Guard during the Second World War and, after the war, although he had been a very active sportsman, he became increasingly unwell. In the period 1951–1954 he was to suffer a stroke and became chairbound. His wife Doreen Madeline looked after him devotedly during his final years at their home at 5 Longfield Road, Dorking. He died in the Garth Nursing Home, where he had been a patient for several weeks, on 10 May 1954. He did not wish for a military funeral and was buried from the cemetery chapel at Pixham, across the road from the church he used to attend. He is buried in the town cemetery, Plot 36, Grave 360.

In his home town Robertson was very highly thought of, not just as a war hero, a subject of which he rarely spoke, but also for his warmth and friendliness. He was always at his happiest watching sport or playing a game of snooker. In 1977, Robertson’s widow presented his medals to the Royal Fusiliers for their museum in the Tower of London, and she outlived her husband by thirty-three years, dying in 1987. Apart from the VC, MM, 1914–15 Star, BWM (British War Medal), VM (Victory Medal), his decorations included those from the Boer War and the Coronation in 1937 and 1953. As Robertson later ceased to believe in the justification or legality of the South African War, he no longer wore the appropriate awards which he had been awarded, including the Queen’s South African Medal with Clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State and Transvaal. As a result they became separate from his Great War decorations and were sold in 1977 by C.J. & A.J.Dixon of Bridlington.

E.F. BEAL

St Léger, France, 21/22 March

In mid-March the 121st Bde of the 40th Div. was sent to reserve positions at Hendecourt, a village about 8 miles to the south-west of Arras. The brigade was to be ready to move at three hours’ notice. On the eve of 20 March, enemy gunfire could be heard targetting the next, and thsis continued into the next day. At 6.00 a.m., the 13th (S) Battalion (Bn) The Yorkshire Regiment (Regt) (Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own) ‘stood to’ and at 1.15 p.m. marched off to the village of Hamelincourt, about 3 miles to the south-east. Their orders were to take over front trenches of the third line of defence in a position from the Mory-Ecoust road to St Léger, together with the 12th Suffolks. Brigade HQ was in a sunken road to the south of Mory.

It was already known that the villages of Croisilles and Ecoust to the north-east had fallen and the enemy had broken through other parts of the British line, but the depth of penetration was uncertain. At midnight, A and C companies of the 13th Yorkshires moved up to a communication trench in order to take up their positions. However, a patrol reported that the enemy were in occupation already. In addition, it was discovered there was a 400 yard gap between them and the adjacent unit, and that several enemy machine-guns had been set up there. Progress was halted while 2nd Lieutenant (2nd Lt) E.F. Beal of the supporting D Coy worked his way up the communication trench with a Lewis gun team and a supply of bombs. He succeeded in disabling no fewer than four enemy machine-gun teams and captured their guns, in addition to one prisoner.

By dawn, A Coy was occupying the German frontline positions from the south-east corner of St Léger Wood. Later in the morning, Beal went out to collect one of his men who had been wounded, but tragically was himself then mortally wounded by a shell.

Beal’s VC was published in the London Gazette of 4 June 1918:

For most conspicuous bravery and determined leading when in command of a company detailed to occupy a certain section of trench. When the company was established, it was found that a considerable gap of about 400 yards existed between the left flank of the company and the neighbouring unit, and that this gap was strongly held by the enemy. It was of vital importance that the gap should be closed, but no troops were then available. Organising a small party of less than a dozen men, he led them against the enemy. On reaching an enemy machine gun, Second Lieut. Beal immediately sprang forward, and with his revolver killed the team and captured the gun. Continuing along the trench he encountered and dealt with another machine gun in the same manner and in all captured four enemy guns, and inflicted severe casualties. Later in the evening, when a wounded man had been left in the open under heavy enemy fire, he, regardless of danger, walked up close to an enemy machine gun and brought in the wounded man on his back. Second Lieut. Beal was killed by a shell on the following morning.

Ernest Frederick Beal, son of J. J. W. Beal and Jane Sturman Beal was born in Brighton on 27 January 1883, and his home address at the time was 55 East Gate. He had two brothers, Harold Robert and John James, who were also to serve in the Great War. Ernest was educated at Brighton Grammar School and later worked in his father’s stationery shop. When he enlisted in the 2/1 Sussex Yeomanry on 24 September 1914, he gave his address as the family home at 148 Lewes Road, Brighton. By 11 June 1915 he was promoted to sergeant and, on 15 September, was posted to the 1/1 Sussex Yeomanry, serving with them in the Balkans. On 16 December 1916 he moved to the 16th Royal Sussex Regt and was recommended for a commission with the 13th (S) Bn The Yorkshire Regt (Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own) on 26 October 1917, joining D Coy.

A few months after Beal died from wounds while winning his VC, the posthumous award was presented to his parents in the Quadrangle of Buckingham Palace on 3 July. The couple were accompanied by Miss May F. Bundy, Ernest’s fiancée, of 37 Crescent Road, Brighton.

Ernest Beal was later commemorated in a number of ways; as a former member of the Boys Brigade, an annual award in his memory was presented to the member of the Brighton Boys Brigade who had been the most most proficient during the year. In their turn, Brighton Corporation presented his parents with an Illuminated Address, which conveyed the town’s congratulations and also sympathy at their loss. On this occasion it was pointed out that Beal was the first Brighton man to win the Victoria Cross. His name is also listed on Bay 5 of the Arras Memorial to the Missing in France.

On the death of J. Beal senior, Ernest’s VC was inherited by his brother Harold who, in 1964, wrote to the Green Howards Regimental Museum (formerly the Yorkshire Regt) and indicated that they could have it on permanent loan, which they did from 1966. Apart from the VC, the other service medals included the 1914–15 Star, BWM and VM which had been bequeathed to May Bundy, who also lent them to the Green Howards. Later the loan arrangements were converted to outright gifts.

J.C. BUCHAN

East of Marteville, France, 21 March

On 21 March, 2nd Lt John Crawford Buchan of the 1/7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (A & SH) was attached to the 1/8th A & SH of the 183rd Bde, 61st (2nd South Midland) Div. The division was about 4 miles to the east of the pre-21 March British line which ran around the west side of St Quentin. The area was in the Fifth Army sector. Buchan had been wounded early in the day, but despite this he insisted on remaining with his men and encouraging them when visiting their positions, even when under the most intense shellfire. His platoon suffered many casualties.

His posthumous VC was published in the London Gazette of 2 May 1918 and tells the story as follows:

When fighting with his platoon in the forward position of the battle zone, Second Lieut. Buchan, although wounded early in the day, insisted on remaining with his men, and continually visited all his posts, encouraging and cheering his men, in spite of most severe shell fire, from which his platoon was suffering heavy casualties. Later, when the enemy were creeping closer and heavy machine-gun fire was raking his position, Second Lieut Buchan, with utter disregard of his personal safety, continued to visit his posts, and though still further injured accidentally, he continued to encourage his men and visit his posts. Eventually, when he saw the enemy had practically surrounded his command, he collected his men and prepared to fight his way back to the supporting line.

At this point the enemy, who had crept round his right flank, rushed towards him, shouting out ‘Surrender’. ‘To hell with surrender,’ he replied and shooting the foremost of the enemy, he finally repelled this advance with his platoon. He then fought his way back up the supporting line of the forward position, where he held out to dusk. At dusk he fell back as ordered, but in spite of his injuries again refused to go to the aid post, saying his place was beside his men. Owing to the unexpected withdrawal of troops on the left flank, it was impossible to send orders to Second Lieut. Buchan to withdraw, as he was already cut off, and he was last seen holding out against overwhelming odds. The gallantry, self-sacrifice and utter disregard of personal safety displayed by this officer during these two days of most severe fighting is in keeping with the best traditions of the British Army.

Buchan died near Marteville on 22 March 1918 having won his VC the day before to the east of the village. When he was killed his body was taken 7 miles northwards to be buried in Roisel Community Cemetery Extension which had been begun by the Germans to the north of the Communal Cemetery. The village of Roisel is 7 miles to the east of Péronne and had been an important CCS Centre. Buchan’s grave is in Plot II, Row 1, Grave 6.

John Crawford Buchan was born in Alloa, Clackmannan, Scotland on 10 October 1892, and was the third son of David and Margaret Buchan. His father was the editor of the local paper, the Alloa Advertiser. Before the war John was educated at the Alloa Academy and later became a reporter at his father’s newspaper. He also worked in the Scottish camps of the YMCA. He was a keen mountaineer and, at the outbreak of war, was on holiday in Switzerland, later returning home and enlisting with the RAMC. He was commissioned into the 7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders on 25 January 1917 and was later attached to the 8th Bn. He went to France on 4 October 1917.

Two of his four brothers were also killed in the war, his eldest brother, Lieutenant (Lt) David Buchan, on 9 April 1917 when serving with the Gordon Highlanders, and his younger brother, 2nd Lt Francis Hall Buchan, who died of wounds on 7 August 1918 when struck by a shell fragment near Béthune while serving with the 11th Rifle Bde. At one time a portrait of John Buchan used to hang at the A & SH Club in Glasgow.

Buchan’s mother, Margaret, had died in 1907, which was the first tragedy in the Buchan family history, so John’s VC was presented to his father at Buckingham Palace on 3 March 1920. The Times Weekly Edition carried a photograph of the occasion, which was later presented to the Alloa Public Library. A memorial plaque was, at one time, in the possession of the regimental archivist to the A & SH at Stirling Castle. In addition, a second plaque was to be found in the Alloa Museum, along with a copy of a picture which recreates ‘To Hell with Surrender’. Buchan’s name is also included on the Alloa War Memorial.

Buchan’s father’s health gradually broke down and he died in 1926, having lost three members of his family within a fairly short time.

John Buchan had been a good friend of Lt William Bissett, another winner of the VC, who was a member of the 1/6 A & SH and won his VC in October 1918. He survived the war, living until May 1971.

John Buchan’s VC and service medals are not publically held.

E. DE WIND

Racecourse Redoubt near Grugies, France, 21 March

2nd Lt Edmund de Wind was one of seven men to win the VC on 21 March 1918, which he earned when in charge of the defence of a position called Racecourse Redoubt, south-east of Grugies. He was a member of the 15th (S) Bn, North Belfast Royal Irish Rifles (RIR) (107th Bde, 36th (Ulster) Div.). 108th Bde was to their right and 109th Bde to their left. The Ulster Div. was to the south-west of the German-held town of St Quentin, where, by 17 March, it was obvious to the Ulstermen that there was a huge increase in German activity. The much-anticipated German offensive was surely close at hand.

Racecourse Redoubt straddled a railway line that led into St Quentin and was one of fourteen redoubts in the area. They had been established because of the thinness of the defensive line; in fact, there was a group of three in this forward zone, each held by one of the three divisional brigades. Racecourse Redoubt was in the middle of the three and the 15th RIR occupied it, together with the 1st RIR.

At 4.35 a.m. on 21 March the German artillery opened fire and the enemy assault on the Ulster Div. began at 9.40 a.m. The attackers were helped by a thick mist and they quickly reached the line of redoubts, which were immediately surrounded and cut off. The one known as Jeanne d’Arc was overrun first as it was the most easterly. The mist then began to clear, which helped the defence of the two remaining redoubts to hold out; however, as each trench line was fought for and eventually overrun, it was only a question of time before the inevitable surrender. Finally only a small part of the redoubt around the railway cutting remained and this fell soon after de Wind had collapsed, mortally wounded. The time was just before 6.00 p.m. and he had gained a posthumous VC for his bravery and self-sacrifice. Immediately after he was killed the remaining men in the garrison surrendered. De Wind’s citation published in the London Gazette of 15 May 1919 tells the story:

For seven hours he held this most important post, and, though twice wounded and practically single-handed, he maintained his position until another section could be got to his help. On two occasions with two N.C.O.s [non-commissioned officers] only he got out on top under heavy machine-gun and rifle fire, and cleared the enemy out of the trench, killing many. He continued to repel attack after attack, until he was mortally wounded and collapsed. His valour, self-sacrifice and example were of the highest order.

Thirty or so survivors (including HQ staff) were ordered by the Germans to remove their boots and were marched off barefoot into captivity.

De Wind was officially listed as missing and a cable dated 19 April 1918 was sent to his mother by the War Office, who remained reluctant to authorise a death certificate despite his death becoming increasingly obvious as the months went by. Then, in September, a report from a rifleman arrived at the War Office via the German Red Cross Society; it was given by Rifleman A. Wright of D Coy, supported by an unnamed officer in de Wind’s battalion, who confirmed that de Wind had been killed. According to Wright, a trench mortar shell landed close to de Wind at about noon on 21 March 1918 and killed him outright.

Edmund de Wind was born in ‘Kinvara’, Comber, County Down in Northern Ireland on 11 December 1883. He was the youngest son of Arthur Hughes de Wind, chief engineer of the Belfast and County Down Railway, who died in 1917, and Margaret Jane de Wind. In 1900 the family lived at 32 and 32a Bridge Street, Comber, and then they moved to 31 Castle Street, which was later demolished. In 1908/9 Arthur de Wind built a house which he called ‘Kinvara’ in Killinchy Road, and the family took up residence there in 1909. Arthur de Wind worshipped at the St Mary’s Church for more than forty years and was organist and choirmaster there. Edmund began school at Campbell College in Belfast in May 1895 and left five years later in December 1900 when he was 17. He joined the Bank of Ireland and worked in Belfast and Cavan. In 1911 he left for Canada, working in the Bank of Commerce and holding positions in several of its branches, including Toronto. He had served as a private for five months in 1912 with the 2nd Regt of Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada, and on 16 November 1914 he enlisted in the 31st Bn (Calgary Regt) in Edmonton, Alberta. The 31st Bn was in 6th Bde, 2nd Canadian Div., which was part of the Canadian Corps under First, Second, Fourth and Reserve (Fifth) Armies. According to his attestation papers, he was 5ft 6in foot, with dark blue eyes, and dark brown hair which was going slightly grey. He sailed for England with his battalion on 29 May 1915 and, after training, left for France on 15 September in the same year.

Between September 1915 and April 1917 he served in the machine-gun section of his battalion. During his frontline service he was at Thiepval, on 1 July 1916, at Courcelette in September 1916 and at Vimy Ridge, Messines Ridge and Cambrai in 1917. After Vimy Ridge he was sent to an officer cadet school, and on 26 September he was commissioned in the 15th Bn RIR. He had first applied for a commission with this regiment when still in Canada. In December he returned to the front with them, before being involved in the German offensive of 21 March 1918, when he became one of three soldiers from his regiment to win a VC in the Great War. At the time of his death he was engaged and played hockey and cricket when at home in Ireland. He was also keen on sailing, shooting, fishing and tennis.

De Wind’s VC was not gazetted until the much later, on 15 May 1919, because details of his extreme bravery were only revealed after the Armistice, when former occupants of Racecourse Redoubt returned from prisoner-of-war (POW) camps. It was presented to his mother, Mrs Margaret J. de Wind, in the Quadrangle at Buckingham Palace on 21 June 1919; although over eighty years of age she travelled from Belfast with her daughter to accept the award. While waiting in the Palace ante-room, the King noticed Mrs de Wind and gave instructions to an equerry to arrange for a private audience, which took place and saved the elderly woman from a long wait. Mrs de Wind died in 1922.After de Wind’s death the gross value of his will was £1020 15s 7d and his executor was his siter, Catherine Anne.

De Wind’s name is listed on the Pozières Memorial to the Missing, as he has no known grave, and after the war a captured German field gun was presented to the town of Comber as a memorial to him. It was placed in the town square, and details of his action in winning the VC were included on a commemorative plate. The gun disappeared in the Second World War in the drive for scrap metal towards the war effort, but the plate was saved and is now in the porch of the St Mary’s Church in Comber. A memorial plaque to de Wind is also in the church itself.

In 1948, Mount de Wind was named after him in Jasper National Park, Alberta. One of the entrance pillars in St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast is dedicated to de Wind’s memory with an inscription. A road in Comber is called de Wind Drive and is part of a housing estate built in 1961. His name is also remembered with a blue plaque in Bridge Street, Comber, which was unveiled on 14 September 2007, on the local war memorial, and a photograph hangs in the central hall of Campbell College, Belfast, which also contains a photograph of his memorial plaque. A school building is also named after him and his name is listed on the school war memorial. In 1985, de Wind’s name was also included in the stone memorial to Ulster VCs in the approach to the Ulster Tower at Thiepval.

Keith Haines, a head of history at Campbell College, de Wind’s old college has privately published a short biography of de Wind.

His decorations, apart from the VC, include the 1914–15 Star, BWM and VM, but they are not publically held.

W. ELSTOB

Manchester Redoubt, near St Quentin, France, 21 March

Temporary Lieutenant Colonel (T/Lt Col) Wilfrith Elstob was in command of the 16th (S) Bn (1st City) Manchesters (90th Bde, 30th Div.) when they took up positions opposite St Quentin on 18 March, three days before the great German Offensive. The position was called Manchester Hill, which consisted of a very well-defended, featureless hill position. Behind the hill was a quarry, which was used to provide cover and dug-outs, and served as a battalion HQ until 21 March, when the HQ moved forward to the battle HQ position. In this area of the Fifth Army, the plan of setting up fifteen redoubts was made because of the acute shortage of manpower. Defences were organised in depth and were sited to give the best field of fire for the Lewis and Vickers guns, together with rifle fire. Elstob had just written to a friend saying: ‘If I die, do not grieve for me, for it is with the Sixteenth that I would gladly lay down my life.’

In the forward zone and facing east, A Coy of the Manchesters was to the right and B Coy to the left. In addition, a chain of sentries was set up and their orders were to withdraw should an enemy attack develop. The redoubt itself was made up of deep dug-outs and was set up for all-round defence; it was stocked with ammunition and protected by wire in its approaches. D Coy, together with battalion HQ, was actually in the redoubt itself, and C Coy was in reserve for use in counter-attack: two platoons positioned north of the redoubt in Francilly-Selency and two platoons to the south of the railway line. All told, the battalion frontage stretched for about 2,000 yards and the purpose of the garrison was to hold on as long as they could after the expected attack finally began, and to disorganise the enemy as much as possible. This plan, in advance of an expected German artillery bombardment, must have seemed hopeless in the eyes of the defenders, as retirement was not an option to be considered despite the redoubt having planned artillery support.

Manchester Redoubt was to the south of Francilly-Selency, a village where Major (Maj.) F.W. Lumsden had won a VC in early April 1917, following its capture by the 2nd Manchesters together with a section of the line which they named Manchester Hill.

Elstob’s HQ was in Brown Quarry, to the rear of the actual hill, and on 21 March at 2.00 a.m. a patrol reported that there was no enemy activity. At about 4.30 a.m. a German barrage mixed with gas shells began in a thick mist and, at around this time, Elstob was reported to have announced that: ‘Here we fight and here we die’. At 6.30 a.m. Elstob was still in a position to telephone 90th Bde, whose HQ was in Vaux, and this connection remained intact for much of the day. At the same time a box barrage was concentrated on the area of Etreillers to the rear by enemy artillery. The first sign of trouble for the garrison was the scream of a sentry who had been bayoneted. The first troops to be engaged with the enemy soon after at 10.30 a.m. were those in Manchester Redoubt, and the German bombardment continued until 11.00 a.m. The flanks were overrun and Germans were seen actually by-passing the redoubt on their way to the battle zone to the left. Elstob asked the artillery for a barrage, which was slow to arrive, and when it did it caught some of the British positions. Meanwhile he had left his HQ in the quarry and moved to a position on the redoubt. The enemy artillery was then moving down the road from St Quentin towards the redoubt. By midday the situation for the garrison was looking hopeless, although Elstob informed his brigadier that he would hang on until the end. In the fighting, Elstob himself was using a mixture of weapons: rifle, revolver and grenade.

The mist began to clear and 90th Bde was busy taking on the enemy to the rear of the position. All this time the heavy mist had given the attackers an advantage and they were quickly able to reach within bombing range of the redoubt. For a time the Vickers gun set up in the redoubt was out of action and the enemy had to be repelled by rifle fire, which could not sustain a defence for very long. By this time the redoubt had become surrounded, all battle positions were manned and any papers deemed to be of use to the enemy were destroyed. The redoubt fell to the enemy after a very stout defence by the Manchesters and, according to the war diary written up by a 2nd lieutenant on 2 April 1918, no frontal attack had been carried out by the enemy: the British frontline had been attacked from the rear. Elstob was twice wounded, his Vickers guns was put out of action and many of the garrison had been wounded; in addition, the trench mortars were out of ammunition. Elstob’s final message was received at 3.22 p.m., in which he was reported to have said ‘Goodbye’. The redoubt fell very soon after Elstob was shot in the head and killed. Later his body was apparently stripped, probably for souvenirs. The remaining defenders of the garrison surrendered almost immediately. At the start of the siege the redoubt was occupied by eight officers and 160 men, and about three-quarters of them surrendered after Elstob’s death.

Of the three redoubts in this immediate area, the author considers that Manchester is the one that still boasts the most visible remains; in March 1995 one could still find slabs and sections of concrete together with baulks of timber, which were clearly part of the original defensive position. To the rear of the hill is the site of Brown Quarry, near which is a field used for motor coursing. Almost twenty years earlier, in 1976, the historian Martin Middlebrook had come across the remains of an artillery observation post (OP) on the top of the hill.

Fifteen months after his death, Elstob’s posthumous VC was published in the London Gazette of 9 June 1919 as follows:

During the preliminary bombardment he encouraged his men in the posts in the Redoubt by frequent visits, and when repeated attacks developed controlled the defence at the point threatened, giving personal support with revolver, rifle and bombs. Single-handed he repulsed one bombing assault, driving back the enemy and inflicting severe casualties. Later, when ammunition was required, he made several journeys under severe fire in order to replenish the supply. Throughout the day Lieut.-Colonel Elstob, although twice wounded, showed the most fearless disregard of his own safety, and by encouragement and noble example inspired his command to the fullest degree. The Manchester Redoubt was surrounded in the first wave of the enemy attack, but by means of the buried cable Lieut.-Colonel Elstob was able to assured Brigade Commander that ‘The Manchester Regiment will defend Manchester Hill to the last’. Some time after this post was overcome by vastly superior forces, and this very gallant officer was killed in the final assault, having maintained to the end the duty which he had impressed on his men-namely, ‘Here we fight and here we die’. He set the highest example of valour, determination, endurance and fine soldierly baring.

As with 2nd Lt Edmund De Wind, details of Elstob’s award were not officially published until the summer of 1919 due to a delay in trying to establish the actual circumstances of his death. The findings were not helped by various conflicting reports made by different witnesses who claimed to see Elstob’s dead body lying out in the open. These included a report by Private (Pte) J. Franklin, who claimed to have buried the commander at a point about 200 yards in front of battalion HQ on the east side of the redoubt where a Vickers Gun had been set up. A Corporal (Cpl) Bamber also claims to have seen the body on 21 March, as did a Sergeant (Sgt) Banks. Three POWS also reported to have buried Elstob on Good Friday, and added that he was by the side of a dead brother officer of the Manchester Regt. The author suggests that the brother officer might have been Captain (Capt.) Norman Sharples, an adjutant who was attached to the 16th Manchesters. Like Elstob he was also reported missing and his name is similarly listed on the Pozieres Memorial. After the war, at the instigation of Hubert Worthington, a boyhood friend of Wilfrith’s attempted to identify the burial place of his remains at Manchester Redoubt but without success.

Wilfrith Elstob, the third son of Canon John George Elstob and his wife Frances Alice Elstob, was born in Chichester, Sussex, on 8 September 1888. The canon held a position in the cathedral, but he was later appointed vicar of Capesthorne with Siddington in Cheshire where the family moved. At first Wilfrith was educated at Ryleys Preparatory School in Alderly Edge and at the age of 10 moved to Christ’s Hospital School near Horsham in Sussex, where, apart from his school work, he joined the school Cadet Corps and became a lance corporal. In 1905 he left for Manchester University where he took a degree and diploma in education, gaining a BA four years later. His ambition had always been to be a schoolmaster and, after a brief period in Paris, he took up a position in Edinburgh as a master in the Merchiston Castle School. When war broke out he enlisted on 11 September 1914 as a private in a Public Schools Battalion, but accepted a commission on 30 October 1914 in the newly formed 1st Manchester Pals Battalion, which later became the 16th Manchesters. He was a member of A Coy and his promotion up the military ladder was rapid. He was a striking and imposing individual, and, in addition to being 6ft 1in tall and a superb athlete, he was also a big, burly man of splendid physique and bearing who was to become very much respected in the Army. He was simply one of those seemingly born to be a leader of men.

After initial training in England, the Manchesters went overseas in early November 1915 and Elstob was soon promoted to captain and commander of D Coy. At the beginning of July 1916 he was a company commander in the successful capture of Montauban on the Somme, during which action he was slightly wounded. He was again in charge of his company when wounded a second time in the fighting in Trônes Wood during the period 8–11 July 1916. Three months later, on the death of his battalion commander, Elstob, already a major, became battalion CO.

In 1917 the 16th Manchsters were in reserve for the Arras offensive in the spring, and at the beginning of the Third Battle of Ypres at the end of July Elstob took part in the fighting at Sanctuary Wood when his men were involved in ‘mopping up’ under machine-gun and sniper fire. At the end of 1917 he was temporarily in charge of 90th Bde, and in early 1918 was back in England for a brief leave when he managed to play some rugby which he had always been proficient at.

After Wilfrith’s death in March 1918, his father was presented with his son’s VC at Buckingham Palace by the King on 24 July 1919, accompanied by Hubert Worthington. Canon Elstob had been rural dean of Macclesfield between 1904 and 1912, and from 1911 an honorary canon of Chester Cathedral. He died in 1926.

Before winning his VC, Wilfrith Elstob had already won the MC (Military Cross) (London Gazette, 1 January 1917) and DSO (Distinguished Service Order) (London Gazette, 1 January 1918) and at one time Elstob’s VC was kept in the library of Christ’s Hospital School, but is now part of the collection of the Manchester Regt at their museum at Ashton-under-Lyne, to whom it is on loan. However, in November 2010 it was lent to the Imperial War Museum for display in the new Ashcroft Gallery. Elstob’s name is included on the Macclesfield War Memorial in Cheshire and there is also a window and plaque to him in All Saints’ Church, Siddington, Cheshire, where Canon Elstob, his father, had been the vicar. Another memorial, a small library in the ‘Toc H’ HQ in Victoria Park, Manchester was dedicated by his father on 31 January 1923 and was also a tribute to the 16th Manchesters. The plaque and framed photograph of Wilfrith were later transferred to the HQ of The Manchesters Coy of the 5th/8th Bn, The King’s Regt in Ardwick Green where they are displayed. Wilfrith also has a school house named after him at Ryleys School where Worthington was a fellow pupil, and his name is also included on the Memorial to the Missing at Pozières, together with the names of those officers and men who fell with him at Manchester Redoubt and have no known grave. Finally, there is a memorial to the Manchester Regt in Francilly-Selency between the Maire and the church, which was unveiled at a special ceremony on 30 June 1996, adjacent to the village’s own memorial.