How Lance Corporal Albert Joynson, Of The 1^st Battalion Northumberland

Fusiliers Won The D.C.M. At Hooge 

             The midsummer campaign of 1915in the West was, if we except the German Crown Prince’s offensive movement in the Argonne, confined to small local attacks and counter attacks.  But, though the loss or gain of ground was, in most instances, of trifling importance, these small affairs were frequently characterized by desperate fighting, which afforded not a few opportunities for individual distinction.  Of such a kind was the British attack on the enemy’s position south of Hooge on the morning of June 16^th, in which Lance Corporal Albert Joynson, of the 1^st Northumberland Fusiliers, won the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

            Ythe “Fighting Fifth” had marched from Vlamatinghe the previous evening, in the highest spirits, singing all the latest songs as they swung along, and reached our trenches about midnight.  Our artillery preparation was timed to start at 2.15 a.m., but the German artillery forestalled it by a few minutes and gave our men an unpleasantly warm time of it.  However the British shelling was still more effective, and in two hours the enemy’s entanglements had been absolutely blown away.  Then came the order, “Over you go!”  And over the parapet of the assembly trench went our brave fellows, and made a dash for the German first line trenches, which were not fifty yards away.  On the left of the assailants were among the enemy with the bayonet almost before the astonished Huns knew that a charge was being made; but, on the right, where our men had to pass through a little nullah, the attack was held up by the fire of a machine gun hidden in a tree and worked by a man who was chained to the gun, which had been trained so as to sweep the nullah.  Finally, the British artillery blew Hun and gun right out of the tree, but not before they had done a great deal of mischief.

            Lance-corporal Joynson, who was on the right of the attack, was one of the few men to get across while the machine gun was still in action, though he did not come through altogether scathes, as one of its bullets chipped a piece of flesh from his right thumb and carried away part of the stock of his rifle, without, however, damaging the barrel.  Having bandaged up his thumb, Joynson crept round the machine gun traverse into a German first line trench, which the enemy had prudently evacuated.  Here he met an officer looking about for bomb throwers, and went with him on an exploring expedition up communication trenches, where one of the Liverpool Scottish-a Territorial battalion which greatly distinguished itself that day-told them that he and a few of his comrades had captured part of a trench, but that they wanted bombers to drive the Germans out of the rest of it, which was still in their hands.  On being shown where the Germans, Joynson readily undertook to move them on, and proceeded to bomb them s effectively that they retreated in disorder to the extremity if the trench.  The Fusilier pursued them for some distance down the trench, which was strewn with an assortment of cigars, lemons, chocolates and other dainties, and then returned and built a barricade to keep them at a distance, which he did until 2 p.m., when the Germans got reinforcements, and he and his comrades were obliged to retire in their turn.  They then went and lay down in the open behind the next line of trenches, where Joynson was smoking tranquilly, when some of the Royal Irish Rifles came to ask for bomb throwers.  He and another man went and rendered them very effective assistance, and remained in that line of trenches until about midnight, when one of the officers of the R.I.R.s came and asked Joynsonhow many men he had with him.  On being told fourteen, he said these ought to be sufficient to hold the trench until they were relieved by the 1^st Royal Scots Fusiliers in three hours time, and that he therefore intended to withdraw his own men.  Joynson thought this a very risky proceeding, but he said nothing, fearing to dishearten his men, and though very heavily shelled the little band held they’re ground gallantly until dawn, when relief arrived.  Joynson was hit by a piece of shrapnel in the right shoulder, but the wound, happily, was not a serious one.

How Sergeant Alfred Bull, of the 2^nd Battalion East Surrey Regiment,

Won The D.C.M. At Stanbroek Molen 

             The action at Stanbrock Molen, on March 12^th 1915, was only one of the subsidiary operations in the great battle of Neuve Chapelle.  Nevertheless, it produced some fierce and sanguinary fighting, and afforded not a few opportunities for individual distinction.  One of these fell to the share of Sergeant Alfred Bull, of the 2^nd East Surreys, who found himself with seven men, all that were left of five officers and eighty-five men, isolated in a trench, parts of which had been demolished by shell fire, within thirty yards of those of the enemy.  It was a situation to test the courage and endurance of the boldest, and man would have accounted it no shame had the little band surrendered.  But no thought of yielding ever entered Bull’s head, and though the trench was choked with the dead bodies of their comrades, and though rifle and machine gun bullets came streaming through the gap in the broken parapet until there was not one of the defenders but could show a wound-the sergeant himself being wounded in the knee with grim determination they stood their ground, resolved to die, every man at his post.

            And their heroism was not in vain, for as dusk was falling, and they were momentarily expecting the enemy to rush the trench in overwhelming numbers and bayonet every one of the survivors, relief occurred, and the position which they had so bravely defended was saved.

How Gunner Arthur John Roberts, Of The Royal Garrison Artillery,

Won The D.C.M. At Cuinchy

              In the desperate fighting at Cuinchy at the end of January 1915, when the British, after being obliged temporarily to evacuate a portion of their first and second line trenches under pressure of overwhelming numbers, recovered them again by brilliant counter attacks, many a brave deed was performed; but there were few more deserving of being remembered than that which gained Gunner Arthur John Roberts, of the 1^st Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, the D.C.M.

            About 6 a.m. on the morning of January 25^th, Gunner Roberts received orders to proceed to the observation post of his battery-a house situated some four hundred yards in the rear of our first line trenches-in company with Lieutenant Mullaly and Corporal Murray, the former of whom was to act as observation officer, while the latter was to assist Roberts in working the telephone to the battery.  While on their way thither was to assist Roberts in working the telephone to the battery. While on their way thither, the enemy’s artillery opened a furious bombardment of our first line trenches, which were then occupied by the Coldstream Guards.  So terrific was the shellfire that in a very short time the wire entanglements had been swept away like matchwood and the parapet of the trench was crumbling to ruin, upon which the Germans followed up the bombardment by an infantry attack in great force, advancing in close formation.  The Coldstreams received them with a withering rifle and machine gun fire, beneath which they fell in heaps; but fresh battalions advanced to the assault, and so great was the enemy’s superiority in numbers that the guardsman were obliged to retire to our second line trench, which by 8.30 was also in possession of the Germans.  The success of the Huns, however, was of very short duration, for half an hour later they were driven back in confusion to their original position by a brilliant counter attack delivered by the London Scottish and the Black Watch, who bayoneted them by hundreds.

           About eight o’clock, at the time the British were retiring to their second line trenches, Lieutenant Mullaly was engaged in observing the effect of our artillery fire, and Corporal Murray an gunner Roberts in transmitting his corrections by telephone to the battery, when a wounded corporal of the Coldstream guards limped into the house, with two bullets in his right thigh and two in the muscles of his left arm.  Roberts suggested that they should take him down to the cellar and dress his hurts; but the guardsman pluckily told them not to trouble about him, as there was one of his comrades lying about one hundred yards away, on the railway embankment, who was in far worse case than himself, having a broken leg and a bullet in the abdomen.  And he begged them to try and bring him in.  Gunner Roberts readily promised to make the attempt, and, leaving the house through a hole in which a shell had made in one of the walls, reached the railway under cover of a building opposite, and caught sight of the wounded man about eighty yards away, trying to crawl towards a ditch which ran parallel with the line.  Stooping as low as he could to avoid the bullets which continually whistled by him, Gunner Roberts ran along the embankment, reached the man and knelt down by his side.  Meanwhile, Lieutenant Mullaly had followed him, and he came up a few seconds later.  The Coldstreamer advised them to go back and leave him to his fate, or they would certainly be killed; but the brave men refused to listen to him, and making a seat of their clasped hands and placing his arms around their necks, they carried him back to the house, dressed his wound, and put his leg in splints, after which he was conveyed to the nearest Field Ambulance.  On their way from the railway embankment to the house, which except for that last twenty yards was across open ground, Lieutenant Mullaly and Gunner Roberts were obliged to run the gauntlet of a very heavy rifle fire; but happily neither of them was hit, although later in the day the lieutenant was wounded by a piece of shell.  He, however, pluckily remained at the observation post until relieved that night.

            The rescue of the wounded Guardsman was not the only gallant action which Gunner Roberts performed that day as subsequently, on hearing that the telephone wire to his battery had been damaged, he volunteered to go out and repair it, and successfully accomplished this task under heavy shellfire. 

            Gunner Roberts was awarded the D.C.M., “for conspicuous gallantry,” while Lieutenant Mullaly received the Military Cross.

How Second Lieutenant Benjamin Handley Geary, Of The 4^th Battalion

East Surrey Regiment (Attached 1^st Battalion) Won The V.C. At Hill 60 

            In the early summer of 1914, a traveller on the Ypres-Lille Railway might have noticed, about three miles southeast of the former town, a slope some two hundred and fifty yards long by two hundred deep.  This slope is Hill 60, which before many months had passed was to become so famous that no future visitor to the battlefields of Flanders will ever consider his tour complete until he visited it.

            At the beginning of the third week in April 1915, Hill 60, which had more than once changed hands since the beginning of the previous autumn, was in German occupation, and it possession was of great importance to the enemy, since it afforded them excellent artillery observation towards the west and northwest.  If, on the other hand, the British could retrieve to capture it, it would give them a gun position from which the whole German front in the neighbourhood of Hollebeke Chateau would be commanded.  Our men fully appreciated this fact and had been carefully mining the ground, and the evening of Saturday, April 17^th, were the time selected for the mines to be fired and the Hill captured.

            At 7 p.m. on the day in question a more tranquil spot than Hill 60 could not have been found along the whole length of the Western front; a few second later it was like a volcano in eruption, seven mines being exploded simultaneously, and a trench line and about one hundred and fifty Huns blown into the air.  The explosions were the signal for every British gun in the vicinity to come into action, and rapid fire to be opened all along our trenches.  “It was,” writes one who present, “like one contentious roar of thunder, while the rifle fire sounded like hail on the slates, only much louder.”  Under cover of the bombardment, the 2^nd King’s Own Scottish Borderers and the 1^st West Kent’s dashed up the hill, won the top, entrenched themselves in three huge craters made by the explosions, and brought up machine guns.  During the night they were heavily shelled and had to sustain several determined counter attacks, which were repulsed, after fierce hand-to-hand fighting; but in early morning of the 18^th the Germans advanced in great force, and though mown down in heaps by our machine guns, succeeded, by sheer weight on numbers, in forcing back the troops holding the right of the hill to the reverse slope, where however, they hung on throughout the day.

            On the evening of the 18^th, the Borderers and the West Kent’s were relieved by the other two battalions, the 2^nd West Ridings and the 2^nd Yorkshire Light Infantry, who again stormed the hill under cover of heavy artillery fire, and drove the enemy off at the point of the bayonet.

            The following morning another fierce attack was launched against the British, with the aid of artillery and asphyxiating bombs.  It was repulsed, but during the greater part of the 19^th and 20^th our men were subjected to a tremendous bombardment from three sides.  During the night of the 18^th-19^th two companies of the 1^st Surreys, from the 14^th Brigade, were brought up from their billets at Ypres, and took over a part of the support trenches.  About 5 p.m. on the 19^th, the enemy started shelling them, but seemed unable to find the range, and were, after a time, silenced by the British guns.  The east Surreys spent the night in improving the communication trenches and endeavouring to extend their own trench, in the course of which one of their officers, Captain Huth, was killed.  Next morning the Germans started shelling them heavily again, and continued the bombardment for several hours.  This time they managed to get the range and the adjutant of the battalion was blown to pieces by a shell, while the parapet of the trench was breached in several places.  Upon the gaps thus made in their defences the enemy directed an incessant rifle and machine gun fire, which rendered the task of filling them up a most hazardous operation.

            Towards five o’clock in the afternoon, the Germans resumed their bombardment, and the officer in command of the East Surreys, Major Patterson, was mortally wounded.  The enemy’s shellfire cut the telephone wires between the trench and our batteries in the rear, with the result that the British guns were unable to make any effective reply.  Presently a messenger arrived with a request for reinforcements, and Second-Lieutenant Benjamin Handley Geary assembled his platoon and led them up the Hill. 

            The communication trenches had been so badly knocked about that it was impossible to make use of them, but Lieutenant Geary and his men succeeded in reaching the left crater, which was being held by a handful of the 1^st Bedford’s, who greeted their arrival with loud cheers.  The young officer placed his men around the inside of the rim of the crater, and there they hung on for the next few hours.  All the ground about them was being fiercely shelled, but the enemy seemed unable to put their shells inside the crater itself.  However, their trenches were only a little distance away, and they kept up an almost continuous shower of hand grenades from which our men suffered severely, and gradually the crater became so full of dead and wounded that the ground was almost invisible.  The Germans also had a machine gun trained on the only way by which reinforcements could come up, and though repeated attempts were made by the East Surreys and the Bedford’s to send support to their hard pressed comrades, comparatively few men succeeded in getting through, while practically everyone of the officers who led them was shot down, so that at one tie Second-Lieutenant Geary was the only unwounded officer on the Hill.

            Meanwhile darkness was coming up, and our men were in complete ignorance of how matters were going with their comrades on there right and left.  All the ground in rear was now swept by shellfire that it was impossible for reinforcements to reach them, and it looked as though they must be completely cut off.  No order had reached Lieutenant Geary, and he was obliged to act on his own responsibility.

            Presently the Germans began to advance up their old communication trenches, one of which led to the left crater.  They were obliged, however, to advance in single file, and Lieutenant Geary, aided by a private named White, who loaded his rifles for him, shot down man after man, until at last the Huns had had enough and prudently abandoned the attempt.  But they succeeded in making their way up another communication trench, leading to the right of the middle crater, and began firing into the backs of our men on the left.

            Thinking it advisable to make an attempt to ascertain what was happening on either side of him, Lieutenant Geary despatched a corporal and a couple of men to try and get into touch with the officer in command of a trench on the left of the Hill.  But none of them returned having probably been killed on the way.  He himself, at great personal risk, hurried across to the trench on the right, and, reaching it in safety, found that our men were still holding on to the greater part of the trench, though the Germans had succeeded in occupying the extreme left of it.  There were two officers remaining in the trench, one of his own battalion and one of the Bedford’s.  They, like himself, had received no orders; but, after discussing the situation, the three officers decided that it was their duty to hang on as long as possible and not to think of abandoning the Hill, so long as there remained any chance of reinforcements reaching them.

            On his way back to the left crater, Lieutenant Geary met a Major Lee, an officer of another battalion, bringing up a detachment, wit orders to drive the enemy out of the part of the trench which they had captured; and this officer told the lieutenant to get together what men he could and, on seeing two or three flre lights go up, to lead them across the middle crater and attack the Germans on the right, while he himself attacked on the left.  Lieutenant Geary rejoined his men and directed some of them to dig a trench in the rear of and commanding the middle crater.  While they were engaged on this work, which was carried out under a heavy fire, a German flare light went up and afforded the young officer an excellent view of the portion of the trench which the Germans had captured.  Observing that on the side nearest to him the parapet of the trench had been destroyed by shellfire as to afford the occupants very little protection, he directed a man to load for him, and began potting away at the Huns with considerable effect.  Then, ordering the man who had been loading for him to continue firing in his place, he went away and posted another man in a position, which would enable him to fire into the communication trench down which the enemy would have to retire.

            As he was returning, he found some of the Queen Victoria Rifles-a Territorial battalion which greatly distinguished itself and suffered cruel losses on that terrible night-carrying up ammunition, but uncertain as to the whereabouts of their comrades.  He directed them and then went to the left crater, where he found his men holding on most gallantly, but in sore need of ammunition.  Meanwhile, he had been expecting to see the flares go up-the signal for him to lead his men across the middle crater to attack the Germans in conjunction with Major Lee-but, as none appeared, he went to find that officer, and learned that the enemy had already evacuated the portion of the trench they had captured and had retired to their communication trench.

            From this, however, they were keeping up a storm of grenades, which would make it very difficult for us to hold the trench, which they had abandoned.  Going back again to the left crater, he found his men so reduced in numbers and so short of ammunition that he saw that, unless they were speedily reinforced, they would be obliged to withdraw from the crater and dig themselves in behind it.  He was on his way to inform Major Lee of the necessity of doing this without delay, as the day was now beginning to break, when he was severely wounded by a bullet in the head, an injury which put him out of action and subsequently deprived him of the sight of an eye.  His men, however, succeeded in holding the crater which they had so gallantly defended until relief arrived.

            Second Lieutenant Geary was awarded the Victoria Cross “for most conspicuous bravery and determination at Hill 60,” the Gazette adding that the attacks upon the crater were repulsed “mainly owing to the splendid personal gallantry and example of Second-Lieutenant Geary,” who “exposed himself with entire disregard to danger.”

            Some five months previously to gaining the Victoria Cross at Hill 60, this most gallant young officer had given an earnest of the wonderful courage and sang-froid, which characterized his actions upon that occasion.  He volunteered for a scouting expedition to reconnoitre the German trenches, which were about one hundred and thirty yards from our own lines.  Flattened to earth, he crawled forward by slow stages, and succeeded in reaching the enemy’s parapet and, looking over it, perceived a mackintosh supported by a detached bayonet.  Without a moment’s hesitation, Lieutenant Geary seized this bayonet and succeeded in bringing back the trophy to his own battalion.  After possessing himself of the bayonet, he had intended to enter the trench itself, but as he was still leaning over the parapet to satisfy himself with regard to its formation, a figure suddenly appeared round the corner of the trench not a dozen yards away, upon which Lieutenant Geary ducked down and wriggled back to the British lines with all possible expedition.

How Sergeant Bernard Charles Shea, Of The Royal Berkshire

Regiment, Won The D.C.M. At rouges Bancs 

            In fulfilment of a promise which he had made to General Joffre to support an attack which our Allies intended to make on May 9^th 1915, between the right of the British line and Arras, Sir John French directed Sir Douglas Haig to carry out on that date an attack on the German trenches in the neighbourhood of Rouges Bancs (northwest of Fromelles) by the 4^th corps, and between Neuve Chapelle and Givenchy by the 1^st and Indian Corps.  The bombardment of the German position at Rouges Bancs began at 5 a.m., and continued for half an hour when it momentarily ceased.  This was the signal for the infantry of the 8^th Division of the 4^th corps to advance, and immediately the Rifle Brigade, who were to lead the attack, climbed over the parapet of our first line trenches and began to cross the hundred yards of open ground which separated them from those of the enemy.

            Withering artillery, machine gun and rifle fire was poured into the advancing “Greenjackets.”  The enemy had our men practically on three sides, for the position was much stronger than had been anticipated, with numerous fortified posts on the flanks, in which machine guns had been mounted.  To the Berkshires, who were to follow them, it seemed as though every second man went down before even our own wire entanglements were reached; but, undismayed by the fate of the Riflemen, they, in their turn, plunged into that terrible vortex of fire.  And with them went a young Cornishman, Sergeant Bernard Charles Shea.

            When the time came for Shea’s platoon to advance, the officer in command, Lieutenant Druitt, pipe in mouth, coolly gave the order, and he and Shea clambered over the parapet together and paused for a moment on reaching the further side to glance along their line of men.  The lieutenant looked at the sergeant with a humorous smile on his lips.  “Isn’t it a fine -----?” he was beginning, when he suddenly broke off, pressed his hand to his chest, and dropped like a stone.  Almost at the same moment another bullet knocked Shea’s rifle out of his hand.

            There was not time to attend to the lieutenant; indeed, one glance was sufficient to tell Shea that the unfortunate young officer had already passed beyond the reach of human aid, and hurrying forward he had already covered half the distance between the opposing trenches, when he felt a stinging pain in the groin, followed by what seemed like a terrible blow in the back.  He stumbled on to his knees, then, recovering his feet, pushed on for a short distance; but about thirty yards from the German lines he collapsed.  A bullet had entered the abdomen and passing downwards, had shattered the right hip bone and come out at the back, near the right side.  For a while he lay there, writhing and plucking up handfuls of grass in his agony.  Then he began to glance about him, and observing that what were left of his platoon had stopped and lain down to avoid the hail of bullets, he forgot the pain of his wound and ordered them sternly to advance.  They obeyed and left him.  All about him the ground was strewn with the dead and wounded-some mutilated beyond recognition.  Not a few of the less severely hurt were trying to crawl back to our own trenches; but not one succeeded, for their movements only served to draw fire, and they were invariably hit again, and, in many cases, their hope of life extinguished for ever.

           Shea soon began to fee terribly thirsty.  He could not get at his own water bottle, but he dragged himself to the side of one of his dead comrades and drank from his.  His thirst quenched, he had a great longing for tobacco, and, fortunately, this was easily satisfied, as he had plenty of cigarettes in his pocket.  Soon he felt better and managed to sit up and watch the progress of the fight, which seemed to be going badly for the British.  Platoons of our men continued to leave our trenches and endeavour to make their way across the bullet swept zone; but it appeared to him as if there out of every five fell.  The majority came to grief in clambering over our own parapet, which was now subjected to a veritable inferno of shellfire from the German batteries.  The sergeant did his best to cheer the survivors on, beckoning and shouting to them to keep running forward, that being the safest course.  One of his company officers came on at the head of some of his men, but when he was a couple of paces from where Shea lay, something struck him and he pitched forward almost on to his head.  For a few moments he lay quite still, and Shea thought that he was dead.  Then, to his astonishment, he saw him begin to crawl forward on all fours.  In the evening, as Shea was lying in our own trenches, waiting to be taken to a dressing station, this officer passed by, and told him that he had been shot through both hands.  

How Lieutenant C. A. Phillips, Of The ¼^th Battalion, Welsh Regiment,

Won The Military Cross At Silva Bay, Gallipoli 

            The first week of August 1915, witnessed the beginning of a great offensive movement by our troops in Gallipoli.  This movement involved four separate actions, the most important of which were the advance of the left of the Anzac Corps against the heights of Kija Chemen and the seaward ridges, and a new landing on a large scale at Suvla Bay.  If the Anafarta hills could be won, and the right of the new landing force linked up with the left of the Australasian, the British would hold the central crest of the spine of upland which runs through the western end of the Peninsula, and, with it, so commanding a position that, with any reasonable good fortune, the reduction of the European defences of the Narrows would only be a matter of time.

            The force destined for Suvla Bay was for the most part the New Ninth corps, under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir F. W. Stopford.  It consisted of two divisions of the New Army-the 10^th (Irish), under Major-General Sir Bryan Mahon, less one brigade; the 11^th (Northern), under Major-Genera Hamersley; and two Territorial divisions, the 53^rd and 54^th.

            The night of August 6^th-7^th was the time chosen for the landing, which was carried out with complete success, for during the day a pretence of disembarkation at Karachali, at the head of the Gulf of Saros, and attacks upon the Turkish positions at Cape Helles and Lone Pine had diverted the enemy’s attention to the extreme ends of their front, and they had no inkling of our plan.  By two o’clock in the afternoon of the 7^th, the 10^th and 11^th Divisions had disembarked, deployed into the plain and held a line east of the Salt Lake. 

            So far the operation had been conducted with perfect success, but it was necessary to push on resolutely if we were to benefit by the surprise.  And this, unfortunately, was not done, for though some further ground was won that night, little if any progress was made on the following day, which was spent in sporadic to advance, in which we lost heavily.  For this there were various causes.  In the first place, the mobility and invisibility of the enemy, cleverly concealed amid the scrub, had created the impression that we were confronted with a force many times greater than was actually the case.  In the second, the scene of combat presented extraordinary difficulties to a body of perfectly green troops, who had never been in action, and were fighting under a tropical heat and suffering torments from thirst.  And, finally there appears to have been a lamentable lack of purpose and resolution in their leadership.  By the 9^th, on which a gallant but unsuccessful attempt was made to carry the main Anfarta ridge, our chance had almost gone, for the Turkish defence was already thickening; by the morrow large reinforcements had reached the enemy, and it had vanished entirely.

            On that day the 53^rd Territorial Division, under, was repulsed.  The next few days were devoted to consolidating our front, some ground being won on the 12^th by the 163^rd Brigade (from the 54^th Territorial Division), which had arrived on the previous day, on our left centre, in difficult and wooded country.  It was here that a very mysterious incident occurred.  Colonel Sir H. Beauchamp, of the 1/5^th Norfolk’s, with sixteen officers and two hundred and fifty men, who included part of a fine company enlisted from the King’s Sandringham estates, kept pushing on far in advance of the rest of the brigade, driving the enemy before him.  Nothing more was ever seen or heard of any of them.  “They charged into the forest and were lost to sight and sound,” wrote Sir Ian Hamilton; “not one of them ever came back!”

            The work of consolidating our line was carried out under exceptional difficulties, for the nature of the soil did not permit of deep trenches dug, and the Turks, whose numbers were steadily rising, kept up a heavy and continuous artillery, machine gun and rifle fire from cleverly concealed positions amid the scrub and woods.  In the shallow trenches occupied by the 1/4^th Welsh, in the 53^rd Territorial Division, which faced a wood held in considerable force by the enemy, the men were obliged to keep so still that even the dead and wounded could not be moved.  For it was almost certain death to raise the head or any portion of the body above the parapet, and, on one occasion, a corporal who, in reaching out a hand for a cigarette, had exposed the top of his head was instantly shot through the brain.  In such circumstances, the gallant deed, which we shall now relate, was worthy of the highest admiration.

            On the 14^th Lieutenant C. A. Philips, who was in charge of the machine gun section of the 1/4^th Welsh, perceived a wounded officer of the 1/7^th Essex, Captain Shenston, lying about seventy yards from the trench.  Despite the appalling risk they ran, he and Staff sergeant Grundy, of his battalion, immediately went to his assistance and succeeded in bringing him safely into the trench.  But these two brave Welshmen did not rest content with this single act of heroism, for in front of the trench lay others of their comrades, sore wounded and appealing piteously for water to slake their raging thirst.  So, scarcely had they found themselves in safety, when they jeopardized their lives again, and going forth, returned with another stricken man.  A third, and yet a fourth time, did lieutenant and sergeant run that terrible gauntlet of fire to succour the wounded, and on each occasion, marvellous to relate, they came through it unscathed, with the soldier whom they had gone to save.

How Second Lieutenant Cecil Frederick Holcombe Calvert, Of The 3^rd

Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment, Attached 179^th Company,

Royal Engineers, was Recommended For The D.S.O.

            Second Lieutenant Cecil Frederick Holcombe Calvert, of the 3rd South Staffords, who was then attached to the 179th Company, Royal Engineers, serving with the 51st Division, performed a most splendid action, combining conspicuous gallantry with determination and resourcefulness, on September 6th 1915.  A heavy bombardment by the enemy had caused one of the mining shafts to fall in killing two men and burying two others in one of the galleries.  Second Lieutenant Calvert, who was in charge of this isolated post, at once went to the assistance of the important men, and as, owing to the close proximity of the enemy, the noise made by the use of tools would have invited certain death, he worked for three hours under heavy fire, scraping away the earth with his hands until he had made a hole large enough to rescue them.  For this brave deed the young officer was recommended for the Distinguished Service Order, but, unhappily, he never lived to receive this coveted decoration, as eight days later (September 14^th) he lost his life in a most gallant attempt to rescue a man who had been overcome by gas.

            The poisonous fumes caused by the explosion of a German mine in the vicinity had overtaken the man in a mining gallery before he could effect his escape, and, although an attempt at rescue was fraught with terrible risk, Second Lieutenant Calvert, without a moment’s hesitation, went to his assistance.  Before, however, he could accomplish his task he was overcome by the gas, and although he was brought out of the shaft and treated at once by the medical officer on the spot, he was already too far-gone to rally the seizure, and died without regaining consciousness.  He was buried in the extension reserved for British officers in the Cemetery of Albert, in the Department of the Somme.

            Second Lieutenant Calvert was the eldest son of Mr. Albert Frederick Calvert, the well-known traveller and author, who received many letters of sympathy from brother officers, expressing the high estimation in which his son was held.

            His commanding officer wrote: “I feel sure it will comfort you to know that he died as he had lived, a victim to his high souled sense of duty.  The Army can ill afford to lose such men.  Although he had only lately joined the 179^th Tunnelling Company, he had already made his mark, and we shall deeply feel his loss.”

How Acting-Corporal Cecil Reginald Noble And Company Sergeant Major

Harry Daniels, Of The 2^nd Battalion Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort’s Own)

Won The V.C. At Neuve Chapelle. 

             There has been more cruel spectacle in the present war than that of dauntless courage baffled and rendered impotent by mechanical contrivances; of brave men advancing to the assault of the enemy’s position in the full confidence of victory, suddenly held up by the barbed wired entanglements which they had fondly imagined would have been completely swept away by their own artillery preparation, and while thus checked, exposed to a murderous fire from their entrenched foes.  For, however heavy and long continued the bombardment preceding an attack may have been, there will always be places here and there in the defences where the high explosive shells have failed to do their work, and where the wire entanglements still hold firm; and cruel, indeed, is the fate of the regiment which finds itself obliged to cut away through such an obstacle while rifle and machine gun plays upon it at close range.  If it escapes practical annihilation, it will be more than fortune.

            From such a fate was the 2^nd Battalion of the Rifle Brigade saved, on March 12^th 1915, at the battle of Neuve Chapelle, by the heroism and devotion of two of its non-commissioned officers.  When the “Green Jackets” approached that section of the second line German trenches, which they had been ordered to take, they saw, to their consternation, that the wire entanglements protecting them were still practically intact, and that to force them would entail the most appalling loss.

             It was at this most critical moment that Acting-Corporal Noble and Company Sergeant Major Daniels resolved to sacrifice themselves for their comrades.  While the others threw themselves on the ground to take what cover they might from the withering fire beneath which they were falling fast, the two heroes ran towards the entanglements and began to cut away at them like men possessed.  Well they knew that they were courting almost certain death; that already a hundred rifles and half a score of machine guns were trained upon them.  But they wrecked not of that; one thought alone possessed their minds: to make a way for their comrades before they were shot down.  And they succeeded; for though both speedily fell dangerously wounded, it was not before great lengths of the barbed wire had been cut through and the path to victory stood open.  With resounding cheers, the Riflemen rushed through the breach in the entanglements like a living tide; the bayonet soon did its deadly work, and the trenches were won.

            Both of these gallant men were awarded the V.C. “for most conspicuous bravery”; but it is sad to relate that Corporal Noble never lived to receive the coveted distinction which he had so richly merited, as he died of his wounds shortly after the action.  Sergeant-Major Daniels happily recovered, though it was not until towards the middle of May that he was finally discharged from hospital.

How Private Charles Ball, Of The 2^nd Battalion Coldstream Guards,

Won The D.C.M. Near Zonnebeke 

            A particularly daring and successful piece of work-a duty, which demands great courage, coolness and resourcefulness from those who undertake, it-was performed by Charles Ball, a young private of the 2^nd Battalion Coldstream Guards, at the end of October 1914, near Zonnebeke.

            About nine o’clock on the morning of October 26^th, Private Ball and one of his comrades left the British trenches, with the object of penetrating the German lines and picking up what information they could in regard to the disposition and movements of the enemy’s forces.  After proceeding for some little distance, most of the way on all fours, they entered a field, in which lay about a score of dead and wounded Germans.  Some of the latter appealed to them piteously for water, and the two Guardsmen therefore decided that Ball should remain where he was, and that the other should go back to our lines to obtain water and to inquire what they were to do with the wounded.  He returned in about half an hour, with orders that they were to leave them to some other men and endeavour to reach a farm on the other side of the field, which was occupied by the enemy.  They accordingly set off again, but as they were wriggling their way along the further hedge, they caught sight of a German sniper also crawling along it and coming in their direction, though apparently unaware of their presence.  As they had orders not to shoot unless forced to do so, they concealed themselves in the ditch, which ran parallel with the hedge, behind a bush that had been torn from its roots by a shell and had fallen across it.  There they lay expecting the sniper to pass them by, when they intended to surprise and make a prisoner of him, which would spare them the necessity of giving the alarm by shooting him.  But when he was within ten paces of them, he suddenly turned to go back, and Private Hall, recognizing that it would be impossible for them to proceed further until the fellow was disposed of, decided to take the risk.  He therefore fired and dropped the German stone dead.

            As the farm for which the Guardsman had been making was only some thirty yards distant, and they feared that the rifle shot might bring its occupants down upon them, they continued to lie low for another half hour.  They then crawled out of the ditch and made their way, still on all fours, through some unoccupied German trenches to a spot a little distance beyond whence they had a clear view of a distant hill, on the summit of which was a windmill.  From the number of troops which they saw pass this windmill; they concluded that German reinforcements must be stationed behind the hill.  Ball sent his comrade back to the British lines with a message to that effect.  But the latter had not been gone long, when he came back, with the alarming information that there retreat was cut off, as the Germans had come out of the farm and manned the unoccupied trenches which they had just passed. 

            They both crawled back as near to the trenches as they could without being seen, determined to sell their lives dearly rather than be made prisoners.  To their surprise, however, they saw that the enemy were moving along the trenches, so they lay still for an hour and a half, in momentary fear of being discovered and shot before they could show fight.

            After the Germans had passed along the trenches, the Guardsman crawled through them and hid them in the friendly ditch again, and, believing that they were now comparatively safe, they began to crawl as fast as they could along it.  Suddenly, from the other side of the hedge, a rifle shot rang out, and, peering cautiously through, they saw six Germans engaged in watching the distant British trenches.  They accordingly lay low, Ball keeping an eye on the six Germans in front, while his comrade watched the farmhouse, to guard against any surprise from that quarter.  About half an hour passed thus, when Ball saw the German sharpshooters turn and begin to crawl towards the hedge, with the evident intention of coming through it into the ditch in which the Guardsman lay.  The latter waited until the Huns were within twenty paces of them, and then, each picking his man, fired and shot him dead.  Again the Coldstreams rifles cracked, and again two of the astonished enemy fell, while the survivors sprang to their feet and made off as fast as they could.  A well-aimed bullet brought one of them down, but the other succeeded in getting away.

             Ball and his comrade recognized that they had not a moment to lose if they wished to effect their own escape, as the surviving Hun would, of course, give the alarm, even if the shots they had fired had not already done so.  They had to crawl along the ditch for a hundred yards and then to cross two ploughed fields and the wire entanglements-a sufficiently formidable undertaking with the enemy on the alert.  But the brave lads courage did not fail them, and, on reaching the end of the ditch, they jumped up and made a dash across the fields and over the entanglements.  Before they had covered many yards of open ground they were seen by Germans, who did not forget to let them know it.  However, through bullets hummed incessantly past their heads, neither of them was hit, and they reached the British lines in safety, and reported what the enemy were doing and where their reinforcements were being drawn from.

            It was clear, from the information they brought back, that an attack was intended, and sure enough, at three o’clock that afternoon-the two Guardsmen had returned about an hour earlier the German guns began to rain high explosive shells upon our trenches in such profusion that that day will always be known to the men for whose benefit these unpleasant looking projectiles were intended as “coal box Friday.”  After the artillery preparation, the Huns attacked in great force; but the French coming to our support, they were driven back with terrible loss.  That night Private Ball’s battalion was transferred to Ypres, and in the woods in the vicinity of that town the enterprising young guardsman experienced several further adventures when on patrol work.  During the battle of Ypres he was wounded in no less than ten places, but, happily none of his wounds was very serious, and after being invalided home for a time, he was able to return to duty. 

            “For his conspicuous good work on patrol duty on October 26^th,” Private Ball was awarded the D.C.M., and, subsequently, the Russian Order of St. George (Third Class) was conferred upon him by the Czar.

How Private Charles Gudgeon, Of The 1^st Battalion Northamptonshire

Regiment, Won the D.C.M. At Ypres 

            Although the First battle of Ypres is generally regarded as having terminated with the failure of the attack of the Prussian Guard on Gheluvelt on November 11^th 1914, spasmodic attacks still continued, and on November 12^th, and the two following days, the position occupied by the 2^nd Brigade, of which the 1^st Northampton’s formed part, was so heavily bombarded that telephonic communication was almost entirely suspended.  As it was, of course imperative for Brigade Headquarters to keep in touch with the troops in the firing line, messages had to be sent by hand; and on the evening of the 14^th, Charles Gudgeon, who was acting Headquarters orderly for his battalion, was despatched with one of them.

            Gudgeon’s nearest way to our first line trenches lay through a wood, on the edge of which stood the house, which served as Brigade Headquarters.  But the Germans were so persistently shelling this wood that he considered it more prudent to skirt it, though this would entail a journey of more than a mile.  For half this distance he would be in comparative safety, but after that he would come under the observation of the enemy, and the last two of three hundred yards would be very dangerous indeed, owing to the risks of shellfire and the activities of the enemy’s snipers.

            Gudgeon travelled at an ordinary pace until he reached a house which marked the beginning of the danger zone; then, crouching low, he made a dash for the cover afforded by some machine gun emplacements about three hundred yards away.  There he paused for a few moments before embarking his next dash, to a ruined house about one hundred and fifty yards distant.  This was a very hazardous undertaking, as it was hereabouts that the snipers had brought down many an unfortunate British soldier, while the ground was dotted with shell holes, among which he had to pick his way, thus rendering rapid progress difficult.  However, he got safely across, through more than one bullet hummed past his head and took refuge behind the ruined house to prepare for his last dash of one hundred yards to the firing line, the most dangerous part of the whole journey, as the ground was swept by both shell and rifle fire.  But he accomplished it in safety and delivered his message.  He had then to make the return journey and undergo the same nerve racking experience over again; but this, too, he accomplished without mishap.

How Captain Charles Herbert Mansfield Sturges OF The Royal

Garrison Artillery Won The D.S.O. 

              In the early months of war the Germans in the matter of heavy guns hopelessly out matched the British Artillery, while as is well known our supply of shells was most lamentably inadequate.  Happily, the disparity has now been to some extent removed, and since the beginning of the spring campaign of 1915 in the West our siege batteries have rendered most admirable service; indeed one of the sights of the terrific artillery preparation at Neuve Chapelle was that of the shells fired from our great howitzers rising to the altitude of a lofty mountain before descending on the doomed German trenches.

            The splendid results attained here and in many other engagements have been of course, largely due to the courage and ability shown by the officers at the observation stations, who have repeatedly carried out their difficult duties in places exposed to a terrible fire with a coolness and intrepidity beyond all praise.  Of these few have performed more admirable service than Captain Charles Herbert Mansfield Sturges, of the 1^st Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, who was awarded the Distinguished Service Order “for conspicuous gallantry and general good work as an observing officer through out the campaign, notably during the attack at Givenchy, on March 19^th 1915, the attack at the Rue du Bois, on May 9^th and the attacks on May 15^th and 16^th.”  The fighting at the Rue du Bois on May 15^th ad 16^th formed part of the fierce engagement known as the Battle of Festubert, and Captain Sturges had some unpleasantly exciting experiences.  Our artillery preparation began late on the night of the 15^th, assisted by three groups of French 75 man guns and continued without intermission until just after dawn, when the infantry advanced to the attack.  Captain Sturges had taken up his post in one of a row of ruined houses just east of the road, and about three hundred yards behind our first line trenches, which were within one hundred yards of those of the Germans.  But he soon was shelled out of it.  He repaired to another, with the same result, and finally entered a third which had already suffered so severely from the enemy’s fire that only a portion of the outer walls were left standing.  The house on its left was merely a heap of tangled masonry.  By means of a ladder he mounted to the level of what had once been the roof, and, with his field glasses to his eyes, proceeded to observe the results of his battery’s fire and to shout his instructions to the telephone operators below, who for with communicated them to the gunners.  Presently a shell burst within a few yards of him, and, though he was not hit, such was force of the concussion that he was blown down the ladder.  Picking himself up, he calmly mounted to his dangerous post again and continued to observe and correct his battery’s work until our bombardment ceased.

How Major Charles Allix Lavington Yate, Of The 2^nd Battalion, The King’s

Own (Yorkshire Light Infantry), Won The V.C. At Le Cateau 

            It may be said, quite fairly that the world has rarely seen an army of such high rank as that which shouldered the burden of Great Britain during the first six months of the war in Flanders and Northern France.  Though the army was small in numbers, the men held inviolable the heritage of their race, great courage and tenacity of purpose.  These qualities alone, however, would not have sufficed in view of the tremendous odds to which the men were opposed.  Added to a superb morale was physical fitness.  To maintain the latter athletics had been widely encouraged in the army amongst both officers and rank and file.  Further, the methods of training the infantry followed the theory of fighting in open order, and aimed at making each man an individual fighter, who was to depend on himself in the battle line.  With so much of first-rate importance combined in the making of each soldier, it is small wonder that the army, which crossed to France in August 1914, should have proved so redoubtable a fighting force.  The most conspicuous act of bravery for which Major Charles Allix Lavington Yate, of the 2^nd Battalion, the King’s Own (Yorkshire Light Infantry) was awarded the V.C. recalls in its dramatic circumstances the heroic defence of Thermopylae, where Leonidas, the Spartan king, with three hundred of his men opposed the Persian army of Xerxes.

How Lieutenant Cyril Gordon Martin, D.S.O., Held The Enemy Back For

Two And A Half Hours And Won The V.C. 

            At 7.30 on the morning of March 10^th 1915, the battle of Neutve Chapelle began with perhaps the most terrific artillery preparation in the history of modern warfare, and by the evening of that day the village was ours, and on a front of three miles we had advanced more than a mile.  But our ultimate objective-the driving of a great wedge into the enemy’s line by the capture of the ridge south of Aubers-still remained to be accomplished; and it was to this task, which was to prove, unfortunately, beyond the capacity of our troops, that the two following days were devoted.  Simultaneously a number of movements were undertaken all along the British front, with the object of preventing any sudden massing of reinforcements, and it was during one of these attacks that upon the German position at spanbroek Molen-that a young officer of the 56^th Field Company Royal Engineers, Lieutenant Cyril Gordon Martin, performed the gallant action that gained him the Victoria Cross. 

            Lieutenant Martin had already won the Distinguished Service Order, by his gallantry in the first weeks of the war, during the retreat from Mons, when, at the head of his platoon, he had captured a German trench and held it until reinforcements arrived.  On this occasion he was twice wounded, and invalided home for some months; indeed, he had only recently returned to the front.

How Rifleman Daniel Shee, Of The King’s Own Rifle

Corps Won the D.C.M. At St. Eloi 

            Fifteen miles north of Neuve Chapelle, on the southern ridge of Ypres, stands the village of St. Eloi.

            Here in the late afternoon of March 14^th-15^th 1915, the Germans opened a terrific bombardment, which played havoc with the defences to the southeast of the village.  A most determined infantry attacked followed, which forced our men out of the first line trenches.

             There was, however, no intention on our part to allow the enemy to remain in even temporary possession of what he had won, and as soon as darkness fell a counter attack was organised.  It was delivered very early in the morning of the 15^th, by the 82^nd Brigade, with the 80^th Brigade in support, and resulted in the recovery of all the lost ground, which was of material importance.

             I the counter attack our men displayed the greatest gallantry, a notable instance of this being the dashing piece of work which gained Rifleman Daniel Shee, of the King’s Own Rifle Corps, the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

            On the night of the 14^th-15^th the K.R.R.’s were in reserve, when the order came for them to advance and retake four trenches just east of the St. Eloi-Oostevern road, which had been captured by the enemy.

            It was a pitch-dark night and raining in torrents, and all the surrounding country was a sea of liquid mud, into which in places the men sank up to their knees.  As they approached the German position our artillery shelled it vigorously, lighting it up with the glare of bursting shrapnel.  The K.R.R.’s were ordered to attack the two easterly trenches, in conjunction with the Cornwalls, while the Royal Irish Fusiliers, with the assistance of half of the company to which Rifleman Shee was attached, were to advance against the other two.  The K.R.R.’s attack began, when our men, emerging from an old disused trench situated about sixty yards from the German lines, splashed bravely through the mire, and in a few minutes had carried three of the lost trenches.

How Sergeant David Brunton, Of The 19^th Hussars, Won The D.C.M. At Le Bizet 

             On the morning of October 15^th 1914, our 3^rd Corps, under General Pulteney, who had detrained at St. Omer on the 11^th and advanced as far as Bailleul, driving the enemy before them, were ordered to make good the line of the Lys from Armentieres to Sailly, and, in the face of considerable opposition and very foggy weather, they succeeded in doing this, the 6^th Division at Sailly-Bec St. Maur and the 4^th Division at Nieppe.

            At this time B Squadron of the 19^th Hussars was divisional Cavalry to the 4^th Division, and about one hour after noon on the 16^th, while at Romarin, Sergeant Bruntons troop officer, Lieutenant Murray, received orders to proceed to the village of Le Bizet and reconnoitre it.  He accordingly set off at the head of a patrol consisting of Sergeant Brunton, another sergeant named Emerson, and six men, and at about 2 p.m. arrived on the outskirts of the village.  The officer and Brunton proceeded to examine the place through their glasses, and the sergeant reported two of the enemy outside a house.  This showed that the village must be in possession of the Germans though in what strength had yet to be ascertained.

             The patrol then galloped in open order to a little in some five hundred yards up the road, where they got under cover, without dismounting.  Leaving Brunton here in charge of the patrol, Lieutenant Murray, accompanied by sergeant Emerson and a private named Groom, galloped across a field to the entrance of the village, where he dismounted, and, giving his horse to Private Groom, walked into the roadway.

             At once several rifle shots rang out from houses on his right, and he officer was seen to fall.  Emerson and Groom rode back at full speed to where their comrades were posted and reported what had occurred, upon which sergeant Brunton sent Emerson to Romarin to inform their squadron commander, and, with the rest of the patrol, galloped towards the village and, dismounting, called for a volunteer to help him.  A private named Jerome offered himself, and dismounted with his rifle; and Brunton having sent the rest of the patrol with the led horses to the inn, he and Jerome crawled towards the wounded officer in the roadway.

             As they raised him up, they came under a heavy rifle fire at almost point Blanc range, and were obliged to let the lieutenant go and rush for cover.  Happily, neither of them was hit, most of the bullets whistling harmlessly over their heads, and, after waiting a little while, they made a second attempt; and, though again exposed to a hot fire, succeeded in dragging Lieutenant Murray under cover.  Then they found, to their sorrow, that they have risked their lives to no purpose, as the unfortunate officer was quite dead.  He appeared to have been wounded in three places, in the head, the left hand, and the region of the heart.  Since they could do nothing more for him, they decided to leave him and endeavour to reach their horses; and, stooping low, they doubled across some ploughed fields towards the place where the rest of the patrol was waiting.  The distance they had to traverse was about four hundred yards, and the ground absolutely devoid of cover; but though they were heavily fired upon, not only from the rear, but also from some brickfields occupied by the Germans on their left, they succeeded in getting back safely.  By this time the squadron had arrived from Romarin, and on their approach, the enemy, who seemed to have numbered about eighty, evacuated the village and retreated.

How Lance-Corporal David Finlay, Of The 2^nd Battalion The Black Watch,

Royal Highlanders, Won The Victoria Cross Near The Rue Du Bois 

            On Sunday May 9^th 1915, the French began their great attack on the German position between La Targette and Carency, the advance of the infantry being preceded by the most terrific bombardment yet seen in Western Europe, which simply ate up the countryside for miles.  On the same day, chiefly as an auxiliary to the effort of our Allies in the Artois, the British took the offensive in the Festubert area; the section selected that between Festubert and Bois Grenier.  The 8^th Division, on our left, advanced from Rouges Bancs, on the upper course of the River des Layes, towards Fromelles and the northern part of the Aubers Ridge; while, on our right part of the 1^st corps and the Indian Corps advanced from the Rue du Bois, south of Neuve Chapelle, towards the Bois du Biez.

             The 8^th Division captured the first line of German trenches about Rouges Bancs, and some detachments carried sections of their second and even third line.  But the violence of the enemy’s machine gunfire from fortified posts on the flanks rendered the captured trenches untenable, and practically all the ground the valour of our men had won had to be abandoned.

            South of Neuve Chapelle, the First Corps and the Indian corps met with no greater success, though they displayed the utmost gallantry in the face of a most murderous fire, and many acts of signal heroism were performed, notably that which gained Lance-Corporal David Finlay, of the 2^nd Black Watch the Victoria Cross.

             The Bareilly Brigade, of which the 2^nd Black Watch formed part, attacked early in the afternoon; but while our artillery preparation was still in progress.  Lance-Corporal Finlay advanced at the head of a bombing party of ten men; with the object of getting as near the enemy’s trenches as they could under cover of the bombardment.  It was a desperate enterprise, for the German parapet bristled with machine guns, and each one of the parties knew that his chance of returning in safety was slight indeed.

             About fifteen or twenty yards fro our trenches, which were separated by some one hundred and fifty yards from the German, was a ditch full of water, ten to twelve feet wide and between four and five feet deep, spanned by three bridges.  The party had got as far as the ditch before the enemy realized that they were advancing, when a fierce rifle machine gun fire was at once opened upon them, and eight out of Finlay’s ten men were put out of action, as all made for one of the bridges.  Two were shot dead while crossing the bridge, and the others killed or wounded immediately upon reaching the other side.

            Undismayed by the fate of their comrades, Finlay and the two survivors rushed on, and had covered about eighty yards, when a shell just behind Finlay.  He was uninjured, but so violent was the concussion that it knocked him flat on his back, and he lost consciousness for some ten minutes.  When he recovered his senses, he saw one of his two men lying on the ground about five paces to his left, and, crawling to him, he found that he had been wounded in two places.  He opened his field dressing and bandaged him up, and then, quite regardless of his own safety, half carried and half dragged him back to the British trench.