The Post Of Honour - free ebook by Richard Wilson

THE POST OF HONOUR

NURSE CAVELL WITH HER FAVOURITE DOGS. THE POST OF HONOUR STORIES OF DARING DEEDS DONE BY MEN OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN THE GREAT WAR TOLD BY RICHARD WILSON 1917 LONDON &amp; TORONTO J. M. DENT &amp; SONS LTD....

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AUTHOR’S NOTE

The author has used a large number of sources—newspapers, official reports, private letters and diaries, as well as books—in gathering the facts for these simple stories. Acknowledgments have been made wherever it was possible to trace the source, and indulgence is asked if through inadvertence or inability to find the original report any requisite acknowledgment has been omitted. Very meagre particulars of most of these brave deeds are at present available, for the British V.C. does not talk of

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INTRODUCTION

It is often said that “the post of danger is the post of honour.” The post of danger is given to the bravest, and the knowledge that much depends upon him often nerves him to the doing of dauntless deeds. The record of valour which the Great War gave to history is the finest in the memory of mankind. The knowledge of science which men had won made fighting much more terrible than it had ever been before; but still the post of danger was eagerly sought by those men who could echo the words of Kin

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THE VICTORIA CROSS

That man is proud indeed, with the proper kind of pride, who has the right to use the letters V.C. after his name and to wear the medal known as the Victoria Cross. For this is the highest honour that can be won by any man in the British fighting services. The Victoria Cross is made of bronze, and the picture shows you the exact shape of the medal. It is that of a “Maltese” cross, so called because it was the badge of the company of Christian warriors known as the Knights of Malta. Hundreds of y

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CAPTAIN GRENFELL AND THE CHARGE OF THE LANCERS

It was at Mons in Belgium that the British soldiers first met the Germans. They were outnumbered by three to one; and they were therefore forced to fall back till fresh troops could be brought up to their assistance. But they put up a glorious fight as they fell slowly back to a better position for making an advance; and the story of Mons and afterwards is so full of accounts of brave deeds that it is not easy to choose from among them. The name of Captain Grenfell, however, stands out boldly on

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BRITISH SAILORS WHO KNEW HOW TO DIE

The British Navy suffered several heavy losses during the early stages of the war. Off the Isle of May in the Firth of Forth the Pathfinder was cruising about when an enemy submarine came along, a torpedo was launched, and the cruiser was struck and sank with great loss of life. The men who were afterwards picked up had then been in the water for more than an hour. About a week later, however, the British submarine E9 gave blow for blow by sinking a German cruiser about six miles from Heligoland

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SOME OF THE FIRST V.C.’S

When the Great War broke out in August 1914 the Victoria Cross had not been conferred for ten years. But it was not long before the newspapers began to report one deed after another of “signal valour and devotion performed in the presence of the enemy.” The heroic spirit of the British Army and Navy was as strong as ever; and, of course, the greatness of the struggle gave our men more chances of performing deeds of heroism than they had ever had before. During the first five months of the war, t

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THE SPIRIT OF SIR PHILIP SIDNEY

The old story of Sir Philip Sidney might well be written in letters of gold upon the wall of every school in the Empire. It will be remembered that he fought at Zutphen in Eastern Holland during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and that he was mortally wounded in the thigh with a musket-ball. The immortal tale is told in the following words by his friend, Fulke Greville:— “Being thirsty with excess of bleeding, he called for drink which was presently brought him; but as he was putting the bottle to

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THE MESSENGERS

Some of the bravest and most daring of our men were those who carried the messages or dispatches; and many thrilling stories can be told of their adventures. One of the most exciting is that of four men of the Royal Irish Fusiliers. A certain section of ground of about a quarter of a mile in width was swept by a fierce and continuous German fire. On either side of this open space were British troops, one section of which was in great danger of being surrounded by the enemy. The British officers

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THE STORY OF CORPORAL HOLMES

All true hearts go out to the man who risks his life to save a comrade. There were numberless instances of this supreme act of unselfish courage in the Great War; and one of the best of the earlier stories is that of Corporal Holmes. He belonged to the 2nd Battalion of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, and he won the Cross for rescue work under heavy fire. He was only twenty-three years of age when his great chance came. Let him tell his own story 1 :— 1 As reported in the Daily Graphic ,

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THE MEN OF THE FIRST LINE

It was the pick of the British Army which was selected for the work of the firing line. Among these men there were deeds done daily and at times almost hourly which were deserving of the highest reward. And only a small number of these deeds of daring and devotion were ever reported to those whose duty it was to recommend the granting of medals. Apart from the actual fighting it was a severe trial of strength, nerve, and endurance to stay for any length of time in the front system of trenches at

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LIEUTENANT LEACH AND SERGEANT HOGAN

These two gallant officers belonged to the Manchester Regiment which fought with special bravery on the Western Front. The former was only twenty when he won the V.C., in company with Sergeant Hogan who had seen service in the South African War. The Manchesters were stationed at Festubert not far from Ypres and, near the end of October, their trenches were fiercely bombarded by the Germans and then rushed with the utmost violence. One morning, just before day began to break, and at the time when

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WILSON, O’LEARY, AND MARTIN-LEAKE

Before the outbreak of the Great War, George Wilson was selling newspapers in the streets of Edinburgh. He had already served as a private in the Highland Light Infantry, and, being in the Reserve, was called out at the beginning of the great struggle. In a very short time he was fighting in France with his old regiment. In the middle of September 1914, the H.L.I. were hard at work trying to check and drive back the Germans not very far from Paris. During the fighting in one quarter, some of our

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THE CANADIAN SCOTTISH

At times during a battle a body of comrades seem to act together as one man. Their spirit and discipline are so good and they each forget themselves so completely in the effort of the fight that the foe cannot stand before them. When a brave effort of this special kind is made, Crosses are not granted, but the name of the battle is worked on the flag or colours of the regiment. Never was such a distinction better earned than by the Canadians at Ypres. In the spring of 1915, the Germans were maki

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THE CANADIAN SPIRIT

When the Canadian troops arrived at the Western Front Sir John French wrote of them, “The soldierly bearing and the steadiness with which the men stay in the ranks on a bleak, cold, and snowy day are most remarkable.” Other leaders spoke of their high spirits and love of fun; others again of their cleverness in finding out new ways of doing things, and, later, of tricking the enemy. The men from overseas soon became comrades with the Britons from the Motherland. “The British Tommy,” wrote a youn

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THE ADVENTURES OF THE KENT

The long and glorious history of the British Navy contains many a story of a fight against great odds. We think with pride of the little Revenge which fought fifty-three Spanish ships, and only gave in when its gallant captain Sir Richard Grenville was wounded to the death. And this story of the time of Queen Elizabeth is only one out of many in the records of our Navy. Now it was a splendid and glorious thing for Sir Richard Grenville to fight so bravely. But it would have been a foolish and cr

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THE LANCASHIRE LANDING

Again and again in our fighting history, a regiment acting as one man has performed a “deed of signal valour and devotion in the presence of the enemy,” such as is required for the winning of the Victoria Cross. There is, however, as we have seen, no V.C. for a regiment; but in one case at least during the Great War a regiment selected by vote the names of those men among them who were thought most worthy to wear the Victoria Cross. The First Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers landed on Beach W in t

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COMMANDER UNWIN AND THE TWO MIDSHIPMEN

On Beach V of the Gallipoli Peninsula another method of landing men was used. A collier named the River Clyde was filled with soldiers and run ashore, after a landing had been tried in the ordinary way and had failed. Wide openings had been made in the sides of the vessel from which gangways were slung on ropes to give the men passage either to the shallow water or to flat boats known as lighters which were to form a kind of bridge to the beach. The River Clyde was in charge of Commander Edward

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ANZAC

This word is worthy of careful examination. It means rather more than most words do, and it is one of the most honourable names in the British Empire. The word is made up of the initial letters of the following words, all except one which does not greatly matter: Australian (and) New Zealand Army Corps. The name Anzac was given to that part of the coast of the Peninsula of Gallipoli on which the Australians and New Zealanders landed on the same day as the Lancashires made their landing farther t

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SUBMARINES IN THE DARDANELLES

We heard so much during the war about German submarines that many people forgot that we had under-water craft of our own. If the German fleet had come out from the harbours of Kiel and Wilhelmshaven they would have learnt a little about the number and efficiency of the British submarines, as well as about the chivalry of their commanders. The British submarines had a better chance to show what they could do at the Dardanelles; and some of the bravest deeds of the naval warfare were done in this

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WARNEFORD AND THE ZEPPELIN

One Sunday night in the early part of June 1915, a Zeppelin airship paid a visit to the East Coast of England. It sailed over a wide area and bombs were dropped in various places. As a result of this visit several people were killed and a number were badly hurt. About twenty-four hours later, a Zeppelin was sighted on the coast of Belgium by two airmen, one British and the other French. The airship was chased and the British aviator came up with it between Ghent and Brussels. He dropped bombs up

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SMITH AND FORSHAW: TWO HEROES OF GALLIPOLI

Second-Lieutenant Smith of the East Lancashire Regiment was engaged in the fighting against the Turks in Gallipoli. He was in the act of throwing a grenade when it slipped from his hand and fell to the bottom of the trench. At the moment there were several officers and men quite near to him. Smith shouted out a warning and gave a jump which landed him clear of danger. Then he saw that the other men would not be able to get into cover. Without a moment’s hesitation, therefore, he jumped back into

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THE STORY OF EDITH CAVELL

There is a lofty, snow-clad peak in the Canadian Rockies which is known by the name of Mount Edith Cavell. It was named in the year 1915 to enshrine the memory of a noble woman who laid down her life for the love of humanity. She was an English patriot, but, as we shall see as we go on with her story, she was much more than that. Edith Cavell was a hospital nurse who was trained in London and went to Belgium in 1900 to take charge of a training school for nurses in a suburb of Brussels. She thre

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JACK CORNWELL, THE BOY WHO “CARRIED ON”

One day, in the summer of 1917, a group of people were standing before a large picture which was hung upon the wall of one of the rooms in the Royal Academy. The painting showed a wounded sailor-boy standing on the deck of a warship near the shield of a naval gun while shells were bursting all round him, and the gun’s crew were lying dead or wounded at his feet. “What did he do?” asked a lady after looking closely at the picture for some time. “Oh,” said a gentleman who was with her, “he just st

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HEROES OF LOOS

Let us begin with a heroine if only to remind ourselves that it was not only the British who showed the most wonderful heroism on the Western Front, but the French also, not excluding the French women and girls. When the British re-took the French town of Loos in the autumn of 1915, they found a ready helper in a French girl of seventeen years named Emilienne Moreau, who had lived there during the German occupation. She shared the work which women did so nobly during the Great War, that of nursi

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HOW MOORHOUSE BROUGHT IN HIS REPORT

The railway at Courtrai was a very important part of the German lines of communication; but it was not out of reach of the Allied airmen. Orders were sent out that the line at this place was to be destroyed and W. B. R. Moorhouse was chosen to do the work. His machine was a biplane and he was to go alone so as to be able to carry as much ammunition as possible. The risks did not trouble him, for he was of the type of airman that asks for risk as a kind of spice to the adventure. Off he flew, and

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LORAINE’S FIGHT IN THE AIR

The airmen might be described as the “eyes of the army.” They go up over the enemy’s lines and find out what is going on; then they come back—if they escape the guns of the enemy—and make their reports to the British officers. One day in November 1915, Captain Robert Loraine set out with an observer to do some work of this kind. He was well used to the task and had found out many things of great use to the commanding officers. After a time he saw an enemy machine ahead of him and moved quickly w

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“A GLORIOUS BAND”

The words of the old soldiers’ hymn must often have come into the minds of our brave men as they fought and died to win freedom for the world. And, indeed, they were doing no less than this; for all men knew that if the Germans were not beaten there would be no more real freedom for mankind. There was one day in the month of September of the year 1916 when the King granted no less than twenty Victoria Crosses. Some of them could not be worn by the brave men who had won them for they had been “fa

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THE WORK OF THE MINE-SWEEPERS

The British Isles are surrounded by very shallow seas in which are taken enormous quantities of fish that are good for food. In the work of catching these fish large numbers of men are employed, especially in the North Sea fishing-ground known as the Dogger Bank, where the water is very shallow. These North Sea fishermen come from the East Coast counties not only of England but also of Scotland, right away to the most northerly parts. Their work is very hard and dangerous, but it makes them stro

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“THE PADRE”

The army or navy chaplain was usually known as “the padre,” and the use of the familiar name (which means “the father”) shows how these brave men had won the hearts of the soldiers. This is not surprising for the chaplains were not only to be found at “the back of the front,” but shared many of the dangers faced so bravely by the fighting men of the first line. “We have a chaplain,” wrote one, “who comes up into the front line every day no matter how dangerous and rough things may be; in fact he

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LIEUTENANT ROBINSON AND THE ZEPPELIN

Warneford caught his Zeppelin in Belgium because it was flying low just before getting near to its shed. In the late summer of 1916, a young English airman brought down another of these airships when it was flying high over London to avoid the fire from the anti-aircraft guns. There were many air raids on the capital during 1915 and 1916 and a great deal of damage was done. The time chosen for these visits was usually the dead of night, when there was no moon and very little wind. People got use

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THE CANADIANS AT VIMY RIDGE

The Allies wished to clear the Germans from the mining district of Northern France of which Lens is the chief town. But their way was barred by the enemy who held Vimy Ridge. In 1915, the French tried to capture this ridge and fought for it with desperate bravery; but they were not able to drive out the enemy from his strong position. In the spring of 1917, the British took up the task; and it was the Canadians who were the chief means of completing it. Very careful preparation was made before t

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HEROES OF A HOSPITAL SHIP

For many months the steamer Lanfranc had been employed in bringing wounded from France to England; but one evening in the spring of 1917 she fell a victim to a torpedo launched by a German submarine. She had a crew of more than a hundred, and when she left France she had on board between 300 and 400 British wounded and about 160 Germans. Many of the latter were wounded and were being taken to England for treatment. The vessel was struck about half-past seven in the evening when the sea was quite

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ALONG THE “V.C. WALK”

On June 8th in the third year of the war the London Gazette contained a list of no less than 29 names of officers and men to whom the King had awarded the Victoria Cross. The stories of “most conspicuous bravery” which followed the names in this list showed that the coveted Cross had never been lightly won. Heroism had now become a habit, but British soldiers seemed to have entered into a rivalry as to the amount of bravery and endurance which they could show. Take the example of Major Lumsden i

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MIDSHIPMAN GYLES AND THE GERMAN BOARDERS

Modern naval guns are of very long range; and in most of the fights on the sea the enemy ships were several miles apart. In the Battle of the Falklands the fighting was at a range of about nine miles. When the Battle of Jutland Bank began Beatty’s cruisers were about eleven miles from the leading ships of the Germans. When the Queen Elizabeth was at the Dardanelles her gunners said that they could “land on a penny at 15,000 yards.” But in the little fight off Dover on the night of April 20, 1917

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HOW MAN MADE AN EARTHQUAKE

On the morning of June 7, 1917, the British Prime Minister got up very early, as early as three o’clock. He wished to hear an explosion on the Western Front; and although he was at his home near London he heard it too! For our men had made an earthquake and had blown up a hill which had been held by the Germans since the earlier days of the war. The high ground which gave the Germans such an advantage in this part of the line was known as Messines Ridge; and the men who held it were fiercely det

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“WHEN CAN THEIR GLORY FADE?”

We have read a great deal in this little book about the courage shown by men in the heat of the fight. But it did not take the excitement of attack or defence to rouse and sustain the courage of our men. Nor were they less brave and cheerful in weakness and in pain than they were on the field of battle. Read the words of a doctor 9 at the front:— 9 Quoted from a private letter published in the Times , with acknowledgments. “We speak of brave men. Yes, these men are brave! If the people at home c

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“THE HEART OF A LION”

The morning of Saturday, July 7th, 1917, was beautifully bright, a perfect English summer morning with a cloudless sky. The people of London made haste to finish the morning’s work, looking forward to as pleasant a week-end as war-work and thoughts on war would permit. But before they left their places of business they had an experience which few quiet Londoners had ever expected to pass through. Something happened which for a time seemed to blot out the light of the sun and which brought death

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IN MEMORIAM

P. M. and A. C. D., killed in action, 1915. THE TEMPLE PRESS LETCHWORTH ENGLAND...

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