Part 1

THE POST OF HONOUR

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 & TORONTO J. M. DENT & SONS LTD.

CONTENTS

PAGE INTRODUCTION 9 THE VICTORIA CROSS 12 CAPTAIN GRENFELL AND THE CHARGE OF THE LANCERS 16 BRITISH SAILORS WHO KNEW HOW TO DIE 19 SOME OF THE FIRST V.C.’S 21 THE SPIRIT OF SIR PHILIP SIDNEY 28 THE MESSENGERS 30 THE STORY OF CORPORAL HOLMES 33 THE MEN OF THE FIRST LINE 36 LIEUTENANT LEACH AND SERGEANT HOGAN 42 WILSON, O’LEARY, AND MARTIN-LEAKE 45 THE CANADIAN SCOTTISH 48 THE CANADIAN SPIRIT 52 THE ADVENTURES OF THE “KENT” 57 THE LANCASHIRE LANDING 62 COMMANDER UNWIN AND THE TWO MIDSHIPMEN 67 ANZAC 73 SUBMARINES IN THE DARDANELLES 78 WARNEFORD AND THE ZEPPELIN 83 SMITH AND FORSHAW: TWO HEROES OF GALLIPOLI 87 THE STORY OF EDITH CAVELL 90 JACK CORNWELL, THE BOY WHO “CARRIED ON” 97 HEROES OF LOOS 100 HOW MOORHOUSE BROUGHT IN HIS REPORT 104 LORAINE’S FIGHT IN THE AIR 105 “A GLORIOUS BAND” 108 THE WORK OF THE MINE-SWEEPERS 115 “THE PADRE” 121 LIEUTENANT ROBINSON AND THE ZEPPELIN 124 THE CANADIANS AT VIMY RIDGE 129 HEROES OF A HOSPITAL SHIP 133 ALONG THE “V.C. WALK” 137 MIDSHIPMAN GYLES AND THE GERMAN BOARDERS 146 HOW MAN MADE AN EARTHQUAKE 149 “WHEN CAN THEIR GLORY FADE?” 155 “THE HEART OF A LION” 157

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 his exploits. But such facts as are actually known ought surely to be given the widest possible publicity, especially in the schools of the Empire.

“If I should die, think only this of me, That there’s some corner of a foreign field That is for ever England.”

_Rupert Brooke._

“Will you at least try, if I am killed, not to let the things I have loved cause you pain, but rather to get increased enjoyment from the Sussex Downs, or from Janie singing folk-songs, because I have found such joy in them, and in that way the joy I have found can continue to live.”

_Letter to his Mother, from a young British officer who was killed in action._

“O ye who fell, mistake not our warm tears, We would not wish you back lest we should see Your souls defiled by undistinguished years.”

_Charles Vincent._

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 King Harry of England:

“If it be a sin to covet honour, I am the most offending soul alive.”

Many brave deeds were also done in that great struggle by men who had no idea that they were heroes. They just did their duty as it came along without any thought of honour or fame. They were like Jack Cornwell, the boy hero of the Battle of Jutland. They were “just carrying on.”

These deeds of daring were done by men, and even by women, in the armies of all the fighters--and among the Germans too. Each army had its ever-increasing band of heroes, until the numbers seemed to pass beyond counting. It was a sad world during that war time, but it was a brave world as well.

Among the bravest were the soldiers of Britain. This does not mean only the soldiers of the British Isles. It means the soldiers of the British Empire. It includes men from England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the islands of the sea. It also includes natives of India, for many brave deeds were done by the men from that far-off land, who came so willingly to help their Emperor who was also our King.

What is a brave deed? Was it brave of Robert Clive to climb to the top of Market Drayton steeple in his boyhood? We smile at the story, but somehow we feel that the act was not what we should call brave.

It was daring, fearless, and a fine test of steady nerve. But it was not brave or heroic. Why? What was wanting to make it a matter for praise? The call of duty, I think, and I imagine that you will agree with me.

The deed was not done in the course of duty or to help some one in peril. If the boy’s daring had saved the life of a child we should hail him as a hero. A brave deed is a deed done in forgetfulness of self and at the call of duty.

In the Great War thousands of such deeds were done which were never reported. Only now and again a heroic action was brought to the notice of those whose business it was to set it down and to ask the King for a reward. No story of the Great War, however long, will ever tell of _all_ the heroes.

The stories which are collected in this little book are only isolated instances. They are types or examples. But I have tried to tell of those which have some special lesson to teach us. Each of the heroes whose story is told here had a message for all those who were to follow them. It will be well to ask at the end of each story what this lesson was.

One word more, before we begin our stories. It is not true that a brave man feels no fear. Some of the bravest deeds on record have been done in secret fear and trembling.

A story is told of a great leader who always inwardly felt great fear when he was going into action. One day when this dread came upon him, he said to himself, “Ah, you are trembling, are you? But you would tremble more if you knew where I was going to take you to-day.”

Such a man is the bravest of the brave; for he must conquer himself as well as the enemy.

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 years ago, in the time of the Crusades, these knights fought against the Turks who held the Holy Places in Palestine and tried to drive them out. You see, then, that the chief medal of our Army and Navy reminds us that we belong to a Christian country, and one which ought always to fight on the side of justice and right.

It was the good Queen Victoria who gave orders for the first Victoria Crosses to be made, as the name of the medal will always remind us. She saw that there was no decoration that could be given to her soldiers and sailors who had done very brave deeds. There were many of these brave men who had fought for her and for their country in the Crimean War which was fought about sixty years before the Great War broke out.

The Queen, therefore, gave careful instructions for the designing and awarding of the new medal. It was to be made from the metal of cannon captured in the Crimean War. In the centre of the bronze cross was to be the figure of a lion standing on guard above the royal crown; and under the crown there was to be a scroll bearing the simple inscription, “For Valour.”

The ribbon attached to the medal was to be blue for the Navy and red for the Army. On the clasp there were to be two branches of laurel, which were to signify that the wearer had been a victor in the fight; for the laurel branch has been for long ages the sign of victory in the arts of peace as well as of war. The Cross was to hang from the clasp on a support made in the shape of a very broad capital letter V.

The first Victoria Crosses were presented by Queen Victoria herself at a review in Hyde Park in London. Not long afterwards the Cross was won in the Indian Mutiny by a young officer who was afterwards to become famous all over the world and to be known as Lord Roberts.

Lord Roberts died in France during the early part of the Great War, though he was too old to be in command of our troops. But his winning of the V.C. has always acted as an example to brave soldiers, and the simple story of what he did may well be told here once more.

He was a lieutenant when he won the Cross, and was fighting in the Indian Mutiny which broke out in 1857. The rebels had gathered together in a certain Indian village; and General Grant received orders from his commander-in-chief, Sir Colin Campbell, to drive them out. He took Roberts with him in the force which was to carry out this piece of work; and although the rebels had several guns and fought with great bravery, they were at last driven out of the village.

While this stern work was going on, Roberts saw two sepoys running away with a British flag. This was a sight to fire the blood of any British officer, and the young lieutenant did not pause to consider what he should do. He rode swiftly down upon the two men, drawing his sword as he came near to them. The men turned and faced him, each with a musket in his hands. Roberts reined in his horse and raised his sword. At that moment the barrel of a musket was pushed close to his face.

There was a sharp click--but no discharge. The cap had missed fire and at the same moment the sepoy carrying the standard was struck to the ground with a blow from Roberts’ sword. As the man fell, the young officer deftly snatched the flag from his dying grasp. The other man dropped his musket and made off at full speed.

Once again Roberts put spurs to his horse to take a further share in the pursuit of the rebels. Some distance away he met with two more sepoys standing at bay, each armed with a musket to which a bayonet was fixed. Not only Roberts but the flag was once more in danger, for it was two against one and the native soldiers were very skilful with their weapons.

Roberts set his teeth and rode straight forward, sword in hand. His attack was so direct and furious that the two men were thrown off their guard. In a moment one of them lay stretched upon the ground and the other had joined once more in the quick retreat.

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 the roll of honour; and the story of his winning of the Victoria Cross is one of the finest in the history of the British Army.

At half-past ten one morning, the Second British Cavalry Brigade received a welcome order. They were to “charge for the guns” as the Light Brigade had been ordered to do at Balaklava in the Crimean War. The order was received with the greatest glee, for the troopers had waited for three days listening to the roar of the guns but taking no part in the great fight.

The men were the 9th Lancers, 18th Hussars, and 4th Dragoons. On they rode, singing, shouting, cheering; but they had not ridden far before some of the riders dropped from their saddles while their horses galloped away. The rest set their teeth, gripped their lances more tightly and urged on their horses until the thunder of the iron-shod hoofs seemed to drown that of the German guns.

All at once, a merciless fire broke out from a number of machine-guns which had been cleverly hidden on their flank, about 150 yards away. The withering fire swept their close-set ranks and men and horses fell in scores; but there was no faltering among the rest. Onward they rode, careless of the ceaseless hail of bullets and of the shells which now burst round them from the heavy guns ahead.

At last they reached the German battery, and what happened there is thus described by a German soldier:--

“We were outside Mons in open country,” he said, “with a clump of hills before us, when a troop of howling, yelling men with lances came racing round a hill and then straight for us. Your artillery and your infantry, yes, they are like ourselves and we can fight them, but these lancers;--ach!

“We were four to one of them, but in a flash they were on us and through us! And there were not more than fifty of them. Every one of them speared a man--I got this in the shoulder--and some of our horses went over. Before we could re-form or get ready, they came dashing back, yelling like furies, and they went through us again. This time they stayed with us longer.... I will never meet them again, please you!”

The stern work was over, but the British cavalry had paid a heavy price to silence the German guns. The men who were left now looked about for cover, and soon found it behind a railway embankment; but they also found in this place a company of men of the Royal Field Artillery whose guns had been knocked out of action.

Captain Grenfell was among the surviving officers of the 9th Lancers, but he had been wounded in the thigh as well as in one hand. Weary and hurt as he was, the news that British guns were in danger of capture roused him to further efforts. Without a moment’s delay, he rode off into the fire zone to make observations.

Having satisfied himself that the guns could be drawn off he came back--at a slow pace, in order to give courage to his men. Then he asked for volunteers for the job, and got them too, for British soldiers always answer to the call to “save the guns.” “It’s all right,” he said simply, “they can’t hit us. Come along!”

The men loosed their horses and followed the captain on foot. In a few minutes they set off at the double heedless of the flying bullets and bursting shells, and came at last to the first guns which they quickly hauled out of danger. They went back again and again until all the precious guns were safe.

It was for his bravery on this day that Captain Grenfell was awarded the Victoria Cross--one of the first to be awarded in the Great War. At a later period of the war he was killed in action.

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.

When the _Pathfinder_ was struck the order was given, “Every man for himself.” In a few moments the water was full of struggling swimmers. One petty officer was a very strong swimmer and did all he could to help others who were not so strong as himself.

As soon as he found himself in the water he swam about among his mates helping them to lay hold of spars and pieces of wreckage. In time he got together a group of eleven men and kept cheering them up and making them as secure as he could. Some of them had only their heads and shoulders above the water; and four of them sank while trying to raise themselves to get a better hold.

Meanwhile several boats were racing across the water to pick up the exhausted men. When they came up, the poor fellows had to be dragged on board; and even the hardy and heroic petty officer was too much spent to help himself.

Only a few days passed and our Navy suffered a still heavier loss. The three cruisers _Aboukir_, _Hogue_, and _Cressy_ were on patrol work in the North Sea and were steaming along three miles apart, through a choppy sea. All at once the first cruiser was seen to reel and then settle down sideways. She had been struck by a torpedo.

The _Cressy_ and the _Hogue_ immediately closed in to save life while the men on the sinking ship tried to lower one of their boats. But they were not able to do so, and they ran or slid over the hull of the vessel into the water.

Just as the _Aboukir_ was heeling over, the _Hogue_ was struck in two places. The great ship reared up in the water like a charger upon its hind legs, and quivered all over. Then she settled down, and sank in a few minutes, leaving the greater part of her crew in the water. But, strangely enough, as she went down, she righted herself, and two of her boats becoming detached, floated from her. The boats were soon filled and were the means of saving many lives.

It was now the turn of the _Cressy_, which had come up and was standing by for rescue work. She was struck by two torpedoes and sank almost at once. Two Dutch ships and a British trawler picked up as many men as they could crowd on board and made for the English coast. The total loss on the ships was 1500 men.

Even in this terrible disaster, the men of the British Navy were “ready, aye ready” when all that was now asked of them was that they should die like heroes.

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, twenty-eight Crosses were awarded; this was a large number, for the Cross is never given without a great deal of careful consideration. One hundred were awarded during the first eighteen months. Let us see how some of these first Crosses were won, and how the earlier fighters set the example to all the rest.

In a military retreat or “withdrawal” it is important to place as many obstacles as possible in the path of the foe; and as soon as bridges have been safely crossed they must be destroyed.

It will readily be seen that the engineers who carry out this work of destruction have a very dangerous task to perform. They are the last men to leave the scene of action, and their destructive work holds up the pursuit.

In an advance the engineers go first, in a retreat they stay last; so that, on the whole, this “arm” of the forces is always in the post of danger, which is the post of honour.

Near the end of the first month of the war, Lance-Corporal Jarvis of the Royal Engineers won the V.C. for a piece of work which was carried out under a persistent and steady fire. He went out alone in a boat on the River Jemmapes, and worked steadily for an hour and a half in fixing and firing charges for the destruction of a bridge.

The bullets whistled about his ears, and the shells burst all round him on the bridge and below it; but the brave fellow worked coolly on until his task was finished--and properly finished too--and then got away unharmed. His devotion to duty had been of great value to his own side in a way which does not need further explanation.

The L Battery of the Royal Horse Artillery is now known all over the world for its gallant stand at the beginning of September 1914.

Field-guns and machine-guns were pounding away at this battery at a range of no more than 600 yards. All the officers fell, dead or wounded, and the men looked round for directions. Then Sergeant-Major Dorrell took charge of one gun and continued to serve it steadily until all the ammunition was used up.

Sergeant Nelson took command of another, and although severely wounded, kept grimly to his task until the shells had all been fired, when the shattered battery was relieved. Its steadiness had been of the greatest use in the engagement; and the two men who had thus proved their right to lead were not only given the V.C. but were made commissioned officers.

About a fortnight later, Bombardier Horlock of the Royal Field Artillery won the Cross by a wonderful display of fortitude, persistence, and a kind of disobedience a little akin to that of Lord Nelson at Copenhagen. His battery had not been long in action when a shell burst under his gun and he was wounded in the right thigh. He was told to go to the hospital, but went first to a dressing-station where he was bandaged and sent on to the rear. But he went back to the battery and five minutes later was hit again.

For a second time he came before the doctor, was given first-aid, and was then placed in charge of an orderly who was told to take him to the field-hospital farther back. On the way Horlock told his companion that there were many poor fellows who needed help much more than he did, and that he could find his way alone with perfect ease.

The orderly fell into the trap, and no sooner had he gone out of sight than Horlock limped back again to his battery and went on serving his gun. A little later, he was wounded in the arm, but, brave as he was, did not dare to face the doctor for the third time. He stayed with his comrades until the end of the day, and was at last picked up and taken to hospital.

Drummer Bent of the East Lancashires was the kind of soldier who is “good at need,” ready for any job which comes his way, and the more dangerous the work the better worth doing. The man who brings up the ammunition to the firing line seems to be merely a kind of porter; but when his work is carefully considered he is easily seen to be very important indeed. And when he does that work in the open under heavy fire without the excitement of taking a hand in the fighting, he is surely among the bravest of the brave. And this was the kind of work which first drew attention to Drummer Bent, who was only twenty-two years of age.

Having learnt that the oft-repeated sentence “every bullet has its billet” is merely a silly saying, Bent was quite ready to face fire on another occasion. Several wounded men were lying in the open and he went out to bring some of them under cover. This heroic action alone was worthy of the highest reward, for it showed that disregard of self which is the root of all true heroism; but Bent was to do still more than this.