VCs of the First World War 1914

by Gerald Gliddon

  The action of Pte. Wyatt was the first of two such incidents which were to gain for him the VC. A few days later, at a rearguard action in the forest to the north of the small town of Villers Cotterêts, he was involved once more in an action. To paraphrase his citation: ‘After being wounded in the head, Lance-Corporal Wyatt continued firing until he could no longer see owing to the blood which was pouring down his face. The Medical Officer bound up his wound and told him to go to the rear, but he at once returned to the firing line and continued to fight.’

  Pte. Wyatt’s VC was the first awarded to a member of the Coldstream Guards since the Crimean War. It was gazetted on 18 November 1915 and presented to him at Buckingham Palace on 4 March 1916.

  George Harry Wyatt was the son of Mr Arthur Digby and Sarah Ann Wyatt and was born in Britannia Road, Whistones, Worcester on 5 September 1886. At the time of George’s birth his father was working as a groom to a local veterinary surgeon, and three years later he became coachman at Hindlip Hall, in the employ of Dowager Lady Hindlip. He worked for her for twenty years. George Wyatt went to school at Hindlip and then he and his parents moved to Hadzor. George, who used to sing in the local choir, then attended Holloway School at Droitwich. It was always his ambition to join the army. He was a strongly built man and over six feet tall. He enlisted in the Coldstream Guards at the age of eighteen on 23 November 1904, at Birmingham. He served in the 2nd and 3rd Battalions for nearly four years, spending two and a half of these in Egypt and was discharged on 23 November 1908.

  After leaving the army he joined the police force in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, on 9 January 1909. He served there for six years and won numerous swimming prizes. On 19 May 1914 he was transferred to the Doncaster force where he was trained as a mounted officer but ten weeks later, on the outbreak of war, he was recalled up as a reservist on 5 August.

  He was posted to the 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards who embarked on the 14th as part of the BEF. He was promoted to lance-corporal on 18 December 1914.

  In 1915 his parents were living at the Pear Tree Inn, Hindlip and it was the local newspaper, the Berrow Worcester Journal, that broke the news of their son’s VC to them. They were overjoyed.

  At first Mrs Wyatt was under the impression that the VC meant the Russian Cross, which her son had won some months previously, but when she realized that in addition to the Czar’s decoration her son was to receive the most coveted decoration in the British Army, her eyes welled with tears, and she remarked, ‘Bless the lad. He is such a good boy.’ Immediately she went outside to an adjoining field, where her husband was working, in order to break the news to him. He was equally delighted. Wyatt’s mother was asked to say more about her son, ‘He was always a good lad, and never gave any trouble.’ But his father said something more illuminating, ‘He was always a willing lad, and willing to help others, and he was always up to some devilment or other.’ Interviewed by a local paper about his exploits Wyatt himself said the following:

  Well, there’s not much for me to say about it. I just did as I was told. During the retirement from Mons the 3rd Coldstream Guards reached Landrecies. It was dark at the time, and there we were attacked by a large number of Germans who must have been rushed up in motor lorries. We lost our machine gun, and had to rely solely upon rifle and bayonet. Suddenly something flared up between us and the enemy, and Major Matheson, of ‘Ours’ shouted, ‘Put out that light’. So I did it. I never thought it would bring me the Victoria Cross and the highest Russian decoration which can be given to any man in the ranks.

  How did I put the fire out? Oh, I jumped on it and dragged some equipment over it. After a while it burst out again, and I ran back and extinguished it. Yes, there was heavy fire from the Germans when I first obeyed the order. That affair at Villers Cotterêts. I got hit on the head and went on firing. That’s all.

  When he had recovered from his head wound Cpl. Wyatt returned to the battalion and in February 1915 Wyatt was shot in the head once more.

  A few months later Wyatt received the Cross of the Order of St George 3rd Class as well as the VC. In April 1916 he was greeted at Doncaster station by the Chief Constable and his former police colleagues. He was driven in an open car to the Mansion House where a reception was held for him and he was presented with a gold watch. His wife was given a silver cream jug and sugar bowl.

  On 28 February 1917 he was promoted to lance-sergeant, and left the army with this rank on 14 January 1919. He returned to police service and in June 1924 he bravely stopped a runaway horse. He was awarded a guinea. He retired from the Yorkshire Police Force on 10 February 1934 and took up farming, owning a smallholding. He died on 22 January 1964 at the age of seventy-seven in Sprotborough, near Doncaster and is buried at Cadeby Cemetery, Sprotborough. His grave has a headstone. He is commemorated in the church.

  Wyatt’s VC and medals are in his family’s possession and apart from the Victoria and Russian Cross he was also awarded the 1914 Star with clasp, BWM 1914–20, and the VM 1914–19 with Oak Leaf (mentioned in despatches). Unfortunately he lost his original Russian Cross while attending a remembrance service in London. However, in August 1988 his family were presented with a replica by the regiment.

  C.A.L. YATE

  Le Cateau, France, 26 August

  The 2nd King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry was part of the 13th Brigade of the 5th Division. The battalion arrived in the Mons area on 22 August and took part in the fight to defend the town from the Germans on 23 August. The 5th Division was on the left flank of the British II Corps and men of the 2nd KOYLI were in positions close to the railway bridge over the Condé Canal at Les Herbières. The next day they were involved in fighting a rearguard action to the south-east near the town of Wasmes.

  On 25 August the 2nd King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, as part of 5th Division, must have marched at least 30 miles before reaching the town of Le Cateau, to the south-west of Mons, and was looking forward to a good night’s rest and a decent meal. The news of the arrival of the 4th Division from England also cheered the men up.

  It was at Le Cateau that Sir H. Smith-Dorrien, commander of II Corps, after consultation with his commanders, planned a holding action against the advancing German Army. Smith-Dorrien did not have the full support of Sir John French, commander of the BEF, or the assistance of Sir Douglas Haig’s 1st Corps either, after the latter’s dawn withdrawal from Landrecies on the morning of the 26th. In fact, Haig was so worried about the position at Landrecies during the night that he had asked II Corps to spare some troops. Fortunately the situation improved enough for the units of I Corps to make their escape.

  For evidence of just how heroic the stand at Le Cateau was to be, we need to look no further than the tally of five Victoria Crosses which would be awarded as a result of the day’s fighting. Two were won by members of the 2nd KOYLI and three went to the Royal Artillery.

  The 5th Division decided to take up positions to the south of the Le Cateau to Cambrai road and the 13th and 14th Brigades were also heavily involved. The 13th Brigade consisted of the 2nd KOYLI, along with the 2nd Dukes, 1st RWK and the 2nd KOSB. Companies of the KOSB and A, C and D Companies of the KOYLI were close up to the main Cambrai road. But half of B Company of the KOYLI was ordered by Brig. Gen. G.J. Cuthbert, the brigade commander, to dig trenches along the side of the Bavai–Reumont road and at right angles to it. These positions were also just to the south of the road to Troisvilles. The rest of B Company was on the other side of the Reumont road, together with the battalion’s machine-gun section. This section’s two guns were intended to give some enfilading protection to the 2nd Manchesters and 2nd Suffolks of the 14th Brigade to the east. Divisional field batteries made the situation more complicated as they occupied the line of company supports. Gun teams and limbers crowded the narrow road to Troisvilles. In addition Battalion Headquarters was close to B Company on the west of the road near a position held early in the day by part of B Company. A culvert under the road was used for communication between the two fi
ring lines. The 1st RWK was to the rear of B Company as Brigade Reserve.

  At about 06.00 hours Cuthbert, who was in the sunken road leading to Troisvilles, to the left of the artillery teams, issued an order to the Battalion Headquarters to the effect that there would be no retirement for the fighting troops and they were to fill up their trenches with as much ammunition, water and food as possible. In order to ensure this order was received a Staff Officer also came around to the positions to give the instructions verbally.

  The Adjutant, Capt. C.H. Ackroyd, when riding back from the left flank drew enemy fire which seemed to act as a signal for the battle to commence. Within minutes whistling shells came pouring down on the British positions. Communication became impossible and telephone lines were soon destroyed.

  The town of Le Cateau fell into enemy hands at about the same time as the battle commenced, and the ridge where the 2nd Suffolks were in position was exposed to fierce fire as it was to the east side of the battlefield where enemy guns were concentrated. The Suffolks were under considerable pressure, being attacked from the right flank as well as from the front. They were assisted by companies of the 2nd Manchesters and 2nd ASH.

  It was not until 11.00 hours when the Germans emerged from the direction of Montay Spur to the north, that Maj. Yate, in charge of B Company of the 2nd KOYLI, had the target that he wanted for his machine gunners. B and D Companies opened fire and from then onwards they were continuously involved in the action.

  Until noon the German artillery concentrated on destroying the British guns, which they outnumbered by a ratio of six to one. Slowly the number of guns able to reply was reduced. At about 12.45 hours orders were given to pull out any gun that could be saved. This led to an even fiercer response from the enemy artillery, until about 13.20 hours when there was a lull in the fighting, enabling some of the remaining guns to be taken away.

  The shelling and rifle fire was now directed on the infantry positions and all the time the Germans were gaining ground. Of the two KOYLI machine guns, one fired for about six hours while the other was eventually knocked out.

  Between 14.30 hours and 14.45 hours the end came for the Suffolks: they were overwhelmed from the front, right flank and right rear. They had been under continuous bombardment for nine hours.

  Two German battalions swept over the Suffolk’s ridge and down the beet field on the western slopes. The range for the KOYLI platoons and machine guns came down to 600 yards. B Company held their fire to the very last moment and then opened fire. This caused havoc and the Germans retreated for a short period, leaving their casualties behind them.

  It was, however, only a matter of time before the enemy returned. At about 14.00 hours Sir Charles Fergusson (5th Division) had given the order for the retirement, which had reached some of the front line battalions.

  Le Cateau, 26 August

  At about 15.00 hours reserve battalions began to fall back to the rear covering the retirement of the front line troops who were running out of ammunition. Yate’s company, along with companies of the KOSB decided to stay and fight it out. They became surrounded on three sides and were continuously shelled and subjected to concentrated rifle and machine-gun fire. The end came at about 16.20 hours when Yate, in charge of the remnants of B and D Companies in the second line of trenches, gave an order to the nineteen men who remained. They refused German calls for their surrender and charged the enemy. Yate fell wounded and his gallant band of Yorkshiremen was overwhelmed. The enemy had got round the right hand flank of the battalion and the KOYLI casualties were at least 600 on the day, of whom just over half were prisoners. The total British casualties for the day were 7,812 men and 38 guns, but the enemy had suffered heavily as well and had not managed to disrupt the retreat towards Paris.

  By 16.30 hours it was all over and the Germans who captured Yate’s part of the line were identified by their badges as being from the 26th, 66th and 72nd Regiments.

  Most of the captured prisoners were taken to Le Cateau, and then on the 31st to Cambrai before being transferred to Germany. Yate, with his fluency in German, made a statement that he would never consider himself a prisoner of the Germans; he subsequently became a marked man. He was sent under a strong escort to join other officer prisoners at Torgau. Once there, he tried to escape three times and in the third attempt on 21 September he was shot by his captors while trying to struggle through barbed wire. It is said that he fled wounded into a river from which he never emerged alive. The British Official History states that he had his skull smashed on attempting an escape.

  Maj. Yate’s file at the National Archives (WO 374/77437) gives several accounts of what happened to him once he reached Torgau in the company of two officer colleagues from Le Cateau on 8 September, when his behaviour became quite erratic. He seems to have developed what might later have been termed as a ‘persecution complex’ – and perhaps with good reason.

  Clearly Yate was a man in a hurry, and together with a Lt. T. Breen he planned an escape. The idea was for the two men to travel to Dresden on foot and then obtain bicycles and reach Switzerland. As there was a shortage of civilian clothes, it was soon agreed that Yate would make the attempt on his own. There was also additional pressure on him as he had been recently interviewed by two German intelligence officers investigating his actions when in Germany before the war (could he have been involved in espionage?). Yate spoke fluent German, and the intelligence officers had told him that they were coming back to interview him a second time in a few days. His disguise was that of a workman, with a hat pulled down over much of his face. On 20 September he was assisted over a high wall of the camp and then dropped down into a moat. He then struck out for the high road, but he had lost his cap and didn’t get very far from the camp. No shots were heard but he was reported dead in the neighbourhood of Muehlburg on the following morning, having been found close to the gates of the local sugar factory. The site of his death was on the west side of a wood, on a track between Lehndorf and Brottewitz.

  He was buried three days later at dawn on the 24th in the churchyard at Martinskirchen, which was about 11 kilometres from Torgau, which in turn was 1 kilometre east of the River Elbe. His grave bore an oak cross with an inscription in white capitals. It appeared, according to one version, that he had killed himself with an open razor, an idea given credence by Lt. T. Breen, who had been asked to change razors with Yate, thus giving him an open razor to take with him. Another account suggests that he might have been apprehended by the owner of the sugar factory and decided to take his own life, cutting his throat several times, after which ‘he staggered about for 40 to 50 yards before falling to the ground’. Yet another account claims that Yate was shot by the Germans, severely wounded and then plunged into the River Elbe.

  What is surely clear was that there was intense pressure on Yate, who appears to have been a man of a very nervous disposition in the first place. He was particularly anxious about being captured by German civilians as Torgau was in a peasant area and they may have taken matters into their own hands. Together with his companions, he had already been badly treated by the populace after Le Cateau and his familiarity with the German language would also have counted against him. Finally it is known that the German Intelligence Service was very interested in him.

  Although the British military authorities and family had no wish to admit even to the vaguest possibility of suicide, it appears from the file that the enemy was quite open about investigating Yate’s death, with the attitude that there was nothing to hide. They would have been quite happy about the possibility of Yate’s remains being exhumed in order to confirm the cause of death but no such request was ever made. In the long run Yate’s body was later removed to an Allied cemetery anyway.

  One of his officer colleagues quoted in the book In the Hands of the Enemy described Yate as follows: ‘He was a great loss to us, being a fluent German speaker. His memory was prodigious; he learnt up the names and addresses of all his fellow-prisoners in order to notify their rel
atives in case he succeeded in his attempt.’ The Germans allegedly kept his clothes, perhaps as some sort of evidence of his death.

  Cpl. F.W. Holmes VC also of the 2nd KOYLI wrote this of Yate in The London Magazine in April 1915:

  Maj. Yate was a very fine officer. He joined us and took command of B Company just before we went out to war. On this day he was in the trenches on our left, not very far from where I was. When we went into action he had 220 men, but they caught so much of the hot fire which was meant for the battery behind that he lost all his men except nineteen when he was surrounded and captured. The day before this happened the Major declared that if it came to a pinch and they were surrounded he would not surrender – and he kept his word. Reckless of the odds against him he headed his nineteen men in a charge against the Germans – and when the charge was over only three of the company could be formed up. All the rest of B Company were either killed, wounded, or taken prisoner, though very few prisoners were taken. The Major was one of them; but he was so badly wounded that he lived only a very short time, and died as a prisoner of war. His is one of the cases in which the Cross is given although the winner of it is dead. He was always in front, and his constant cry was ‘Follow me!’

  Yate’s VC was gazetted on 25 November 1914. He was an outstanding soldier on all counts. However there is a note in the War Office File WO 32/4993 about his award and the following caption was sent back from the War Office to Sir John French: ‘Was his company covering a retreat and was the maintenance of the position in the trenches necessarily continued so long? Also can you say where the latest reliable information is … Is it a fact that he was taken prisoner and has since died?’