VCs of the First World War 1915 The Western Front

by Peter F Batchelor

  … I could see him hurling bomb after bomb into the German trench. Pieces of bodies, limbs, heads were all flying out and up into the air... that’s the last I’ll see of him because the Germans had opened up with every gun.

  Some time later, Laister, who managed to get back to the British line, says:

  … after a while we heard people speaking German …. Then, pushed over the parapet, came two Germans who dropped on to the fire-step and Mariner jumped in after them, carrying part of a German machine-gun.

  For this daring feat Mariner won the VC, which was published in the London Gazette of 23 June. He was invested with his medal at Buckingham Palace by the King on 12 August 1915.

  John William Mariner was born at 12 Wellington Street, Chorley, Lancs., on 29 May 1882, one of five children born to Alice Ann Mariner. She married John Wignall towards the end of 1888 but on the 1891 census, whilst she and her husband were living with her parents at 7 Wellington Street, both her sons born before her marriage, William and Frederick, are shown as being the children of her parents. He was educated at St Laurence’s Parochial School, Chorley before the family moved to 18 Fletcher Street, Lower Broughton, Salford. After leaving school he worked as a collier before enlisting in the Army where, with 2nd KRRC, he served in India. During this period he was court-martialled twice (First for striking an officer and secondly for using threatening behaviour), serving a prison sentence for each offence. He was also the regimental lightweight wrestling champion. After seven years’ service he transferred to the Reserves and was working as a brick-setter when war broke out. He enlisted with his former battalion on 26 August 1914 under the name of William Mariner, having served a prison sentence for housebreaking since leaving the Army, and went to France on 29 November of that year.

  He returned to Salford on leave in early August 1915 and on 12 August left his mother’s house in Salford without informing her of his plans. She suspected that he was to receive his VC that day and with her daughter entrained for Windsor. At Windsor Mrs Wignall was informed that the award ceremony was at Buckingham Palace, so she joined the hundreds of people outside the Palace and was able to see her son after the investiture. The crowds were too much for Mariner and his fellow VC winners, so a taxi was called and Mariner, Pte May and Cpl Tombs (see page 151) left in it.

  The Mayor and Corporation of Salford were keen to honour the VC hero and efforts were made to locate Mariner in London, but he had already returned to Salford. He was eventually tracked down and at a civic reception was presented with an illuminated address and a gold watch; he was also given a reception at Chorley.

  After speaking at various recruiting rallies, mainly in the Salford district, Mariner returned to France but was wounded and sent back to England on 24 August 1915. He did not return to France until 12 October. Before this a newspaper report covered his appearance in court at Clerkenwell, London, where he had been arrested and charged as an absentee. His excuse for being two days’ overdue, was ‘I have been messing about with Jack Johnson and doing a bit of recruiting’.

  In late June 1916 the 2nd KRRC were in the front line of an attack on the Railway Triangle, south of Loos. After the explosion of three British mines at 21.15 hours on 30 June the battalion moved forward. Mariner was in B Coy who advanced from a sap in the front line. The German line was reached but Mariner was killed in a communication trench. One of his comrades, Giles Eyre, described Mariner’s death:

  And then Marriner [sic] loses his remaining senses … and runs down in pursuit of the retreating enemy … as I round a corner and glimpse Marriner in the very act of bayoneting a prone German – a whistling swish seems to fill the world – Marriner, caught full tilt by a shell, has been blown to fragments.

  Eyre was covered in these ‘fragments’.

  The survivors of Mariner’s company remained in action until 02.00 hours on 1 July and then returned to billets in Maroc. Mariner was one of 34 men of the battalion listed as missing after the action. His name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing and because of the date of his death it is often assumed that he died in the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The whereabouts of Mariner’s VC Medal was not known for many years but in 2006 the medal, together with the illuminated address presented to him by the mayor of Salford, was found in a tin box in a desk drawer during a house clearance in Lancashire. (Reportedly following the death of a distant relative of Mariner.) These items were sold to an unknown buyer at auction on 23 November 2006 for a hammer price of £105,000. The local museum at Astley Hall did attempt to raise the estimated price of £80,000.

  On 23 November 2002, at St Laurence’s Old School, Parker Street, Chorley, a slate plaque was unveiled and dedicated honouring Rifleman William Mariner VC (formerly Wignall). The erection of this plaque was arranged by Chorley Civic Society.

  W. ANGUS

  Givenchy, France, 12 June

  Less than three weeks after Cpl Keyworth (see page 161) won his VC on 25 May a similar award was made to L/Cpl Angus of the 8th Highland Light Infantry (HLI), this time for a rescue within yards of the spot where Keyworth’s action had taken place.

  Angus, attached to 1/8th Royal Scots, 22nd Bde, 7th Div., who first saw action at Neuve Chapelle in March, had been wounded at the Battle of Festubert and had only just returned from hospital when his battalion took over the trenches at Givenchy. The German front line at Givenchy took advantage of an area of raised ground; an embankment along which they ran their front line with its excellent view over no-mans-land. This embankment was allocated the reference point I4. A mine was exploded under a German salient near Point I4 on 3 June and although the crater was rushed by British troops it was retaken by the enemy (see map on page 164).

  A few days later twenty men of A Coy, the Royal Scots, together with fifteen bombers under Lt J. Martin, made an unsuccessful attempt to retake the now-fortified mine crater. At 21.00 hours on 10 June a similar attempt was made during which the Germans fired a mine and reduced the embankment to ground level on one edge. This explosion forced the bombing party to retreat to the British trenches where Lt Martin was later reported missing. (The embankment and the gap created is clearly visible to this day). Early in the morning his body was seen lying on loose earth close to the German parapet some 50 yards away. Initially he was thought to be dead but some time later movement was detected in one of his limbs through binoculars.

  Martin had been blown several feet into the air by the mine explosion and his left arm was trapped by debris from which he slowly managed to free himself by strenuous efforts before attempting to crawl towards his own line. He was seen by the Germans who fired at him and he was soon hit twice, in his right arm and side, after which Martin stopped moving and the enemy stopped firing. Martin later crawled nearer to the German parapet where he was less likely to be seen. Meanwhile various rescue methods were discussed until a decision was made for one man, with a length of rope attached to him, to attempt the crossing to the enemy parapet.

  L/Cpl Angus, whose post was some 400 yards away, had come to the point opposite where the injured man lay, and immediately volunteered for the task. With a rope fastened around him Angus slowly crawled towards Lt Martin, clearing a path through the shell-torn ground as he did so, and eventually reached the wounded officer. He produced a flask of brandy to revive Martin and it was then they were seen by the Germans, who threw a bomb, badly injuring Angus in the left eye. Nevertheless Angus tied the rope around Martin’s waist, and helped him to his feet and the two men began the return journey, now under covering rifle fire from their own men. Several bombs were thrown by the Germans and although they wounded Angus they also created lots of smoke and dust which in turn gave some cover. Martin collapsed in a shell hole about 20 yards from the British line but managed to crawl the remaining distance. Angus took longer to reach the line as he went a different way to create a diversion so that Martin could crawl on unmolested; Angus was again hit by bomb fragments.

  Major Sneyd MC, 8th Siege Bty, RGA,
witnessed the rescue and in a letter to his sister in July, wrote, ‘ … one of the finest VC efforts I have ever heard of for it all had to be done in cold blood’. The official account of the rescue and the medal recommendation were sent in by Lt-Col. Gemmill, CO of the battalion. Doctors discovered no fewer than forty shrapnel and bullet wounds when Angus was later examined, and he lost the sight of his left eye.

  The citation for the VC was published on 29 June 1915 in the London Gazette and Angus was decorated by the King at Buckingham Palace on 30 August 1915.

  William Angus was born at Arndale, Linlithgow, Scotland, on 28 February 1888 and when he was very young his family moved to Carluke, Lanarkshire, where his father worked as a miner. On leaving the Roman Catholic School in Carluke at the age of 14, Angus also worked in a coal mine but his passion was for football and he signed as a professional with Glasgow Celtic. He had previously played for Carluke Milton Rovers as a forward, and after leaving Celtic joined Wisham Athletic as captain.

  At a large recruiting meeting held at Carluke in late August 1914, Angus was one of the 29 volunteers; also included was James Martin, who was to become a lieutenant. Following training at Dunoon, Angus and Martin both volunteered to join a draft of 180 men of the 8th HLI to be despatched to France and posted to 1/8th Royal Scots. He was promoted to lance-corporal at about this time.

  After his heroic feat at Givenchy Angus went first to a hospital in Boulogne, and was later moved to the Military Hospital at Chatham, Kent, where he saw again Lt Martin, who was also recuperating from his injuries.

  At Buckingham Palace for his investiture, Angus was dressed in the blue uniform of a wounded soldier and needed the support of two sticks to walk. On hearing that Angus’ father was outside the Palace gates the King insisted he was brought in and congratulated him on having such a brave son.

  Angus, the first Scottish Territorial to win the VC, returned to Carluke from Chatham Hospital, where he received a tremendous reception. He was met at the railway station by his five younger sisters and brother. At a public reception Lord Newlands presented him with a clock and a public gift of £1,000 in War Stock, which included £100 from Glasgow Celtic. This money had been raised with the active support of a local newspaper. Lt Martin was also at the reception and presented Angus with a gold watch and chain.

  Angus was invalided out of the Army later in the year with the rank of acting sergeant. He married Mary Nugent at Carluke Roman Catholic Church in January 1917 and was photographed outside the church with his new wife together with Lt Martin. Angus went to London in 1920 and was present at the garden party for VC winners in June and at the Cenotaph on 11 November.

  He emigrated to Australia in November 1927, leaving his wife and five children in Carluke until he was settled, but returned to Scotland in 1928. A year later, in a newspaper interview, James Martin described his rescue, interest in the event having been rekindled by a letter to the Daily Sketch in which one Mr Wakefield of Mansfield wrote about a broken cross in his possession. This cross bore details of Lt Martin and had been made early on 12 June 1915, when his body was first seen, the intention being to recover the body after dark. Martin considered this to be a rather peculiar distinction. But he never forgot his saviour, and every year since 1915 on the anniversary of his rescue, Martin sent a telegram to Angus, always with the same words, ‘Congratulations on the 12th’; after Martin’s death in 1956, the practice was continued by his brother.

  Angus worked as master of works at the Racecourse Betting Control Board and was also a JP. In September 1957 large crowds watched a parade of 500 ex-members of the HLI protesting against the amalgamation of the HLI with the Royal Scots. Two First World War VC holders led the parade, William Angus, and David Hunter of Dunfermline.

  William Angus died in Law Hospital, Carluke, on 14 June 1959, almost 44 years to the day since winning his VC. The funeral service was held on 17 June at St Athenasia Roman Catholic Church, Carluke, and was conducted by Bishop Scanlon. Many people attended the service and lined the route to Wilton Cemetery as the cortege, accompanied by pipers from the HLI, passed through the town. His headstone displays a replica of the Victoria Cross. Angus was survived by his wife, three sons and a daughter. A road in Carluke is named in his honour.

  Two other men from Carluke won the VC: Thomas Caldwell and Donald Cameron. The latter was awarded the VC for piloting a midget submarine in the Second World War. His Victoria Cross is displayed in the Scottish War Museum in Edinburgh Castle, where the display tells the story of the two men from Carluke. The medals of Lt Martin are displayed alongside William Angus’s VC.

  F.W. CAMPBELL

  Givenchy, France, 15 June

  The fifth and last member of the Canadian Expeditionary Force to be awarded the VC in 1915 was also the oldest; Capt. Frederick Campbell won the medal on his 48th birthday. At the end of May, a provisional date of 11 June was fixed for simultaneous attacks north and south of the La Bassée Canal, with the objective of capturing La Bassée itself; this date allowed for sufficient artillery ammunition to be obtained, but even so insufficient artillery shells reduced the attack to a narrow frontage directed towards Violaines, north-east of Givenchy.

  The southern sector of the attack was allotted to 1st Can. Bn (Western Ontario Regt), 1st CIB, with battalions from the British 21st Bde, 7 Div., on its left. The Canadians’ direction of attack was against the German line at H2 to H3 (see map), held by 13th Regt. The date of the attack was postponed a number of times, but was finally fixed at 18.00 hours on 15 June.

  Near Givenchy, June 1915

  To conserve shells the supporting 60 hour artillery bombardment was slow for the first 48 hours but early on 15 June it increased and 30 minutes before the assault began it became intense. In addition, two 18-pounder guns were moved into the front line at the Duck’s Bill, a semi-circular embankment projecting forward opposite H2; a third gun was positioned behind a ruined farmhouse 300 yards from H3. The two guns opposite H2 opened fire at 17.45 hours and destroyed three machine-guns and part of the enemy embankment before they were put out of action by concentrated German artillery fire. The third gun did not fire as the officer in command was afraid of hitting Canadian infantry assembled in trenches in front of him; consequently the enemy redoubts at H3, containing several machine-guns, were only slightly damaged. At 17.59 hours a mine which had been laid by men of 176th Tunnelling Coy RE, was exploded in front of the enemy strongpoint at H2; it was intended to explode under the German strongpoint but the engineers had struck water in the gallery just short of their objective and the charge was therefore increased to 3,000 lbs of ammonal in the hope that it would totally destroy the strongpoint. When it was exploded the resulting crater was over 40 yards wide; the German line was little damaged but many men in the Canadian front line were killed or injured. In addition, both stores of bombs in the 1st Bn’s line were either destroyed or buried.

  The 1st Bn attacked at 18.01 hours and within nine minutes the leading two companies were in the German second line, and the third company, No. 2, was in the front line. Capt. Campbell, the battalion machine-gun officer, crossed no-man’s-land with No. 2 Coy and took two Colt machine-guns and their crews with him to the German front line.

  Although the battalion captured the front line trenches between points H2 and H3, lack of bombs meant that the strongpoint at H3 could not be taken; consequently, by 20.00 hours, machine-guns firing from H3 and I4 (450 yards north) controlled no-man’s-land for a mile north from the Duck’s Bill.

  A German counter-attack forced many of the battalion’s men back towards the mine crater and at this point Campbell took one of his guns forward to meet the attack. Only one man, Pte Howard Vincent, a lumberjack from Bracebridge, Ontario, remained from Campbell’s original detachment, and he went forward with his captain. The tripod of the machine-gun was damaged by shell-fire so Campbell used Vincent’s back as a support while he fired over 1,000 rounds, all the ammunition he had. He then ordered Vincent to retire, and although badly burne
d by the hot barrel of the gun, the private dragged it back to the Canadian line. Campbell was hit in the right thigh by a bullet and had started to crawl back when he was picked up by CSM C. Owen, in command of No. 1 Coy, who carried him back for treatment. Campbell was passed down the medical chain of command and reached No. 7 Stationary Hospital at Boulogne on 17 June. At noon on 19 June he became unconscious and died three hours later. In a letter to Mrs Campbell the doctor explained that the wound was septic, ‘as all these cases are’. Campbell was buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery Plot II, Row A, Grave 24.

  His commanding officer, Lt-Col. F.W. Hill, also wrote to Campbell’s wife and told her how much he would be missed. He continued, ‘I had twice before recommended him for promotion and honours, and have again done so. This time I feel his name will be found in the list.’ This was the case as the London Gazette of 23 August 1915 published the VC citation. The medal was sent by the War Office to Canada on 28 August 1915 and subsequently given to Mrs Campbell.

  Frederick William Campbell was born at Mount Forest, Oxford County, Ontario, Canada, on 15 June 1867 and later that year moved with his parents, Ephraim B. and Esther A. Campbell to a farm near Gleneden, Grey County. Educated at Mount Forest School, Campbell joined the local militia, the 30th Bn Wellington Rifles, in 1885 when he was 18.