In the last days of the Battle of Festubert, on May 24th and 25th 1915, the 47th Division (2nd London Territorial) succeeded in capturing some of the enemys trenches.  At Givenchy on the latter day, Lieutenant Denys Max Thomson Morland, of the 3rd London Field Company Royal Engineers Territorial Force, accompanied a London battalion in an assault on the German trenches.  On finding his way into a mine, he explored it alone, and made prisoners of eighteen Germans who were hiding in it.  He displayed great energy and bravery throughout the night and was rewarded with the M.C.

First World War antique black and white book plate published c.1916-18 of glorious acts of heroism during the Great War. This plate may also have text on the reverse side which does not affect the framed side.

Order Code DTE227.

Title and text describing the event beneath image as shown. Paper size 10.5" x 8.5" (27cm x 22cm)

  In the assault on September 25th 1915, of the salient of Sanctuary Wood, near Hooge, Acting Lance Corporal Barker, 1st Cheshire Field Company Royal Engineers (T.F.) was separated from his party.  He however, at once assisted and superintended a party of the Royal Scots Fusiliers to dig himself in, and, afterwards on his own initiative, collected a party of infantry.  With them he opened up under heavy shell and machine gun fire a communication trench from the British line to the captured position.  He was the last man to leave the work when it became impossible to continue.  For his conspicuous gallantry and initiative, Lance-Corporal Barker was awarded the D.C.M. 

First World War antique black and white book plate published c.1916-18 of glorious acts of heroism during the Great War. This plate may also have text on the reverse side which does not affect the framed side.

Order Code DTE247.

Title and text describing the event beneath image as shown. Paper size 10.5" x 8.5" (27cm x 22cm)

The extremely dangerous and difficult nature of the airman’s calling is vividly brought to mind by this picture.  If in flying over the enemy’s lines he is not attacked by hostile airmen, his aeroplane is certain to become a mark for anti-aircraft guns.  The observation made by Lieutenant Donald Swain Lewis, of the Royal Engineers and Royal Flying Corps have been of the greatest value to the gunners of the Royal Artillery.  His directions, whilst flying, have frequently led to direct hits on the enemy’s guns.  For most valuable services in difficult and trying conditions he has been deservedly rewarded with the D.S.O.

First World War antique black and white book plate published c.1916-18 of glorious acts of heroism during the Great War. This plate may also have text on the reverse side which does not affect the framed side.

Order Code DTE217.

Title and text describing the event beneath image as shown. Paper size 10.5" x 8.5" (27cm x 22cm)

 How Lieutenant Cyril Gordon Martin, D.S.O., Held The Enemy Back For Two And A Half Hours And Won The V.C.

How Sapper Harry Epstein, of the Royal Engineers, Won The D.C.M. At Hill 60

 Saturday May 8^th 1915, was an eventful day for our army in Flanders, for early that morning the Germans began an attack in overwhelming force upon the 28^th Division, which resulted in the whole of the British centre, after an heroic resistance and terrible losses, being driven in, and our line forced back west of the vitally important Frezenberg Ridge, which covered all the roads from Ypres by which our supplies and reinforcements travelled.  It was likewise an eventful day for sapper Harry Epstein of the royal Engineers; indeed, it may be doubted whether, during the present war, any British soldier has undergone a more nerve shattering experience, or escaped death, in various forms, in more miraculous a fashion, than did Sapper Epstein in the course of some twenty minutes of that May morning. It all happened in a trench at the foot of Hill 60, at the southwest extremity of the Ypres salient.  Hill 60 is only a Hill by courtesy, being no more than an earth heap from the cutting of the Ypres-Lille railway.  But it was a very important place, since it afforded an artillery position from which a considerable part of the German front could be commanded.  On the evening of April 17^th, it was captured by the British and gallantly held against a series of the most desperate counter attacks, which were accompanied by so terrific a bombardment that for four and a half days the defenders lived through a veritable hell.  But what shell and rifle and machine gun fire had failed to accomplish, poison gas did, and on May 5^th the enemy recaptured the greater part of the hill.  And thus it was that a couple of days later Germans and British found themselves occupying parts of the same trench, both having erected barricades at their respective ends, to guard against any unwelcome attentions on the part of their neighbours.

            In the course of that afternoon, while Epstein and some of his comrades of the 5^th Company Royal Engineers were resting previous to their night work, orders suddenly came for a non-commissioned officer and six sappers to proceed to the Brigade headquarters and make preparations for the blowing up of some German barricades, and Epstein was selected as one of the party. On arriving there they prepared two charges of gun cotton, one weighing forty pounds and the other a trifle less, and placed the slabs of the explosive in wooden boxes which Epstein constructed, with holes bored through them to let in the primers and detonators.  One of these charges was to be laid against the German barricade, the other against the British; the former was to be blown up first, and the moment this had been done, the British barricade would also be blown up, and our men, headed by a grenade party, would burst in upon the astonished Huns, while another party of the British simultaneously attacked from the other side of the trench, and so cut the enemy off.  Their preparations competed, they started off for the trench, carrying the charges, electrical leads, detonators and all the rest of the paraphernalia connected with a demolition party, and reached it in safety, passing on their way through a lane of dead, who lay everywhere along it and the railway cutting.  The corporal in charge of the Engineers and Epstein then proceeded to lay the first charge against our own barrier, a task of no small danger, since the Germans were throwing bombs all the time.   It was now about half past two in the morning, and the time fixed for the attack was approaching.  The officer in command called for two volunteers to carry and lay the second against the enemy’s barricade, and, if successful in this undertaking-and it was a very big “if” indeed-to set the fuse.  Epstein was the first to volunteer, another sapper named Warrel immediately following his example; and it was then arranged that, if they failed, two more of the Engineers should make the attempt, and in the event of a second failure, the remaining two; but that, if they were successful, they should get back as quickly as possible past our own barricade, which would then be immediately blown up. In order that the reader may appreciate the perilous nature of the duty required of these two brave men, we may here observe that they had no means of knowing what dangers they might not have to encounter between the two barricades, except that the enemy’s bombs were continually falling there; nor did they known definitely how far it was to the German barrier.  They calculated, however, that it was about ten yards, and had prepared the charge accordingly with two detonators, in each of which was a safely fuse which would take roughly thirty seconds to bur through.  Within that time they would of course have to get back behind their own barrier, or they might be blown to bits.

             Epstein having handed his watch and chain, diary, and other belongings to one of his friends, with instructions to whom they were to be sent in case he never returned to claim them, he and his comrade started for the unknown, the last words of the officer in command being “Goodbye and good luck to you!” Epstein climbed over the British barricade and lowered himself gently down; the other sapper followed, and side-by-side they began to crawl along, carrying the charge between them.  Both knew that it was touch and go with them, but both were perfectly cool and collected. Every foot of the way had to be covered as noiselessly as possible, for the Germans were certain to be on the alert, and they well knew that their lives depended on their preventing any intimation of their approach reaching the enemy’s ears. Gradually they drew nearer the barrier, and were just congratulating themselves on having reached it in safety, when, to their astonishment, they found that it was not a barrier at all but merely a huge traverse! The two men looked at each other, but neither spoke, for each read the unshakable determination in the other’s eyes.  Then they began to crawl around the traverse, Epstein leading the way, for these was room for only one to pass at a time.  Their situation was now more perilous than ever, for they knew not who might be lurking, and they had nothing with which to defend themselves.  Slowly and fearfully they rounded it, and perceived, some ten yards ahead, a second traverse, but no sign of a barrier.  Undismayed, the brave fellows kept on and had just reached the second traverse, when, with a tremendous explosion, two German bombs dropped immediately behind them, smothering them with earth, but happily doing them no harm.

            By this time they had crawled twice the distance they had counted upon, and still there was no barrier; but they had passed their word “to do or die” and neither of them thought for a moment of turning back.  And now, as Epstein peeped cautiously round the second traverse, he caught sight of the barrier ten yards further on.  But he saw something else too-something, which made his heart, brave though he was, well nigh stand still.  For in the barrier were two loop holes, one some two and a half feet above the ground, the other about as high again, to allow of a man firing through them either kneeling or standing.  And from these loopholes the Germans had a view straight up to the traverse, the trench itself being perfectly straight and only just wide enough for Epstein to crawl along the bottom. However, for the two Engineers to remain where they were would be fatal, as the enemy bombs were falling still, and if one of them hit the charge they would be blown to the skies.  And so, with a glance at each other, they crawled on and had got about halfway to the barrier, when a great uproar told them that the attack had begun. This they calculated would be certain to divert the attention of the Germans momentarily at least-from the loop-holes and resolved to make the most of their chance, they crawled forward as fast as they could, laid the charge against the barrier, and were just on the point of setting the fuse, when there came a defining roar and they found themselves once more smothered with earth.  The British had blown up their barricade!  What had happened was this: The officer in command of our men mistaking, as they all had, the first traverse, ten yards away, for the German barricade, and seeing the two bombs fall in the trench, naturally gave Epstein and his companion up for lost, and when the attack began he concluded that there was nothing to be done but to blow up his own barrier and let the grenade party through.

             Had the German barricade really stood where our men supposed it to be, there would have been no hope for the two adventurous sappers, for the explosion of forty pounds of gun cotton would kill every living thing within a radius of ten yards; but someone’s prayers must have been answered that night, for, as events turned out, they were not ten but thirty yards away, and only got covered with earth. Recovering from his astonishment, Epstein was once more on the point of setting the fuse, when round the corner of the second traverse came the officer at the head of the grenade party his eyes alight with the joy of battle and shouting at the top of his voice for more grenades.  Of course, the Germans at once hurried to the loopholes in their barrier, and just as Epstein had managed to crawl back a couple of feet, he saw, to his horror, the muzzle of a rifle poked through the upper one.  What he suffered in the next few moments may be imagined.  He did not dare to rise, for if he had, he would have placed himself on the same level as the rifle, but out the corner of his eye, he saw the barrel being gradually depressed until it was pointed straight at his head.  A kind of stupor appeared to come over him, and he lay there with closed eyes almost waiting for the bullet, it seemed impossible that the German could miss.  And then Bang!  And he was nearly blinded with earth; the bullet had passed an inch in front of his head and buried itself in the ground.  At once Epstein seemed to be galvanized into action, for without giving the German time to take aim again he sprang to his feet, and in two bounds had reached the traverse, just as several bullets flattened themselves against the sandbags. Scarcely had he reached it, however, that he felt on the point of collapsing, and it was only with difficulty that he succeeded in making his way back to his comrades, amid the din of a furious conflict, artillery, machine guns, rifles, bombs, grenades, the shouting of the officer and the cries of the wounded-all blending together in one huge volume of sound. Sapper, now Lance Corporal, Epstein, who thus came safely through one of the most terrible ordeals which can ever have confronted a British soldier, and was subsequently awarded a richly deserved Distinguished Conduct Medal, is twenty-three years of age and a Lancashire man, his home being at 56, Cheetham Street, Cheetham, Manchester.  Extracted from 'Deeds That thrill The Empire'    

How Acting Corporal John Henry Drew Williams, Of The Royal Engineers,Won The D.C.M. Near Wytschaete

     From the first battle of Ypres to that of Neuve Chappelle, the history of the War on the Western Front is a chronicle of small events-a trench of two won here, a farm house there, a wood in a third place.  Yet these local actions exercised, from the British point of view, a very real influence on the campaign.  Moreover, they were frequently characterized by fierce and obstinate fighting, and furnished not a few opportunities for individual distinction.  The British attack on the Petit Bois, a wood a little to the east of Wytschaete, on the night of December 12^th 1914, on which occasion an intrepid Royal Engineer Acting-Corporal John Henry Drew Williams, won the Distinguished Conduct Medal, is a case in point.  The fact that the Germans had been persistently annoying us from this wood made its capture imperative.  The ground about here rose gradually from west to east, where the village of Wytschaete stands, and the enemy commanded our position from the ridge which runs north and south from the top of the wood on the right and slightly southwest from here to Messines.  The Lincolns, who were holding the trenches opposite the wood, were ordered to carry out the attack, supported by the Liverpool Scottish, a Territorial Battalion, and William’s company of the royal Engineers were to be in readiness to transfer the parapets of any trenches captured and run up wire entanglements.

             About seven o’clock in the evening, William’s section officer called for four volunteers to go out and cut the enemy’s barbed wire.  Williams and three sappers at once volunteered, and were told to report themselves to the colonel of the Lincolns at the Advanced Headquarters.  Here Williams received his instructions, and twelve men and a sergeant were detailed to assist him.  He gave each of them a pair of wire cutters, and they made their way to our first line trenches, where they left their equipment behind the parapet, so as not to impede their movements.  Williams then divided his party into two sappers, the sergeant and six of the Lincolns being sent to the left, while he himself, with the remaining sapper and the other six Lincolns, went to the right, that being the longest way, namely, about 120 yards as against sixty.  They did not make a very auspicious start, as they were “spotted” getting over the parapet, and a machine gun and several snipers opened fire upon them.  However, none of them was hit, though William’s had his mouth and eyes filled with dirt thrown up by the rain of bullets, and they crawled on, making for the left hand corner of the wood.  They passed a machine gun, which was in a hedge about sixty yards out, and also a sniper in a trench, which ran along the inside of a hedge, reached the enemy’s barbed wire, which was of the knife rest pattern, and cut the entanglements apart, placing them round the front of some old shell holes.  Then leaving the only two men who had kept up with him to look for anything they could find in the corner against the wood, Williams went off alone to the right, making here and there gaps in the wire, and found a sap head about four yards along running out from the wood, and a sniper in it potting away at our lines.  He crawled past him without attracting his attention, and about twenty yards further on came upon another sap.  While investigating it, the base of a three-inch shell was suddenly thrown at him, which he picked up and put in his pocket, and on looking in the direction from which it had apparently come, he received a clod of earth in the face.  He pushed himself backwards with his hands for about a dozen yards, still watching the sap and wondering why the Germans did not shoot; but after lying still for a while, he concluded that they must have taken him for an animal of some kind and started off again towards the right. This time he had better luck and found a trench running out at right angles from the wood.  Crawling along it, he came into the enemy’s main front trench, which was in a terrible state, being half full of water.  On his right en were baling out the water and using very bad language, and he remarked that many of the swear words they employed were English.  Crawling out of the trench, he made his way into the wood, where he cut several telephone wires which he ran into, and found that, though the enemy had dug outs and communication trenches in the wood, there were no entanglements.  Fearing that he might lose his way if he went any further, he returned to the spot where he had left his two men, and they went back to our lines and made their report to Captain Tachell, of the Lincolns, who complimented Williams very warmly.      They party which had been sent out to the left had returned some time before, but their report was not very clear, so the officer asked Williams if he would take his own men out and investigate for himself.  On their way they came across a dead pig, which had got itself entangled in our wire about twenty yards out, and, farther on, the bodies of several dead Frenchmen, which had lain there since the fighting in the early part of September.  Reaching the hedge, which was about sixty yards from our lines, Williams found that the enemy had made a trench on the inside and had a covered machine gun emplacement in the right hand corner (it was this machine gun which did so much damage when the attack began), but no other obstacle in our way.  He again made his report, and then went out and cut gaps in our own wire, so as to enable our men to deploy from several different places.

             Meantime, orders had been given to the Lincolns to get out of their trenches and lie down in front of the wire.  But the noise they made in doing so attracted the attention of the enemy, and this started a premature attack, in which Williams found himself mixed up, with only a pair of wire clippers in his hand. The attack on the right was successfully pressed home, but the left fared badly, being held up by the machine gun in the hedge, which caused a great number of casualties.  A sergeant at William’s side fell, hit in the ribs, and the engineer carried him to a shell hole just in front of our barbed wire, to which place of refuge he presently returned with a private, who had been wounded in the ankle, and left him there to keep the sergeant company, promising to send a stretcher party for them.  Then having made his way to the right and informed the officer commanding there that the left was unable to advance any further, he went back to our lines, got a stretcher party and led them to the spot where he had left the two wounded men.  They were conveyed to a cottage about 250 yards behind our lines, which was being used as a temporary hospital.  There were several staff officers there, who all shook hands with Williams and complimented him on the courage and ability he had shown that night, and his name and number were taken and sent to General Headquarters. Williams, who went out with the Expeditionary Force in August and had been in the thick of the fighting ever since, was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, promoted sergeant, and placed in charge of several bridges on the Yser Canal, which were frequently shelled by the enemy and in need of repair.  The three sappers who accompanied him on that eventful night were awarded the Russian Cross of St. George (Third Class).  Williams, who is thirty-four years of age, is a Kentish man, his home being at Tonbridge.  Extracted from 'Deeds That thrill The Empire'       

How Captain William Henry Johnstone, Of The Royal Engineers, Won The V.C. At Missy

  The crossing of the Aisne began on September 13^th 1914, along a section of the river, which lay between Soissons on the west and Villers on the east.  Along this part of the river there are eleven road bridges, but the Germans had destroyed those at Venizel, Missy and Vailly.  The Aisne valley, which runs east and west, is flat bottomed, and varies from a mile to two miles wide.  The river is about one and seventy feet wide, but, being deep in the middle, it is impossible to ford it.  The slopes, which rise up to a height of four hundred feet on either side of the valley, are covered with patches of wood and are broken up by numerous spurs.  The position held by the enemy was a very strong one, being a plateau on the heights to the north of the river, and from it all the bridges could be brought under either the direct fire of field guns or else the high angle fire of heavy howitzers.  The order having been given to advance and cross the Aisne, the 1^st Corps and the cavalry advanced on the river.  The 1^st Division was directed to take its stand about Chanouille, and pushed forward by way of the canal bridge at Bourg, while the 2^nd Division, destined for Courtecon and Presles, advanced by way of Pont Arey, and for the canal to the north of Braye, by way of Chavonne.  The cavalry and 1^st Division met with but slight opposition on the right, and by means of the canal, which crosses the river by an aqueduct, found a passage.  The Division was thus able to push on, with the Cavalry Division on its outer flank, and drive the enemy before it. The leading troops of the 2^nd Division reached the river on the left by nine o’clock.  By means of a broken girder of the bridge, which was not completely submerged in the river, the 5^th Infantry Brigade crossed under fire from the enemy’s guns on the heights.  The crossing having been accomplished, a pontoon bridge was at once begun, and was completed by five o’clock in the afternoon.  Out of the extreme left the 4^th Guards Brigade met with most determined opposition at Chavonne, and it was not till late in the afternoon that a foothold was gained on the northern bank of the river by ferrying a battalion across in boats.  At night almost the entire Division bivouacked on the southern bank of the river, and only the 5^th Brigade was left on the north bank for the purpose of establishing a bridgehead. 

            Almost all the bridges which lay in the path of the advance of the 2^nd Corps were found to have been destroyed, except that at Conde, which the enemy held in their possession until the end of the battle.  The 5^th Division eventually crossed the river at Missy.  From the river, however, the ground stretches back flat and exposed for three quarters of a mile, and the 13^th Brigade was unable to advance, as the enemy opened a heavy fire from the opposite bank.  The 14^th brigade, however, was directed to the east of Venizel, and was rafted across at a less exposed point.  The 15^th Brigade followed, and, later, both the 14^th and 15^th Brigades assisted the 4^th Division on their left to repel a heavy counter attack delivered against the 3^rd Corps.  On the morning of the 13^th the enemy was found to be in possession of the Vregny plateau.   The Engineers then undertook the repair of the road bridge at Venizel, and the work was completed during the morning.  The bridge, however, had been damaged to such an extent that it was left to the men to drag the gun across.  In the meantime a pontoon bridge was begun to close to the road bridge, and this was completed at 5.30 p.m.  The 12^th Infantry Brigade had crossed at Venizel, and by one o’clock in the afternoon was assembled at Bucy Le Long.  At 2 p.m. they began an attack in the direction of Chivres and Vregny, in the hope of gaining the high ground east of Chivres, and thus continuing the advance further northwards.  Good progress was made until 5.30 p.m., but the enemy’s artillery and machine gun fire then became so heavy that further progress could not be made. While the 10^th Infantry Brigade crossed the river and moved to Bucy Le Long, the 19^th Brigade moved to Billy-sur-Aisne.  Before dark all the artillery of the Division had been got across the river, except for the heavy battery and one brigade of Field Artillery.  During the night the 5^th Division took over the positions, to the east of the stream running though Chivres, which had been gained by the 12^th Infantry Brigade.  With the fall of evening the enemy had retired at every point, and entrenched on the high ground about two miles to the north of the river.  But detachments of infantry were strongly entrenched in commanding places all down the slopes of the various spurs with powerful artillery to support them. All through the night of the 13^th and on the 14^th and following days the Field Companies were incessantly at work.  Eight pontoon bridges and one-foot bridge were thrown over the river under very heavy artillery fire, and this was kept up continuously on to most of the crossings when completed.  The three road bridges at Venizel, missy and Vailly, and a railway bridge east of Vailly, were repaired for foot traffic.  The work done by the Royal Engineers was highly satisfactory, in repairs and reconstruction and in other ways.  All through the 14^th, until 7 p.m., Captain William Henry Johnstone worked with his own hands two rafts.  He returned with the wounded from one side, to take back later supplies of ammunition.  By this work, which was carried out under heavy fire, an advanced Brigade was enabled to maintain its position across the river.  For his most gallant work Captain Johnstone was awarded the V.C.  Extracted from 'Deeds That thrill The Empire'        

WILBRAHAM OATES LENNOX  (Lieutenant, afterwards Lieut. –General, K.C.B.)  Royal Engineers            On November 20^th 1854, during the siege of Sebastopol, it became necessary to establish a lodgement in some dangerous rifle pits, overhanging the Woronzoff Road.  Lieutenant Lennox was conspicuous, among many others, by his “cool and gallant conduct” in repelling the numerous and persistent assaults of the enemy.  This brilliant operation drew forth the compliment of a special order from Marechal Canrobert, of the French Army, at whose request the Rifle Brigade was selected to make the capture.  Sir Wilbraham Lennox, son of the late Colonel Lord J. G. Lennox, was born in 1830, and served through the Indian Mutiny; with the German Army in the Franco-Prussian War, 1870; and with the Turkish Army during the Russo-Turkish War 1877.  Brigadier-General in Egypt 1884-7, and in command of the Forces at Ceylon 1887-8, Director-General of Military Education 1893-4.

WILLIAM JAMES LENDRIM  (Corporal, afterwards Quartermaster-Sergeant)  Royal Engineers   He was practically prominent in setting a fine example of courage to a party of one hundred and fifty French Chasseurs, whom he was superintending, on February 14^th 1855, during the building of No. 9 Battery, Left Attack and replacing all the capsized gabions under heavy fire.  (Awarded French War Medal.)  On April 20^th he was one of the four volunteers to destroy the farthest Russian rifle pit.  He died in October 1892 at Camberley, where he had long held the post of Quartermaster-Sergeant to the Staff College.

HENRY McDONALD  (Colour-Sergeant, afterwards Captain)  Royal Engineers            Decorated for conspicuous bravery on April 19^th 1855, when engaged in effecting a lodgement in the enemy’s rifle pits, in front of the left advance of the right attack on Sebastopol.  Later on in the day, the Engineer officers being wounded and the command developing on him, he persisted on the Sap, in spite of the repeated attacks of the enemy.  He died in Glasgow on February 15^th 1893, aged 70

HOWARD CRAUFURD ELPHINSTONE  (Lieutenant, afterwards Major General, K.C.B.)  Royal Engineers Knight of the Legion of Honour            During the night of June 18^th 1855, after an unsuccessful attack on the Redan, this brave officer collected together a party of volunteers of all corps and proceeded to bring back from under the enemy’s guns on the ramparts the scaling-ladders left behind during the assault, thereby saving them from falling into the hands of the Russians.  No sooner had he finished his task than he again set forth, leading the same gallant men, to search for the wounded who were lying close up to the Redan, and whose cries for water could be heard in the distance from time to time.  In this he was most successful, carrying in no less than twenty men himself.  It is said to relate that Sir Howard Elphinstone was, on March 8^th 1890, washed overboard and drowned when on a voyage to Madeira on R.M.S. Tongariro.  Son of Captain Alexander Elphinstone, R.N., he was born at Riga, Northern Russia, on December 12^th 1829.  Educated abroad and at Woolwich, passing into the Royal Engineers in December 1847; became Captain 1856; Colonel 1864; Major General 1887; A.D.C. to H.M. Queen Victoria 1877-87.  Commanded the Devonport district from 1889 until his death.

GERALD GRAHAM  (Lieutenant, afterwards Lieut. –General, G.C.B., G.C.M.G.)  Royal Engineers Knight of the Legion of Honour            Sir Gerald’s first recorded conspicuous act of bravery happened on June18th 1855.  The Redan-in compliment to our brave allies, and in order to obliterate the memories of another June 18^th, just forty years before-was to be attacked, with what result is well known.  Lieutenant Graham-he was then only twenty-four- led a ladder party right up to the cannon’s mouth.  Our columns were repulsed, and obliged tom retire, and it was then that Lieutenant Graham sallied forth, and with great dash rescued from death and misery many wounded officers and men.  Sir Gerald Graham’s later campaigns have been those of China 1860; (Medjidie) Egypt 1882; Eastern Soudan 1884; and Suakin 1885.  Retired 1890. Son of R.H. Graham, M.D., of Eden Brows, in Cumberland, he was born on June 27^th 1831,and died in his seventy-ninth year at Bideford, Devon, on December 17^th 1899.

PETER LEITCH  (Colour Sergeant)  Royal Engineers

JOHN PERIE  (Sapper)  Royal Engineers            Decorated for bravery in leading the sailors with the ladders at the storming of the Redan on June 8^th 1855, the Gazette stating that his services on that occasion were “invaluable.”  He afterwards rescued a soldier who had been shot and was lying in the open, although having he been wounded by a bullet in the side just previously.

During the operations south of Pilkem, between the 6^th & 8^th July 1915, Lieutenant Robert Leigh Withington, of the 9^th Field Company Royal Engineers, assisted in conveying an 18-pounder gun across the Yser Canal, and in getting it into position in a gun pit prepared by him in the fire trenches.  The enemy’s sap was then blown in from a distance of less than sixty yards, and under heavy fire at close range Lieutenant Withington superintended the joining up of the British sap with that of the enemy.  His conspicuous gallantry and ability were rewarded with the M.C. 

First World War antique black and white book plate published c.1916-18 of glorious acts of heroism during the Great War. This plate may also have text on the reverse side which does not affect the framed side.

Order Code DTE225.

Title and text describing the event beneath image as shown. Paper size 10.5" x 8.5" (27cm x 22cm)