VCs of the First World War 1914

by Gerald Gliddon

  There was another similar incident shortly afterwards near the Troyon sugar factory. The Germans seemed to be waiting for the British to come up in order to receive their surrender but they then fired indiscriminately at their own troops and foe alike. The enemy tried ‘surrendering’ again three days later but this time a machine gun was trained on their positions.

  The Battle of Aisne was virtually over by the end of September when the French took over the rest of the line. This allowed the British to travel north to take part in the operations to save the town of Ypres from falling into German hands. The 2nd KRRC was at first heavily involved in operations around Kortekeer, near the town of Langemarck, to the north-east of Ypres.

  During the last few days of October the battalion was engaged in the fighting at Gheluvelt, a village which was the gateway to Ypres, a short distance down the Menin road. Later the unit was in action to the south-east of Ypres. On 12 November the enemy shelled the French troops out of the village of Zwarteleen, to the north-east of Klein Zillebeke, and two miles to the south-east of Ypres. The enemy, from the 39th and 30th Divisions, began to attack in large numbers.

  At Klein Zillebeke the Germans were faced by units of the 3rd Division; to the north were the 1st and 2nd Divisions and to the south-west the French Army. The 2nd KRRC was in the part of the line which bordered on the French positions and Lt. J. Dimmer was in charge of four machine guns set up in a rough emplacement. Early on, a German shell killed three of his men and also wounded him in the shoulder with two shrapnel bullets. Despite these wounds and other injuries Dimmer staggered to one of the machine guns and managed to fire off over nine hundred rounds before falling to the ground unconscious. His action had saved the day and the line from being broken. It gained him the last VC to be awarded for bravery in the First Battle of Ypres. When he came round he insisted on reporting to Earl Cavan, commander of the 4th Guards Brigade, to whom the 2nd KRRC had been attached before collapsing.

  He was sent to Bellevue Hospital, Wimereux, near Boulogne where he read of the news of his VC award in a newspaper, a week after it had been won. He was, apparently, a little surprised at the news according to his brother officers in hospital. He wrote to his mother telling her that his condition was much improved. He also told his mother about the incident as follows:

  At about one o’clock we were suddenly attacked by the Prussian Guards. They shelled us unmercifully, and poured in a perfect hail of bullets at a range of about 100 yards. I got my guns going, but they smashed one up almost immediately, and then turned all their attention on the gun I was with, and succeeded in smashing that, too, but before they completed the job I had been twice grounded, and was finally knocked out with the gun. My face is spattered with pieces of my gun and pieces of shell, and I have a bullet in my face and four small holes in my right shoulder. It made rather a nasty mess of me at first, but now that I am washed and my wounds dressed I look quite all right.

  Dimmer’s VC was gazetted on 19 November, a week after the deed. He went to Buckingham Palace on 13 January 1915 where he received the Military Cross with his VC. The MC was awarded for devotion to duty during the period 29 to 31 October and on many other occasions. In the same year he reviewed the OTC cadets at Harrow School.

  Dimmer was attached for a time to the 6th Battalion at Sheerness and was involved in duties such as inspecting the Southern Battalion of the Volunteer National Guards at Southend. He also addressed the boys of Harrow School OTC in February 1915, a visit that was filmed. He was then sent to join the 3rd Battalion in Salonika as Brigade Machine-Gun Officer to the 10th Division. He suffered from malaria but refused to return home. He joined the local Flying Corps and gained his Observer’s Certificate. He then became ill again and was sent home to England to recover his health. In February 1917 he re-joined the 2nd KRRC but contracted blood poisoning and once more had to enter hospital. He was then made commander of the 2/4th Royal Berkshire Regiment and took part in the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917.

  Dimmer was eventually killed during the beginning of the March Retreat on 21 March 1918 at Marteville, north-west of St Quentin. He was shot when leading his battalion on horseback. His horse survived and was taken over by a brother officer. Having been buried initially 700 yards south of Maissemy, his body was later re-buried in Vadencourt British Cemetery north-east of St Quentin, plot II, row B, grave 46.

  A brother officer wrote of Dimmer on his death: ‘The Colonel was like a father to us, we all had implicit faith in him, and loved him dearly. He was full of energy with a natural ability for military work …’

  John Henry Stephen Dimmer was one of four sons of John Dimmer, a railway worker. He was born at 37 Gloster Street in South Lambeth on 9 October 1883 and spent his boyhood in Wimbledon living at No. 55a Griffiths Road, now a block of flats. He attended the local elementary school in Melrose Road, Merton, Surrey. At the age of thirteen, with the help of a scholarship, he went to Rutlish Science School, also in Merton. Many years later a future British Prime Minister, John Major, was also to attend Rutlish School.

  When Dimmer left school at the age of fifteen he worked briefly in an engineer’s office but had a hankering for military life. He subsequently started up the Boys’ Brigade at the local Presbyterian Christchurch at Copse Hill. In 1900–1 he joined the 1st Cadet Battalion of the KRRC (Militia) and was made a sergeant when still only seventeen years old. On 3 July 1902 he joined a regular battalion of the KRRC in Cork and won prizes for drill and shooting and for other military work. He was made a lance-corporal. In the autumn of that year he joined the 4th Battalion in South Africa where he served until June 1904. He became a corporal following reconnaissance work in the Orange River Colony. Later he was promoted to lance-sergeant for scouting and signalling in the Mounted Infantry serving at one time on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. He was commended by Gen. Sir Ian Hamilton for military sketching and for some time he served as an instructor to non-commissioned officers (NCOs).

  In 1906, at his own expense, he visited Belgium and Germany to study their military systems. The following year he carried out some intelligence work and was thanked by the Army Council for this. He attended the School of Signalling and passed at the top of his course subsequently becoming a sergeant instructor. His duties and responsibilities at this time seemed to be those more associated with the rank of a commissioned officer. At the end of 1906 he attended an officer’s examination and passed with high marks. In March 1907 he obtained a first-class Army School certificate but it was not until January 1908 that he was finally recommended for a commission by Lord Methuen. He was discharged on 5 May on appointment to a commission in the 4th Royal Berkshire Regiment.

  During the next few years Dimmer did ‘special work’ in Africa, serving with black troops in the West African Regiment. He was promoted to lieutenant on 27 July 1911. He came home on leave in May 1914 and was called up over the August Bank Holiday, on the outbreak of the First World War and served in France from 13 August. He was promoted to captain on 30 April 1915, and he attended a medical board (he was suffering from mental strain) at Caxton Hall on 27 September 1915 and was passed fit for general service. In the same month a verbal charge was made against him by Brig. Gen. Colomb that he was addicted to drink, a charge which Dimmer denied. On 22 October 1917 he was promoted to temporary lieutenant colonel.

  Dimmer, like many other VC holders, became a temporary national celebrity. In January 1918 he had married the daughter of a carpet millionaire, a Gladys Dora May who came from Birmingham. After her husband’s death, she was remarried to an Irish Peer, Lord Garvagh, at St Matthew’s church, Bayswater, London on New Year’s Day 1919, just three months later.

  After the war the local council at Wimbledon discussed erecting a suitable memorial to Dimmer’s memory. His mother, however, was invited to lay one of the wreaths at the unveiling of the Wimbledon war memorial.

  Dimmer’s VC is in the possession of the Royal Green Jackets Museum at Winchester, Hampshire. At one time his family owned his
ceremonial sword presented to him by the King. He was mentioned twice in despatches.

  Dimmer had been offered the freedom of the borough of Wimbledon in April 1915 but declined the offer in the following letter written the following month and published in the Suffolk and Essex Free Press: ‘Whilst appreciating the great honour, I beg to decline the same. Too much publicity has been given my name already, and has caused me a great deal of worry and annoyance. To accept the freedom would only bring further publicity, and such is not in accordance with the traditions of the service.’ This shy hero was, however, commemorated on the KRRC memorial at Winchester Cathedral and in the Civic Offices of the London Borough of Morden in an office block called Crown House. Dimmer’s name is listed on the vandalised Kingston Vale Memorial, Putney Vale.

  J.F.P. BUTLER

  Cameroons, West Africa,

  17 November and 27 December

  In August 1914 Germany’s African Colonies consisted of German East Africa, German South-West Africa, the Cameroons and Togoland. It was the aim of the British and French Armies to drive the enemy out of these territories.

  Capt. J.F.P. Butler of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps was attached to Pioneer Company, Gold Coast Regiment, West African Forces, and on 17 November 1914 he won the Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravery in the Cameroons. He was with a party of thirteen men in thick bush when they attacked about a hundred of the enemy, including some Europeans. They defeated them and captured their machine gun and a great deal of ammunition as well. Nearly six weeks later, on 27 December, Capt. Butler was on patrol with a small group when he swam the River Ekam which was in enemy hands. He was alone and in the face of brisk fire he carried out his reconnaissance on the far bank and then swam back to safety.

  The following March he was made a captain before later returning to England. His VC was gazetted on the 23 August 1915 and he went to Buckingham Palace the next day in order to receive his decoration from the King.

  Capt. Butler was once more involved in fighting in the Cameroons in December 1915. He fought with the Gold Coast Regiment when they got behind the German lines and captured a village, together with a machine gun and the papers of the local German commander, and then established their base there. Two weeks later Dschang Mangas, between Wum Biagas and Jaunde, on the fringe of the Jaunde district, was taken by them. By this time most of the forestry region was behind them. Before them was a cultivated area which would be much easier to cope with. By 30 December they were entirely clear of the bush and a small party marched into Jaunde on New Year’s Day 1916.

  He was created a Companion of the DSO (LG5, June 1916), and on 6 July 1916 the Gold Coast Regiment left the West African capital of Accra and sailed to East Africa, landing at Kilindini on the 26th. They reached the firing line on 8 August; the enemy was then pushed back across the Central Railway. In German East Africa the first firm contact with the enemy occurred on 4 September near the main highway to the east of the Matombo mission station. This was south of the railway in the Uluguru Mountains which the Germans were preparing to strongly defend. The Allied positions were overlooked by the Kikirunga Hill which is about 3,000 feet high and covered with trees and undergrowth. It was a landmark which had to be captured. The action lasted two and a half days and ended with the capture of the hill. But the day was marred by the loss of Capt. Butler. The full details of the incident are recorded in the history of the Gold Coast Regiment by Sir Hugh Clifford:

  At 7 a.m., on the 4th September the Regiment moved out of camp, and about two hours later the enemy opened fire with a couple of howitzers upon the road a little ahead of the marching troops. No casualties were inflicted but the Regiment was halted, moved off the road and took up a sheltered position on the right side of it, in a gut between two hills.

  Capt. Butler was then sent forward with a Pioneer Company to reconnoitre the enemy positions and the small party climbed towards the head of the pass that led to the Uluguru Mountains, that had Kikirunga as its culminating point. The Pioneer Company reached a point where they could overlook the enemy positions but they must have been spotted as a German machine gun opened up from the right and another gun about 100 feet higher also opened up on the small party.

  It was not until about 5 o’clock in the afternoon that the Pioneer Company became seriously threatened and it was when Butler had gone forward to check his picket on the bend of the road that he and several of his party were wounded by a sudden burst of machine gun. They had been lying down, close to the road and the machine gunners were either aware of them, or just fired off a round or two at random. Twelve men were wounded during the afternoon but the party managed to stand firm. Later B Company under a Capt. Shaw, were sent up to reinforce the Pioneers, and to make the ground won, good. They settled down for the night after attending to the wounded.

  Butler had been wounded in the shoulder but more seriously a bullet had penetrated one of his lungs and according to Maj. G.H. Parker, MC, RA, Butler lay dying by his side all through the night. The regimental history says the following of Butler:

  … a young officer, possessed at once with a charming and forceful personality, of an absolutely fearless disposition, and of more than ordinary ability, he has won for himself a conspicuous place in the Gold Coast Regiment, and had earned the devotion and affection of the men in a very special degree. His death, in this first action in which the Regiment had been engaged since its arrival in East Africa, was felt to be a specially malignant stroke of ill-fortune and he was mourned as a personal loss by his comrades of all ranks.

  Unofficially Butler died of his wounds on 5 September 1916 near Matombo. He was later buried in the Morogoro Cemetery, Tanganyika, plot III, row C, grave 43. He was mentioned in despatches three times. At the end of the war the Allies were to confiscate all German-held territories in Africa.

  John Fitzhardinge Paul Butler was the son of Lt. Col. F.J.P. Butler of Wyck Hall, Gloucestershire and his wife the Hon. Elspeth Fitzhardinge, daughter of the 2nd Lord Gifford. He was born at Berkeley, Gloucestershire on 20 December 1888. He was a nephew of Maj. Lord Gifford, VC, the third baron who had won the VC in the Ashanti War.

  John Butler was educated at a private school in Newbury from 1898–1901, Cordwallers for a year and then at Wellington College from 1902. From there he went on to the RMA at Sandhurst. While there he won the Military History Prize. In February 1907, when he was eighteen years of age, he was commissioned into the KRRC. In August 1909 he was promoted to lieutenant and served in India until 1913. On 1 October 1913 he was seconded to the Gold Coast Regiment in West Africa where he was to win his VC. He married Alice Amelia at the register office, St George’s church, Hanover Square, on 5 October 1915. Their London address was 26 Ebury Street.

  After the war he was commemorated on the war memorial in Cirencester and by a large candleholder at St Lawrence’s church, Bourton-on-the-Water, also in Gloucestershire. His medals are with the Royal Green Jackets in Winchester, Hampshire.

  T.E. RENDLE

  Near Wulverghem, Belgium, 20 November

  The 1st Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry arrived in France in mid-August 1914 and took part in the Battle of Mons on 23 August, where they were in positions near Pommereul station.

  In the early evening the battalion suffered its first casualty. Rendle commandeered a car to take the injured man to hospital. Soon afterwards Gen. De Lisle of the 1st Cavalry Division intercepted them and sent Rendle back to his unit and took charge of the injured man himself.

  The battalion went on to serve at Le Cateau, in the Battle of the Aisne and the First Battle of Ypres. This last battle formally ended on 22 November when trench warfare set in for the rest of the war. Three days later the 1st DCLI of the 14th Brigade of 5th Division, were in positions between Lindenhoek, to the east of Mont Kemmel, and Wulverghem, to the south-west of Ypres. They had taken over the line from troops of the French XVI Corps who had left the positions in a very poor state with an inadequate trench system. These positions faced the Messines Ridge
which was in enemy hands. In places the trenches were little more than ditches and there was no proper system of communication trenches. The battalion did its best to improve the defences. The lines to the right were only 50 yards apart and to the left they were 150 yards apart.

  On 20 November the enemy snipers were very active and at 09.00 hours a heavy bombardment suddenly opened up. The first few shells from the enemy fell on their own positions but they then found their range and hit the left centre of A Company’s positions, when a shell landed on the parapet. About fifteen men were buried and several wounded or killed. Capt. Leale, the company commander, was one of those buried, and about 40 yards of trench were destroyed together with a support trench occupied by C Company.

  Later in the day it was thought that the artillery fire was being directed from an aircraft. When the shelling was at its height, 2nd Lt. R.M. Colebrooke was sitting in the bottom of a trench when he was hit. He was in need of urgent medical attention. Bandsman Rendle came to the rescue as bandsmen operated as stretcher bearers in times of war. Rendle had to be extremely careful in crawling to rescue the officer as the enemy snipers had the position very well covered. He applied temporary first aid to the officer and then scratched a path through the fallen earth, and carrying him on his back, he slowly crawled his way to safety. This gallant action was to earn him the VC. During the day, the battalion lost twelve men killed and sixteen wounded and one missing. The shelling occurred at the end of a period of snow and rain, and the enemy guns were doing less damage because many shells were sinking harmlessly deep into the soft earth.