VCs of the First World War Gallipoli
Page 1
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Just as it is now difficult to recall the precise beginnings of this book, so it is almost impossible to know where to start in thanking all those who made it possible. To pay tribute to all who assisted by name would be to run the risk of an appreciation of Hollywood Oscar ceremony proportions. I am indebted to all those librarians, museum curators, relatives and regimental secretaries who have helped me throughout my odyssey, and I hope they will forgive me if I single out for especial thanks the late Canon William Lummis, the doyen of VC researchers, whose enthusiasm did so much to fuel my interest.
The research for this book has spanned four years and two continents. In this country, my chief guides have included Nigel Steel, of the Department of Documents at the Imperial War Museum, who has pointed me in the right direction on countless occasions as well as acting as a most reliable sounding board, and Peter Liddle, whose outstanding collection of personal testimonies is now housed at Leeds University. Mr Liddle has been most generous in granting me access to his own research, while Dennis Pillinger, the Military Historical Society’s Custodian of the Lummis VC Files, has been a tireless worker.
My research on the Australian VCs owes much to the kind help of Anthony Staunton, whose own works on the subject are justly acclaimed by fellow military historians. H. Murray Hamilton allowed me to use extracts from the personal diaries of Fred Tubb VC which will form the basis for his own eagerly awaited biography of this gallant Australian soldier.
Closer to home, I must thank my friends Frank Gordon and Nolan Lincoln for their help and guidance, while the support of Gerald Gliddon, author of two books in this series, and Alan Sutton Publishing Limited, has been invaluable.
But my greatest debt must be to my family; my ever-supportive wife Sandra and my long-suffering daughters Katie and Holly, who, over four years, have come to accept my grand obsession with extraordinary equanimity. It is to them that I dedicate this book.
CONTENTS
Title
Acknowledgements
Preface to the 2010 edition
Abbreviations
Introduction
E.G. Robinson
VCs of W Beach: F.E. Stubbs, W. Kenealy, C. Bromley, A. Richards, R.R. Willis and J.E. Grimshaw
VCs of V Beach: E. Unwin, W.C. Williams, G.L. Drewry, G. McK. Samson W. St A. Malleson and A.W. St C. Tisdall
C.H.M. Doughty-Wylie and G.N. Walford
W. Cosgrove
W.R. Parker
E.C. Boyle
M.E. Nasmith
A. Jacka
G.R.D. Moor
H. James
G.R. O’Sullivan and J. Somers
VCs of Lone Pine: L.M. Keysor, W.J. Symons, A.S. Burton, F.H. Tubb, W. Dunstan, J. Hamilton and A.J. Shout
C.R.G. Bassett
P.H. Hansen
W.T. Forshaw
D.R. Lauder
F.W.O. Potts
H.V.H. Throssell
R. Bell Davies
A.V. Smith
Sources
Bibliography
Plates
Copyright
PREFACE TO THE 2010 EDITION
In the fifteen years since Gallipoli was originally published as part of the VCs of the First World War series, much has happened in the field of historical research. The continual development and expansion of the internet have combined to fuel a veritable explosion in the study of family history and opened myriad new avenues of investigation. At the same time, the release of servicemen’s records by national archives in this country and in Australia coupled with the acquisition of new papers by such wonderful organisations as the Imperial War Museum have served to shed much fascinating and revealing fresh light on some of the deeds recognised by the Empire’s highest award for military valour as well as on the recipients’ lives.
As with any enthusiast, I have tried to keep abreast of the new material, including at least one full-scale biography and a clutch of impressive studies of the campaign, and had hoped that one day the opportunity might arise to revise and, in some cases, almost entirely rewrite aspects of my earlier work. I was, therefore, mightily pleased to be approached by Jo de Vries, Senior Commissioning Editor at The History Press, with a proposal not merely to re-issue Gallipoli, but to allow me the chance to give it a substantial overhaul.
Of course, as with any historical work some gaps remain unfilled, some questions continue to defy resolution, but overall I am pleased to think that I have been able to do greater justice to the memory of thirty-nine men whose exploits during one of the most bitterly contested campaigns of the First World War deservedly place them among the foremost ranks of the bravest of the brave.
As well as, hopefully, finding favour with a new audience, I hope that readers of the original book, who may be tempted to invest in this updated edition, will not feel short-changed by my renewed efforts and I would genuinely welcome both comment and new sources of information. After all, research is never-ending and, who knows, in another fifteen years I could be putting the finishing touches to another edition.
Last but not least, I would like to acknowledge the assistance of all the archival centres, fellow enthusiasts and those recipients’ descendents who contacted me following publication of the original book to loan me precious family documents which have added greatly to the sum of my knowledge. Most of all, though, I would like to thank my wife, Sandra, for her continued forbearance and love during what has proven to be one of the more challenging years in our lives.
ABBREVIATIONS
AA & QMG
Assistant Adjutant & Quartermaster-General
AB
Able-bodied (seaman)
ADC
Aide-de-camp
AIF
Australian Imperial Force
CB
Companion of (the Order of) the Bath
CMG
Companion of (the Order of) St Michael and St George
CMS
Church Missionary Society
CO
Commanding Officer
CRA
Officer Commanding Royal Artillery
CSM
Company Sergeant-Major
DCM
Distinguished Conduct Medal
DSC
Distinguished Service Cross
DSO
(Companion of the) Distinguished Service Order
GHQ
General Headquarters
GOC
General Officer Commanding
GSO
General Staff Officer
HE
High explosive
IWM
Imperial War Museum
KCIE
Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire
KCMG
Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
KOSB
King’s Own Scottish Borderers
LG
London Gazette
NCO
Non-commissioned officer
NTO
Naval Transport Officer
NZ
New Zealand
OC
Officer Commanding
OTC
Officers Training Corps
PNTO
Principal Naval Transport Officer
PO
Petty Officer
PRO
Public Record Office
QMG
Quartermaster-General
RA
Royal Artillery
RAF
Royal Air Force
RHQ
Regimental Headquarters
RM
Royal Marines
RMA
Royal Military Academy (Sandhurst)
RMC
Royal Military College
RMLI
Royal Marine Light Infantry
RNAS
Royal Naval Air Service
RND
Royal Naval Division
RNR
Royal Naval Reserve
RNVR
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
RSF
Royal Scots Fusiliers
SHAEF
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force
TA
Territorial Army
TBD
Torpedo boat/destroyers
VC
Victoria Cross
INTRODUCTION
In the 154 years since the Victoria Cross was instituted as the nation’s premier award for valour, 1,357 men have been awarded the distinction, including an Australian and a New Zealander who each earned their own nation’s newly established version of the VC. Almost half that number were earned during the First World War, and of the 633 men so honoured 39 were presented for deeds of gallantry performed during the operations designed to wrest control of the Dardanelles from the Turks. Although small by comparison to the number of Crosses awarded for acts of bravery on the Western Front, this total represents the highest number of VCs won in a ‘sideshow’ theatre during the First World War.
What began, in February 1915, as a purely naval enterprise became, after 18 March, a full-scale, Anglo-French invasion. The landings on the Gallipoli Peninsula on 25 April 1915 represented the greatest amphibious operation carried out by any of the belligerents during the course of the war. The campaign, which promised so much and which was filled with countless examples of squandered heroism, ultimately became a tragedy of lost opportunities. With the benefit of hindsight, the operations can be divided into a number of distinct phases: the naval operations (February–March), the battle for the beaches (April), the consolidation (April–May), the first major offensive (June), the new landings at Suvla (August), the last great offensive (August), stagnation (September–December), the evacuation (December–January, 1916). The eight-month campaign on the peninsula would eventually swallow up 410,000 British Empire troops. Of this number, 43,000 were killed, died from wounds or disease, or were posted missing. By January 1916, when the last men were taken off the peninsula, the casualty list, including the sick, totalled 205,000. By any reckoning, the campaign had proved a costly failure. Yet it was a failure relieved, in part, by the stoicism displayed by the front-line soldiers. At Anzac that fortitude became enshrined in Australian folklore. But no less remarkable were the fighting records of their New Zealand comrades and the men of the 29th Division who came through one trial after another with their numbers depleted but their spirit undaunted.
To the ‘incomparable 29th’ fell the honour of winning more VCs than any other division on the peninsula. Thirteen VCs went to the division which was charged with the critical task of carrying out the main landing on 25 April. Six were won by a single battalion. The ‘Six VCs before breakfast’ won by the men of the 1st Lancashire Fusiliers was only one fewer than the record seven given to the 2/24th Foot (South Wales Borderers) for their heroic defence of the mission station at Rorke’s Drift during the Zulu War of 1879.
The Gallipoli operations threw up a number of records of their own. The four VCs won by crew members of the River Clyde on 25 April was the highest number given to a single ship’s company for one action. During the course of the First World War no other unit exceeded the six VCs won in a single day by the 1st Lancashire Fusiliers. The closest any unit came to beating it was when the 7th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, won four during the bitter fighting at Lone Pine, Gallipoli, on 8–9 August 1915. Among the ‘VC firsts’ the campaign can lay claim to are the war’s first Australian VC, first New Zealand VC and first Royal Marine VC.
Of the thirty-nine Victoria Crosses, eleven went to the Royal Navy (including two to submariners, two to the Royal Naval Division and one to a Royal Naval Air Service pilot) and twenty-eight to the Army. The latter consisted of eighteen awards to units of the British Army, nine to Australians and one to a New Zealander. Eleven of the VCs were posthumous awards, although only seven of this number were awarded to men who were killed or died from wounds received in the actions for which the Cross was earned. And of the twenty-eight who survived the campaign, a further three did not survive the war.
The most distinguished VC winner of the campaign was Lt. Col. C.H.M. Doughty-Wylie, CB, CMG, a 46-year-old soldier-diplomat attached to Sir Ian Hamilton’s Staff as an intelligence officer. There were two instances of VC winners receiving a second gallantry award for their services on the peninsula: A.J. Shout (1st Bn, AIF) and P.H. Hansen (6th Bn, Lincolnshire Regt.) both won Military Crosses. The campaign’s oldest recipient of the VC was Cdr. E. Unwin, captain of the River Clyde, who was 51 at the time of his exploits on V Beach, Cape Helles. He became the second-oldest naval VC of the First World War. The youngest VC winner of the campaign was Midshipman W. Malleson, who was 18 years old when he won his award. 2nd Lt. G.R.D. Moor was only a month older when he won his six weeks later during the Third Battle of Krithia.
In keeping with the democratic traditions of the VC, the recipients ranged in rank from humble privates to a lieutenant colonel. Of the thirty-nine awards, twenty-two were given to officers, ten to NCOs, and seven to privates or naval ratings.
The impact of the awards on the recipients themselves varied markedly. Albert Jacka became a national hero in his native Australia and the exploits of ‘Dick’ Doughty-Wylie and the submariner Martin Nasmith acquired legendary status in the hands of the popular Press. For some, such as William Dunstan and Herbert James, the sudden elevation from private obscurity to public adulation was almost as painful as the VC actions themselves. The mere presence of the letters VC after their names, however, ensured that none of the recipients could ever entirely escape public attention.
That the VC was not necessarily a passport to success in the post-war world was reflected in the lives of the Gallipoli Campaign’s surviving recipients. Of the professional servicemen among their ranks, five reached high rank in their respective services. Sqn. Cdr. Richard Bell Davies became the first rear-admiral of Naval Air Stations, Lt. Cdr. Martin Nasmith became an admiral and C.-in-C. Plymouth and Western Approaches, Lt. Cdr. Edward Boyle achieved the rank of rear-admiral, Lt. Cdr. Eric Robinson was promoted rear-admiral on the Navy’s Retired List and Capt. Percy Hansen, who was to add a Distinguished Service Order to the VC and MC won on the peninsula, served as a brigadier during the Second World War. Of the remainder, probably the most successful was William Dunstan, a man of immense modesty who never talked about his VC. He rose from office clerk to become one of the top-ranking executives in the Murdoch newspaper empire.
In stark contrast were the fortunes of William Forshaw, Albert Jacka and Hugo Throssell, who all endured business failure. Saddest of all was the case of Throssell, who committed suicide in the hope that it would result in a pension to his family. Jacka, arguably the most celebrated of all the Gallipoli VCs, became mayor of St Kilda, in Victoria, but died aged 39, not long after the collapse of his business. Richard Willis, one of the six Lancashire Fusiliers to win the VC, was another to suffer financial hardship. In old age, he was reduced to writing a begging letter to the Press appealing
for £100 because of his ‘desperate need’. For others, it could fairly be said that the suffering endured on the peninsula did not cease with the end of the war. When William Cosgrove died, aged 47, in 1936, it was discovered that splinters of shrapnel which had not been removed following his VC action at Gallipoli had been slowly poisoning him. Similarly, Walter Parker, the Royal Marine VC, never fully recovered from the injuries he sustained in winning his award at Anzac. He died four months after Cosgrove, fighting in vain for a disability pension.
To the majority of the thirty-nine VC winners, the acts of valour performed on the battlefields of the Gallipoli Peninsula or in the waters of the Dardanelles marked the zenith of their military careers and, for some, their whole lives.
Their experience was probably best summed up by Leonard Keysor, the London-born Australian bomb-thrower of Lone Pine fame, who once confessed: ‘The war was the only adventure I ever had’.
E.G. ROBINSON
Near Yeni Shehr, 26 February 1915
Lt. Cdr. E.G. Robinson
It was a beautiful spring day in the Dardanelles on 19 February 1915. The wintry storms of the past two weeks had subsided, giving way to clear skies and calm seas. To Vice-Admiral Sir Sackville Carden, commanding the Royal Navy’s Eastern Mediterranean Squadron, the break in the weather could scarcely have been more opportune. After weeks of careful planning, his ships’ crews were ready and waiting for the order to begin a naval offensive designed to force a way through the heavily-defended straits separating Europe from Asia. The objective, the fulfilment of the First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill’s grand ambition, was to open up a vital new supply route to Russia and isolate Germany and Austria-Hungary by driving Turkey out of the war.