VCs of the First World War 1915 The Western Front

by Peter F Batchelor

  After gaining his VC Scrimger was invalided to England following an injury and, when fit, he served in various hospitals in England, including the Canadian Hospital in Ramsgate. He was promoted to major on 5 December 1916 and returned to France, working at No. 3 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station, Boulogne.

  On 5 September 1918 he married Ellen Emerson Carpenter, a Canadian nurse, at St Columba’s Church, Pont Street, London. The service was performed by the Revd Archibald Fleming DD and the Revd J. Tudor Scrymgeour, Francis Scrimger’s brother, who was also serving in France as a chaplain and working with the YMCA. Promoted to lieutenant-colonel on 21 April 1919, Scrimger returned to Montreal after the war and was appointed assistant-surgeon at the Royal Victoria Hospital; he was appointed surgeon-in-chief there in 1936. A mountain near the Kootenays in the Canadian Rockies was named after him in 1918.

  Francis Scrimger died suddenly on 13 February 1937 and was buried at the Mount Royal Cemetery, Montreal. On 17 October 2005 Lt-Col. Scrimger’s VC and campaign medals were presented to the Canadian War Museum, Ottawa by his three daughters.

  The site of Kitchener’s Wood, Wijngaardstraat, Belgium is now marked by a memorial to the memory of soldiers from 10th and 16th Bns CEF killed during the night attack on 22 April. This stone, 7ft-high memorial symbolizing shattered oak trees and a gas cloud was unveiled on 22 March 1997.

  MIR DAST

  Near Ypres, Belgium, 26 April

  The 57th (Wilde’s) Rifles left its billets on 24 April to begin the trying two-day march to the Ypres sector. They reached Ouderdom on the 25th, having to bivouac in the open. The Regimental History sums up the arduous trek: ‘The men were somewhat done up after two long marches following weeks of trench war, but came in very well.’ An early start, at 05.30 hours on the next morning, sent the Ferozepore Brigade, of which the 57th Rifles were part, marching through Vlamertinghe and the north-west of Ypres. The battalion reached its assembly positions late in the morning, and dug in behind hedges north-west of St Jean while under heavy shell-fire. At about 12.45 hours final attack orders were received which detailed the battalions to move forward to their assembly positions, some 400 yards ahead, by 13.15 hours. French troops continued the line to the left of the Ferozepore Bde with the Jullunder Bde on its right. Hurried orders were given to company commanders and as the Regimental History comments, ‘No one knew exactly what was happening ….’ But the battalion reached its assembly positions and formed up with 2 Coy in support about 80 yards behind the centre company (see map on page 89).

  A report by Lt Bainbridge, the battalion adjutant, included with the Battalion War Diary, gives a detailed account of the action and notes that, ‘ … a very poor bombardment had been carried out at the German trenches. At 1.15 the advance started, and our guns practically ceased firing.’ Casualties occurred during the initial stage of the advance, but after crossing Buffs Road, on Hill Top Ridge, the leading men ‘came under a perfect hail of fire … men began to drop at a great rate, and we began to lose formation, owing chiefly to the men bunching together behind each scrap of cover’.

  When the men were within 80 yards of the German trenches chlorine gas was released, which initially affected the French on their left, but a change of wind direction then carried the gas across the attacking battalion. The French started to turn back and:

  … the rest of the line, seeing them going and getting the effect of the gas at the same time, went about as well, not before several of our men had been laid out by the gas. These were left, and the remainder being unable either to combat or understand the gas, turned and went, as it was no good stopping to be mown down by MG fire and bombs.

  … the retirement having started, [it] was impossible to check, British, French and Indians being all mixed up together.

  All the British officers in the front companies were killed, and two Indian officers of these companies killed and four others wounded, leaving only one British officer remaining in the actual attack, Capt. Mahon of No. 2 Coy, who, with help from the quartermaster and machine-gun officer, managed to gather some sixty men together. Meanwhile Jemadar Mir Dast, who had stayed in the British trench, collected together all the men he could, bullying and cajoling when necessary. Many of them were now recovering from the gas poisoning, and with his encouragement they managed to hold on to their position until dusk, when they received orders to retire.

  During the return journey, Mir Dast picked up several men, including eight wounded British and Indian officers who would probably have died but for his efforts. He was himself wounded while helping to bring in these men and for his bravery was awarded the Victoria Cross, and on 27 April promoted to Subadar (equivalent to captain).

  Numerous acts of bravery were carried out that day, including that by Havildar (sergeant) Mangal Singh, one of the men rescued by Mir Dast, who, having been brought in unconscious from the effects of gas, recovered enough to go out several times to bring in other wounded men. He was awarded the Indian Order of Merit 2nd Class. The battalion had begun the day with twenty officers (eight British and twelve Indian) and 560 other ranks; by the night of 26 April they numbered three British and three Indian officers (two of whom were slightly wounded but refused to report sick, one of them being Jemadar Mir Dast) and 216 other ranks.

  The battalion was relieved and on 2 May moved into billets where a draft of two Indian officers and 151 men arrived to partially swell their depleted ranks.

  Mir Dast (also known as Mir Dost) was born in Maiden, Tirah, India, on 3 December 1874, son of Mada Mir, an Afridi. Enlisting in 1/55th Coke’s Rifles, Frontier Force, in December 1894, he served at Tochi Valley on the north-west frontier of India during 1897–8, receiving the Indian General Service Medal and bar. Promoted Naik (corporal) in 1901, Mir Dast again saw service on the north-west frontier during 1901–2, on this occasion receiving the Waziristan bar to add to his General Service Medal. Further promotion followed in 1904 when he was made Havilar (sergeant) and in 1908, when fighting in the Mohmand Campaign at Khan Khar Kueg, he was awarded the Indian Order of Merit 2nd Class for gallantry in action, in addition to the then new Indian General Service Medal and bar. No Indian troops qualified for the Victoria Cross until 1911, the IOM being the highest award for bravery attainable by them.

  Promoted to Jemadar (the equivalent of lieutenant) the following year, this experienced Indian officer first saw service in France on 19 January 1915, when attached to 57th Wilde’s Rifles. This battalion was in reserve for the battle of Neuve Chapelle and though moving up to the front line trenches on 12 March 1915, played little part in the fighting.

  Following his gallantry near Ypres, Subadar Mir Dast continued to serve with his regiment until June, when he was again wounded; his injuries, combined with the effects of his earlier gas poisoning, resulted in him being sent for treatment at the Indian Hospital, Royal Pavilion, Brighton. His Victoria Cross was announced in the London Gazette of 29 June 1915.

  Many distinguished visitors toured the hospital and, on 4 July 1915, the Secretary of State for India, Mr Chamberlain, paid a visit. At the end of his inspection Chamberlain was introduced to all the Indian officers able to be present on the lawns of the Royal Pavilion. Still severely incapacitated from poison gas, Mir Dast, confined to his wheelchair, was presented to the Secretary of State, to the obvious approval of his fellow officers who raised a loud cheer. This was the Subadar’s first trip outside the confines of his hospital room, and when Chamberlain moved on, every Indian officer present went up to the Subadar, saluted him and shook his hand. Further dignitaries continued to visit the hospital and, on 21 August 1915, Lord Kitchener was photographed shaking hands with Mir Dast, who by now was able to stand unaided, although his wheeled chair is clearly visible in the photograph.

  On 25 August 1915 the King and Queen, accompanied by Princess Mary, arrived to present awards to ten wounded Indian officers and one non-commissioned officer. The day was described as ‘royal weather’, and the lawn was used for the investiture in front of over 1,000
wounded Indians. A contemporary booklet on the Indian Hospital describes the scene:

  Their Majesties stood on a slight elevation on the Western Lawn, with their personal staff and the staff of the Indian Hospitals behind them, while the Indians in their picturesque pale blue hospital uniforms formed a large half-circle in front. The recipients of the honours were brought forward by Colonel MacLeod, the Commanding Officer of the Royal Pavilion Hospital, and were individually presented to the King by Colonel Sir Walter Lawrence.

  Subadar Mir Dast was the first man to be decorated and had to be pushed up to the King in a wheelchair, but he insisted on standing in front of His Majesty who addressed him thus:

  It is nearly sixty years since Queen Victoria instituted this cross for conspicuous bravery in battle. At the Delhi Durbar, in 1911, I ordered that my Indian soldiers should be admitted to this high and coveted distinction. I have already bestowed with my own hand two VCs on Indian soldiers, and I give this third cross with infinite pleasure. I earnestly hope you will soon be completely recovered from your injuries and that you will live long to enjoy your honours.

  Amongst the others decorated that day was Jemadar Hawinda (58th Vaughan’s Rifles), Mir Dast’s cousin, who received the Indian Distinguished Service Medal. It is ironic that Mir Dast’s brother, Mir Mast, was awarded the Iron Cross by the Germans, following his desertion from 58th (Vaughan’s) Rifles on 3 March 1915. Mir Mast was awarded the DCM ( London Gazette, 16 February 1915) but with twenty-three other ranks, all Afridis, he deserted near Neuve Chapelle and imparted to the Germans what information they knew regarding the impending British attack. The desertions were not satisfactorily explained except that a Havildar, one of the first to desert on 2 March, was generally regarded by his officers as a troublemaker.

  After presenting the other awards and visiting the patients who were too sick to be at the investiture, the royal party returned to the lawns where they spent some time talking informally with some of the assembled Indians before leaving to the sound of loud cheers. A film was made of this investiture and it is quite possible this was screened, at a later date, for the patients of The Royal Pavilion.

  Stating that this was the proudest day of his life Mir Dast said, ‘What did I do – nothing, only my duty; and to think that the great King-Emperor should shake me by the hand and praise me! I am his child.’ In a letter to his regimental colleagues in India, the following day, he wrote, ‘Service under the Government is very good. I have been given the Victoria Cross. You come, too, and you may get it.’

  Unfortunately Mir Dast’s health did not improve, and on 19 October 1915 he went back to India to rejoin his regiment, 55th Coke’s Rifles. He was given the Order of British India, 2nd Class (Bahadur) on 3 June 1916, and the receipt of this award made him one of the most highly decorated Indian soldiers having been awarded the Russian Cross of St George, 3rd class (approved in Army Order 958 of 1915); he was the first to hold both the Victoria Cross and the IOM. He was transferred to the pension establishment on 22 September 1917. Mir Dast died on 19 January 1945 at the village of Shagi Landi Kyan, Tehsil district, Peshawar (now Pakistan), and was buried in the Warsak Road cemetery, Shagi Landi Kyan.

  His name is inscribed on the inside of the pavilion roof of the Commonwealth Gates, Hyde Park Corner.

  I. SMITH

  (ISHROULCH SHMILOWITZ)

  Near Ypres, Belgium, 26 April

  The Lahore Div., Indian Corps, comprising Jullunder, Sirhind and Ferozepore brigades, was in billets in and around L’Epinette when orders were received on 23 April for it to move at short notice, destination unknown. The men left their billeting area at 13.30 hours on the 24th and after a gruelling march of 231⁄2 miles, over wet pave roads, they arrived at Boeschepe just before midnight. They left Boeschepe at 06.00 hours the following morning and marched until 10.30 hours. The Jullunder Bde, of which the 1st Manchester Regt were part, went into camp near Vlamertinghe, after covering a distance of 121⁄2 miles. Although orders for a forthcoming attack had been issued by Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien at Second Army HQ just after 02.00 hours on the 26th, there was a serious delay in the transmission of these orders to the brigades and subsequently to the battalions. The 1st Manchester Regt left camp at 06.30 hours, marched south of Ypres, and arrived at their forming-up position in fields to the west of Wieltje at 10.30 hours; a few minutes later several enemy shells caused about a dozen casualties. These shells turned out to contain some form of gas, which partially blinded several men for some minutes.

  At 12.30 hours the Manchesters finally received their orders for an attack which placed them on the right of the Jullunder Bde, with their flank on Wieltje Farm. To their left were the 40th Pathans, and beyond them the 47th Sikhs, in touch with the Ferozepore Bde. The ground over which the attack was to be launched was very open, with minimal cover, rising slightly for the first 500 yards to the crest of Hill Top Ridge, then descending down a gentle slope for a further 500 yards before the final 500 yards up another slope to Mauser Ridge where the Germans were strongly entrenched (see map on page 89).

  Thus, with very little time to study their orders, the battalion moved forward at 13.20 hours under cover of an artillery barrage, with the object of being in an assaulting position when the artillery lifted at 14.00 hours. The direction of the attack should have been due north but from the start the Jullunder Bde veered to the left, thus crowding the Ferozepore Bde. Enemy fire was heavy from the start and when the troops appeared on Hill Top Ridge, visible to the Germans, they came under what was described as ‘a perfect inferno of fire of all kinds, machine-gun, rifle, and every variety of shell, many of which were filled with gas’. Despite very severe casualties parties of the Manchesters managed to reach to within 60 yards of the German trenches.

  A/Cpl Issy Smith of the 1st Manchesters had a lucky escape when his platoon was hit by a shell at about 11.00 hours near Wieltje; Smith did not remain with his comrades when they ran for cover, but returned to pick up his cigarettes. His account, as reported in newspapers at the time, continued:

  Later on in the charge our commander was hit and I at once got my field dressing out and bandaged him. I carried him to the first aid post. On my way I saw Lieutenant Shipston fall. I was at this moment carrying Sergeant Rooke. I carried them both, a yard at a time, to our trenches. The bullets were flying.

  Then, dead exhausted, I fell down, not able to move. An officer gave me his flask and said, ‘There is brandy in this; take a drop and it will revive you.’ I said I would not, as I was a teetotaller, and intended to remain one – no matter what happened. But I was dreadfully weak.

  The commander Smith mentions, Sgt Rooke, later gave his own account of what happened:

  During the attack I was shot through the liver and was quite helpless. Smith at once ran out to my rescue, put me on his back and carried me through a terrific hail of shrapnel, rifle and machine-gun fire into the Ypres road. I was lying only 200 yards from the German trenches and the fact that Smith escaped being hit was a sheer miracle. Just at that time the Germans turned on the poison gas … We were again in a most exposed position, and Lieut. W.M. Shipster who passed us, told Smith to put me down and said he would send me assistance. The officer had only gone a few yards when he was shot through the neck. Smith went to him, bandaged his wounds – all this time under heavy fire – and carried him, and afterwards me, into the trenches of the 4th Suffolks. He then helped to take me on a stretcher to the first aid post of the Suffolks and afterwards returned immediately to fight on.

  Smith assisted in bringing in many more wounded men throughout the day. The attack failed. No members of the division reached the German lines, and the Manchesters were relieved in the early hours, but not before losing their CO, Lt-Col. Hutchins, who was killed during the evening. The battalion received further drafts of men on the 27th and by the end of May their reinforcements totalled 38 officers and 1,449 other ranks.

  Born of Russian Orthodox parents,on 18 September 1890, in Alexandria, Egypt, Ishroulch Shm
ilowitz was the son of a clerk, Moses Shmilowitz, who worked in Egypt for the French Consular Service. His father and mother, Eva, (Chudnovski) who both originated from Berditchev near Odessa were then French citizens. At the age of eleven, Ishroulch stowed away on a ship at Alexandria, and went to England, where it is believed, he lived with his brother, Maurice who later emigrated to America. He attended Berner Street School, Whitechapel and like many other children in the East End, he worked in his spare time, in his case as a fish delivery boy.

  On 4 September 1904, at St George’s Barracks, London, he enlisted in the British Army where his name was anglicized by the recruiting sergeant. He was then nearly 16 years old although the ‘apparent age’ on his attestation form is 18. His occupation is noted as plumbers mate and place of birth as St Georges in the East, London. He served with the 2nd Bn, Manchester Regt, in Aldershot and the 3rd Bn in South Africa before joining the 1st Bn at Secunderbad in India at the end of October 1906 where he won the Regimental Middleweight Boxing Championship, and in 1911 received the Delhi Durbar Medal. The physical Army regime must have suited Smith as he gained 16lbs in weight and added over an inch to his height in his first six months service. His record shows that in 1905 and 1907 he was given two periods of detention (42 and 35 days) for using insubordinate language. Discharged from the Army on 15 November 1912, Smith emigrated to Australia in early 1914 and was employed by the Metropolitan Gas Co., while living in Ascot Vale, Melbourne, where he continued his interest in boxing, fighting under the name of Jack Daniels. When war began in August 1914, he immediately enlisted in the Australian Army at St Kilda Road Barracks, Melbourne, and was with the Australian Forces in New Guinea when the German Territories were overrun. No actual evidence has yet been found to support this although Issy was encamped at Broadmeadows camp with the Australian forces who were involved in this short campaign.