VCs of the First World War 1915 The Western Front

by Peter F Batchelor

  When the Boer War began he enlisted in the South African Contingent in London, Ontario, and served with the Royal Canadian Regt. Campbell was present at the actions at Johannesburg, Drenfontein, Paardeburg and Cape Colony as part of a Maxim machine-gun crew and was Mentioned in Despatches for an incident at the Modder River. One wheel of his machine-gun was damaged by shell-fire so Campbell improvised, replacing the damaged spokes with legs from a table from a nearby house. (This wheel is held in the Citadel Museum in Quebec.) He was awarded the Queen’s Medal and four clasps and returned home in 1900 with the rank of sergeant.

  On 25 November 1903 he married Margaret Annie McGillivray and their three children, Arthur Clive, Jean Margaret and Freda McGillivray, were all born at the farm he had purchased near his father’s home, where he bred horses. In 1911 Campbell was present in London at the Coronation of King George V. He was a public school trustee of a school at Normanby, his home town, and a director of the Mount Forest Agricultural Society. Campbell remained in the militia and when war began immediately obtained permission to recruit in his local area. On 17 August 1914 he went to Valcartier Camp with a dozen volunteers. Assigned to 1st Bn, 1st Bde, with the rank of lieutenant, Campbell sailed on 3 October with the other 1,165 members of his battalion on the Laurentic. They disembarked at Plymouth on 18 October and proceeded to Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, where they encamped at Bustard.

  The battalion arrived at their billets in Merris, France, on 14 February 1915 and incurred heavy losses on 23 April in a counterattack north-east of Ypres, when the machine-guns under Lt Campbell were very effective.

  A plaque was unveiled to Campbell’s memory at the Royal Canadian Legion Hall, Mount Forest, by his daughter, Mrs V.S. de Vore on 20 June 1965. The whereabouts of Campbell’s medals is unknown.

  S.C. WOODROFFE

  Hooge, Belgium, 30 July

  The 8th Bn, the Rifle Brigade (RB), of 41 Bde, 14 [Light] Div., entered the trenches at Hooge at about midnight on 30 July to relieve their sister battalion, the 7th RB. The relief was completed by 02.00 hours, but a group of 7th RB bombers remained in the line with the 8th RB on the express orders of the GOC, perhaps on account of their relative inexperience, as they had only arrived in France in May.

  The British front line was divided by a large crater approximately 90 feet across and 40 feet deep, which proved untenable for either side due to the amount of shelling it attracted and the difficulty in defending it. A Coy, 8th RB, took up their positions in the front line; Lt Woodroffe’s platoon on the left was separated from Lt Carey’s men on the right by the crater. The War Diary lists a number of concerns regarding the weakness of this part of the line; for example, there was no barbed wire to speak of in front of their position and the front trenches themselves were deep and narrow, making communication along them very difficult; the same was true of the communication trenches. The crater was defended by bombers’ posts established on each side. Worst of all, the opposing lines were very close together, in many places just 15 yards apart.

  The 8th RB had been in the line for just three hours when the Germans attacked. At about 03.15 hours there was a large explosion at the stables (see map opposite) and the enemy began an intensive bombardment of the front trenches which lasted only two or three minutes. The whole front line had been ‘standing-to’ before the shelling began, so casualties in the tightly packed trench were high. Without warning, immediately following the shelling, sheets of flame broke out along the front with clouds of thick black smoke. This ‘liquid fire’ was sprayed from hoses in the German line, the flame-throwers having a range of about 20 yards or so. One eye-witness, Pte A.P. Hatton, described the phenomenon in I Was There:

  We first heard sounds as of a splashing to our front, then there was a peculiar smoky smell just like coal-tar; next, a corporal of C Company cried out that he had been hit by a shell; yet when we went to look at him we found that a huge blister as from a burn was on his forehead, while the back of his cap was smouldering.

  We had no time to notice anything else, for after that preliminary trial the Boches loosened their liquid fire upon us with a vengeance. It came in streams all over the earthworks, while shells containing star lights ignited the black fluid. Sandbags, blankets, top-coats, and anything of the sort that was handy smouldered and then flared. We were choked by the smoke and half scorched by the heat.

  Hooge – the scene of the first flame-thrower attack

  The ‘liquid fire’ was aimed at the trenches on either side of the crater and under cover of the flames and smoke large parties of German bombers swarmed forward through the crater and then swung left and right down the trenches; others appeared on the parapets of the trenches hit by the fire. The fighting soon became very confused and four machine-guns in the front were soon out of action. Casualties in the trenches hit by the liquid fire were almost 100 per cent, although the platoons on the extreme right under Carey, and the extreme left under Woodroffe, unaffected by the flame throwers, repulsed all efforts to bomb them out. The two forward companies, connected by telephone to Bn HQ, both signalled an SOS at about 03.30 hours. Woodroffe’s platoon was heavily attacked on their right flank by enemy bombers making their way down the trench line from the crater and from the rear, the Germans having fanned out behind the British front line after breaking through the centre of the front at the crater.

  B Coy, 8th Rifle Bde, was in support some 500 yards back in Zouave Wood under Capt. A.L.C. Cavendish, with D Coy under Capt. C. Sheepshanks. Cavendish was ordered to counterattack between 04.00 and 05.00 hours, but by this time the Germans had consolidated their position in the former British front line and fortified it with several machine-gun positions and rifles, and the British counterattack failed. This left Woodroffe and his remaining men in his trench position virtually surrounded, but he continued to defend his post until his supply of bombs was used up. He then very skilfully withdrew his platoon, in good order, fighting their way back, moving first west along the Menin road (just south of the Stables), and then returning to the British-held lines via a culvert further down the road. Meanwhile the enemy tried to bomb down the two communication trenches called Old Bond Street and The Strand but these were blocked about halfway up and were held throughout the day. By the end of the action C Coy had ceased to exist, having borne the brunt of the fire attack, and A and B Coys had suffered severe losses.

  Reinforcements arrived from Brigade Reserve – a single company of the KRRC, which arrived at about 09.00 hours. At noon orders came from GOC to mount a counterattack at 14.45 hours, following a 45 minute artillery bombardment. The 8th RB, despite its losses, was to lead the attack, D Coy under Capt. Sheepshanks making a two platoon front, their right resting on The Strand to permit a bombing attack on that trench as they went forward; the remains of A and B Coys were told to attack Trench G9, their right resting on Old Bond Street. The Germans seemed untouched by the bombardment but at 14.45 hours the counterattack went in. The War Diary noted: ‘The whole ground was absolutely swept by bullets,’ and the attacking troops barely got halfway towards their objectives. The German fire was so intense that the few reinforcements available to the British were unable to get any further either. 2/Lt Woodroffe, leading his men on the left of Old Bond Street, was killed in the act of cutting barbed wire to enable the attack to be continued. His CO, Lt-Col. R.C. Maclachlan, wrote to Woodroffe’s father: ‘Your younger boy was simply one of the bravest of the brave, and the work he did that day will stand out as a record hard to beat.’ Woodroffe was just 19 years and 7 months old.

  Sidney Clayton Woodroffe was born at Lewes, Sussex, on 17 December 1895 and was the fourth and youngest son of Henry Long Woodroffe, of Woodmoor, Branksome Avenue, Bournemouth, and Clara, daughter of Henry Clayton. Woodroffe was educated at Marlborough College, where he was Senior Prefect, Captain of the OTC, winner of the Curzon-Wyllie Medal, and a member of the football XV in 1912, 1913 and 1914, the hockey XI, and cricket XXII. He gained a classical scholarship at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He
was gazetted second lieutenant in the 8th Bn, the Rifle Brigade, on 23 December 1914, going to France with the battalion on 25 May 1915; he was killed in action at Hooge, Belgium, on 30 July 1915. His two eldest brothers were also killed in France. Lt K.H.C. Woodroffe MC, 8th RB, was severely wounded on 30 July 1915 at Hooge, and was unable to return to his battalion until 1 June 1916, on which day he was again wounded, dying of these wounds three days later. Both had been to Marlborough College and like their younger brother were successful scholars and sportsmen.

  Sidney Woodroffe’s Victoria Cross was presented to his parents by King George V in the ballroom at Buckingham Palace on 29 November 1916. He was Marlborough College’s third VC, the previous two being Capt. Bradbury and Capt. Foss. His rugger cap and sword were put on display in All Hallowe’s Church, Bournemouth, though the sword was stolen during the Blitz. Woodroffe is commemorated with his brothers on a memorial in All Saints’ Church, Branksome Park, Bournemouth; and there is a tablet to his memory outside 42 Trinity Square, Tulse Hill, London. His name appears on panels 46–58 and 50 of the Menin Gate.

  G.A. BOYD-ROCHFORT

  Between Cambrin and La Bassée, France, 3 August

  On 3 August 1915 the 1st Bn Scots Guards, 4th (Guards) Bde, 2nd Div., was in trenches south of the La Bassée Canal (where it had been in action at the beginning of the year when Cpl O’Leary won his VC, see page 15). A similar award was earned on that day in August when 2/Lt G.A. Boyd-Rochfort became the first Guards officer to gain the award in the war.

  Working parties were sent out every night by the battalion to improve the condition of the trenches and fortifications. 2/Lt Boyd-Rochfort was in charge of a party of about forty men working in a communication trench close to the front line. At 02.00 hours an enemy trench-mortar shell landed on the edge of the parapet beside the men. Boyd-Rochfort shouted a warning, then ran towards the missile, grabbed it and threw it over the parapet where it exploded almost immediately. Boyd-Rochfort and the men nearest him were buried by loose earth blown up by the detonation but no one was hurt. The only damage was to his cap, which was destroyed. Boyd-Rochfort later commented, ‘My men were very appreciative of my action and cheered and thanked me. Afterwards they wrote and signed a statement of what I had done, which they handed to the Colonel.’

  His prompt and courageous action saved the lives of the men closest to the mortar shell and Boyd-Rochfort could easily have saved himself by taking cover behind a nearby corner in the trench. Shortly after the incident a French soldier photographed 2/Lt Boyd-Rochfort with the four men whom he had saved and his company commander. The similarities between this action and that of Cpl Burt (see page 250) are remarkable, both in deed and vicinity.

  The London Gazette of 1 September 1915 published the citation of his VC award and Boyd-Rochfort was invested by the King at Windsor Castle on 6 September 1915.

  George Arthur Boyd-Rochfort, the eldest son of Major Rochfort Hamilton Boyd, was born on 1 January 1880 at Middleton Park, County Westmeath, Ireland. When he was only 11 his father died at the age of 46; in his will he decreed that his sons be named Boyd-Rochfort. Florence, Boyd-Rochfort’s mother, was English and came from Bentley Manor, Worcester. They had seven children, three boys and four girls. Educated at Eton, Mr H. Morley’s House, and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was Master of Beagles, Boyd-Rochfort took up his residence at the Middleton Park family home when he was 21, having been a ward of Chancery since his father’s death. A popular landlord of his estates, he spent much of his time big-game hunting, travelling, horse-race riding and playing polo; among other things he rode the winners of the Westmeath Gold Cup and the National Hunt Cup.

  In 1901 he married Olivia Ellen Ussher of Eastwell, Galway, in Dublin and in 1904 was High Sheriff for County Westmeath. During the last week of August 1914, Boyd-Rochfort was badly hurt in a polo match which resulted in a hospital operation in November, followed by a lengthy stay in the hospital. He applied for an Army commission in February 1915 but was rejected because of varicose veins; he entered hospital again for an operation to cure this problem and on re-applying was commissioned into the Scots Guards in April. He went to France in June and joined the 1st Bn.

  Boyd-Rochfort returned from France on leave on 2 September 1915, and was informed by his brother, who met him at a London railway station, of his VC award. He treated this information with some disbelief until reading his citation in a newspaper shortly afterwards. He was accompanied by Pte Thorowgood, his butler before the war, and a former Boer War veteran, who enlisted as a private when Boyd-Rochfort first applied for his commission. He rejoined his battalion and was later promoted to lieutenant and in an incident with two Germans in which he silenced one with a blow from his revolver butt and the other with his fist, Boyd-Rochfort was wounded. He spent his sick leave at Middleton Park.

  He was promoted to captain and later became adjutant of the Guards Division. Mentioned in Despatches, he served on the Western Front for the rest of the war. Both his brothers served in the war: Harold, a major, was awarded the DSO and MC, and commanded a brigade of tanks during 1918; and Cecil, a captain, was awarded the Croix de Guerre with Palms, served with Scots Guards and was a brigade major with the RFC. Three cousins were killed; one was a colonel in the RHA; another was a colonel in the Warwickshire Yeomanry and the third was a major in the Worcestershire Yeomanry.

  After the war he concentrated on his stud farm at Middleton Park where he bred the winners of the 1936 St Leger and the 1937 Ascot Gold Cup. His brother, Capt. Sir Cecil Boyd-Rochfort, was a very successful horse trainer and became trainer to the King, based at Newmarket. Boyd-Rochfort was greatly involved with horse racing and was a steward of the Irish National Hunt and the Irish Turf Club, as well as a director of Westmeath Race Company.

  He died on 7 August 1940 after a serious operation in a private nursing home in Dublin. The funeral was held at Castletown-Geoghegan Church on 9 August, and he was buried in the churchyard which overlooks his home. His will was published in 1941 in which all his personal estate in England and Eire, valued at £28,287, was left to his wife. His Victoria Cross is held at the Scots Guards RHQ.

  THE BATTLE OF LOOS

  A visitor looking towards Loos and Hulluch from the observation point on the Loos Memorial at Dud Corner, on the N43 to Béthune, cannot help but be struck by the terrain’s open flatness, which is relieved only by slag-heaps (fosses).

  In 1915 the general advantage of ground and observation lay with the Germans. The main British and German front lines were about 500 yards apart; between them, jutting out in a south-western direction from the German front line, lay a maze of trenches and fortifications known as the Hohenzollern Redoubt, the perimeter of which is still visible today. This strongpoint was linked to the main German line by Dump Trench and Fosse Trench, while two other trenches, ‘Big Willie’ and ‘Little Willie’, which ran eastwards and northwards respectively, protected the flanks of the redoubt (see map on page 186).

  The Battle of Loos was forced on Sir John French, the C-in-C, by pressure from Joffre (the French C-in-C) and Kitchener. Loos was the British part of a joint offensive with the French, who were to attack in the Champagne area. The British were to attack on a 6 mile front between Grenay in the south and La Bassée in the north. There were six main pit-heads or ‘fosses’, as well as auxiliary shafts called ‘puits’, in the battle area and these were of considerable tactical importance. ‘Resources’ for the battle were considered inadequate, and to give the attacking troops more chance of success, the decision was taken to use gas in the offensive, in addition to the usual artillery bombardment. A series of subsidiary attacks were also launched at the same time. A total of six divisions, some 75,000 men, were to take part in the opening attack.

  The preliminary bombardment began on 21 September, and at 05.50 hours on the 25th gas and smoke alternately were released along the whole front for a total of forty minutes. In some areas the gas blew across no-man’s-land, allowing the assaulting troops some initial success
, but in other areas the gas drifted back across the British lines, gassing the waiting attackers. Where the gas failed to reach the enemy lines, the German machine-guns caused havoc among the British assaulting troops; casualties were so great that the Germans dubbed the battle the ‘Field of Corpses at Loos’.

  Loos, between Hulluch and Auchy

  The Hohenzollern Redoubt was taken by the 9th Div. only to be lost later; a second attack using gas to recapture it was launched on 13 October, but this also ultimately failed. The battle effectively came to an end on 16 October although it was not until 4 November that Gen. Haig informed the C-in-C that he was ‘compelled to abandon any hope of continuing the offensive’. The battle ended in stalemate, with the British having penetrated about 2 miles across 4 miles of German trenches; the British lost over 50,000 men as casualties. If the losses in the subsidiary attacks are also taken into account then the British casualties for the Battle of Loos amount to nearly 60,000. German losses were approximately half that figure.

  Battle of Loos

  D. LAIDLAW

  Near Loos and Hill 70, France, 25 September

  The 7th Bn, King’s Own Scottish Borderers (46 Bde, 15th Scottish Div.), was selected as an assault battalion for the coming Battle of Loos. They trained at Labeuvrière, 2 miles south-west of Béthune, for four weeks. Late on 24 September they proceeded to their assembly trenches which were roughly opposite Puits 14 behind the German lines. The two leading brigades (44th and 46th) were to capture the Lens Road and Loos Road Redoubts respectively in the initial attack and then advance eastwards down into the valley towards Loos (see map on page 187).