Scottish Victoria Cross Awards Corporal William Anderson, VC, 2nd Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment ...

225 Pages·2015·8.53 MB·English

Scottish Victoria Cross Awards

Corporal William Anderson, VC, 2nd
Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment, was born
at Dallas, Elgin on 28 December 1882.
He was the second son of Alexander
Anderson, a Labourer, and Isabella
(Bella) Anderson, of 79 North Road,
Forres, where he was educated at Forres
Academy.

His siblings were James, Margaret and
Alexander.

After working as a Conductor at Glasgow
Tramways Depot, he moved to London
then enlisted in the 2nd Battalion,
Yorkshire Regiment on 20 September
1905, serving in India, Egypt and South
Africa. His brother, James, served in the
same regiment.

He was discharged to the Reserve in
1912 and worked at Elder Hospital,
Govan, saving money so that he and his
fiancee could emigrate to South Africa.

However, before they could leave war
broke out and he was called up as a
reservist. He was mobilised and sent to
his old battalion in 1914, where he was
known as 'Jock'.

Now a Corporal, on 5 October 1914, he
embarked for Flanders with the four
Companies of the 2nd Battalion. Two
weeks later they were taking part in the
First Battle of Ypres and involved in
some of the fiercest fighting. The
regiment was being supplied with 96,000
rounds of ammunition each night. By the
end of this engagement Corporal
Anderson was in charge of a bombing
unit. The aim of a bombing unit was to
gain access to an enemy trench, from
which they would throw grenades round
a corner, immediately following up the
explosion with an attack with bayoneting,
bludgeoning, shooting, bombing or taking
Captain Rollo and Corporal Anderson
resting at Fleurbaix in 1914. prisoners.
© and researched by Alistair McEwen 2015 with additional research by Morag Cross.
These were clearly high risk operations with high mortality rates and hence required
men of steel. He fought at Estaires in early 1915.

On 10 March 1915 the allies bombarded the German defences at Neuve Chapelle,
initial success in taking some of the enemy trenches soon turning to bloody
stalemate, with fierce infantry attacks by each side. The Yorkshires were, in places,
only 30 yards apart from the Germans, hence the situation was ripe for William
Anderson’s skills.

Early on the morning of 12 March there was a German counter attack on the
captured trenches. Although the main attack was beaten off two companies of a
sister regiment were overpowered.

Anderson mustered his team of bombers and set about the invaders. He was seen
on the trench parapet, totally fearless of bursting shells and firing down on the
enemy below and throwing bombs. Having used up his own supply, as well as
returning German stick bombs which he threw back before the five second time fuse
operated, he saw that the Germans had started to give way. Anderson, unstoppable,
returned to his wounded companions and took their bombs, which he also used to
good effect.

"Explosions, shouts and screams were heard for some time. The next time the
wounded bombers saw the Corporal was when he herded 60 German prisoners
back to 'D' Company position. He had virtually cleared the enemy strong point single
handed."

Heavy fighting continued and later that day Anderson led yet another bombing
attack. From this he did not return, was never seen again and has no known grave.

For his actions Corporal William Anderson was awarded a posthumous Victoria
Cross. The citation in the London Gazette of 22 May 1915 read:

"For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty at Neuve Chapelle on March
12, 1915, when he led three men with bombs against a large party of the enemy who
had entered our trenches, and by his prompt and determined action saved what
might otherwise have become a serious situation. Corporal Anderson first threw his
own bombs, then those in possession of his three men (who had been wounded)
amongst the Germans; after which he opened rapid fire upon them with great effect,
notwithstanding that he was at the time quite alone."

William’s younger brother, Alexander, was also to appear in the London Gazette,
when in 1917 his gallantry as a Lance Corporal in Mesopotamia saw him mentioned
in Dispatches.

And it was Alexander who was presented with his late brother’s Victoria Cross on 19
May 1920 in the banqueting hall of Edinburgh Castle by Lieutenant General Sir
Francis Davies. In 1969 Alexander Anderson donated William’s VC and other
medals to the Green Howards Museum in Richmond, Yorkshire.

© and researched by Alistair McEwen 2015 with additional research by Morag Cross.
William Anderson’s name appears on Le Touret 'Memorial to the Missing' at Pas-de-
Calais, some four miles to the north east of Bethune in France. It is carved with
those of 234 other members of the Yorkshire Regiment who have no known graves.
It was also inscribed on the Forres War Memorial but was not included on the Dallas
War Memorial.

Lieutenant Colonel William Herbert
(Bertie) Anderson, VC, 12th Battalion,
Highland Light Infantry (HLI), born at
Glasgow on 29 December 1881, was the
eldest son of William James Anderson,
CBE, a Stockbroker and Chartered
Accountant, and Nora Campbell
Anderson, of Lansdowne Crescent,
Glasgow, and Strathairly, Largo, Fife.

He attended Glasgow Academy and
Fettes College and was a member of the
1st Lanark Rifle Volunteers from 1900 to
1908.

He joined the accountancy firm founded
by his grandfather, Kerr Anderson and
MacLeod in West George Street, and in
1907, passed his professional exams.

The following year, he became a partner
in the business, and also married
Gertrude Gilmour, of Woodbank, Balloch,
Dunbartonshire, moving to Tighcruachan,
Cardross, where they had two sons.

In September 1914, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce (which included many
prominent local businessmen) raised a battalion from technical colleges, and men
from various trades and professions within Glasgow. Captain W H Anderson, a
volunteer, originally with 'C' Company, was afterwards promoted to major, as second
in command of several other battalions, and reached France in 1916. He was briefly
'invalided home' from France in March 1917, when he was promoted to Lieutenant
Colonel, and returned to France to command the 12th HLI.

He died on 25 March 1918, age 36, and was awarded the VC for his actions on that
date at Bois Favieres, near Maricourt, France, and is buried in Peronne Road
Cemetery, Maricourt. His VC is on display at the Lord Ashcroft Gallery in the Imperial
War Museum.

His citation read: "For most conspicuous bravery, determination, and gallant leading
of his command. The enemy attacked on the right of the battalion frontage and
succeeded in penetrating the wood held by our men. Owing to successive lines of
the enemy following on closely there was the greatest danger that the flank of the
whole position would be turned.
© and researched by Alistair McEwen 2015 with additional research by Morag Cross.
"Grasping the seriousness of the situation, Colonel Anderson made his way across
the open in full view of the enemy now holding the wood on the right, and after much
effort succeeded in gathering the remainder of the two right companies. He
personally led the counter-attack and drove the enemy from the wood, capturing
twelve machine guns and seventy prisoners, and restoring the original line. His
conduct in leading the charge was quite fearless and his most splendid example was
the means of rallying and inspiring the men during the most critical hour. Later on the
same day, in another position, the enemy had penetrated to within three hundred
yards of the village and were holding a timber yard in force. Colonel Anderson
reorganised his men after they had been driven in and brought them forward to a
position of readiness for a counterattack. He led the attack in person and throughout
showed the utmost disregard for his own safety. The counter-attack drove the enemy
from his position, but resulted in this very gallant officer losing his life. He died
fighting within the enemy's lines, setting a magnificent example to all who were
privileged to serve under him."

The War Diary of the 12th Battalion tells the story:

March 1918
21st Lt Col W H Anderson returned & took over command of Bn. Camp was shelled
all day & night by enemy 8” long range gun… [On 23rd the Battalion travelled to Bray
Sur Somme]

24th Bray, Bois Faviere near Maricourt… strongly attacked by enemy cavalry and
infantry… [we were] forced to withdraw with severe losses after sharp hand-to-hand.

25th At 8am enemy attacked… Lt Col Anderson immediately led counter-attack –
capturing 70 prisoners & 12 MGs [machine guns]. At 11.30am the whole Divl front
was strongly attacked by the enemy in overwhelming numbers… A Coy… accounted
for hundreds of the enemy. The battalion retired to the line of the Bois Maricourt…
but owing to the great number of men… who had become detached, it was divided
into 3 parties – one under Lt Col Anderson… and counter attacked at 4.30pm…
[this] was very successful and cleared the enemy several thousand yards east of
Maricourt & all gains held. Lt Col Anderson & 3 Coy Commanders were killed this
day…

26th Major Dixon ... gallantly fought the enemy all the next day back to
Morlancourt….

In July 1918, the Highland Light Infantry Chronicle recorded, "Great sympathy is
felt… with his father and mother, their four sons, all of whom held commissions
(three in the HLI) having been killed in the present war. "

Anderson’s fellow officers testified to their high regard for him. "If you could have
seen Colonel Anderson… counterattacking thousands of Germans with a mere
handful of men, you would believe in the British Army for all time. If ever a man won
the VC it was Colonel Anderson". Another wrote, "I was with him when we counter-
attacked that day… He was cheering me on and his face was wreathed in smiles at
the way the counter attack was progressing. His last words to me were 'Carry on with
those on the left…', and the last I saw was the swing of his stick and going on".
© and researched by Alistair McEwen 2015 with additional research by Morag Cross.
General Foch, the supreme commander of the Allied Armies, praised Anderson while
addressing the Scottish Divisions on the battlefield. "Under [Anderson’s] leadership
the men charged and charged again… through bullet-swept ground, and held on…
[I] ask you in the name of Colonel Anderson to go forward in the path he trod without
fear".

His three brothers also fell. Captain Charles Hamilton Anderson, 1st Battalion,
Highland Light Infantry, died on 19 December 1914, Second Lieutenant Alexander
Ronald Anderson, 1st Battalion, Highland Light Infantry, died on 8 October 1915, and
Captain Edward Kerr Anderson, Royal Flying Corps and 5th Battalion, Highland
Infantry, died on 16 March 1918.

Bertie, Ronnie, Charlie and Teddie

The Way Home, was published in 2007 about Bertie Anderson and his three
brothers who were also killed in the First World War. It was written by Robin Scott-
Elliot, Bertie's great-grandson. His VC is on display at the Lord Ashcroft Gallery in
the Imperial War Museum.

We are grateful to Robin Scott-Elliot for permission to use the above
photograph and the following article which appeared in The Scotsman on 10
November 2011.

"A Summer's afternoon in the manicured grounds of a Glasgow golf club. The 20th
century is in its early years. Four brothers, Bertie, Ronnie, Charlie and Teddie, pose
together, lying on the grass, lined up according to age. The four Anderson boys,
pride and joy of parents Willie and Nora. Comfort and respectability were the
hallmarks of the family's life. The Andersons were a well-to-do Glasgow family
whose home was in Lansdowne Crescent in the prosperous west end. Willie was a
partner in a successful accountancy firm; Nora spent much of her time in Fife,
preferring the country around Upper Largo where they had a second home -
Strathairly, a place the boys loved to play.

© and researched by Alistair McEwen 2015 with additional research by Morag Cross.
"Yet the Andersons also possessed a sense of duty. In 1914, Britain went to war and
so, willingly answering the call, did Bertie, Ronnie, Charlie and Teddie. By 1918, all
four were dead. The picture taken at the golf club records a family's lost generation.
Their deaths, commemorated in a plaque in Glasgow Cathedral, can be seen as a
symbol of the wider sacrifice Scotland has made for King (or Queen) and Country
down the decades, as war has followed war. For me, however, there is a more
personal connection as Bertie Anderson, who won a posthumous Victoria Cross for
his bravery under fire, was my great-grandfather. The sunken road from Hardecourt-
aux-Bois in the Somme valley to Montauban curves gently towards the ridge,
slipping unnoticed through brown fields, towards the crossroads that lie on the edge
of the upper village. At first it is deep enough to hide a man and it was here that
Bertie Anderson began the last hour of his life.

"Aged 36, William Herbert Anderson was a father of two and a Glasgow Accountant
by trade, following in his father's footsteps. On 25 March 1918, he was an acting
Lieutenant Colonel, in command of the 12th battalion of the Highland Light Infantry
(HLI) and in the path of the fiercest German offensive since the opening year of the
First World War. From early that morning, Anderson had shepherded his heavily
outnumbered men through a series of increasingly desperate actions to keep the
Germans at bay. Weight of numbers, though, began to tell and, by late afternoon, the
HLI men were struggling for their very survival. Around five o'clock, Anderson
gathered together every last exhausted man he could - cooks, clerks, servants and
signallers - and led them up the sunken road towards the German-held Montauban
brickworks. As the road rises, so the banks on either side fall away and soon
Anderson and his men were exposed. Many were killed instantly, but Anderson ran
on, his remaining men clustered behind the tall figure who urged them forward with a
revolver in one hand and swagger stick in the other. Soon he was in the brickworks
and after a brief, bitter struggle it was taken. On he went, leading his men into the
field that separated the brickworks from the village and the next German position. He
was to go no further.

"'He was cheering me on, his face wreathed in smiles at the way the counter-attack
was progressing,' wrote one of his colleagues to Gertie, Bertie's wife, a few days
later. 'His last words to me were 'Carry on with those on the left, Cox', and the last I
saw was the swing of his stick going on.' It took a week for rumours of his death to
filter back to Glasgow. A feeling of dread settled over the Lansdowne Crescent
house. They had to know. On 2 April Willie Anderson telegrammed the War Office,
'Hear report that my son Lt Col W H Anderson 12th HLI killed on 25th. Is this true?'
The following day came the reply, 'No report of any recent casualty to Lt Col
Anderson of HLI received at War Office, Secretary, War Office.' Two days passed
and another telegram, this time to a house in Balloch on the shores of Loch Lomond,
where Gertie Anderson was staying with her parents and her two sons. 'Deeply
regret Lt Col WH Anderson Highland Light Infantry killed in action March 25th. The
Army Council express their sympathy.' The Peronne Road cemetery lies just outside
Maricourt on the way to Albert. Unlike many of the war cemeteries that dot this
undulating area of northern France, it is small and rarely visited. The gravestones
have the familiar curved tops, white sheen and brief details of the men who lie below.
Bertie Anderson is in grave II.G.36.

© and researched by Alistair McEwen 2015 with additional research by Morag Cross.
"There lies my great-grandfather: Lt Col W H Anderson, VC. I was the same age as
him when I visited his grave, carved with the Victoria Cross awarded for his actions
on that last day of his life. Great-grandfathers should be old men, lives trailed out,
part-forgotten behind them. Bertie never grew old, neither did Charlie, Ronnie or
Teddie. To stare at their pictures is to see young, handsome, smiling men, four
victims of a war of ultimate futility and waste. They are in their twenties, thirties, they
are of my generation now. And I want them to be remembered.

"The year the war began, Teddie, the youngest by seven years and his mother's
darling, was leaving school at Fettes; Ronnie, something of a drifter, had returned
home from ranching in Rhodesia to spend an aimless summer at home. Charlie was
a soldier, stationed in India. When hostilities broke out, Charlie was joined in uniform
by his brothers. 'So glad we will all be in this war,' he wrote. On 11 December,
Charlie, aged 26, went into the trenches around Festubert. The conditions were
desperate; a cold, treacherous, sea of mud, the trenches little more than hastily dug
ditches. He did not have to endure them for long. On 19 December, his ninth day of
active service, Charlie was killed. He had been in the forefront of an attack that
morning to capture the first enemy trench. The Germans counter-attacked and when
the depleted Highlanders retreated to their line that night, Charlie was not among
them. Like so many, his body was never found. He was declared missing and it took
until the following August for Willie and Nora to be given official notice that their son
was dead. It is a long time to have to hope and pray for a miracle. Ronnie, four years
older than Charlie, was sent to France the following summer, arriving with his
brother's battalion in June. By then the Western Front had settled into the grind of
trench warfare; a battalion would have a turn in the front line, then in reserve and
then in the rear, a routine interrupted only by the occasional 'Big Push'. Late that
summer he wrote home to his mother, 'If I get killed, don't say 'So like Ron's careless
way.' It was around a month after that, on 8 October, that Ronnie, a tall man with the
long legs characteristic of the family, was doing his rounds and stopped to talk to one
of his sentries. He failed to notice that where he was standing the parapet of the
trench dipped, leaving him visible to enemy snipers.

"I first read of Ronnie's death in the hushed, soothing surrounds of the Public
Records Office in Kew. I'd filled in my forms, waited and then been handed a box
with the war diaries of the Highland Light Infantry, 1914-1916. Each day's affairs
were meticulously recorded. 'Working party to improve trenches.' 'Route march to
Givenchy.' Then, there it was, 'A quiet day. 2nd Lt AR Anderson killed.' What can you
know of a man from a photograph, from a letter? I see Ronnie taking what life served
him and smiling. I see his death on an old, yellowing piece of paper and my eyes
well up. I feel self-conscious. But my eyes still well up when I read it again, and
again. Teddie is easier to know. 'Little Ben' to his big brothers; 'my Honey Bee' to his
doting mother; young, good looking, full of himself and full of life. Then, as the long
years of the war struggled past, you can see him change. He broadens from a boy
into a man, but look at his eyes and I swear you see a wearying of the glory-seeking
youth, bursting with pride who left Scotland for the first time in his life to go to war.
Teddie had joined the HLI like his brothers, but in 1915 he transferred to the Royal
Flying Corps, the precursor to the RAF. He learnt to fly at the Curragh outside Dublin
and finally arrived on the Somme in May 1916. He wrote joyous letters home.

© and researched by Alistair McEwen 2015 with additional research by Morag Cross.
"War for him was the adventure of his life. 'I enjoyed it all immensely,' he wrote of an
attack in late June, 'and felt so 'bucked' that I sang lustily most of the way home!!
When I looked over the machine on landing, I found six little Archie [anti-aircraft]
holes in the wings so they were quite near.' Teddie survived his time at the front.
Pilots rarely lasted six months, but if they did they were posted home to become
instructors. Teddie ended up in the south of England, just as the end of the war
seemed in sight. One morning he took a plane up for testing. It fell into a spin and in
those early days of aviation there was no way out. Teddie died, age 21, on 18 March
1918 - seven days before his eldest brother Bertie. He lies in the New Kilpatrick
Churchyard in Bearsden, not all that far from Glasgow Cathedral where the plaque in
the nave marks the sacrifice of these four sons of the city. But for me, the end of this
story lies in France.

"A survivor of the battle for the Montauban brickworks wrote to Gertie Anderson
enclosing a hand-drawn map of where her husband's last steps had taken him that
final evening. I have a copy of the map and I am standing in the sunken road. I also
have a black notebook that belonged to Bertie. He used it to record sayings,
proverbs and quotations that stirred him. I know something of him now. I walk up the
road and what is left of the brickworks comes into view, a scruffy pile of overgrown
rubble. I walk through it, studying the map and then out into the field beyond. I find a
spot that might match that final X on a map drawn from memory 89 years ago. I take
a photograph of a bare piece of a ploughed field and I think of a quotation from
Bertie's book. It is by Burns.

But pleasures are like poppies spread,
You seize the flow'r; its bloom is shed;
Or like the snow falls in the river,
A moment white - then melts forever."

Lance Corporal William Angus,
Highland Light Infantry, born on 28
February 1888 at Armadale. He was the
first son of the nine children of George
Angus, a Coal Miner, and Margaret
Angus, of Clyde Street, Carluke, and left
school at the age of 14 to work in a
Lanarkshire coal mine. While playing
amateur football for Carluke Rovers in
1911, he played a trial for Glasgow Celtic
at Dumfries in a friendly match. He failed
to become a Celtic player and in 1914
signed for Wishaw Athletic.

On 9 September 1914, William joined the
8th Battalion, Highland Light Infantry. He
completed his training in Dunoon, and his
HLI company was attached to the 8th
Battalion Royal Scots.

© and researched by Alistair McEwen 2015 with additional research by Morag Cross.
This ensured that he saw action almost immediately. He landed in France in
February 1915 and was on the front-line at Givenchy in the summer of 1915. He was
briefly hospitalised in Wimereux and Rouen by a gunshot wound to his right leg in
May, before rejoining his unit.

On 11 June, Lieutenant James Martin led a covert bombing raid on an embankment
in front of the German trenches. The party was spotted and the enemy detonated a
large mine hidden in the earth. Martin was one of the casualties of the explosion.

At first, he was thought to be dead, but
he was seen to move as he pleaded for
water from the Germans. They
responded by throwing a grenade over
the parapet.

As soon as he heard what had
happened, Angus volunteered to attempt
a rescue of the man who also came from
Carluke. At first this was vetoed by senior
officers who considered it a suicidal
mission. Angus replied that it did not
matter much whether death came now or
later. Eventually, Brigadier General
Lawford gave permission for Angus to try
and save Martin.

A rope was tied around Angus so that he
could be dragged back if killed or
seriously wounded. Angus managed to
reach Martin by crawling through No
Man's Land without being detected. He
gave him a drink of brandy before
attaching the rope to Martin. Angus then
tried to carry Martin back to the safety of
the British trench 70 yards away.

However, once upright, Angus was soon seen by the Germans and he came under
heavy fire. Angus was hit and he fell to the ground. For the next few minutes he
sheltered Martin with his own body. Angus then signalled to the British troops to pull
Martin to safety. He then set off at right angles to the trench, drawing the enemy fire
away from Martin. Despite being hit several times, he managed to drag himself back
to the trenches. His injuries resulted in him losing his left eye and part of his right
foot.

His commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Gemmill later wrote that, "No braver
deed was ever done in the history of the British Army".

For this act of bravery Angus became the first professional footballer to be awarded
the Victoria Cross.
© and researched by Alistair McEwen 2015 with additional research by Morag Cross.
His citation read: "For most conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty at Givenchy,
on 12 June 1915, in voluntarily leaving his trench under very heavy fire and rescuing
an officer who was lying within a few yards of the enemy position. Lance Corporal
Angus had no chance of escaping the enemy’s fire when undertaking this very
gallant action, and in effecting the rescue he sustained about forty wounds from
bombs, some of them being very serious".

There were numerous contemporary accounts of what happened and these are
sufficiently vivid and immediate to tell the incredible story in detail.

A non-commissioned officer (NCO, corporal or sergeant) of the 8th HLI, an
eyewitness: "[We] had to attack a portion of the German trenches before dawn... the
bomb-throwers, led by Lt Martin, led the way, followed by 'A' company. The trench
was captured but it was found to be mined, so we were ordered to re-occupy our
trenches. Our men had scarcely left the German parapet when it went up in the air...
Lieutenant Martin was missing. As it became clearer we saw him lying about 15
yards from the German trenches... stunned by the explosion. During the next hour or
so, all trench and bayonet periscopes were on. Suddenly he was seen to move in
our direction. But the Germans had also been watching and opened fire on him, and
we ... on them. We thought he was done for, but again he moved, this time in the
opposite direction. Then the Germans made a dash for him, but were repulsed by
rifle and machine gun fire."

An eyewitness, 'MGO': "The Germans heard [Martin's] moans... for the ugly neck of
a periscope with its ghoulish eye reached over their trench and leered at the poor
wounded soldier below. Slowly and horribly it turned and swayed... at us too, and
then back to him. Hell itself can produce nothing to match the dreadfulness of that
horrid periscope... smashed by a well-aimed British bullet. In agony, poor Mr Martin
appealed to the enemy for a drink of water... they threw at him an unlighted bomb...
in the cruel glare of a cloudless June sky... to a man 'D' Coy volunteered to rush the
German trench... One was chosen [Angus]".

The NCO witness: "What was to be done? The trenches were only 35 yards apart.
Angus volunteered to go to the rescue, and his application proved irresistible... The
maxims [machine guns] were put to work and... delivered murderous fire on the
enemy's trench. Then out went Angus... he got there all right, but the way back was
more difficult".

'MGO', the eloquent and poetic eyewitness: "At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, 'Atkins' [as
Angus was disguised in the original, anonymous account] leapt out over our
parapet... Clinging to the ground... he crawled forward... in full view of both sides...
Quickly but coolly [he reached Martin] Now or never it must be... hand in hand... the
strong man guiding the weak... more bombs and up rises a pillar of smoke... hiding
the whole... into our view there stagger two poor wounded figures, stumbling,
running... Down they go, then up again..."

At the tumultuous homecoming ceremony organised by the grateful town of Carluke
on 4 September 1915, Lt Martin thanked his rescuer: "It was an act of bravery
second to none in the annals of the British Army".
© and researched by Alistair McEwen 2015 with additional research by Morag Cross.