medals awarded in 1918

[Cornwall]

As I have been researching the medals of some relatives I have come across the odd remark about the number of medals awarded for gallantry in 1918. Some historians seem to believe they were awarded quite liberally because the war was coming to a close. With hindsight we know the war finished in November 1918 but from my reading this was not considered the case at the time.

I would welcome the remarks of you experts. All medals are worthy but are others considered more important if awarded in 1916, for example, than late 1918. I can assure you it makes no difference in my family bu is this the prevailing thought?

Regards

Oppy

[27thBN]

Well in the last year of the war there was more continuous action including the final 100 days ,so you would expect there to be more awards than at other times of the war,although not a huge difference but more Also more awards to choose from as the MM was only introduced in March 1916

MC

[Cornwall]

Thank you for your reply.

Although there was more continuous fighting in 1918 so therefore more medals awarded is one answer. But what about this argument I have heard that lots of medals were awarded because the end was in sight. I cannot believe that a 1918 VC is less worthy than one won the year before or the MCs or MMs awarded.

[27thBN]

Well as i tend to feel the same ,at the start of 1917 the DSO,DCM and other awards had the criteria bumped up that the awards had to be for MOSTLY gallantry and not distinguished service especially for service at the sharp end this order was passed down from the top to all the lower levels so if any thing later awards should be "valued" more than earlier ones the Dcm at the start of the war was awarded quite a bit as there was no MM yet ,if you read the early citations they MOSTLY are not as impressive as later ones.Of course there were exceptions to this. :blink:

MC

[per ardua per mare per terram]

...With hindsight we know the war finished in November 1918 but from my reading this was not considered the case at the time...

Most people, including recommending officers did not know that the war would end in 1918 on 1st November of that year, so had no grounds for basing their honours on that idea. After 11/11/18 there was a process of going through and rewarding deeds that may have been overlooked previously.

Have you considered the relitive sizes of the forces deployed in 1916 and 1918 and also the increased number of fromts that British troops were fighting on?