Liberation of Denain, 27 October 1918

[ejwalshe]

Liberation of Denain, 27 October 1918.  The Prince of Wales visiting liberated Denain. Accompanied by General Currie, he walks through the Denain streets, bedecked with flags.  Victoria Cross: Lieutenant-Colonel William George Barker.  Barker won the Victoria Cross for an action that took place on 27 October 1918. His citation reads: "On the morning of the 27th of October, 1918, this officer observed an enemy two-seater over the Foret de Mormal. He attacked this machine, and after a short burst it broke up in the air. At the same time, a Fokker biplane attacked him, and he was wounded in the right thigh, but managed, despite this, to shoot down the enemy plane in flames. He then found himself in the middle of a large formation of Fokkers, who attacked him from all directions, and was again severely wounded in the left thigh, but succeeded in driving down two of the enemy in a spin. He lost consciousness after this and his machine fell out of control. On recovery, he found himself being again attacked heavily by a large formation and singling out one machine, he deliberately charged and drove it down in flames. During this fight, his left elbow was shattered and he again fainted, and on regaining consciousness he found himself still being attacked, but notwithstanding that he was now severely wounded in both legs and his left arm shattered, he dived at the nearest plane and shot it down in flames. Being greatly exhausted, he dived out of the fight to regain our lines, but was met by another formation, which attacked and endeavored to cut him off, but after a hard fight, he succeeded in breaking up this formation and reached our lines, where he crashed on landing. This combat in which Major Barker destroyed four enemy machines (three of them in flames), brought his total successes up to fifty enemy machines destroyed, and is a notable example of the exceptional bravery and disregard of danger which this very gallant officer has always displayed through his distinguished career. Major Barker was awarded the Military Cross on 10 January, 1917, first Bar on 18th July, 1917, the Distinguished Service Order on 18 February, 1918, 2nd Bar to Military Cross on 16th September, 1918, and Bar to Distinguished Service Order on 2nd November, 1918.

[mebu]

Interesting pics, as always.

For info: the large concrete bunker at 6.30 is/was - British, constructed for  2 guns (chambers named Little Joe and Big Ben, just visible in the photo) of the Royal Garrison Artillery  in September 1917, taken by the Germans then recaptured by the Canadians at the end of August 1918.  

This stood until about 8 years ago, when demolished by the landowner. 

 

Peter

 

[Terry_Reeves]

Thanks for posting. The caption that mentions a French woman being imprisoned for two years for gleaning sounds very much like a propaganda piece. Note that it appears before the pictures of the Canadians liberating the town which I suspect was designed to give a contrast between villains and conquering heroes. 

 

It would be interesting to see if there is any evidence to support the  imprisonment assertion.

 

TR

 

Edited 26 October , 2019 by Terry_Reeves

[Hedley Malloch]

Terry, I think you may have misread the caption which, to be fair, is not entirely clear. To me it says here is a woman pictured gleaning. She was once imprisoned for two years. The comma distinguishes between the two separate events.

[Terry_Reeves]

Hedley, thanks for pointing that out, but I don’t think it detracts from my point about propaganda. 
 

TR

 

 

[ejwalshe]

Interesting note on the bunker, thanks @mebu