Givenchy battlefields 1915

[Laurent]

William Angus Victoria Cross 12th June 1915, 'D' Company 8th Royal Scots ...picture of the place where he won his VC (Sheet 36 SW A9)

[Malcolm]

The citation was:

Lance Corporal William Angus, 8th Battalion The Royal Scots

For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty at Givenchy on the 12th of June 1915, in voluntarily leaving his trench under very heavy bomb and rifle fire, and rescuing a wounded officer who was lying within a few yards of the enemy's positions. Lance Corporal Angus had no chance whatever of escaping the enemy's fire when underthis very gallant action,and in effecting the rescue he sustained about forty wounds from bombs, some of them very serious.

The actual story is:

LCpl Angus was actually in the company of Highland Light Infantr who were transferred to 8th RS to complete the numbers when the 8th first went overseas. The officer in charge of that company was a Lt J. Martin and it was him who was lying wounded in no-mans land following an abortive raid the previous night . When he voluteered to go help him he was told' it was certain death, man ' With a rope tied to his waist he crawled out and used the dead ground and shell-holesmanaged to reach Lt Martin without being spotted by the enemy. Seizing the officer by the shoulders , he raised him a little , but by this time the Germans must have seen or heard him , and from a range of less than 6 feet they opened fire. Fortunately the parapet was high , forming a clear mark for the Royal Scots who opened an accurate rapid fire to disturb the enemy's aim. A shower of bombs burst around the two and when the smoke cleared Lt Martin was seen to stagger to his feet and , directed by L Cpl Angus , make a rush for for our trenches; he covered 20 yards before collapsing but managed to crawl in the rest of the way. L Cpl Angus , taking a different route, had about a dozen bombs thrown at him and sustained about 40 wounds before he managed to reach safety.

Lt Martin was his original company officer and therefore was more important to Angus.

Aye

Malcolm

[dycer]

Malcolm,

I stand corrected but which Regiment now claims the V.C?

Royal Scots or H.L.I?

As I said in the 7th Division thread the 8th Battallion Royal Scots make the distinction that C/pl Angus was attached and indeed when Lt Martin was awarded the M.C. on 14/01/1916 they record he was in the H.L.I.

I appreciate the 8th H.L.I. was subsequently disbanded but it would appear to have been a distinct Force at the time of the award of the V.C. and M.C. although serving with the Royal Scots

George

[Tim Godden]

Hi there,

Willie Angus certainly seems to be popular at the moment. The HLI have the VC on their records.

Thanks for the great photo.

All the best,

Tim

[Somme1916]

Nice photo, did anyone notice the inverted pigtail picket in the lower right foreground?

[paul guthrie]

Nice photo, did anyone notice the inverted pigtail picket in the lower right foreground?

Yes Jon it's amazing how many are still used by farmers, also elephant iron, more near Verdun for some reason.

[Laurent]

Panorama photo Givenchy Village, view from first german trenches may 1915. First english trenches (47th Division) on the top right of the picture.

[Guest jimmcnulty]

Hi there,

Willie Angus certainly seems to be popular at the moment. The HLI have the VC on their records.

Thanks for the great photo.

All the best,

Tim

William Angus VC was motivayed by the fact that both he and Lt Martin came from the same small town in Scotland. The families knew one another. While they were training with 8 HLI, Martin discovered that the regiment was not going to France for some time, but arranged an attachment to the 8 Royal Scots for him and Angus.

Soon after arriving in France, Angus was wounded and lost touch with martin. On the morning of 12 June 1915 he learned that Martin was the officer lying on the embankment after an attempt to displace the enemy had been thwarted by them exploding a bomb. He insisted on a rescue attempt and the resulting action was described by a Brigdaier who witnessed it as 'The bravest deed done in the history of the British Army'

The story of Angus's deed, including eye witness reports from soldiers in his trench, can be found at www.forvalour.com which is the website I keep for him. He was my great uncle and I spent lots of time with him as a child, being taken to various military and soccer events. (He was one of only two professional footballers to win the VC).

There are photos and directions to the scene on the website. It is exactly as it was in 1915, including the crater caused by the bomb and the embankment from where he rescued Martin.

[brindlerp]

Attached is MAP 15 from "The Seventh Division 1914 - 1918" by C.T. Atkinson.