Frederick Edwards ["Tales of the V.C."], item 1

• October 21, 2018 10:41:19 Sara Fresi

  Tales of the V.C.

  Pte. Frederick Edwards

  12th Bn. Middlesex Regt.

  by Lieut J. P. Lloyd

  
  

    There was no more stubbord fortress in the German lines during 

  the battle of the Somme than Thiépval. The German trenches were

  dug in front of and amongst the ruins of the little village.

  Set along the brow of the hill, they looked down upon the British as

  they did in most other parts of this battlefield. Beneath the silent face of

  the hillside lay a warren of deep dug-outs and shelters, and at

  some points tunnels ran out beneath the cruel tumble of rusted wire into No Man's Land.

    For all their valour the British soldiers could not, on the first of July,

  prevail against that strong labyrinth. Their guns had pounded

  the houses of the village into the chalk, but, when the whistles 

  blew and the British leapt over the parapets, the Germans brought

  up their machine-guns out of their safe lairs, and swept the 

  slopes with a sleet of lead.

    It was not until nearly three months

  later that the British secured Thiepval. To the right of it, on the 15th of September, they had taken

  Courcelette, and had poured through the stricken

  stumps of High Wood into Martinsuich and up the hill 

  road into the village of Flees. On the 25th Gueudecourt

  and Mozval fell, and the British line swept forward our mile on

  a front of six. But the stronghold of Thiepval 

  still stood out like a sullen rock above the rising tide.

    At high noon, on the 26th of September, when the guns had 

  done their work, two divisions of the New Army left their

  trenches behind them and walked up the slope towards

  Thiepval. But this is not the tale of what befell the two

  Divisions. It only concerns the valour of our private, and 

  how for his battalion it swung the balance from possible

  failure to sure success. His name was Edwards, and his

  battalion was the 12th Middlesex.

    The battalion had gone up through the straggling fruit-trees, and

  picked their way across the slashed entanglements into the German

• October 21, 2018 10:41:13 Sara Fresi

  
  

  
  

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• January 17, 2018 20:52:30 Thomas A. Lingner

  Tales of the V.C.
  

  Pte. Frederick Edwards

  12th Bn. Middlesex Regt.

  by Lieut J. P. Lloyd

  
  

    There was no more stubbord fortress in the German lines during 

  the battle of the Somme than Thiépval. The German trenches were

  dug in front of and amongst the ruins of the little village.

  Set along the brow of the hill, they looked down upon the British as

  they did in most other parts of this battlefield. Beneath the silent face of

  the hillside lay a warren of deep dug-outs and shelters, and at

  some points tunnels ran out beneath the cruel tumble of rusted wire into No Man's Land.

    For all their valour the British soldiers could not, on the first of July,

  prevail against that strong labyrinth. Their guns had pounded

  the houses of the village into the chalk, but, when the whistles 

  blew and the British leapt over the parapets, the Germans brought

  up their machine-guns out of their safe lairs, and swept the 

  slopes with a sleet of lead.

    It was not until nearly three months

  later that the British secured Thiepval. To the right of it, on the 15th of September, they had taken

  Courcelette, and had poured through the stricken

  stumps of High Wood into Martinsuich and up the hill 

  road into the village of Flees. On the 25th Gueudecourt

  and Mozval fell, and the British line swept forward our mile on

  a front of six. But the stronghold of Thiepval 

  still stood out like a sullen rock above the rising tide.

    At high noon, on the 26th of September, when the guns had 

  done their work, two divisions of the New Army left their

  trenches behind them and walked up the slope towards

  Thiepval. But this is not the tale of what befell the two

  Divisions. It only concerns the valour of our private, and 

  how for his battalion it swung the balance from possible

  failure to sure success. His name was Edwards, and his

  battalion was the 12th Middlesex.

    The battalion had gone up through the straggling fruit-trees, and

  picked their way across the slashed entanglements into the German

  
  

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  • Compare to current version
  • Compare to previous version

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