Alfred Oliver Pollard ["Tales of the V.C."]

Alfred Oliver Pollard VC DCM MC & Bar (4 May 1893 – 5 December 1960) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Pollard had volunteered for service on August 8, 1914. Up to that date, he had worked as a clerk at an insurance company. He was wounded twice earlier in his service and showed exceptional courage in returning to his unit after recovering from wounds. His bravery earned him the highest (and largest number of) awards awarded to a soldier in his unit during the war. He had entered the war as a Private, but was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion, Honourable Artillery Company, British Army during the First World War when the deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. Citation: On 29 April 1917 at Gavrelle, France, the troops of various units had become disorganized owing to the heavy casualties from shell fire and a subsequent determined attack with very strong forces caused further confusion and retirement. Second Lieutenant Pollard realized the seriousness of the situation and with only four men he started a counter-attack with bombs, pressing it home until he had broken the enemy attack and regained all that had been lost and much ground in addition. This officer's splendid example inspired courage into every man who saw him. His Victoria Cross is held by the Honourable Artillery Company in London, and a copy is on display in its Medal Room.2nd Lieutenant A. Pollard M.C., Honourable Artillery Company (HAC), was awarded the V.C. for bravery. The attached account of his actions was written by James Price Lloyd of the Welsh Regiment, who served with Military Intelligence. After the war, the government to destroyed all the archives relating to this propaganda (section MI 7b (1)). They were regarded as being too sensitive to risk being made public. Remarkably these documents have survived in the personal records of Captain Lloyd. Many of these papers are officially stamped, and one can trace the development of many individual articles from the notes based on an idea, to the pencil draft which is then followed by the hand-written submission and the typescript. The archive "Tales of the VC" comprises 94 individual accounts of the heroism that earned the highest award for valour, the Victoria Cross. These are recounted deferentially and economically, yet they still manage to move the reader. Date stamped 19 December 1917.