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Amazing bravery on the Western Front

From the Bolton Evening News, first published Tuesday 4th May 2004.

VCs of the First World War -- Cambrai 1917, by Gerald Gliddon (Sutton, £19.99)

IN the latest and last volume of Sutton's VCs of the First World War series, Gerald Gliddon tells us about the men who won the Victoria Cross on the Western Front in 1916, prior to the beginning of the Battle of the Somme on July 1, together with those who won the medal after the Battle of Paschendaele petered out at the end of October 1917.

Featuring the careers of 43 men, this volume recalls the story of the Battle of Cambrai, famous for being the first occasion when tanks were used en masse.

Containing biographies of a broad cross-section of men from Britain and the Dominions including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and even the Ukraine, this volume completes the series' coverage of the Western Front. It includes a sapper, a former miner, who chose to stay with his seriously wounded colleague underground and die with him, rather than obey an order to leave him and save his own life.

Further accounts include a padre who worked tirelessly over a period of three nights, bringing at least 25 men to safety from no-man's-land, who otherwise would have been left to die.

It's a fascinating reminder of the amazing bravery of men who fought and all too often died in the appalling conditions that prevailed in the trenches on the Western Front.

VCs of the First World War -- Cambrai 1917 is published by Sutton at £19.99. Its first day was so successful that church bells in Britain were rung in anticipation of a great victory. A tank crew member numbers among the recipients of the VC.

Derrick Grocock

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