Loyal friends’ hero charge as they faced machine guns
Readers share their memories of loved ones who fought for our freedom
AS the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War nears, we remember the ordinary people who made extraordinary sacrifices. Ron Birch, from Leicester, remembers his father talking about a life or death moment.
My father Albert was born in Coventry and served as an infantry private in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment throughout the war. Having enlisted aged 17 he spent his teenage years surviving the horrors of Ypres and the Somme alongside his close friend Arthur Hutt. At the start of the devastating Passchendaele campaign, his unit advanced towards the town of Poelcapelle in Belgium, suffering such tremendous casualties that just a handful of private soldiers were left standing – not one officer or NCO had survived. Pinned down by machine gun fire, Albert and Arthur faced death. Years later dad recalled their conversation: “If we stay here we’re done for. If we try to get back we’ll probably be shot by for cowardice. If we’re going to die we may as well take some of them with us.” They fixed bayonets, shouting: “OK, let’s go for them.”
They charged over open ground towards the machine gun post. Incredibly only four or five of them were hit whilst the others knocked out the post. Arthur, having joined up earliest, was adjudged to be the most senior private, and was awarded the Victoria Cross for this action. After the war my dad and Arthur remained close friends but lost contact during the November 1940 Coventry Blitz when his home was destroyed and he was evacuated to Barwell. My dad’s only other comment on that heroic event was: “Thank Goodness something good came out of that terrible war.” Dad passed away in 1976 and lies in Barwell Cemetery.