No Ordinary Courage
The First World War was only days old when the first of over 600 VCs awarded during that conflict were earned near Mons in what was an act of the most exceptional bravery.
Under the command of Lieutenant Maurice Dease, a section of two machineguns in a forward company of the 4th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, was detailed to hold the railway bridge over Mons-Condé canal at Nimy, less than two miles to the north of Mons city centre. It would seem that Dease’s company, under Captain Ashburner, was placed on the bridge itself, whilst the remainder of the battalion occupied the ground immediately to the south. The Royal Fusiliers were also expected to defend the nearby road bridge. To the north-east of Mons was another bridge over the canal at Obourg. This was held by the 4th Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment.
The comparatively small British Expeditionary Force, regarded by the Kaiser as a “contemptible little army”, was overwhelmingly outnumbered by the opposing German 1st Army. Equally, the positions which the British soldiers occupied were far from strong with the bend in the canal where the two Nimy bridges lay forming part of a wide and exposed salient. It was unlikely that the British troops would be able to stop the German advance at the canal, so plans were made to evacuate Mons if the canal position became untenable and take up a second defensive position amongst the slag heaps and the mining villages to the south of the city. Everything depended upon the men of the Royal Fusiliers and the 4th Middlesex halting the first German onslaught of the war.
It was on Sunday, 23 August 1914, that the Germans attacked. The day began with mist and rain shrouding the
battlefield. This cleared by 10.00 hours, but by then German artillery was in position on high ground to the north of the canal; the British positions at Nimy and Obourg soon came under heavy fire.
The bombardment was followed by direct infantry assaults upon the Nimy bridges by the German 84th Infantry Regiment. The following is recorded in the official history of the war:
“The Royal Fusiliers were ceaselessly shooting down Germans, who at first came on in heavy masses, but, being caught by the rapid fire of the Fusiliers in front and by machine guns of the Middlesex and Royal Irish in flank, soon abandoned this costly method of attack.”
However, as more German troops were thrown into the attack, the situation of the Royal Fusiliers became “perilous in the extreme” and the pressure upon them became too great for the men to bear. Yet to withdraw whilst still in contact with the enemy would expose them to the fire of the German troops. It was vital that Dease’s machine-guns held back the Germans long enough for the rest of the men to pull out.
By this time, however, all the men of Dease’s two sections on the railway bridge had either been killed or wounded and so the young Lieutenant took over a gun himself. Assisted by Private Sidney Godley,
Dease kept the Germans at bay, despite being wounded at least three times. Eventually, unable to continue, Dease was taken to the dressing station where he died from his wounds.
Godley, himself wounded by shrapnel or shell fragments and with a bullet lodged in his skull, took over the gun. Continuing to hold his position for two hours, Godley single-handedly held off the Germans long enough for the rest of the battalion to conduct a successful withdrawal.
For their actions that day, both Dease and Godley were subsequently awarded the Victoria Cross, the first of the war. The announcements were published in The London Gazette of Wednesday, 25 November 1914.
Though it was initially thought that Godley had been killed, he was in fact taken prisoner. He was held for much of his captivity in a camp at Delotz near Dallgow-Döberitz to the west of Berlin. It was whilst in the PoW camp that Dease was informed by the Germans of the award.
The awards to Dease and Godley were the first of 628 VCs awarded to 627 recipients during the First World War.