Staffordshire won the Great War
the position in a bayonet charge, and then racing across the bridge. Charlton then ripped away explosive charges attached below. For his bravery Charlton was recommended for the Victoria Cross although he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, (and five days later he was awarded the Military Cross). The recently captured positions were consolidated and casualties recorded as 3 officers wounded, 15 men killed, 3 missing and 70 wounded. In the afternoon the 138th and 139th Brigades passed through the 137th (Staffordshire) Brigade.
The London Gazette dated 3 October, 1919, confirmed Captain Charlton’s award for the DSO:
“Lt. (A./capt.) Arthur Humphrey Charlton, I/6th Bn., N. Staff. R.T.F. For distinguished gallantry. On the 29th September, 1918, during the storming of the St. Quentin Canal, north of Bellenglise, he and his company were held up by machinegun fire from a trench guarding the approach to a bridge. He took forward a party of nine men, captured the gun, killing all the crew by bayonet, and then carried on to the bridge, which he captured, killing a large number of the enemy, and saving the bridge from destruction. He did fine work.”
Liasing
Richard and Lee have been liaising with two of the Canadian relatives (David Charlton and Paul Benson) of Captain Charlton for a few weeks after they had tracked them down and found they were coming over for the ceremony. They met with Richard at Tatenhill Church near Burton-ontrent, where Captain Charlton’s father had been the vicar.
At Tatenhill the Canadians recounted one fascinating story: when King George V presented Captain Charlton with his DSO and MC medals he had a quiet word, explaining that after having visited the Riqueval Bridge in December 1918, he would ensure Sir Douglas Haig fully understood the significance of what had been achieved by Charlton, his men, and the 137th (Staffordshire) Brigade in ‘smashing the Hindenburg Line’.
One man who did understand on 29 September 1918 what had been achieved was Brigadier General John Vaughan ‘Tally Ho VC’ Campbell, the hunting horn blowing maverick who had trained the men of 137th (Staffordshire) Brigade to assault and capture the supposedly “impregnable” Hindenburg Line in less than 150 minutes.
Iconic
In arguably one of the most iconic photographs of the action, and probably the whole of the Great War, Campbell VC stands on the damaged Riqueval Bridge with his officers, below which on the 60 feet high canal bank are the smiling faces of the lifebelt and German helmet wearing men under his command. The photograph may have been staged, but there is no denying the remarkable achievement of these men of Staffordshire.
Brigadier General Campbell’s postaction report to Staffordshire County Council was printed in the Lichfield Mercury:
“The Midlanders – boot makers, miners, lace-workers, potters and others who had never pretended in their lives to heroism or poetry, or the traditions of crack regiments – went at the canal with mats, rafts, life-belts, light building material, and wading, swimming, floating, they crossed the water, mounted the other side, mastered a footing, and then stormed over the astonished enemy and clean through the Hindenburg defences, which ran along the eastern bank and were equipped with the obstacles which German ingenuity during the last two years had been able to devise and accumulate. Their day’s work was the immortal epic of the ordinary man.”
Lord Hatherton, the chairman of Staffordshire County Council, replied:
“On the crossing of the St. Quentin Canal and of the events of the following day, an operation which like for the brilliance of conception and for the rapidity of completeness of execution in spite of the overwhelming difficulties that had to be faced, stands out as one of the landmarks of a war that has already produced more instances of initiative, of splendid courage, and of willing to sacrifices, both by individuals and by units than have been recorded in any previous war in the history of the country.”
The following week several newspapers ran the story that, “The 46th [North Midland] Division inserted the tactical key that unlocked the door for our entry into the main Hindenburg system in its most formidable part.”
That door remained unlocked until 11 November, 1918, six weeks after the men of Staffordshire had captured the bridge and canal, an incredible feat of arms that shortened the war by at least 12 months. Staffordshire born Professor John Bourne and colleague of Dr Spencer Jones at Wolverhampton University War Studies Department sum up the whole event as “The day the men of Staffordshire won the war.”
The Wolverhampton Branch Western Front Association meets at 2pm every second Saturday of the month at St Peter’s Collegiate School, Crompton Park, Wolverhampton.