The BRAVEST of the BRAVE
Victoria Cross heroes
THE Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour “in the presence of the enemy” to members of the British and Commonwealth armed forces. It was introduced in 1856 by Queen Victoria to honour acts of bravery during the Crimean War and has since been awarded 1,357 times to 1,354 individual recipients.
Among them are at least eight men from Coventry and Warwickshire, or who served with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, during the First World War.
Arthur Vickers (2nd Royal Warwickshires)
Arthur Vickers was born in Birmingham in 1882 and won the VC during the Battle of Loos on September 25, 1915.
Launching an attack at 6.30am, and in the face of terrific fire, the battalion reached the first line of trenches to find the wire had not been cut.
Pte Vickers ran forward and, standing up in broad daylight under heavy fire, cut two gaps in the wire.
His action contributed largely to the success of the assault which saw the capture of 60 prisoners.
An indication of the severity of the fighting that day is that after the attack the battalion could only muster five officers and 140 men. Vickers died aged 62 in 1944 and was buried at Witton Cemetery in Birmingham.
Robert Phillips (13th Royal Warwickshires)
Phillips was born in West Bromwich on April 11, 1895, and served as a temporary lieutenant and later captain with the 13th Battalion, attached to the 9th, which was involved in fierce fighting against the Turks near Kut in Mesopotamia.
On January 25, 1917 a Turkish counter attack had driven the leading British troops out of their trenches.
Col Edward Henderson the commanding officer of the 9th, was severely wounded during an attack to regain the position. Phillips showed great courage both during the attack and in bringing Henderson back to the British trenches.
Phillips survived the war and died in Cornwall in 1968.
Edward Henderson (9th Royal Warwickshires)
Henderson was educated at Dunstable Grammar School and was 38 years old, and a major and lieutenant colonel in The North Staffordshire Regiment attached to 9th Royal Warwickshires.
On 25 January 1917 on the west bank of the River Hai, near Kut, Mesopotamia, Henderson brought his battalion up to two front-line trenches which were under intense fire. Although shot through the arm, Henderson jumped onto the parapet and advanced alone some distance in front of his battalion, cheering them on under the most intense fire over 500 yards of open ground.
Again wounded, he nevertheless continued to lead his men on, finally capturing the position by a bayonet charge.
He was again twice wounded, and died when he was eventually brought in. He is buried in the Amara War Cemetery.
Arthur Hutt (7th Royal Warwickshires)
Hutt was born in Earlsdon in 1889 and was the first Coventrian to be awarded the VC.
On October 4, 1917, during the third battle of Ypres, “A” Company captured their first objective but, as they continued their advance, all the officers and NCOs in Pte Hutt’s platoon were hit. Hutt, aged 28, took command and led the platoon forward. He was held up by an enemy strong point, but ran forward alone, shot the officer and three men in the post, and caused 40 or 50 others to surrender.
Realising that he had pushed too far, Hutt withdrew his party, personally covering the withdrawal by sniping and killing a number of the enemy.
After carrying back a badly wounded comrade he went back out and carried in four men under heavy fire.
Hutt died in Wyken, on April 14, 1954, aged 65. Following a military funeral, he was cremated at Canley. There is a stone to his memory in Coventry’s War Memorial Park.
Julian Gribble (10th Royal Warwickshires)
Born in London in 1897, Cpt Gribble
was 21 years old when he won his VC at Beaumetz on March 23, 1918, during the German spring offensive.
With orders to hold on in face of heavy attacks, the Germans broke through, but Gribble and his company would not yield and sent back a runner to say he would stay until ordered to retire.
By his courage and determination the Germans were unable to obtain mastery of the ridge for some hours, and the rest of his brigade was able to withdraw.
Gribble himself was wounded and taken prisoner and died in Germany of pneumonia on November 24, 1918, before he could be repatriated. He is commemorated on the War Memorial at Long Bredy in Dorset.
Henry Tandey (5th Duke of Wellingtons)
Tandey was born in Leamington in 1891 and won the VC on September 28, 1918, at the Battle of Marcoing in France.
When his platoon was halted by heavy machine-gun fire Pte Tandey crawled forward to locate the gun post and led a Lewis gun team to destroy it.
He then rebuilt a plank bridge crossing a canal, again under a hail of bullets.
Later that evening he and eight comrades were surrounded by Germans.
Although badly wounded, Tandey led a bayonet charge so fierce that 37 of the enemy were driven into the hands of his company.
He was also awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and the Military Medal and was mentioned for gallantry five times in dispatches.
He may also infamously have spared Adolf Hitler’s life when he came face-toface with the future Nazi dictator in battle, but chose not to shoot.
Tandey moved to Coventry after leaving the army in 1926 and died in the city in 1977, aged 86. He was cremated at Canley and his ashes were buried in Masnieres British Cemetery in Marcoing.
William Amey (18th Royal Warwickshires)
Amey was born in Birmingham in 1881 and was a 37-year-old lance-corporal when he took part in an attack on Landrecies in order to secure the bridgehead on the Sambre on November 4, 1918.
Due to fog many hostile machine-gun nests were missed by the leading troops.
Under heavy fire, Amey led his section against a machine gun nest, drove the garrison into a neighbouring farm and finally captured about 50 prisoners and several machine guns.
He then attacked a machine-gun post in a farm-house, killed two of the garrison and drove the remainder into a cellar until assistance arrived, and later rushed a strongly-held post, capturing 25 prisoners.
Amey was demobbed as a corporal in 1919 and lived in Leamington until his death at the age of 59 in 1940. He is buried at Leamington Cemetery.
Cecil Knox (Royal Engineers)
Knox was born in Nuneaton and won the VC on March 22, 1918, at Tugny, when he was entrusted with the demolition of 12 bridges.
He successfully carried out the task, but in the case of one steel girder bridge the time fuse failed to act. Without hesitation he ran to the bridge under heavy fire, tore away the time fuse and lit the instantaneous fuse.
He died in Nuneaton in 1943 when he lost control of his motorcycle on ice on Tuttle Hill and is buried in Witherley churchyard.