Despite the machines and the mechanical sophistication of the War, the occupation of the enemy’s trenches could only be done in the end by man to man combat. In that combat, men for brief moments lifted themselves out of the common herd and performed extraordinary deeds of valour and became heroes. There was no monopoly by any nation of the emotional impetus which turned men into supermen and the artists were quick to picture and glorify the deeds. Artists in Germany like Richard Assman, Arno Grimm and Paul Leuteritz, in France like Albert Beertz and Georges Scott and in Britain like Dudley Tennant, Richard Caton-Woodville, Stanley Wood and Pearse, all show an astonishing similarity of presentation – only the nationality of the hero is different. The heroes here are Allied and their stories are told in the way they might have been told in contemporary accounts.
Todger Jones, V.C. of the Cheshires. No incident of the Great War so fired the imagination of the British people as that by which Private A.A. Jones, Cheshire Regiment, better known to his comrades as Todger Jones, won the Victoria Cross, for there is a grim humour about it. On the Somme, snipers were doing considerable damage to his comrades. Todger went out alone, and although one bullet went through his coat and another through his helmet, he succeeded in locating and killing three snipers. Going on he reached the enemy’s trench and found several dug-outs full of Germans. By threatening them with bomb and bayonet he compelled 102 of them, including three officers, to surrender, and single-handed marched them back to the British lines with their hands above their heads.
The Boy Scout Hero of France. During the German advance in the Vosges an Eclaireur (French Boy Scout) was captured. He was asked to indicate the position held by his countrymen. He defiantly replied, Je suis francais,’(I am a Frenchman). This sealed his fate, for at once they put him against a telegraph pole and called out a firing party. As the German Officer rapped out the word of command, the young hero whipped of his hat and crying out ‘Vive La France’ received his baptism of fire.
Jack ‘Boy’ Cornwell: When the light cruiser, Chester, steamed sadly in the Humber after her terrible ordeal in the battle of Jutland she carried amongst her grievously wounded a boy of only 16 years. In the midst of the battle this gallant lad stood alone by his gun, quietly awaiting orders though mortally wounded. He died on 2 June 1916 and was awarded a posthumous V.C.
The Immortal Story of L. Battery: During the retreat from Mons, L. Battery of the R.H.A. was resting briefly near Néry in the early morning of 1 September 1914. Without warning the pursuing German Cavalry Division arrived and fell upon them with artillery and machine gun fire. After the first bombardment just one of the six 13pr guns remained usable and the only men left in action were Captain Bradbury, three subalterns, Battery Sergeant-Major Dorrell, Sgt. Nelson, Driver Osborne and Gunner Darbyshire. The Germans had ten field guns and two machine guns in action against the lone 13pr and soon the subalterns were all dead and Captain Bradbury wounded twice. B.S.M. Dorrell took command and they knocked out a pair of German guns before Sergeant Nelson was severely wounded. The three remaining men fired the gun until it was almost too hot to work, and they continued to fire when reinforcements arrived and drove the Germans off. Driver Osborne and Gunner Darbyshire were awarded France’s highest decoration for bravery in the field, the Médaille Militaire. Sergeant Nelson and B.S.M. Dorrell (who became a Lt. Colonel) both received V.C.s. Captain Bradbury, too, was awarded the V.C. but posthumously, for he died of his wounds. Gunner Darbyshire wrote about the episode after the War and this is what he said about Captain Bradbury’s last moments: “... a lyddite shell exploded behind me, threw me to the ground and partly stunned me. When I came round I got up and found that I was uninjured. On looking round, however, I saw that Captain Bradbury was mortally wounded. Though the captain knew that death was very near, he thought of his men to the last and begged to be carried away so that they should not be upset by seeing him, or hearing the cries which he could not restrain.’ A hero’s words for a hero’s deeds.