A rare Great War 1914 operations D.C.M. awarded to Sergeant W. E. Packard, East Surrey Regiment, details of whose gallantry at Richebourg L’Avoue later appeared in Deeds That Thrill The Empire

Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R. (9932 A. Sjt. W. E. Packard, 1/E. Surr. Regt.), contact marks and somewhat polished, otherwise good fine £1000-1200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Brian Kieran Collection.

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D.C.M. London Gazette 30 June 1915:

‘For conspicuous gallantry throughout the campaign, notably in October 1914, near Richebourg L’Avoue, when in charge of a machine-gun enfilading a German attack in advance of the trenches. A party of the enemy got within 20 yards of him under cover, but with great coolness he swung round his gun and annihilated them.’

Walter Packard first entered the French theatre of war in mid-August 1914, a full account of his gallant deeds near Richebourg L’Avoue later appearing in Deeds That Thrill The Empire:

‘In mid-October 1914, our Second Corps, under Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, occupied a line which extended from Givenchy in the south, north-east to the village of Herlies, and thence north-west to Aubers.

To hold this position and prevent the enemy from breaking through to Bethune and the West, Smith-Dorrien had only at his disposal the 3rd and 5th Divisions - a total perhaps of thirty thousand men - while opposed to him was the entire left wing of the Crown Prince of Bavaria’s huge army, which, in the course of the ten days’ struggle which followed, was reinforced by the whole of the German 14th Corps, a division of another corps and a brigade of a third. The first big German attack was delivered on the morning of 22 October, when the 5th Division on our right was driven out of the village of Violaines, about a mile north of Givenchy. But a dashing counter-attack by the 3rd Worcesters and the Manchesters prevented the enemy from advancing.

Late in the afternoon, just as dusk was falling, the Germans advanced in great numbers against the 1st East Surreys, who were entrenched east and west of the road from Givenchy to Lorgies, and close to the ruined village of Richebourg l’Avoue. In preparation for the assault their artillery had been bombarding the trenches of the East Surreys all day with high-explosive shells, until in places they were nothing but a mass of debris and mutilated bodies. Nevertheless, thanks to the bravery and resourcefulness of a young Non-Commissioned Officer of the Battalion, Acting Sergeant Walter Edward Packard, the attack was not only beaten back, but ended in an utter fiasco.

Packard was Sergeant of the Machine-Gun Section of the East Surreys, whose guns played upon the advancing enemy with great effect, until, when within about 80 yards of our trenches, the Huns threw themselves flat on the ground, to avoid our fire and to take breath for the final rush.

Now it happened that between the hostile trenches, and at right angles to them, there was a wide ditch of some little depth, and it occurred to Packard that if he could get a machine-gun down the ditch - which began at the foot of our parapet and continued up to that of the Germans - he would be able to enfilade the enemy with the most deadly effect when they got up to charge. He determined to chance it, and, with the assistance of a Private, got the gun over the parapet, unseen by the enemy, and down the ditch, until he was nearly opposite the prostrate line of Huns. Then he mounted the gun and began blazing away.

He had emptied four or five belts of ammunition, when, happening to glance to his left, he saw a strong party of Germans creeping up the ditch towards him, from the direction of the enemy’s trenches. They were within 20 paces of him before he could swing round his gun and turn it upon them. But once he had done so, it was all over with them; in a minute or two the party was literally wiped out.

Swinging the gun round again to his first target, Packard waited until the order came for the Germans to get up and charge. The moment they rose to their feet, the machine-gun began to vomit forth its torrent of death, and before that murderous enfilading fire, where every bullet accounted for its man, combined with that from the British trenches, the Germans broke and fell back in disorder, leaving the ground piled with their dead and wounded.

Sergeant Packard, who was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, for conspicuous gallantry throughout the campaign, notably in the action which we have just described, is 25 years of age, and his home is at Balham. He has served eight years with the 1st East Surreys.’

His MIC entry, which confirms that he later served in the Machine Gun Corps, also states that his British War and Victory Medals were returned in 1923 (‘Undisposed of’), although his 1914 Star would appear to have been issued.