Orders, Decorations and Medals

A scarce 1914 ‘Battle of La Bassée’ D.C.M. group of four awarded to Acting Sergeant Charles Rogers, Royal Engineers

Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R. (13573 2 Cpl., 17/Co. R.E.); 1914 Star, with clasp (13573 2 Cpl., R.E.); British War and Victory Medals (13573 Cpl., R.E.), mounted for wear, nearly extremely fine (4) £2200-2600

D.C.M. London Gazette 1 April 1915. ‘For gallant conduct at Givenchy on 25th October, 1914, in leaving his trench and assisting a severely wounded officer into cover, under heavy shell fire’.

Charles Rogers was born in Belfast and enlisted in the Royal Engineers on 18 March 1904 for a three-year engagement, aged 19 years, 6 months. He extended his service in 1906 to complete seven years with the colours. He served with 3 Field Troop R.E. who were based at Canterbury, and having been promoted Corporal on 4 January 1911, he transferred to the Reserve on 17 March 1911. Having married in 1908, he was still residing in Canterbury at the outbreak of hostilities. On 5 August 1914 he was mobilized at Chatham and posted to 17 Field Company R.E. on 8 August 1914. They were immediately ordered to France and ten days later the Company disembarked at Le Havre, coming under the command of 5th Division II Corps.

Introduction to hostilities was swift, as the list of engagements for Corporal Rogers and 17 Field Company attests: Battle of Mons, 23-24 August 1914; Retreat from Mons, 23 August-5 September; Battle of Le Cateau, 26 August; Battle of the Marne, 6-9 September; Battle of the Aisne, 13-20 September; Passage of the Aisne, 13 September; Actions of the Aisne Heights, 20 September; Battle of La Bassée, 10 October-2 November, and 1st Battle of Ypres, 5-19 November.

It was at La Bassée that Corporal Rogers won his D.C.M. The battlefield was flat, intersected with streams, and waterlogged. Thus the trenches dug in it could only be shallow, and cover had mainly to be obtained by building up breastworks - very exposed conditions for the Engineers who were working day and night to consolidate the defences. ´

The official history states that, ‘... the II Corps on the 25th had a quiet day except for artillery fire, the enemy’s being more than usually accurate as the weather permitted aeroplane observation. .... During the morning the bombardment became so heavy that some battalions were withdrawn from their trenches, to reoccupy them at night. ... Work on the defences was continued whenever possible, the engineers collecting fencing posts and plain wire from the neighbouring country by day and erecting them at night in front of the line to form entanglements. ...’

This was not the only act of gallantry that Rogers displayed; as his wife speaking to a local paper stated that she was ‘not able to say definitely for what particular act of gallantry her husband received the D.C.M., but she believes that it was for something he did in connection with the blowing up of a bridge during the battle of the Aisne’. She adds that in a recent letter from him, he wrote, ‘I may as well tell you I have got the D.C.M. Probably you will know by this. More honours for good old Kent - I mean Ireland’.

On 16 November, whilst serving at Ypres, Rogers was promoted to Acting Sergeant. He remained with his unit until being wounded in action on 28 April 1915 - this during the Battle of St. Julien during the 2nd Battle of Ypres, when 17 Field Company was on short attachment to the 27th Division. His wounds were severe enough for him to be returned home on 2 May 1915.

The remainder of his service was with the ‘Home Establishment’, being posted to the Training Depot. He was discharged on the grounds of no longer being physically fit on 27 January 1919, still with the rank of Acting Sergeant.

Sold with a contemporary cutting from the Kentish Gazette and Canterbury Press, bearing an article on and a photograph of Sergeant Rogers; also with copied service papers; m.i.c. and other research.