Orders, Decorations and Medals

A Great War ‘Western Front’ M.M. awarded to Lance-Corporal J. Reynolds, Grenadier Guards, killed in action at the battle of Gonnelieu, 1 December 1917

Military Medal, G.V.R. (19643 L. Cpl., 4/G. Gds.) good very fine £320-360

M.M. London Gazette 14 January 1918.

John Reynolds was born in the village of Aughton, near Ormskirk, West Lancashire. Employed as a Dock Labourer in Liverpool, he enlisted into the Grenadier Guards on the 5th October 1914. With the 4th Battalion he entered the France/Flanders theatre of war on 15 August 1915, where the Battalion, as part of the 3rd Guards Brigade, fought at Loos and Hill 70.

The 4th Battalion took part in the Battle of the Somme and arrived at Halloy on 30 July. They fought at various sites in the Beaumont Hamel Sector and on 25 September at 12.35 hours attacked Lesboeufs. The Regimental History notes that over 150 Germans were killed with the bayonet in this attack. During the period from the 18 September the Battalion suffered 458 casualties. Guardsman John Reynolds survived and was promoted Lance-Corporal on 4 August 1917.

On 1 December 1917 the 4th Battalion Grenadier Guards took part in the Battle of Gonnelieu where they earned the Battle Honour ‘Cambrai 1917’. In the battle, one officer earned the Victoria Cross; Guardsman Reynolds was killed in the action and awarded the Military Medal.

The attack began at 06.30 hours when the leading companies of the 4th Battalion moved forward, without a preliminary bombardment. “The line of advance was over open ground up a gentle slope leading to Gonnelieu and there was no cover or protection of any kind. On came the leading companies of the 4th Battalion in perfect order. When the enemy’s machine gun fire broke over them it was terrible, like a driving hailstorm, but the pace never checked for a moment and eventually the objective was reached.”

Captain G .H. T. Paton, a Scotsman, was commanding 4 Company when the unit on his left was driven back, thus leaving his flank in the air and his company practically surrounded., Captain Paton walked up and down adjusting the line within 50 yards of the enemy under withering fire. He personally removed several wounded men and was the last to leave the village. Later, he again adjusted the line and when the enemy counter-attacked four times, each time sprang on to the parapet, deliberately risking his life, in order to stimulate his men. He was eventually mortally wounded. (His Victoria Cross is displayed in the Guards Regimental Headquarters, London.)

Lance-Corporal Reynolds was officially posted as “Missing” after the attack on Gonnelieu, but was then reclassified as “Died on or since 1st December 1917”. His body was not recovered and his name is commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial at Louverval. He was the husband of Lucy Reynolds of 26 Waterhouse Street, Everton, Liverpool. Also entitled to the 1914-15 Star, British War and Victory Medals. With copied research.