Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A superb ‘Frankfurt Trench’ 1918 D.C.M. group of three awarded to Lance-Corporal G. McArthur, 16th (Glasgow Boys Brigade) Battalion, Highland Light Infantry, for his part in the battalion’s epic 8 day siege action at Beaumont-Hamel. The Battalion suffered casualties of 13 officers and 390 other ranks in capturing the trench, and completely surrounded, held the trench against insurmountable odds for eight days with only 50 men. On the eighth day ‘fifteen sick and exhausted men stumbled into captivity; the remainder were painfully manhandled out on stretchers or buried where they lay.’

Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R. (26203 L. Cpl. G. McArthur. 16/High: L.I.); British War and Victory Medals (26203 Pte. G. McArthur. High. L.I.) generally very fine or better (3) £1800-2200

D.C.M. London Gazette 30 January 1920:
‘For bravery in the Field, who’s services have been brought to notice in accordance with the terms of Army Order 193 of 1919 to be dated 5th May 1919.’

G. McArthur was a native of Glasgow, and served during the Great War with the 16th (Glasgow Boys Brigade) Battalion Highland Light Infantry. The battalion served as part of the 97th Brigade, 32nd Division, on the Somme, and on the first day of the battle suffered over two-thirds of its strength (including 20 out of 25 officers) as casualties. The battalion was heavily reinforced, primarily from the Highland Cyclist Battalion, and was in the thick of things again in November 1916. McArthur was to win one of the 16th Battalion’s retrospective awards for their epic siege action at Frankfurt Trench, Beaumont-Hamel in November 1916. Robert Gould’s article on Army Order 193 of 1919 gives the following:

‘Now, on 18th November, 1916... the Glaswegians peered through swirling snow at the heights of Beaumont-Hamel. At 6.10am the barrage lifted and each man, laden down with half a hundredweight of arms and equipment, including six bombs, 220 rounds of ammunition and a trenching spade, heaved himself out of the jump-off trench and into No Man’s Land.

On the left flank the 2nd Manchesters, 2nd K.O.Y.L.I. and the 11th Borders, after initial successes, were heavily counter-attacked and beaten back. On the battalion’s half right front an enemy strong point of six to eight machine guns pinned down “A” and “B” companies. Only “C” and “D” companies on the half left penetrated the German front line, Munich trench. Three platoons of “D” company, leaving the rest to clear their captured trench, pushed on to their second objective, Frankfurt trench. Despite heavy shelling and vicious machine gun fire, the second trench was stormed and its’ 50 surviving defenders made prisoners and sent back under escort. This group reached Munich trench in time for the guards to be shot down and the prisoners freed as the mopping-up party, attacked from three sides by overwhelming numbers, was rushed and destroyed. The attempted capture of the German first and second trenches and the subsequent command of Beaumont-Hamel spur had failed after heavy casualties (the 16th alone had lost 13 officers and 390 other ranks). Now, with Munich trench cleared, the Germans no doubt considered that the 32nd Division’s assault had been completely repulsed. However, unbeknown to the Germans, a battered remnant of Frankfurt trench was still garrisoned by three officers and about 60 other ranks [including McArthur] of the 16th H.L.I., together with a few men from the 11th Borders. This party, with Munich trench once more firmly held by the enemy, was now deeply implanted in German territory.

By nightfall a number of stragglers had reached Frankfurt trench and the community had grown to about 45 effectives and a similar number of wounded. A dusk reconnaissance revealed that the trenches in front and behind, together with the communication alleys on either flank, were occupied by Germans and the garrison was isolated with very limited resources. Two dugouts still existed in the battered trench, one was allocated to the wounded, in charge of a corporal, and the fit men accommodated in the second. There were four Lewis guns with a limited number of rounds which were implemented from bandolier of the dead lying in the open. In addition, the men handed their own small arms ammunition to the machine gunners and then armed themselves with captured German rifles and cartridges. The machine gun N.C.O., Lance Corporal Veitch, the son of a sergeant in the Scots Greys and a survivor of the Somme holocaust, was to prove himself a tower of strength and be recommended for the Victoria Cross. Bombs were not too plentiful and food and water were both scarce, but in worst case of all were the wounded. There were insufficient field dressings to cover all the mangled flesh and, apart from occasionally easing the sufferer’s position, nothing could be done for those unfortunates with broken bones and limbs.

By the second day the garrison had settled to a state of siege. Collapsing trench walls had been revetted and the machine gun emplacements set at vital points. The senior N.C.O., Sergeant Lee... cheered and encouraged his men through the day. He too would later be recommended for the V.C..... At dawn on the third day, supported by trench mortar fire and bombs, the Germans made a determined attempt to wipe out the puny garrison. By the time the attack melted away the balance of strength in the trench had shifted and there were now more wounded than fit men. Accordingly, the line was shortened, the smaller dugout evacuated and, after dark, the routine search for shell-hole water assumed a fresh urgency. That night a heavy British barrage fell round the garrison, but after the first bursts of small arms fire there was silence, the first relief had failed. Fresh hope came on the fourth day when torch signals flashed from British planes urged the garrison to hold out as help was on the way. The fifth day saw the promised relief attack beaten back with over 300 casualties. Once again the garrison was driven underground by heavy shelling which blew in the dugout entrances and destroyed much of the revetting. Conditions in Frankfurt trench were rapidly worsening. Many of the wounds were gangrenous and lack of sleep and food was blunting the efficiency of the active men. On the afternoon of the sixth day, 23rd November, the Germans launched a powerful attack from front and flanks which almost succeeded. Unusually heavy shelling and the sentries’ warnings aroused the defenders, but it was difficult for exhausted men to run up half-destroyed dugout steps. After a hand-to-hand struggle with entrenching tools and bayonets the Germans were routed, leaving behind them eight prisoners. One of the heaviest blows to the defence was the loss of the indefatigable Lance Corporal Veitch, after the fight was over, killed by a sniper’s bullet as he manned his Lewis gun. On the morning of the seventh day an Inniskilling Fusilier, captured in one of the unsuccessful relief attempts, appeared waving a white flag with a message from the German divisional commander. Roughly translated it read “Surrender and get good treatment or stay where you are and be killed.” After a short pause, presumably for reflection, the occupants of Frankfurt trench were subjected to the heaviest bombardment they had yet endured; one of the casualties was Sergeant Lee, killed by shrapnel.....

The promised German attack came on the eighth day, in force and from every point of the compass. Sentries and machine gunners were shot down or bombed as the listless and effectives struggled from the dugout. The process of sheer annihilation was only halted by screams from the eight enemy prisoners. The last stand of “D” Company of the H.L.I. was over. Fifteen sick and exhausted men stumbled into captivity; the remainder were painfully manhandled out on stretchers or buried where they lay. Two of the wounded died on their way to prison camp and yet another was shot by the Germans for accepting a piece of bread from a Frenchwoman.

In 1919 the recommendation under Army Order 193 was sponsored by no less a personage than General Sir Hugh Gough , commander of the Fifth Army. The closing sentence of his letter to the War Office reads, “I consider that these men deserve great recognition for the magnificent example of soldierly qualities they displayed.” It seems probable that every survivor was decorated because the 16th received one D.S.O., two M.C.s, 11 D.C.M.s [including McArthur] and 22 M.M.s - the highest number of awards, by far, to any one battalion. The two N.C.O.s, both recommended for the Victoria Cross, each received a posthumous mention in despatches.’