Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War 1918 Western Front’ D.C.M. group of four awarded to Private H. Allen, Lincolnshire Regiment, who was twice wounded and decorated for gallantry at Vraucourt during the Battle of St. Quentin in March 1918, when several times he took his Lewis Gun out into the open under heavy shell and machine-gun fire and inflicted considerable casualties on the enemy.

Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R. (201107 Pte. H. Allen. 4/Linc: R.); British War and Victory Medals (3652 Pte. H. Allen. Linc. R.); Defence Medal, good very fine or better (4) £800-£1,200

D.C.M. London Gazette 3 September 1918:
‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He several times took his Lewis gun out into the open under heavy shell and machine-gun fire to obtain a good view of the enemy, and was observed to inflict considerable casualties on him. When his company’s right flank was turned and the company ordered to withdraw, he stayed to the last, covering the retirement with his gun, and then brought it back over five hundred yards of open ground under a hail of machine-gun bullets. His care for his gun’s safety rather than his own was an example of the highest order to his comrades.’

Harry Allen was born in Waddington, Lincolnshire in 1892. He attested for 4 years’ service with the 3/4th Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment on 9 April 1915 and arrived in France, having transferred to the 1/4th Battalion, on 16 June 1916. He was wounded by shrapnel in the shoulder, left leg and left arm on 4 August 1916 and returned to England on 21 August 1916. He was back serving with the 1/4th Battalion in France on 26 December 1916 and was posted to 2/4th Battalion on 29 January 1918.
Allen’s official D.C.M. citation as published in the London Gazette references no specific date or location but an alternative, largely identical, citation can be found on page 174 of The 59th Division 1915-1918, by Lieutenant-Colonel E. U. Bradbridge, which starts by stating that Allen’s D.C.M. was specifically for his actions at Vraucourt, on 22 March 1918. The Regimental History’s account of the 4th Battalion’s activities on this date are entirely consistent with this:

‘At about 4:00 p.m. masses of Germans could be seen swarming around the far side of Vraucourt, turning the right of the 4th Lincolnshire, who were forced to withdraw to the Army Line in front of Mory. The remnants of the 2/5th Battalion also fell back to this line and, with the 2/4th Leicesters on the left, the three battalions of the brigade dug in, tired and worn out as they were.
At about 8:00 p.m. an officer from the 2/4th Leicesters arrived at Battalion Headquarters, 2/5th Lincolnshire, in a breathless condition: he had been sent by his Commanding Officer to say that the division on his left had been driven back and that the enemy had turned the flank of the Leicesters, and was almost in Mory. This was very soon evident, for both the Leicesters and 2/5th and 4th Lincolnshire were being fired at from both front and rear. So once again a retirement was necessary…
During the night B Company of the 4th Lincolnshire occupied the southern edge of Mory and held up the enemy with almost continuous Lewis Gun and rifle fire.’ (The History of the Lincolnshire Regiment 1914-1918, by Major-General C. R. Simpson, C.B. refers.)

Allen was wounded again on 15 April 1918 when he suffered a gun-shot wound to his left arm as his battalion was engaged in fierce fighting around Crucifix Hill during the Battle of Bailleul; one of a series of battles during the German Spring Offensive of 1918 that came to be known collectively as the Battle of the Lys. He was repatriated to England where he spent the remainder of the war. On 31 March 1920 he was discharged under King’s Regulations, being surplus to requirements (having suffered impairment since entry into the service) and returned to Lincolnshire where he died in 1958.

Sold with original signed citation for D.C.M., original certificates of service and discharge, and the recipient’s pocket diary (The Soldiers Own Diary) for 1917 containing some personal details and brief, hand written, entries for most days of the year. Typical entries read:
25 April: Carrying bombs up to firing line at night, ration carrying up to line night.
3 May: Relieved the 9th Nofolks at Loos. Terrible bombardment at 4.30am. Under two ravages for two hours.
9 June: Trench attack by 1/4 Lincs on Hill 65.
30 June: Went up for trench attack in support to A and C Coy at 11 o’clock. Attack at 2.30.
24 August: Lewis Gun Post. Gas attack by Germans.
18 Sep: Lewis Gun Post. Gas attack on German lines, enormous casualties reported.