Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War ‘First Day of the Battle of Passchendaele’ M.C. group of four awarded to Second Lieutenant C. M. Evans, Tank Corps, late Royal Fusiliers

Military Cross, G.V.R., the reverse engraved ‘2nd Lieut. C. M. Evans Tank Corps July 31st 1917’; 1914-15 Star (1463 Pte. C. M. Evans. R. Fus.); British War and Victory Medals (2-Lieut. C. M. Evans.) mounted for display, nearly extremely fine (4) £1,800-£2,200

M.C. London Gazette 26 September 1917; citation London Gazette 8 January 1918:

‘2nd Lt. Claude Mulliner Evans, Tank Corps.
For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He led his company into action under a heavy barrage of gas and other shell fire, unditched his Tank twice under heavy fire and proceeded in front of our infantry, engaging the enemy until his Tank was put out of action by a direct hit. He then took his crew and guns into a trench close by and continued for two hours to fire on hostile machine gun emplacements from an advanced position two hundred yards in front of our Infantry. His gallantry and determination deserve the highest praise.’

On the opening day of the battle of Passchendaele, 31 July 1917, the entire British tank force available in France at that time, three brigades of 72 tanks each, were committed to support the operation, and were dropped by rail several days ahead of the battle to assemble in the nearby Oosthoek Wood four miles west of Ypres. The attack was towards Pilckem, St. Julien, Zonnebeke and the Gheluvelt Plateau, en route to Passchendaele, and the Allies initially met with little resistance from the pulverised German front line.

By midday they were already moving beyond the former line, with the objective of the higher ground of Pilckem Ridge, when German counter-attack divisions mounted the ridge and bore down on them. The British were by now low on artillery ammunition, and pandemonium reigned, with some battalions holding their ground while others were pushed back, for two hours before the heavens opened and brought the fighting to a close. By that time the Allies had gained just 2,000 yards at the cost of 3,000 casualties.

The tanks, meanwhile, completely floundered. The expected ‘firm, level ground’ of the area was anything but, and it was very difficult to navigate when the terrain was sopping and featureless. Often the drivers were forced to go along roads rather to cut through the countryside, which left the vehicles extremely vulnerable to enemy attacks. A huge number were rapidly crippled or drowned in the mud, with 88 out of 107 tanks from the two southern Tank Brigades disabled, blown up or broken down by the end of that first day of fighting.

Claude Mulliner Evans served in France as a Private in the 18th Royal Fusiliers from 14 November 1915. He was appointed 2nd Lieutenant in the Herefordshire Regiment on 5 August 1916, and subsequently attached to the Tank Corps. In the battle of Passchendaele on 31 July 1917, Evans commanded Tank B43 (2008), a male tank called “Buluwayo”, one of four tanks that formed 9 Section in No. 6 Company, ‘B’ Battalion. His Medal Index Card indicates that his 1914-15 trio was claimed and issued in February 1938, and sent c/o The President, Imperial Veterans Assoc., Vancouver, B.C., Canada.