Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War 1916 ‘Somme’ M.M. group of four awarded to Acting Sergeant F. E. Hermann, 10th (Service) Battalion (1st Hull), East Yorkshire Regiment (Hull Commercials) who died on 17 November 1916 of wounds received in action on 13 November, the opening day of the Battle of the Ancre

Military Medal, G.V.R. (1029 Cpl. F. E. Hermann. 10/ E. York: R.); 1914-15 Star (10-1029 Pte. E. F. Hermann. E. York: R.); British War and Victory Medals (10-1029 A. Sjt. E. F. Hermann. E. York. R.); Memorial Plaque (Frans Edgar Hermann) the whole contained in a contemporary bronze display frame, extremely fine (5) £600-£800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Barry Hobbs Collection of Great War Medals.

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M.M. London Gazette 1 September 1916.

Frans Edgar Hermann was born in 1890 at Sculcoates, Hull, Yorkshire and attested for the 10th (Service) Battalion, (1st Hull), East Yorkshire Regiment on 11 September 1914. This unit, a Pals Battalion known as the ‘Hull Commercials’ made up of local clerks, teachers and businessmen, had been formed at Hull on 29 August by Lord Nunburnholme and the East Riding Territorial Force Association.

Embarking on 8 December 1915 from Devonport, Hermann arrived with his battalion at Port Said, 22 December, to defend the Suez Canal at Qantara with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. Moving to join the British Expeditionary Force in France, the battalion arrived at Marseilles on 7 March 1916 and proceeded with the 92nd Brigade, 31st Division to the Somme area on the Western Front. Hermann was appointed Lance Sergeant on 4 June 1916.

Although fortunate to be in reserve for 1 July 1916, the 92nd (Hull Pals) Brigade would still hold the divisional frontage and the 10th Battalion were required to hold the front line from 24 June until ‘Z’ hour on the 1 July, the date for the start of the Somme offensive. Serre, their division’s objective, was one of the strongest of the German positions to be attacked - it being covered by defence works consisting of thick barbed wire entanglements, protected gun emplacements and elaborate deep dugouts which were not affected by the British bombardment. German retaliatory shells obliterated the front line and communication trenches, making movement by day extremely difficult, resulting in the death of Lieutenant Flintoff and eight other ranks of the battalion.
The battalion history records that, as zero hour approached, the 10th Battalion’s preparations on the night of 30 June involved: ‘providing parties to cut “lanes” through our own wire to give our attacking troops a quick means of egress into No Man’s Land.’ After this the battalion pulled back to allow the attacking troops to come forward.

The 92nd Brigade was pulled out of the line with the rest of the shattered 31st Division on 2 July and sent north to Bethune to refit. For his service during this period, Acting Sergeant Hermann was awarded the M.M. and he was promoted Acting Sergeant on 28 July.

The Brigade then spent August and September with alternate spells in and out of the trenches South East of Richebourg L’Avoue with casualties continuing to mount in this supposedly quieter area. Duty in the line was marked by trench raids and occasional awards for bravery. A highly successful raid by the Hull Commercials on German trenches at Boar’s Head near Richebourg on the night of 18/19 September saw Hermann of C Company suffer multiple wounds:

‘The raid on the 18/19th was to be unorthodox. For a week prior to the raid the division had practised a non-offensive policy with the intention of duping the enemy into thinking that they had a peace-loving division opposite them. Lieutenant-Colonel Stapledon, in the face of opposition from his superiors, insisted that there should be no artillery prior to the attack; stealth would be used to position the troops and Bangalore torpedoes used at the last minute to open up the German wire. One officer and twenty five men from each company would take part under the command of Captain Lambert. In the report written after the raid the aims of the raid were stated as: ‘to enter enemy’s trenches, capture and kill any of the enemy, bomb his dugouts and do as much damage as possible.’ This was to be achieved by entering the enemy’s trenches at: ‘four separate points as silently as possible, with 4 parties, each party not to be more than 36 strong, enemy’s wire being cut by a bangalore torpedo at each point of entry, the moment before entry. ’

The four raiding parties waited in No Man’s Land until midnight when the Bangalore torpedoes went off and the raid started.
C Company was in position at 11.57 and at midnight when the torpedo exploded rushed into the trench under the cover of the smoke. The party entered a bay occupied by four sentries, three of whom were killed and the other taken prisoner. Flank parties bombed their way down the trench while a third party bombed another trench (Kampe Strasse) causing the Germans to run down the trench and out into the open at the back of the trenches. At 12.10 the raiding party left the trenches leaving behind an estimated ten dead Germans with an unknown number wounded. C Company casualties were light, with one officer and three men slightly wounded. There was no enemy retaliation of any sort after the raid.

The raid was a great success and congratulations were received from all quarters. Battalion orders for the 20th gave details of the compliments: ‘I should be glad if you will ask the G.O.C. 31st Division to convey to Brig. Gen. Williams, Commanding the 92nd Infantry Brigade, my congratulations to all ranks of the 10th East Yorkshire Regiment, under Major C.C. Stapledon, who took part in the successful raid carried out last night. The casualties inflicted on the enemy and the capture of prisoners and a machine gun, proved that the raid was not only prepared in the most careful manner, but that it was carried out with fine energy, determination, and gallantry by the officers and men of the East Yorkshire. The capture of the prisoners has enabled us to establish some identifications which are of the utmost importance at the present time to the whole of the allied armies. (signed) R. Haking, General Commanding, First Army.’ (Hull Pals - 10th, 11th, 12th & 13th (Service) Battalions of the East Yorkshire Regiment - A History of 92 Infantry Brigade 31st Division by David Bilton refers.)

Having been wounded in action during the raid, Hermann was admitted to hospital at Wimereaux on 23 September 1916 with wounds to his left hand, neck and legs. Sufficiently recuperated, he rejoined his unit in the field back on the Somme on 9 November 1916 and was wounded again four days later on the opening day of the Battle of the Ancre during which the 10th provided flank guards and carrying parties as opposed to the 12th and 13th battalions who suffered terribly in the main attack to the north of Serre.

Acting Sergeant Hermann died of his wounds on 17 November 1916. He was the son of Niels Christian Hermann and the husband of Elizabeth Mary Hermann of 5 Eldon Grove, Beverley Road, Hull and is buried in Couin British Cemetery, France.