Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Major G. Rooke, 2nd/10th Princess Mary’s Own Gurkha Rifles, attached 2nd/2nd King Edward’s Own Gurkha Rifles, who was wounded in action on 19 December 1914, and was killed in action leading his Company at the Battle of Aubers Ridge on 9 May 1915

1914 Star, with clasp (Major: G. Rooke. 2/10 Gurkha Rif.); British War and Victory Medals (Major G. Rooke.) toned, extremely fine (3) £200-£240

Giles Rooke was born at Lymington, Hampshire on 16 June 1874, the son of Major-General Rooke, Royal Artillery, and was educated at Bedford School. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Indian Army on 30 August 1893, and was advanced Major in the 10th Gurkha Rifles on 30 August 1911.

Rooke was on leave at home when War was declared with Germany in August 1914 and as such was despatched to Dublin, to temporarily join the 3rd Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles, where he took command of ‘B’ Company, during the autumn of 1914. In November 1914 he was ordered from Dublin to France, there to join the 2nd/2nd Gurkha Rifles, as part of the Dehra Dun Brigade, Meerut Division of the Indian Corps. Shortly after arriving in France he was wounded in action on 19 December 1914 at La Quinque Rue on the Festubert Road. Upon recovering from his wounds, he rejoined his regiment and subsequently took part in the battle of Neuve-Chapelle, 10-12 March 1915, and then the Battle of Aubers Ridge, 9 May 1915.

Battle of Aubers Ridge, 9 May 1915
The Dehra Dun Brigade which was to carry out the initial assault had the 2nd/2nd Gurkha Rifles on the right, 1st/4th Battalion Seaforth Highlanders in the centre and the 1st Battalion Seaforth Highlanders on the left. The Gurkhas also had a Company of the 6th Jats attached to them. The Meerut Division had just 26 howitzers to deal with 750 yards of German parapet, which was no more than 150 yards away from their own front line. With the same timing as that for the British sector, the barrage opened at 0500 hours and intensified its rate of fire thirty minutes later. At this moment the leading waves of the Dehra Dun Brigade left their trenches and moved out into no man’s land.
The soldiers were greeted with such ferocious machine gun and rifle fire that those that survived the clamber out over their own parapet, could only advance a few metres before being sent to ground by the hail of bullets. All this was happening whilst the bombardment was reaching its full intensity and to complicate the matter further, the troops forming the subsequent waves continued to arrive in the forward trenches. These were soon blocked with dead; wounded; soldiers moving forward and those being forced back.

The actual infantry attack was supposed to commence the moment the bombardment lifted at 0540 hours but as the Gurkhas and Highlanders attempted to clamber across the numerous water filled ditches they were cut down by the machine gunners safe in their almost impregnable shelters. Within minutes hundreds of men had been killed and wounded and the advance bogged down half way across no man’s land. The attack had been a complete failure. Word then came through that the 1st Division on the right were going to make a second effort at 0700 hours following a 45 minute barrage. The Meerut Division agreed to do its best but was cut down as before.
Despite this second failure Lieutenant-General Anderson commanding the Meerut Division decided that they would make another attempt. He called for a 60 minute bombardment at 0745 hours which incurred the wrath of the German artillery which put down a counter barrage onto the densely packed Indian trenches. This new bombardment by the Indian gunners turned out to have been a waste of ammunition; by the time it had finished it was evident that the 1st Division were unable to prepare a worthwhile assault. The Highlanders and Gurkhas who had gone over the top would just have to lie there under the retaliatory shelling until something could be done about their position.

Led by Major Rooke, the 2nd/2nd Gurkhas made yet another heroic attack on the German defences, which again proved totally futile. Following the failure of the first two attacks by the Indian Corps, a further assault by the Dehra Dun Brigade (including Rooke's Company of Gurkhas) was ordered at 0845 hours. However the neighbouring British unit, 1st Division, reported that the situation on their front was so confused that they would not be able to support the Dehra Dun attack and the Commanding Officer of the Indian Corps, General Willcocks, postponed it until further notice. However, owing to the orders not being properly communicated, Rooke did not learn of the cancellation and as a result had actually launched the attack by mistake. Leading his men over the top, he was quickly cut down together with a number of his men, but groups of determined Gurkhas pressed on under a hail of machine gun fire linking up with comrades who had been pinned down in No-Man's Land during the previous attacks. A small band reached the German wire, where according to the German war diary, they discarded all their equipment and 'running like cats' along the wire, spotted a gap, ran through it brandishing their kukhris, and vaulted over the breastwork, taking on the defenders in hand to hand combat. This small group was eventually cut down and later buried by the Germans but the location of their graves, like many others, was later lost.

Rookes obituary states that he ‘was gallantly leading the men of “A” Company against the enemy when he was struck down... the Company got further forward than anyone else.’ He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Neuve-Chapelle Indian Memorial, France.

Sold with copied research including a photographic image of the recipient.