Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An outstanding and rare Great War ‘Gallipoli’ C.G.M. group of five awarded to Acting Leading Seaman W. J. Pierce, Howe Battalion, Royal Naval Division, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, later Defensively Armed Merchant Ships and a veteran of the Battle of Antwerp in October 1914, for his great gallantry during the Third Battle of Krithia, in which his Battalion suffered over 80% casualties; one of only a handful of men who reached and held the Turkish front-line trench, when a withdrawal was ordered, Pierce, though badly wounded himself, stayed behind to cover the retreat of other wounded men and then carried back a wounded comrade over open ground, completely exposed to enemy fire

Conspicuous Gallantry Medal, G.V.R. (SX.3.226 W. J. Pierce, A.B. R.N.V.R. Howe Bn. R.N. Div.); 1914 Star, with clasp (SX3/226 W. J. Pierce, A.B. R.N.V.R. Howe Bttn. R.N.D.); British War and Victory Medals (S.3-226 W. J. Pierce. Act. L.S. R.N.V.R.); Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (3/226 W. J. Pierce, A.B. R.N.V.R. Sussex Divn.) minor edge nick to CGM, light contact marks, nearly extremely fine (5) £15,000-£20,000

Exhibited in the Royal Marines Barracks, Walmer, Deal when the School of Music was destroyed and heavy casualties inflicted by an IRA bomb on 22 September 1989.
Dix Noonan Webb, September 2009.

Only 13 C.G.M.s ever issued to Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve; the combination with both a 1914 Star and a Long Service and Good Conduct Medal is excessively rare.

C.G.M. London Gazette 13 September 1915:
‘Showed great gallantry on the 4th June in remaining in the enemy’s trench and continuing firing, although wounded, to cover the retirement of other wounded men, and finally in carrying in a wounded man under heavy fire.’

The original recommendation was submitted by Commodore Oliver Backhouse to General Sir Ian Hamilton on 8 June: ‘I desire to bring to your notice the following officers and men of the 2nd R.N. Brigade who performed special meritorious service during the operations on 4th June. In illustration of the fighting I would mention that out of the 36 officers and 911 men who formed the 1st line of advance in the assault of the enemy’s trenches only 6 officers and 279 men escaped injury. The 2nd and 3rd lines of advance consisted of 28 officers and 850 men of whom 3 officers and 493 men were unwounded.’
Hamilton forwarded the list to London, stating that ‘The powers granted to me by His Majesty the King to confer decorations in the field do not extend to this Division which is under the control of the Admiralty, and which is therefore at a disadvantage in this respect compared with the other troops alongside whom they are fighting.’

William James Pierce was born at 7 Fort Road, New Willingdon, Eastbourne on 13 September 1893, one of seven children of a journeyman house decorator (four of his siblings died from TB in childhood). A butcher’s assistant by trade, and a keen footballer, Pierce enrolled in the Eastbourne (No 3) Company, Sussex Division of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on 14 January 1911. He claimed a date of birth one year earlier than was truly the case. Aged 17, he was 5’ 7” with fair hair, blue eyes and “fairly good” physique (32” chest).

The Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Goes to War
The Admiralty War Plan called for the creation of an ‘Advanced Base Force’ to seize or protect naval bases and key harbours that might be necessary to support expeditionary warfare. This concept was inspired by the example of the successful seizure and fortification of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba by the US Marine Corps during the 1898 Spanish-American War. The A.B.F. was to be created by expanding the Royal Marines.

As the mobilisation of July 1914 got underway, a Royal Marine Brigade capable of fighting on land was formed by using reservists to expand existing R.M. units. By August the Fleet and shore establishments had been manned to maximum capacity and the Admiralty found it had a surplus of reservists still available, especially men (like William Pierce) who had enrolled in the pre-war Royal Naval Volunteer Reserves. It was expected that these reservists, who already had some naval training, would be needed at sea over time to replace casualties and ‘natural wastage’, but in the short term the most obvious way to keep them still available to the Admiralty was to expand the Advanced Base Force. Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, issued the necessary orders on 16 August, and by 22 August Pierce and his fellow R.N.V.R.s were mobilised and concentrated at Betteshanger, near Deal. They bought with them their ‘long pattern’ 50-inch barrel Lee-Enfields (rather than the ‘short’ 44.5-inch model used by the Army). R.N.V.R. units were not issued with any machine-guns.
In late August 1914 Ostend was threatened by German cavalry and on 26 August the Marine Brigade was sent to strengthen its defences. On 8 September it was agreed that the First Naval Brigade (comprising the Benbow, Collingwood, Hawke and Drake battalions) and the Second Naval Brigade (comprising the battalions of Howe, Hood, Anson and Nelson) plus the Marine Brigade would be equipped and trained as an Infantry Division (the Royal Naval Division) reporting to the Admiralty. Two important innovations were made. Generally, Divisions are ad hoc organisations to which units are assigned and reassigned as military needs change, so there is not necessarily in the minds of soldiers a lasting identification with a specific division. The naval battalions fought together throughout the War, and were supported by a single Divisional Depot instead of multiple regimental ones (the R.N. Division is the only Divisional formation ever to have been included in the inscriptions on medals). Second, civilians were commissioned from the outset, with a preference for those aged 25-35, who would prove to be more experienced, resilient and talented as leaders than those who formed the majority of junior officers in army units. They were collectively described by Churchill as ‘salamanders born in the furnace’ (WSC’s Introduction to Jerrold’s The Royal Naval Division refers). The Division attracted many well-connected talents, including men such as Arthur Asquith (the Prime Minister’s son), Bernard Freyberg and Rupert Brooke.

The R.N.V.R., which provided the majority of officers and men for the original eight naval battalions, had a strong naval esprit de corps and was determined to adopt only the essentials of infantry techniques. Naval terms and traditions were rigorously followed and the naval units never sought to become ‘smart soldiers’. They bowed to superior ability more readily than to superior rank. They were always more difficult (and rewarding) men to command.

Antwerp
By mid-September the German thrust into France had been defeated, but the Allied attack on the German defences along the River Aisne had ended and the “Race to the Sea” was getting underway. In Belgium, a separate German force had been tasked to defeat the Belgian army, capture the key port of Antwerp and then occupy the entire country. Antwerp was defended by two lines of forts, and on 2 October the Germans broke through the outer line. The Admiralty undertook to send its three brigades to reinforce the defences of the inner line of forts. By 4 October the Royal Marine Brigade had deployed in Antwerp.

That day the two Naval Brigades marched to Dover and embarked in transports so overcrowded that it was standing room only for Pierce and the Howe Battalion. At Dunkirk they were issued with 120 rounds of ammunition (mostly to be carried in pockets, as few sailors had bandoliers or pouches) and boarded trains for Antwerp. They arrived enthusiastic but exhausted on the morning of 6 October and were greeted by great public excitement.

By morning on 7 October the two Naval Brigades were in the front line, which consisted of pre-prepared, solidly constructed and well-wired trenches with 500 yards of clear ground in front connecting eight forts covering the gap to the south and east between flooded areas to the north and the River Scheldt to the south. However, the trenches lacked the overhead protection essential to counter the artillery bombardment that began the next day, mostly by 6” and 8” howitzers, and there were no support lines or communication trenches providing a protected passage to the rear.

The Naval Brigades withstood the bombardment well, despite suffering almost 200 casualties. Naval gunners manned and operated the cannons of several of the forts whose Belgian garrisons had fled, and the Battalions in the trench lines drove off with rifle fire several probes by German units. The Belgian army was in full flight mode, and the Germans forced the River Scheldt defences near Ghent, which meant that they might soon cut off and encircle Antwerp, trapping the garrison. By the evening of 8 October all Belgian resistance had collapsed, and the only options for the Naval Division were to stay put and be destroyed or to retire towards the forces that had been tasked to hold the Belgian coastal areas.

The retreat was conducted under terrible conditions. In Churchill’s words “Antwerp under bombardment; Antwerp evacuated, with its streams of refugees pouring over the bridges and along the roads, huddled together, hurrying on, impelled by the crash of the cannonade and lighted on their way by the blaze of the great oil reserve flowing in rivers of fire along the ditches.” The men were tired from lack of sleep, formations broke down into small groups struggling to carry their weapons and ammunition, but the 2nd Naval Brigade and its Howe battalion arrived at the railway early on the 9th and entrained without serious losses.

Temporary Sub-Lieutenant John Norman, a platoon commander in ‘D’ Company of the Howe, described his experience in a letter to his mother: ‘We have had three wonderful but hideous days in Antwerp, where we just failed to save the situation we were intended to save, & so have returned home - worn out (+ several captured, very few actual casualties). I have been under heavy shell fire for 3 days & nights in the trenches, after which we retreated on foot for 16 hours with only one ten minute halt! Half our lot have shattered nerves, but although it was the most hideous nightmare I ever imagined I feel as fit as anything’.

Churchill summarised the situation in a message welcoming the Royal Naval Division home: ‘It is too early yet to judge what effect the delaying, even for five or six days, of at least 60,000 German troops before Antwerp may have had upon the fortunes of the general battle to the southward. It was certainly powerful and helpful... These facts should inspire all ranks to fit themselves in the shortest possible time for further service in the field, not merely as fortress, but as mobile units.’ By 11 October 1914 the surviving battalions were back in England. Replacements were recruited and serious military training began. The Royal Naval Division began to concentrate as a reasonably effective fighting force at Blandford on 27 November 1914, though it still lacked its own artillery and machine-guns.

Gallipoli – the Cape Helles Bridgehead
Early in 1915 the War Cabinet decided to establish the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force from the Royal Naval Division and the volunteer units sent by Australia and New Zealand. Churchill championed a plan for the Fleet to force a passage through the Dardanelles Straits and bombard Constantinople, capital of the Ottoman Empire, to be followed up by landing units of the M.E.F.

On 25 February 1915, Pierce and his mates were inspected by Churchill and then, two hours later, by King George V. On 1 March they sailed for Lemnos, the main British base for the assault on the Dardanelles. The ships reached the coast off the Gallipoli Peninsula on 19 March 1915. The great naval bombardment and attempt to ‘force the Narrows’ made on the previous day had failed. The option of an immediate landing was considered but rejected as too risky, given that no logistic support had been planned. The R.N. Division was re-routed to Port Said, while a comprehensive invasion scheme was organised over the next month.

The military landings on the Gallipoli Peninsula finally began on 25 April 1915. The R.N. Division landed with the main British forces at Cape Helles, the southernmost tip of the peninsula. By the 26th the initial Turkish outpost line was in British hands, and preparations for a great push inland got underway. What became the First Krithia attack was launched on 28 April. It proved to be abortive - a brilliant Turkish rearguard action took a heavy toll of the Allied troops. On the night of 1- 2 May the Turks mounted a determined counter-attack, the first wave being sent in without any ammunition to force them to use only their bayonets. The Second Krithia attack took place from 6-8 May 1915. The 2nd Naval Brigade, including the Howe Battalion, was attached to the French Expeditionary Force on the right. The objective was to seize the summit of Achi Baba which dominated the southern battleground and the approach to the inner forts of the Narrows. Turkish resistance was ferocious and little ground was gained.

The Disastrous Third Attack on Krithia
In preparation for the third attack on Krithia, the troops were ordered to gradually and systematically push forward by stealth and with as few casualties as possible. The Royal Naval Division successfully undertook four night-time advances before the end of May which moved the British front line nearly half a mile ahead at a cost of less than 50 casualties, and brought them within 200-400 yards of the main Turkish defensive position.

Turkish defences opposite the French front in particular had been much strengthened - especially two lines of trenches, supported by four redoubts, on the crest of Kereves Spur. These dominated the French lines. The redoubt on the extreme right was captured by a surprise attack on 31 May and another redoubt was twice captured but could not be permanently held. Events at sea also proved unfortunate. The 15” guns of Queen Elizabeth had already been withdrawn after the sinking of Goliath on 13 May. On 25 May the battleship Triumph was torpedoed and sank in 20 minutes and on the morning of 27 May the battleship Majestic was also sunk by torpedo. These losses meant that naval gunfire support for land operations was further reduced and was often entrusted to destroyers.

With both the British and French Corps Commanders pushing to renew the offensive, on 31 May Sir Ian Hamilton agreed to a general attack to be made on 4 June. His orders were specific. The initial objectives were limited to capturing the enemy’s forward system of trenches, which required a maximum advance of 800 yards. The first wave consisted of five men to every four yards. This was to capture the Turkish front line. The second wave of one man per yard was to leapfrog over the first wave and capture the second objective, 400-500 yards ahead. Though the Naval Brigades were back under British command, six batteries of the excellent French 75mm guns were lent to support them, as the Division still had no artillery of its own.

4 June was a brilliant summer’s day. The attack started at noon, led by the 2nd Naval Brigade with the Howe, Hood and Anson Battalions as the first wave. They encountered ferocious small-arms fire and within minutes of leaving the British trenches more than half the officers and men of the Brigade were hit. Despite this, the first wave successfully captured its objective. ‘Without a moment’s delay [they] went on... and stormed the redoubt in the Turkish second line... seen through field-glasses, it was an orderly and dashing advance... described by Sir Ian Hamilton as fighting in the best style of the Regular Army. But in the captured trenches the impression was different. To hold the 800 yards of line which had been their objective, and which they had reached, there was left of the attacking force only some twenty officers and three hundred men. Every moment took its toll of the slender garrison. Would the Collingwood [the second wave] come up in time?’ (The Royal Naval Division by Jerrold refers).

The attack of the French Corps to the right of the R.N.D. was a total failure. Heavy casualties were suffered and soon the French troops were back in their own lines. The failure of the French attack meant that the R.N.D. troops were being enfiladed by a hurricane of machine- gun and rifle fire from the high ground and redoubts of Kereves Spur. The Collingwood Battalion was ordered forward - it was annihilated. ‘On the right, the enemy could be seen in full command of their second and third line trenches, while parties were coming back even into the front line, where the French had once been... on the Howe Battalion front, where there was no dead ground between our lines and those of the enemy, only a few of the Howe (among these were Lt Edwards (wounded) and C.P.O. Homer, P.O. Smith and A.B. Pierce. These NCOs displayed the greatest gallantry and resolution) and none of the Collingwood had reached the enemy’s line; and here also the Turks were now beginning to come back... a retirement became imperative. This was hardly less costly than the advance...’ (ibid).

Details of Pierce’s gallant action were published the Eastbourne Gazette of 15 December 1915, with an artist’s impression of his deed to accompany the report. The following report was published later: ‘An incident at the Dardanelles - It has fallen to few even in this great war, in which opportunities for distinguished conduct frequently occur, to have won the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal, a decoration which is coveted by all seamen. When on that eventful Sunday in August 1914, Eastbourne demonstrated so enthusiastically as the lads of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve moved out of the town under orders there was one among the company who was destined in a very short while to cause the country to ring with praise of his heroism.
William James Pierce lived with his parents at 3, St Andrew’s Terrace, Norway, and he was known to a large circle as the civil, obliging and unassuming assistant employed by Mr Sydney Easton, butcher, at his Terminus Road shop, while to the local sporting community his name was familiar by reason of his football prowess. During those very anxious days when our thoughts were turned to the Dardanelles, alternating between hope and fear, Pierce, as an able seaman, was one of the many gallant men who strove to accomplish what at the outset seemed, even to the most optimistic, to be a hopeless task.
It was during these memorable activities that Able Seaman Pierce gave evidence of the noble qualities that underlay his quiet, unpretentious exterior. He was in the landing at Gallipoli, and, with others, was occupying an enemy trench from which immediate retirement was necessary. Comrades had fallen around him, and he himself had been badly wounded. Their capture seemed inevitable. The enemy was overwhelming, and fusillades from rifles and machine-guns were sweeping over the intervening space with all the fury of a lashing storm. To cease firing would indicate that the trench had been abandoned, and all hope of successfully retiring would then be lost. The supreme moment for heroic action had arrived. With a total disregard of his own wounds, Pierce continued firing while his wounded comrades slowly and painfully retired. Quickly and feverishly he loaded his rifle, clip after clip, sending the bullets in rapid rounds amid the pressing enemy while his comrades moved back to safety.
Then came the moment when Pierce himself must leave. So far as he was aware he was the last living man remaining in the trench, but as he bounded from his position his attention was drawn to a comrade lying in agony near by. He had been too severely wounded to move out with the rest. Still unmindful of the danger to himself, and, although still bleeding from his own wound, Pierce determined, whatever the risks, to carry him back. It was a terrible task, fated almost inevitably to end in failure, but Pierce reckoned nought of danger, or even of death. It was sufficient for him that a chum was in agony and helpless. He raised the wounded man in his arms and stumbled blindly back to safety and shelter. The achievement was one of the most heroic of that memorable affair of the Dardanelles. It was recorded in the leading newspapers and was the subject for a war artist’s drawing in an illustrated journal, but Pierce would admit of nothing gallant in his actions. Such is the way of heroes. For his bravery he was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal.’

By 12.45 the R.N.D. survivors were back in their original trenches. The father of one of the Howe’s officers reported: ‘I hear on very good authority that... on June 4th 300 [out of the 450 who then remained of the original Howe Battalion] took part in the charge and of these only 55 mustered at the roll call in the evening.’ This translates to a shocking 82% casualty rate, which few units have ever withstood without disintegrating entirely. It was agreed that the French would renew their attack on Kereves Spur at 16.00, supported by the remnants of the R.N.D., but the French then said they would not be ready and the attack was postponed for an hour before the French gave up entirely. At about 16.00 the Turkish reserves came into action and the situation grew steadily worse. By nightfall the greater part of the ground captured during the attack had been given up.

Out of 16,000 officers and men engaged, the British had lost 4,500 (28%). French losses were around 2,000. Turkish accounts gave their losses as high as 10,000 (the official figure was 9,000). The Turks had seen their situation as critical. According to one Turkish staff officer: ‘Had the British continued the attack the next day with the same violence, all would have been lost’. A German General directing the defence wrote: ‘I felt that another energetic attack by the English would have the worst results.’

Trench Warfare at Cape Helles
Pierce’s service record indicates that he was wounded at Krithia by a gunshot to the buttocks and evacuated to hospital at Alexandria, where he stayed for two months, retaining the extracted bullet as a souvenir. He rejoined his unit at Gallipoli on 27 August 1915. They were still in the trenches below Achi Baba, trapped in stalemate as the campaign ground to a standstill following the fiasco of the Suvla Bay landing in early August.

A member of the Naval Brigades recalled: ‘Life in the trenches was horrible. We would usually do seven to ten days in the firing line and about four days in the reserve trenches, which was only about a mile from the firing line... Turkish bullets that missed the firing line would often land in or near the reserve trenches... In the firing line you would do two hours on the lookout, we used small periscopes for this, and two hours trying to eat or rest, but before doing either of these we would have to take our clothes off, turn them inside out and run a lighted match or cigarette along the seams. As you did this you could hear the lice cracking as their bodies full of blood burst. It was also impossible to eat food without including several flies...’ (The Zeebrugge Raid, by Kendall refers).

In September and October the R.N.D. lost well over 4,000 men, mostly to sickness, and even in November, when the colder weather made conditions more bearable, the loss was over 1,000. The casualties included Pierce, who was invalided for ten days (25 November to 5 December) due to diarrhoea. When he returned to duty, the cold and heavy rain of winter had set in. To make matters worse, the Turks began a systematic and effective bombardment of the R.N.D. trenches with heavy guns.

Evacuation
The final evacuation of the Gallipoli peninsula was set for 8 January 1916. The Howe was detailed to hold the British frontline up to the last hours of the withdrawal. The British lines were progressively thinned out and the men marched back in groups to the embarkation piers on the beaches where the original landings had been made back in the spring. The operation turned into an anxious race against a mounting wind and heavy surf, but by 3.30 am on 9 January the withdrawal was successfully completed.

Pierce was presented with his C.G.M. in the field at Mudros West by Major-General Sir Archibald Paris, the respected R.N. Divisional Commander, on 1 February 1916. Pierce was promoted to Acting Leading Seaman on 16 February. Four days later he returned to the U.K. on leave. In March 1916 he was posted to the 3rd Reserve Battalion at Blandford. Proposals that the Naval Brigades be disbanded or used for garrison duty were being considered and the Admiralty began posting out those men with worthwhile sea experience, usually to serve on armed merchant ships. Pierce transferred to the Royal Navy Barracks at Portsmouth as a Leading Seaman on 26 March 1916.

Defending the British Merchant Fleet
In June 1916 Pierce attended a four week Gunnery course at HMS Excellent, but a consequence of assuming a new trade was the loss of his Leading Seaman rating. From 1 July and for the rest of the war he was carried on the books of President III, the accounting base for R.N.V.R. personnel, while employed as a gun-layer aboard Defensively Armed Merchant Ships. This was a dangerous job, as Pierce served through the height of the German U-boat campaign aimed at sinking a maximum number of British merchant ships, carrying the food and war supplies that enabled the Allies to continue to fight.

Since the number of torpedoes that a U-boat could carry was limited, whenever possible the submarines would surface, stop and board their target and sink it by gunfire or demolition charge. Britain armed its merchant ships to help defend them, and guns were proven to significantly increase the rate of escape from surface stops by U-boats. A single stern gun, equivalent to what a submarine might carry, was mounted This was thought sufficient, since a ship is a more stable gun platform than a submarine, giving it theoretically greater accuracy. The number of merchant ships armed with anti-submarine guns rose to 1,749 by September 1916 and 2,899 by February 1917 – hence the Admiralty’s need for increased sea-going manpower.

At the end of January 1917 Pierce’s second 3-year engagement in the R.N.V.R. expired and he was at once re-mobilised under the terms of the Military Service Act. Pierce was re- appointed an Acting Leading Seaman on 1 February 1917 and was awarded a Good Conduct Badge in April. Throughout his service on DAMS his conduct was rated ‘Very Good’. Pierce was demobilised in July 1919, just before his 26th birthday.

Post-War
Pierce’s three and a half years of pre-war service in the R.N.V.R., together with his war service (which counted double towards the 12 years total service requirement) and his V.G. character qualified him for award of the R.N.V.R. L.S.G.C., under his substantive rating of Able Seaman. He seems not to have returned to his pre-war trade of butcher, becoming instead a plaster’s labourer (possibly connected to his father’s experience as a house decorator) and later a bricklayer. He married a local Eastbourne girl in January 1922 and they had six children. During the Second World War he once again volunteered for service, this time as a Civil Defence Air Raid Precautions warden. He died in hospital of acute appendicitis/peritonitis on 24 May 1953, aged 59.