Joseph Kaeble Tales of the V.C.
Joseph Thomas Kaeble, VC, MM (5 May 1892 – 9 June 1918) was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. For the sake of information he was the first French Canadian soldier to be decorated with the VC and Military Medal.
He joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force in March 1916 becoming a Corporal in the 22e Battalion (Canadien Francais), CEF during the First World War. On 8 June 1918 at Neuville-Vitasse, France, Kaeble performed an act of bravery for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. He died whilst doing so.
Citation:
For most conspicuous bravery and extraordinary devotion to duty when in charge of a Lewis gun section in the front line trenches, in which a strong enemy raid was attempted. During an intense bombardment Corporal Kaeble remained at the parapet with his Lewis gun shouldered ready for action, the field of fire being very short. As soon as the barrage lifted from the front line, about fifty of the enemy advanced towards his post. By this time the whole of his section except one had become casualties. Corporal Kaeble jumped over the parapet, and holding his Lewis gun at the hip, emptied one magazine after another into the advancing enemy, and although wounded several times by fragments of shells and bombs, he continued to fire and entirely blocked the enemy by his determined stand. Finally, firing all the time, he fell backwards into the trench mortally wounded. While lying on his back in the trench he fired his last cartridges over the parapet at the retreating Germans, and before losing consciousness shouted to the wounded about him: Keep it up, boys; do not let them get through! We must stop them ! The complete repulse of the enemy attack at this point was due to the remarkable personal bravery and self-sacrifice of this gallant non-commissioned officer, who died of his wounds shortly afterwards.
—London Gazette, Supplement No. 30903, dated 16 September 1918
Transported to hospital, Corporal Joseph Kaeble died of his wounds the next night, 9 June. The attached account of his actions was written by James Price Lloyd of the Welsh Regiment, who served with Military Intelligence. After the war, the government to destroyed all the archives relating to this propaganda (section MI 7b (1)). They were regarded as being too sensitive to risk being made public. Remarkably these documents have survived in the personal records of Captain Lloyd. Many of these papers are officially stamped, and one can trace the development of many individual articles from the notes based on an idea, to the pencil draft which is then followed by the hand-written submission and the typescript. The archive Tales of the VC comprises 94 individual accounts of the heroism that earned the highest award for valour, the Victoria Cross. These are recounted deferentially and economically, yet they still manage to move the reader.
Date stamp: 18 October 1918.
Article with annotations.
CONTRIBUTOR
Jeremy Arter
DATE
1918-06-08
LANGUAGE
eng
ITEMS
5
INSTITUTION
Europeana 1914-1918
PROGRESS
METADATA
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