Major General Clifford Coffin VC, CB, DSO & Bar (10 February 1870 – 4 February 1959) was an English 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. He was 47 years old, and a temporary brigadier general in the Corps of Royal Engineers, British Army, Commander 25th Infantry Brigade during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. Citation: On 31 July 1917 in Westhoek, Belgium, when his command was held up in attack owing to heavy machine-gun and rifle fire, Brigadier-General Coffin went forward and made an inspection of his front posts. Although under the heaviest fire from both machine-guns and rifles and in full view of the enemy, he showed an utter disregard of personal danger, walking quietly from shell-hole to shell-hole, giving advice and cheering his men by his presence. His gallant conduct had the greatest effect on all ranks and it was largely owing to his personal courage and example that the shell-hole line was held. He later achieved the rank of major general and was Colonel Commandant Royal Engineers. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Royal Engineers Museum in Chatham, Kent. 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: 17 November 1917. || Article with annotations.

A group of officers most of whom display the ribbon of the Iron Cross in the appropriate manner on the second button of their tunic and then tucked behind the material. It is interesting to note the character 2nd left in the middle row with the lighter moustache wears the ‘Litewka’ jacket, commonly associated with the Landwehr or Landsturm; and as an officers ‘undress’ tunic. It was also used by motor troops. Litewka is the Polish word for a Lithuanian.

Wreckage of Airship SL11 shot down by William Leefe Robinson over Cuffley, Hertfordshire, 3 September 1916. This image is added by permission of the owner Steve who inherited them from his uncle who worked in the newspaper industry. For teh original image see http://www.flickr.com/photos/39245032@N08/5260622829/