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Clifford Coffin Tales of the V.C.

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.

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CONTRIBUTOR

Jeremy Arter

DATE

1917-07-31

LANGUAGE

eng

ITEMS

5

INSTITUTION

Europeana 1914-1918

PROGRESS

START DATE
TRANSCRIBERS
CHARACTERS
LOCATIONS
ENRICHMENTS

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METADATA

Source

UGC

Contributor

europeana19141918:agent/8d1d6eb94c917dceb7e8391761cbf75b

Date

1917-07-31

Type

Story

Language

eng
English

Country

Europe

DataProvider

Europeana 1914-1918

Provider

Europeana 1914-1918

DatasetName

2020601_Ag_ErsterWeltkrieg_EU

Begin

1917-07-31

End

1917-07-31

Language

mul

Agent

Clifford Coffin | europeana19141918:agent/0102c649ccdb456518f05398da01c170
James Price Lloyd | europeana19141918:agent/7a708291a3d2b453d7457d4b0191f092
Jeremy Arter | europeana19141918:agent/8d1d6eb94c917dceb7e8391761cbf75b

Created

2019-09-11T08:26:34.877Z
2020-02-25T08:31:29.254Z
2013-05-02 18:48:55 UTC
2013-05-06 15:23:07 UTC
2013-05-06 15:23:52 UTC
2013-05-06 15:24:43 UTC
2013-05-06 15:25:21 UTC
2013-05-06 15:26:06 UTC

Provenance

INTERNET

Record ID

/2020601/https___1914_1918_europeana_eu_contributions_5381

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Clifford William King Sadlier Tales of the V.C.

4 Items

Lieutenant Clifford Sadlier, 51st Battalion Australian Imperial Forces, was awarded the V.C. for bravery at Bois L'Abbe, Villers-Brettoneux during a German attack involving gas and German tanks, 24th - 25th April 1918. Citation: For conspicuous bravery during a counter-attack by his battalion on strong enemy positions. Lt Sadlier’s platoon, which was on the left of the battalion, had to advance through a wood where a strong enemy machine-gun post caused casualties and prevented the platoon from advancing. Although himself wounded, he at once collected his bombing section, led them against the machine-guns, and succeeded in killing the crews and capturing two of the guns. By this time Lt Sadlier’s party were all casualties, and he alone attacked a third enemy machine-gun with his revolver, killing the crew of four and taking the gun. In doing so he was again wounded. The very gallant conduct of this officer was the means of clearing the flank, and allowing the battalion to move forward, thereby saving a most critical situation. His coolness and utter disregard of danger inspired all. (London Gazette: 11th July 1918.)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: 5 September 1918. || Article with annotations.

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Edward Foster Tales of the V.C.

5 Items

Edward Foster VC (4 January 1886 – 22 January 1946) 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. Foster was 31 years old, and a Corporal in the 13th Battalion, The East Surrey Regiment, British Army during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. Citation: On 24 April 1917 at Villers-Plouich, Nord, France, during an attack, the advance was held up in a portion of the village by two machine-guns which were entrenched and strongly covered by wire entanglements. Corporal Foster who was in charge of two Lewis guns succeeded in entering the trench and engaged the enemy guns. One of the Lewis guns was lost, but the corporal rushed forward, bombed the enemy and recovered the gun. Then, getting his two guns into action, he killed the enemy gun team and captured their guns. Foster was also awarded the Médaille Militaire by France. 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: 26 March 1918. || Article with annotations.

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Frederick Edwards Tales of the V.C.

2 Items

Private Frederick Edwards, 12th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, was awarded the V.C. for bravery on 26th September 1916 at Thiepval during the Battle of the Somme. His regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) commenced another attack against powerful German defences. Part of this advance was held up by machine gun fire during which time all the officers became casualties and, as happens on most like occasions because of such loss of leadership, confusion reigned and retirement, the usual course of action, would probably have occurred. However, Private Edwards, grasping the situation and on his own initiative dashed out towards the machine gun which he knocked out with his hand grenades. This very brave act, coupled with great presence of mind and total disregard of personal danger made further advance possible and cleared up a dangerous situation. It is possible that, as an Irishman, his service in the British Army, like many others was not viewed with favour by the new Republic and consequently he seems to have settled in London. However, later in life he was forced to sell his medal to make ends meet. This 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: 8 June 1918. || Article with annotations.

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