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Service Details:
Born:
Halesworth, Suffolk
Enlisted:
Colchester
Resident:
Blackmore, Essex [SDGW]
Awards:
D.C.M. [CWGC]
How Sergeant John Crane, Of The 2nd
Royal Munster Fusiliers,Won The D.C.M. At Festubert
Early on the
morning of December 19th
1914, Sir John Willcocks commanding the Indian corps, decided to
take advantage of what appeared to him a favourable opportunity to attack the
advanced trenches of the enemy. The
British position at the time on this part of our front extended from Cuinchy
on the south, to the west of Neuve Chapelle on the north, passing through
Givenchy and a little to the east of Festubert. That attack was at first successful, but by
the evening determined counter attacks had driven the Indian corps back to
its original line; and by ten o’clock the next morning, the Germans,
following up their advantage, had captured a large part of Givenchy and
driven a wedge north of the town which exposed the right flank of the Dehra
Dun Brigade, stationed to the northeast of Festubert. All the afternoon of the 20th
these troops suffered severely, being, in the words of Sir John French,
“pinned to the ground by artillery fire.”
But, towards evening, strong reinforcements, which included the 2nd
Munsters, were hurried up to their support; and
in the early hours of the 21st this battalion was ordered to
recapture a line of distant trenches, from which the Indians had been driven
on the previous day. Just before the order came, a young sergeant of the Munsters, John Crane, had been
sent with a message to the 2nd Brigade on their right, and when he
returned, he heard that his battalion had charged though no one knew where it
had gone or what had happened to it.
The darkness had simply swallowed it up. The sergeant reported himself to Major Ryan,
D.S.O., of the Munsters-a gallant officer who, unhappily, fell a victim to a
sniper’s bullet a few weeks later-at the Brigade Headquarters, and when the
forenoon passed without bringing any news of the lost battalion, Major Ryan,
becoming very anxious, asked Crane if he would go out and try to locate it
before darkness set in, telling him that he might take anyone with him whom
he wished. Lance-Corporal, now
Sergeant, Eccles at once agreed to accompany him, and about three o’clock in
the afternoon they set off having first taken off all their equipment, in
order not to impede their movements.
The ground in
front of the British lines was so swept by shell and rifle fire that they
found it necessary to make a wide detour, until they came to an old trench of
ours, along which they advanced for some five hundred yards, when, not having
seen any signs of the Munsters, they got out again, and, with bullets humming
all around them, made their way, by short rushes, for some distance across
the open ground until they came upon their battalion, or rather remnants of
it. For it had been badly cut up, and
was besides in a very precarious position, having lost its way and being
completely isolated. They returned to
their Brigade Headquarters and reported accordingly, and were asked to go out
again and guide their comrades back, while arrangements were being made for
troops to cover the sorely tried battalion’s withdrawal. And this task they successfully accomplished,
under a heavy fire and through a very difficult country, displaying, says the
Gazette, “great courage, endurance and marked resource.” Subsequently,
notwithstanding the fatigue, which they must have been suffering, they took
out stretcher-bearers and brought in a number of wounded, including the
colonel and the adjutant. Sergeant Crane, who is only twenty-three years of
age, was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, “for conspicuous gallantry
and ability,” and a similar honour was conferred upon Lance-Corporal Eccles. Extracted from 'Deeds That Thrill The
Empire' [Source: : http://www.armynavyairforce.co.uk/northamptonshire_reg.htm]
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