On This Day ... in 1915 & Others
On Hill 60 in Belgium, Second Lieutenant Geary of the East Surrey Regiment led his men through two days of hard fighting on 20 and 21 April. They advanced through heavy artillery fire to reach a large crater held by a few surviving soldiers from a battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment. Geary organised the defence against repeated attacks during the night and following day, frequently exposing himself to enemy fire so as to ascertain enemy positions. He finally fell severely wounded on 21 April.
He was awarded the Victoria Cross.His Citation reads ...
For most conspicuous bravery and determination on Hill Sixty near Ypres on 20th and 21st April 1915, when he held the left crater with his platoon, some men of The Bedfordshire Regiment and a few reinforcements who came up during the evening and the night.
The crater was first exposed to a very heavy artillery fire, which broke down the defences and afterwards, throughout the night, to repeated bomb attacks which filled it with dead and wounded. Each attack, however, was repulsed, mainly owing to the splendid personal gallantry and example of Second Lieutenant Geary. At one time he used a rifle with great effect, at another threw hand grenades and exposed himself with entire disregard to danger, in order to see, by the light of flares, where the enemy were coming on. In the intervals between the attacks, he spent his whole time arranging for the ammunition supply and for reinforcements. He was severely wounded just before daybreak on 21st April.
The picture depicts an episode during the Defence of Hill 60, 19th-21st April, 1915. It portrays one of the many German assaults that took place on the late afternoon of April 20th, and the view is taken from the high ground about 200 yards south of the Hill. From this point of view one can see a heavy attack being made on the left of our line simultaneously with an assault by the Germans across the open at our front trenches on the forward slope of the Hill. The right of our line is shown in the foreground with riflemen and machine guns in action. The intense bombardment is well depicted and the numerous dead and wounded of both sides convey a very good impression of the scene as it actually was.
Hill 60, a commanding position overlooking the low ground towards Ypres was captured by the 13th Brigade on the night of 17th-18th April. The First Battalion took over the position the following night and though almost continuously bombarded and repeatedly attacked by the Germans in their strenuous efforts to re-capture the Hill, the Surreys handed over the position intact on the morning of the 21st. Three Victoria Crosses were awarded for this action. The Corps Commander, Lieutenant General Sir Charles Ferguson, K.C.B. when addressing the Battalion next day, said, 'It was the most magnificent thing yet in the whole war.'
1917: In Mesopotamia, Private Melvin of the Black Watch mounted a lone attack on a Turkish trench, charging through machine-gun and rifle fire. He killed four enemy and captured another nine while securing the position. Melvin received the Victoria Cross.
1930: Great Britain, the United States and Japan signed the London Naval Treaty, which regulated submarine warfare and limited shipbuilding
1941: Evacuation of Greece began which marked the end of the ill-conceived Greek campaign that lasted only three weeks. It saw Allied forces retreat ever southwards in the face of the German advance until they were evacuated at the end of April
1945: A troop of tanks from the Irish Guards provided support to an infantry attack on a German village. A German counter-attack left all the tanks damaged, but Guardsman Charlton, one of their crewmen, salvaged a machine-gun and went to the aid of the infantry, firing from the hip. Despite being wounded in the arm, he managed to rest the machine-gun on a fence and kept up a heavy fire that drove back the German troops. He suffered further wounds, which proved fatal. He was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.