Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War 1916 M.M. group of four awarded to Lance-Corporal P. J. Gardiner, 2nd Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment, who was killed in action during his battalion’s attack on Wood Lane Trench at High Wood on 9 September 1916

Military Medal, G.V.R. (5946 Pte. P. J. Gardiner. 2/R. Suss: R:); 1914-15 Star (G-5946 Pte. P. J. Gardiner. R. Suss: R.); British War and Victory Medals (G-5946 Pte. P. J. Gardiner. R. Suss. R.); Memorial Plaque (Percy John Gardiner) in card envelope; together with a Royal Sussex Regiment cap badge, extremely fine (5) £600-£800

M.M. London Gazette 10 August 1916

Percy John Gardiner was born in 1894 in Ascot, Berkshire. He served during the Great War on the Western Front with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment, arriving among a draft of 398 officers and men who joined the Battalion in billets at Noeux les Mines on 4 October 1915 - replacements following the disastrous losses sustained during the attack at Loos on 25 September. They remained in the Loos Sector, in and out of the front line, for much of the next year.

On the evening of 30 June 1916 the Battalion attacked, jointly with the 2nd K.R.R.C., the German positions near Loos in the Triangle trench network and on the northern arm of the two giant slag and charcoal heaps known as the Double Crassiers. This diversionary attack, immediately prior to the Somme offensive, saw the battalion lose 1 officer and 19 men killed and receives a lot of attention in the war diary. Gardiner’s M.M. was quite likely in respect of this action, being announced six weeks later in a London Gazette containing many awards relating to the first day of the Battle of the Somme and immediately prior.

Gardiner was killed in action on 9 September 1916 while serving with ‘D’ Company during his Battalion’s attack on the Wood Lane Trench near High Wood on the Somme. The day had started inauspiciously when the detonation of a huge mine on the eastern corner of the wood appeared to leave the Germans unaffected, one officer recalling ‘Huge clouds of debris shot into the sky as the artillery barrage rose to a shrieking crescendo. Suddenly it stopped and, though the ground still trembled, an eerie silence fell - broken by a skylark high above us, singing its heart out! We all looked up in wonder, but before we had time to take the little miracle in, a barrage from massed machine-guns began along the ridge behind us’ - the crater, 140 feet across and 35 feet deep, remains to this day, as a duck pond. The 2nd Royal Sussex started their attack nonetheless. Terry Norman’s ‘The Hell they called High Wood’ quotes Private Walter Glover of the 2nd Royal Sussex:

'We could see High Wood on our left, all battered and shell-torn, and the barrage from our own artillery and that of the Germans on that afternoon was undescribable. The ground over which we attacked was swept by machine-gun and field gun fire - whizzbangs - with 5.9s for good measure. I did not know at the time what they were, having only been in France since the 18th August, but I soon learned. Seeing my friends shot down on each side of me gave me a feeling of dread. I wondered when it was going to be my turn'.

The War Diary’s description of the 2nd Battalion’s activities on that day completes the picture:
‘At 4.45pm, in conjunction with the 1st Northamptons on our left and the 2nd KR.R.C. on our right, the Battalion advanced to the attack our objective being a portion of the trench Wood Lane. In spite of very heavy artillery and Machine Gun fire, the attacking line which consisted of “C” and “D” Companies, advanced steadily and in splendid order, closely followed by “A” Company, which was to form an outpost line in front, and “B” Company which was to consolidate “D” Company secured the objective with few losses. “C” Company on the left was less fortunate, suffering rather heavily from Machine Gun fire from High Wood. It entered the enemy trench, however with little difficulty. “A” Company pushed through and advanced some distance in front of the captured line, accounting for several of the enemy who had run back. On our right the 60th Rifles gained their objective, but the Northamptons on our left were driven back by an intense fire. This left our flank exposed and a defensive flank was dug connecting the captured line with their original front line. By dark consolidation was well under way. Several prisoners were captured and one Maxim Gun which was secured by the Battalion Scout Sergeant.’

The attack had cost the Battalion 6 Officers and approximately 93 other ranks killed, and 150 wounded but its success contributed to the wider Battle for High Wood ending three days later, after 64 days of fighting, with the Wood in British possession. Despite being regularly shelled it was never recaptured by the Germans. Gardiner is buried in Serre Road Cemetery No.2, France.