Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A highly emotive Great War group of three awarded to Private W. H. Gale, 8th (Victoria) Light Horse Regiment, A.I.F., who was killed in action in the famous and costly charge on the Nek feature in August 1915, an incident so vividly portrayed in the feature film “Gallipoli”

1914-15 Star (245 Pte., 8/L.H. Rgt. A.I.F.); British War and Victory Medals (245 Pte., 8-L.H. A.I.F.), extremely fine (3) £800-1000

William Henry Gale, who was born at Bishton, Monmouthshire in 1874, originally enlisted in the Grenadier Guards, with whom he served in the Boer War, winning entitlement to the Queen’s Medal with 6 clasps. Sometime thereafter he emigrated to Australia, where, in October 1914, he enlisted in the Australian MIlitary Forces and was posted to the 8th (Victoria) Light Horse Regiment. He was subsequently killed in action in the famous charge made by his regiment, and the 10th Light Horse, against Turkish positions on the Nek feature, Gallipoli on 7 August 1915. Of this action The Official History of the Great War, Military Operations, Gallipoli, states:

‘The storming of the Nek and Baby 700, which was to be prefaced by half an hour’s “intensive” bombardment, had been entrusted to the 3rd Light Horse Brigade (Brigadier-General F. G. Hughes), and was to be undertaken by 600 men from the 8th and 10th Light Horse Regiment. Owing to the narrow frontage of the Turkish trenches on the Anzac side of the Nek, the attack was to be delivered in four waves of 150 men each, two from each regiment. The first wave was to seize the Nek, the second the front trenches and saps on Baby 700, and the third the crest of the hill. The fourth wave, carrying picks and shovels, would act as reserve. Finally, the 8/Cheshire Regiment (13th Division) was to follow behind, to assist in consolidating the position. All the attacking units were provided with small red and yellow flags to show the positions gained.

None of the troops concerned had any previous experience of assaulting a hostile line, and all were in high spirits and confident of success. Everyone was so eager to share in the coming victory that in the case of the 8th Light Horse the first wave was to be led by its regimental commander (Lieutenant-Colonel A. H. White) and the second wave by his second-in-command. But there can have been very little hope of surprise. Throughout the night, in order to assist the main columns, the opposing Turkish garrisons had been kept on the alert by frequent bursts of firing.

Through some mistake, probably a faulty synchronization of watches, the artillery bombardment of the Nek ended prematurely, and for the last few minutes before zero hour there was scarcely a shot fired. Turkish reports state that their troops used this respite to man their firesteps in readiness to meet the assault. At this point the breadth of No Man’s Land was only sixty yards.

At half past four the first wave vaulted over the parapet, and was met by a storm of lead. Colonel White and all nine officers who accompanied him were instantly killed, and within a few seconds practically every man in the wave had either been killed or wounded. Two minutes later, undaunted by this disaster, the second wave leapt forward and shared a similar fate. But one or two men of this wave reached the enemy’s trench alive, and a single red and yellow flag fluttered for a few seconds on the parapet.

The commander of the third wave (Major T. J. Todd of the 10th Light Horse), who, just as his men filed into the front-line trench, was told the first two waves had been annihilated, reported to his commanding officer (Lieutenant-Colonel N. M. Brazier) that a further effort would be madness. Brazier, seeing men lying dead beyond the parapet, agreed with Todd, and rushed back to brigade headquarters in an adjoining trench to ask for the attack to be abandoned. But there he was told that a red and yellow flag had been seen on the enemy’s parapet: it was essential to support the men who had already got across, and the attack must succeed.

Thereupon the third wave surged forward, and a few seconds later the men of this wave were most of them shot down. An effort was made by Colonel Brazier to prevent the destruction of the last remaining wave. In the confusion of the moment, however, while Brazier was still absent, some garbled order arrived, and the left of the line clambered out of the trench. Crouching as they went, instead of charging upright, they managed to advanced a dozen yards. But the enemy’s fire was still as devastating as ever, and a few minutes later the wounded survivors of the 10th Light Horse were crawling back to their line ... The total losses in these brave attacks from within the Anzac position amounted to nearly 650 officers and men out of 1250 who went into action.’

Gale, who listed his sister, ‘Miss Beatrice Gale of the Llantrissant Arms, Usk’ as his next of kin, has no known grave, and is commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli; sold with a file of research, in which it is speculated that Gale’s Boer War Medal may have been among keepsakes he left behind in the 8th Light Horse’s position just prior to going over the top, a soldierly practice so movingly portrayed in the Gallipoli feature film.