Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War ‘Western Front’ D.C.M. and M.M. group of five awarded to Sergeant W. France, 1st Battalion, East Kent Regiment

Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R. (G-12873 Sjt: W. France. M.M. 1/E. Kent R.); Military Medal, G.V.R. (12873 Sjt: W. France. 1/E. Kent R.); British War and Victory Medals (G-12873 Sjt. W. France. E. Kent R.); Defence Medal, unnamed, edge bruising and contact marks, otherwise nearly very fine (5) £1,800-£2,200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Alan Cathery Collection of Medals to The Buffs, the East Kent Regiment.

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D.C.M. London Gazette 12 March 1919; citation published 2 December 1919:
‘In the attack near Vaux Andigny on the 17th October, 1918, he showed great pluck and initiative in command of a platoon. His men being held up by barbed wire, he went forward under heavy machine-gun fire, cut the wire and, leading the platoon forward, captured the gun. Later in the fight he worked round the flank of the company with three men in order to deal with a nest of machine-guns, and succeeded in capturing the post. Throughout the action he behaved most gallantly.’

M.M. London Gazette 26 April 1917.

Walter France was conscripted in late 1915. He was awarded the Military Medal for bravery during a German raid on the 1st Battalions trenches in the village of Loos on 18 March 1917, when they succeeded in getting a footing in them, but after a short time were ejected leaving 7 dead. The Regimental History adds “but we lost one 2nd Lieut. and 10 men killed and 1 and 24 wounded”. The Sunderland Echo reported, “Sgt. France was in charge of a Platoon, and successfully countered a determined German assault. He received shrapnel wounds and was hospitalised in England”.
The Sunderland Echo continued: “A year later he was back in the trenches in France and gained the Distinguished Conduct Medal. He recalls that he was an acting C.S.M. when his company was ordered “over the top” to make an assault on a German position. He said, “we reached our objective with some loss of life but it is something one doesn't care to talk about”.

This was at Vaux Andigny, 10 km. south of Le Cateau. The Regimental History relates, “The morning was one of the foggiest that had been experienced during the war. Nothing could be seen anywhere and direction was naturally extremely difficult to maintain. The Buffs had to pass the village in fours and to deploy outside it. The advance was made by compass bearings, and more than one instance occurred of sergeants taking the compasses from their injured officers and leading their companies on. The fog was an advantage because parties of the enemy were come upon unseen and machine guns were outflanked unobserved”.

After the war he returned to Ryhope in the Durham coalfields and became a Deputy in the mines. His grandson Walter Payne (with the R.M.P in 1985) writes: “he was deeply involved in the Scouting Movement and a leading figure in the Temperance Society. However, his ability on the keyboard led him to playing the piano in pubs for cash and to his subsequent departure from the paths of abstinence”. During WW2 he became a Captain in the Penshaw, Co. Durham, Home Guard. He died in 1964.