Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Lance Corporal B. Spiers, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, who was killed in action during the Battle of the Somme on 20 July 1916

1914 Star (10474 Pte. B. Spiers. 1/R.W. Fus:); British War and Victory Medals (10474 Pte. B. Spiers. R.W. Fus.) extremely fine (3) £120-£160

Bernard Spiers was born in Oswestry and attested for the Royal Welsh Fusiliers at Wrexham on 25 July 1910. Initially under-age, the recipient’s Army Service Record confirms appointment to the 1st Battalion as Private on his 18th birthday, 25 October 1910. Posted to France on 4 October 1914, he spent a little over a month in the field before being evacuated home suffering from a shrapnel wound to the left thigh.

Transferred to the 2nd Battalion, Spiers returned to the Western Front and was advanced unpaid Lance Corporal 9 May 1916. He was killed a short while later during the second assault on High Wood; transferred from billets at Mametz to reserve positions at Flatiron Copse, the men spent the early morning of 20 July 1916 being shelled by German Artillery. Detailed to capture the shattered remains of High Wood, the 2nd Battalion emerged from the British front line and were soon facing a hail of machine-gun fire from the German position known as the Switch. Pinned down by sheer weight of fire, the troops were forced to dig a defensive line about 100 yards from the edge of the wood - in which many huddled until darkness, unable to advance or retreat.

The attack resulted in 2 officers killed and 9 wounded, with a further 29 other ranks killed, 180 wounded and 29 missing in action. One of the officers wounded was Captain Robert Graves of the 2nd Battalion, war poet and author; his wound was so bad that he was left for dead, until it was spotted that he was still breathing. He later recounted the circumstances in his autobiography Goodbye to All That.

Aged 24 years, Spiers is commemorated upon the Thiepval Memorial.