Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Lance-Corporal E. Mills, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, later Lincolnshire Regiment, who was killed in action on the Western Front whilst serving with the ‘Grimsby Chums’ on 27 August 1917

1914-15 Star (2088 Pte. E. Mills. R. War. R.); British War and Victory Medals (2088 Pte. E. Mills. R. War. R.) nearly extremely fine (3) £100-£140

Ernest Mills was born in King’s Heath, Warwickshire, and enlisted at Birmingham for the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Posted to France with the 6th Battalion from 22 March 1915, he transferred to the 10th (Grimsby Chums) Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment and was killed in operations on the Arras front, between the villages of Hardicourt and Villeret. Author Peter Chapman in his book Grimsby’s Own: The Story of the Chums, sets the scene:
‘In August, and in order to obtain a good view of the new Hindenburg Line – to which the Germans had withdrawn earlier that year – the Chums went into action once again. During the early morning of August 25 and in complete silence, they formed up for a dawn attack. Their now familiar friends the Suffolks and the Royal Scots were with them when, after a brief and stunning artillery barrage, they took the Germans completely by surprise. Almost unbelievably there was no wire to impede their approach and, suffering few casualties, they either took prisoner or shot every German they came across. The German counter-attack on the following day was snuffed out and that night the Chums, once again happy men were withdrawn. The raid had not been without loss. Few were. Three officers and 32 soldiers had been killed and another 188 wounded.’

Mills has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France.

Sold with a copy of Grimsby’s Own: The Story of the Chums.