Lieutenant Dimmer's commanding officer declared that by holding on to his gun after he had been shot five times, he saved the whole battalion, if not the whole line, on at least three occasions.
I have told you Lieutenant Dimmer's story thus fully because it shows very clearly how a man of grit and ability and devotion can win his way by sheer merit in the British army. In the German army, as you know, only men of a certain social class are appointed as officers. Major Dimmer (to which rank he was subsequently promoted) is only one of thousands who have risen from the ranks to distinction in the service of Britain. The story of his career and of how he won the highest award of valour sets a fine example to all young soldiers.
Bandsman Thomas Edward Rendle, 1st Battalion, the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. In time of war bandsmen serve as stretcher-bearers, and their duty is to convey the wounded from the field of battle to the dressing stations and ambulances. How Bandsman Rendle won the Victoria Cross on 20th November, at a village about a mile and a half west of Messines, is best told in the words of an officer of the Cornwalls:—
"Two shells pitched into the trench only about thirty yards from me, and blew ten men to pieces. They also blew down the front part of the trench, and the earth filled up the dug-out part. This was very annoying, as it divided our trench into two parts, and made it impossible to get from one half to the other without running across this open piece of ground, about five or six yards wide. Of course, the Germans realized this at once, and put up a machine gun to cover this space, so that any one who crossed it carried his life very much in his hands.
"Lieutenant Colebrook was shot that afternoon, in that part of the trench which had no communications. He asked for me, so I went along to him. This meant that I had to cross the gap, but luckily they failed to hit me. We decided it was quite impossible to move him until dark, as there was no way of getting him across the gap; so I sat down to chat with him, when suddenly the Germans started again with their shells.
"The first two went over the trench, but the next one pitched just in front and buried me with mud. This I thought was a bit too much, so I said that Colebrook must be got away. I was called away to the other end of the trench for a few minutes. In the meantime Bandsman Rendle, one of the stretcher-bearers, lay on his stomach in the gap under fire, and tried to clear the earth out of the original trench to get a safe path for Lieutenant Colebrook to pass. But another shell came that decided him to risk it. So he took Colebrooke on his back, and wormed his way across the open space on his stomach, getting him to the right half of the trench, where it was all plain sailing, and from which Colebrook was sent back to battalion headquarters."
Naik[118] Darwan Sing Negí, 1st Battalion, 39th Garhwal Rifles. Less than a month after Sepoy Khudadad won the Victoria Cross, another Indian soldier proved himself so supremely brave that the highest award of valour was given to him. On the night of the 23rd-24th November, near Festubert, the Garhwal Rifles were engaged in retaking trenches and clearing the enemy out of them. Naik Darwan Sing Negí greatly distinguished himself in this work. He was one of the first to push round each successive traverse, and though wounded in two places in the head and also in the arm, he fought on in spite of severe fire from bombs and rifles at the closest range. Great was the naik's delight when his Majesty himself pinned the cross to his breast.
Lieutenant Frank Alexander de Pass, 34th Prince Albert Victor's Own Poona Horse. Near Festubert, on 24th November, Lieutenant de Pass entered a German sap[119] and destroyed a traverse in the face of the enemy's bombs. Subsequently he rescued under heavy fire a wounded man who was lying exposed in the open. Unhappily this gallant officer lost his life on the same day in a second attempt to capture the sap, which had been reoccupied by the enemy.
