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Auction: 11007 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals & Militaria
Lot: 17

A Great War 1918 ´Battle of Bapaume´ M.C. and 1919 ´Allied Intervention´ Second Award Bar Group of Four to Captain, Later Lieutenant-Colonel, H.S. Walker, London Regiment, attached 45th Battalion Royal Fusiliers, Late Private Seaforth Highlanders a) Military Cross, G.V.R., with Second Award Bar b) 1914-15 Star (963 Pte. S.H. Walker. Sea. Highrs.) c) British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. Oakleaves (Capt. S.H. Walker.), generally good very fine (4) Estimate £ 1,800-2,200 M.C. London Gazette 30.7.1919 Lt. (A./Capt.) Sidney Hamilton Walker, 1/24th Bn. Lond. R. ´For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty on the night September 1st/2nd, 1918, at St. Pierre Vaast Wood. When ordered to attack at short notice he volunteered to guide the battalion under most difficult conditions to the assembly position. No guides were available and by his skilful leadership the battalion was able to assemble although having to pass through a heavy enemy barrage. His skilfulness and total disregard of danger inspired all ranks.´ M.C. Second Award Bar London Gazette 21.1.1920 Lt. (A./Capt. Sidney Hamilton Walker, M.C., 1/24th Bn., Lond. R., attd. 45th Bn., R. Fus. ´He led his platoon with conspicuous gallantry and skill under severe machine-gun fire, successfully charging two machine guns. Subsequently, after the final objective had been taken, the rear of the column was subjected to severe fire by a strong enemy force. He immediately turned about his platoon and formed a line, thus helping to save a dangerous situation.´ Lieutenant-Colonel Sidney Hamilton Walker, M.C., initially served during the Great War as Private Seaforth Highlanders in the French theatre of war, from 1.5.1915; commissioned Temporary Lieutenant 24th Battalion London Regiment, 24.10.1915; Lieutenant 1.7.1917; Acting Captain 19.11.1917 (M.I.D. London Gazette 25.5.1917 and 10.7.1919); served with the battalion as part of the 142nd Brigade on the Somme, August-September 1918, and ´the infantry brigades of the 47th Division were to relieve those of the 12th Division during the night of the 29th-30th August; but owing to the retirement of the enemy this change could not be carried out as planned, and it was arranged that the 142nd Brigade, to which mounted troops, artillery and machine guns had been attached, should, as advanced guard, pass through the line of the 12th Division at 6a.m., the remainder of the division following. Actually, at the named hour the 142nd Brigade, realizing that a deliberate attack was necessary, sent forward two battalions with the third in support, under a barrage. By 9a.m. the 1/24th London on the right, having met only with slight opposition, although the 1/22nd London on the left came under considerable machine-gun fire from the north-east, had captured Hill 150 (2 miles north of Cléry), taken over a hundred prisoners, two field guns and a number of machine guns and had reached a line from the western side of Marrières Wood´; Walker particularly distinguished himself on 1/2nd September 1918, when ´for half an hour before the 142nd Brigade started at 5.30a.m. to pass through the 141st on the western edge of St. Pierre Vaast Wood, the enemy maintained a heavy barrage, and throughout the advance over ground cut up by old trenches and shell-holes offered strong opposition [Private J. Harvey,1/22nd London Regiment was awarded the V.C. for this action]. Nevertheless, the brigade had a successful day. The 1/22nd London, on the right, reached a trench N.N.E. of Moislains, the northern part of the trench which the 140th had occupied; in the gap between the two brigades were several parties of Germans, those who, as above related, were using bombs against the 140th, and were not mopped up for some time. On the left, the 1/24th London managed to cut off a large party of Germans in dug-outs a little west of the south-west edge of St. Pierre Vaast Wood; two officers and sixty men were captured, most of the rest making good their escape into the wood, where they stampeded some of their own defenders. The battalion was then able to reach the western edge of Vaux Wood, as intended, with its left bent back towards Lonely Copse.´ (Official History of the War, Military Operations, France and Belgium 1918, vol. IV, refers); attached Acting Captain 45th Battalion Royal Fusiliers for service during the Allied Intervention; re-engaged for service as Temporary Major, Pioneer Corps 20.10.1940; advanced Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel, 17.11.1942.

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