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Auction: 16003 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals and Militaria
Lot: 52

The Great War Bronze Memorial Plaque to Gunner S.L. Taylor, Royal Artillery, A Survivor From 'L' Battery's Legendary Stand at Nery, near Compeigne, France, 1 September 1914
Great War Bronze Memorial Plaque (Squire Lawrence Taylor), nearly extremely fine

111111 Gunner Squire Lawrence Taylor, born 1892; the son of A.W. Taylor, 37 Kensington Street, Blackpool, Lancashire; served during the Great War on the Western Front with 'L' Battery, being a survivor of the famous stand at Nery; killed in action, 28.2.1917 and is buried in the Guards' Cemetery, Combles, France.

The Stand At Nery
On the night of 31.8.1914, "L" Battery set up camp outside the village of Nery, twelve miles south-west of Compiegne. A Squadron of the Queen´s Bays was camped in the same field. The following morning, while the men were breakfasting, the camp was startled by the sound of guns very nearby. Soon the shells began to land amongst the teams harnessed up ready to march, and within two minutes there was not a single horse alive, and many men had been killed or wounded. Such was the ferocity of the Germans bombardment of the Battery - ‘a storm of shot and shell’ - that only three of its six guns could be brought into action, two of them quickly being knocked out at a range of just 600 yards. Having started the action with over 200 men, ‘L’ Battery could only muster 40 survivors at the end of the day. Three V.C.'s were awarded for the action.

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Sold for
£450