image

Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 19001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 766

(x) Pair: Lance-Corporal C. W. Burton, King's Royal Rifle Corps, who was killed in action on 3 May 1917, the opening day of the Third Battle of the Scarpe, an 'unmitigated disaster' for the British Army which suffered nearly 6000 men killed for little material gain

British War and Victory Medals (R-20063 Pte. C. W. Burton, K.R. Rif. C.), good very fine (2)

Charles Whisler Burton was born at Green Hammerton, Yorkshire, in 1897, the son of Charles Bouchier Burton of Copmanthorpe, York. He served with the 8th Battalion, K.R.R.C, and died during an attack to capture the Blue Line running in front of Triangle Wood and through to Hill Side Wood. The decision to launch the attack in darkness at 3.45 a.m. was contentious, especially with the men expected to advance behind a 'creeping barrage' of artillery shells. In the Official History, Military Operations France and Belgium 1917, author Cyril Falls describes the failures of the attack in stark detail:

'The confusion caused by the darkness; the speed with which the German artillery opened fire; the manner in which it concentrated upon the British Infantry, almost neglecting the artillery; the intensity of its fire, the heaviest that many an experienced soldier had ever witnessed, seemingly unchecked by British counter-battery fire and lasting almost without slackening for fifteen hours; the readiness with which the German infantry yielded to the first assault and the energy of its counter-attack; and, it must be added, the bewilderment of the British infantry on finding itself in the open and its inability to withstand any resolute counter-attack.'

For further details, see:

https://www.jeremybanning.co.uk/tag/third-battle-of-the-scarpe

Aged just 20 years old, Burton's name is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.


Subject to 5% tax on Hammer Price in addition to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium. For more information please view Terms and Conditions for Buyers.

Sold for
£55