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Auction: 19001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 776

(x) A rare Great War casualty's pair to Rifleman H. J. Head, Rhodesian Platoon, attached King's Royal Rifle Corps, who was killed in action on the First Day of the Battle of the Somme: only 10 men of his 90-strong Platoon remained fit to fight the next day

British War and Victory Medals (R-17495 Pte. H. J. Head, K.R. Rif. C.), good very fine (2)

Herbert James Head was the son of the late John Head, Inspector of the Metropolitan Police, and husband of Mary Head of 'Erne Vale', Dundee, Natal, South Africa.

During the First World War, an affiliation was formed between the King's Royal Rifle Corps and the Rhodesia Regiment, the result of a chance meeting between two passengers on board a ship sailing from Cape Town to Southampton in late 1914. One of them was Captain John Brady of the Rhodesia Regiment, heading to Europe with a small party of his regiment hoping to join the fight against Germany. The other was Henry Paulet, 16th Marquess of Winchester, who persuaded Brady that the best chance of keeping his men together through the enlistment process would be by joining a British Regiment; he recommended the Winchester based K.R.R.C., with whom he had close connections, and within a short period of time, the first 'Rhodesian Platoon', attached 3rd K.R.R.C., was formed. A second platoon was mustered in 1915, attached to the 2nd Battalion, K.R.R.C.

At the Battle of Loos, both platoons would suffer devastating casualties after 'going over the top' in an attack on the Triangle near Fosse 8. In another attack on Wood Lane, 17 members of the platoon were lost. In a further attack at the same time, the platoon's strength stood at 17 or 18 and 13 were lost, including two killed, leaving just four or five men. The Platoon was rebuilt from the wounded and a fresh draft of 25 Rhodesians, and stood at 90 strong on 30 June, the eve of the Battle of the Somme.

On 1 July 1916, South Africa's 3rd South Infantry Regiment, including the 90 Rhodesians, attacked Delville Wood with the intention of later capturing Longueval. According to The Rhodesia Regiment, From Boer War to Bush War 1899-1980, by the next morning, 'only 10 of the Rhodesians had survived'. On 2 July the South African Brigade attacked and seized a front 1300 metres wide, which they held until relieved on 18 July, but casualties continued to be excessive; 3793 of the 4200 Rhodesian and South African troops deployed on the Somme had become casualties.

Herbert is buried in a shared grave in the Maroc British Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France, which was a front-line cemetery used by fighting units and field ambulances; entitled to a pair only and sold with copied MIC.

Reference sources:

www.moth.org.za/wp-content/.../Supplement-Rhodesians-on-the-Western-Front.doc

https://www.nam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/western-front-teachers-notes.pdfhttp://www.galago.co.za/CAT1_032_b.htm


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Sold for
£260