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Auction: 23111 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 720

An emotive 'Operation Hush' casualty's pair to Private C. Vast, 1/5th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, who was mortally wounded during the German spoiling attack codenamed 'Operation Beach Party'

British War and Victory Medals (7804 Pte. C. Vast. W. York. R.), good very fine (2)

Charles Vast was born on 24 May 1881 at Starbeck, Yorkshire, the son of Samuel and Mary Vast of 25 Russell Street, Harrogate, West Yorkshire. Initially following his father into work as an agricultural labourer he later became a carter.

Marrying Hannah Scott at St. Mark's Church on 11 January 1905, the couple lived at 6 Cromwell Road, Oatland Mount, Harrogate, raising five children there of whom four lived past childhood.

Enlisting at Harrogate with the 1/5th (Territorial) Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment Vast entered the war at some stage after 1916 in France with a new service number 203549. 1/5th Battalion had been there since April 1915 and had seen heavy fighting in that time notably during the Somme Offensive where they were in action near constantly between July-September.

Rushed as reinforcements to St. George, Nieuwpoort in July 1917 they were subject to the heavy fighting which occurred there during Operation Strandfest (Beach Party).

Operation Hush

The plan for Operation Hush came about as a result of developing German Naval power on the coast of occupied Belgium. To improve the naval situation the British would need to make gains upon the coast, gains which could be tied into General Rawlinson's plans for an advance in Flanders, what was to become the Battle of Passchendaele.

What was needed was an advance to seize or otherwise neutralise the ports of Ostend and Zeebrugge; the plan devised was to launch an offensive against the German lines while simultaneously striking from the sea against the port itself. For this later attack the British even designed specialised tanks with treads intended to climb the sea walls and deliver the vehicles into the heart of the enemy defences. These forces assembled around the Belgian town of Neiupoort in preparation for the attack.

Operation Beach Party

Unfortunately, aircraft flyovers and information gleaned from captured soldiers alerted the Germans to the build-up and they launched a spoiling attack on 6 July. Bombarding the bridges over the Yser River they managed to cut off the allied bridgehead over the river. The 3rd Marine Division advanced with 30 flamethrowers ahead of their line overran the isolated British, killing or capturing the bulk of 1st Battalion Northamptonshire Regiment and 2nd Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps.

With the bridgehead taken they continued a heavy bombardment of the British lines notably relying heavily on gas shells- the first German use of mustard gas in barrage. This offensive continued throughout July with the British forced to pull in reinforcements including 1/5th Battalion to hold their ground. The fighting was characterised by notably heavy artillery and gas bombardments as well as small-scale raids.

Arriving in the lines on 17 July 1917, the Battalion came in for a heavy bombardment just two days later which proved a sign of things to come. Over the next week a series of heavy bombardments intercut with periods of peace in which both sides sent out patrols and skirmished over No-Man's-Land. During one day of fighting on 22 July 141 men of the battalion were gassed.

Vast was one of those injured during the fighting, his wounds were to prove mortal and he died on 26 July 1917. He is buried at Coxyde Military Cemetery, Belgium, being survived by his wife and his wife Maud and all five of his children although Sydney Vast - born 1916 - was to die the next year.

His name appears on the 21st Panel of the West Yorkshire Regiment War Memorial at the 5th Territorial Battalion's Drill Hall, 28 Colliergate, York; sold together with copied research comprising Commonwealth War Graves Certificate, M.I.C. and medal roll as well as census data, a photograph and War Diary entry for July 1917.

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Sold for
£120

Starting price
£70