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Auction: 7022 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 374

The Suicide Club 1915-1922 The Machine Gun Corps was formed in October 1915 as the concept of "Brigading" Infantry machine gun units into a combined military organization finally dawned upon the Army High Command. The terrible power of the machine gun had not been fully appreciated in the higher echelons, despite the lessons of Omdurman in 1896, in South Africa 1900 and during the Russo-Japanese War 1904-05. Following on from the end of the war of movement early in 1915 it soon became apparent that it was the machine gun which ruled the battlefield, being able to inflict devastating losses on any force rash enough to raise its head above the parapets. If any doubt remained, the losses suffered by British infantry on the 1st July 1916 would emphasize the stark realities. The role of the newly-formed Machine Gun Corps in the field was now plain. They, and they alone, would provide cover for new units moving into the front line, give constant covering and battery fire whilst in the line to prevent the unopposed build-up of enemy units, would go forward with or in advance of any assaults on enemy positions, and would remain to the last if a retreat became inevitable. The "first-in, last-out" philosophy soon led to the Corps being dubbed "The Suicide Club", and with good reason. Over 16,000 officers and men died and three times that number were wounded. Over 8,000 gallantry awards were made to members of the Corps, including 6 V.C.s, 778 D.C.M.s, about 1,000 M.C.s, and 3,000 M.M.s. By the end of the War approximately 190,000 officers and men had become part of one of the largest organisations within the British Army, serving in over 70 battalions in every theatre of the conflict. Service in Mesopotamia and on the North-West Frontier of India after the Armistice brought more Medallic awards, prior to disbandment in 1922. In its short life the Corps had made an indelible mark in the annals of British military history and established an esprit-de-corps that lasted through the decades until the last of those genuine old heroes faded away. Their memory is perpetuated to this day by the Old Comrades Association at annual observance at the Corps Memorial - The Boy David statue at Hyde Park Corner. Its biblical inscription reads: "Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten thousands" An Unknown Hero "On the third day of the Third Battle of Armentieres, 1918, it only remained for the Germans to get through the town in pursuit of the retiring Portuguese. They were persistently held up by the fire of just one British Machine Gun section. At dusk, a Hun officer with a white flag came towards their isolated post. A Tommy came out and stopped the officer, who told him that any further resistance would be useless, and that the gunners could have honourable terms. The man, weak from wounds, replied that they had orders to hold on to the end. The German envoy retired and the emplacement was pounded by enemy guns all night. At dawn the white flag came forward again and it was found that all four guns had been kept in action by the one wounded man, now dead. We, in "D" Company witnessed this from our own last-line defence, beyond the old railway, which we held until French reinforcements arrived. After the Armistice, our Colonel Kendrick tried to trace the unknown hero, but his name and his grave were never identified." George Smith, Late 34th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps The First ´Immediate´ Tank Operations D.S.O., For the First Tank Attack of the Great War, Group of Five to Major A.M. Inglis, Heavy Section, Machine Gun Corps, Gloucestershire Regiment, and Tank Corps, Late Wiltshire Regiment, For Conspicuous Gallantry for Leading ´C´ Section Tanks in C5 (Crème de Menthe) During the Major Allied Advance on the Somme, 15th September 1916; He Advanced His Tanks In Company With the 2nd Canadian Division, And Despite Losing a Wheel, Crème de Menthe Led the Way to the Objective, Clearing the German Redoubt of Depleted Machine Gun Nests and What Remained of the Enemy Garrison; Inglis Returned in Crème de Menthe to Allied Lines With A Thoroughly Disoriented Captured German General, Who Would Never Forget His Enforced Ride to Captivity Over No Man´s Land in the Depths of a British Land-Ship Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel, with integral top riband bar, in Garrard, London, case of issue; Queen´s South Africa 1899-1902, no clasp (Lieut. A.Mc.C. Inglis. Wilts. Rgt.); 1914-15 Star (Capt. A.Mc.C. Inglis. Glouc. R.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. Oakleaves (Major A.Mc.C. Inglis.), extremely fine, with Great War Bronze Memorial Plaque, erased and contemporarily engraved ´Arthur McCulloch Inglis´; copy of the print ´Captain A.M. Inglis brings his "Tank" forward over very difficult ground after one of its wheels had been blown off" from ´Deeds that Thrill the Empire´; and seven photographs (5) Estimate £ 2,500-3,000 D.S.O. London Gazette 20.10.1916 Capt. Arthur Maculloch Inglis, Glouc R. ´For conspicuous gallantry in action. He brought his "Tanks" forward over very difficult ground. Although one of the wheels of his own "Tank" was blown off early by a shell he succeeded in reaching his objective and manoeuvring throughout the whole operation.´ M.I.D. London Gazette Inglis, Capt. A.McC., D.S.O., Gloucestershire Regiment. Major Arthur McCulloch Inglis, D.S.O., born July 1884, the son of Lionel Arthur Lister Inglis, British Resident at Chota Nagpur, Bengal; educated at Cheltenham College; Commissioned Second Lieutenant, 3rd (Militia) Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment, 2.11.1901; stationed at St Helena guarding Boer Prisoners of War until the end of the South African War; transferred 2nd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, 23.5.1906; Promoted Lieutenant, 7.4.1908; Appointed Aide-de-Camp to Sir Henry Galway, K.C.M.G., D.S.O., Governor and Commanding-in-Chief of the Gambia, 6.12.1911; joined Gambia Company, West Africa Frontier Force, 1913, and served on the General Officer Commanding´s Staff; served with the Cameroons under General Dobell, 1914-16; Captain, 1.8.1914; Joined Heavy Branch, Machine Gun Corps, 12.7.1916. Entry of the Tank On 15.9.1916 Inglis was "C" Section Commander, his section allotted to the 2nd Canadian Division for the planned assault on the German-held Sugar Factory, on the Guillemont and Leuze Wood Front, on the Somme near Longueval. The section was divided into two, with C5 (Crème de Menthe), C3 (Chartreuse), and C4 (Chablis) to advance to the Pozières Windmill, and then onto the Sugar Factory, while C1 (Champagne), C2 (Cognac), and C6 (Cordon Rouge) were to approach the Factory from the north. ´In a succession of splendid bursts the Canadians secured their left flank by extending towards the Thiepval front, and in frenzied fighting broke rapidly through all the enemy positions as far as the sugar factory. Here they were desperately engaging a row of machine-guns when, at a ponderous pace, "Crème de Menthe", the leading land-ship, arrived. She and her fellow monster "Cordon Rouge" had been outpaced by the Canadians, but slowly and surely the new engines of war crawled into the forefront of the battle. "Crème de Menthe" sparkled with blue fire as the German machine-gunners whipped her vainly with bullets. Rising in weird toad-like fashion, she prowled about the sand-bagged and concrete redoubt, with her guns sweeping every grey figure in sight. The garrison was beaten down in front and enfiladed sideways, and by the afternoon the factory fortress was won.´ (The Great War, Volume 8, Edited by H.W. Wilson refers). Following the successful attack, Inglis returned to the Allied positions in his tank with a German General who had been captured by the Canadians in the Sugar Factory. For his conspicuous gallantry he was awarded D.S.O., the first such award for actions in Tanks. Appointed Officer Commanding and Temporary Major, 16 Company, 29.12.1916; Severely wounded when a ´Whippet´ he was in drove over an unexploded shell, which blew up, 8.8.1918; posted Railway Transport Officer, 24.12.1918. Major Inglis died as a result of his wounds, 12.5.1919 in Cheltenham, and is buried in the family grave at St Mary´s Church, Prestbury, Cheltenham.

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