List of medical recipients of the Victoria Cross
Medical recipients
Table:
Name
Regiment/Corps
Date
Conflict
Location

Harold Ackroyd
Royal Berkshire Regiment
31 July–1 August 1917
First World War
Passchendaele[13]

William Allen
Royal Artillery
3 September 1916
First World War
Near Mesnil[14]

Henry Andrews
Indian Medical Services
22 October 1919
Waziristan campaign
Khajuri Post[15]

William Babtie
Royal Army Medical Corps
10 December 1899
Second Boer War
Colenso[16]

William Bradshaw
90th Foot
26 September 1857
Indian Mutiny
Lucknow[17]

Noel Chavasse
King's Regiment (Liverpool)
9 August 1916
31 July–2 August 1917
First World War
First World War
Guillemont[18]
Wieltje[19]

Thomas Crean
1st Imperial Light Horse
18 December 1901
Second Boer War
Tygerkloof[20]

John Crimmin
Bombay Medical Services
1 January 1889
Karen-Ni Expedition
Near Lwekaw[21]

Campbell Douglas
24th Foot
7 May 1867
Andaman Expedition
Little Andaman[22]

Henry Douglas
Royal Army Medical Corps
11 December 1899
Second Boer War
Magersfontein[23]

Joseph Farmer
Army Hospital Corps
4 July 1879
Zulu War
Ulundi[24]

John Fox-Russell
Royal Welch Fusiliers
6 November 1917
First World War
Khuweilfe[25]

Andrew Fitzgibbon
Indian Medical Establishment
21 August 1860
Third China War
Taku Forts[11]

John Green
Sherwood Foresters
1 July 1916
First World War
Loos[26]

Thomas Hale
7th Foot
7–8 September 1855
Crimean War
Sevastopol[27]

Henry Harden
No. 45 (Royal Marine) Commando
23 January 1945
Second World War
Brachterbeek[12]

Anthony Home
90th Foot
26 September 1857
Indian Mutiny
Lucknow[17]

Neville Howse
New South Wales Army Medical Corps
24 July 1900
Second Boer War
Vredefort[28]

Bellenden Hutcheson
75th (Mississauga) Battalion, CEF
2 September 1918
First World War
Drocourt-Quéant[29]

Edgar Inkson
Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
24 February 1900
Second Boer War
Hart's Hill[30]

With reference to the following table along with the context snippets listed at the end.

State the answer to the question: What nationality was the winner of the 1945 award ? Return your answer as JSON: {"answer": "YOUR ANSWER"}.

Harold Ackroyd , VC , MC ( 18 July 1877 - 11 August 1917 ) was a British physician , scientific researcher , army officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces . An officer with the Royal Army Medical Corps during the First World War , he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions in late July-early August 1917 , during the Battle of Passchendaele .
The Royal Berkshire Regiment ( Princess Charlotte of Wales 's ) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1959 . The regiment was created in 1881 , as the Princess Charlotte of Wales 's ( Royal Berkshire Regiment ) , by the amalgamation of the 49th ( Princess Charlotte of Wales 's ) ( Hertfordshire ) Regiment of Foot and the 66th ( Berkshire ) Regiment of Foot . In 1921 , it was renamed the Royal Berkshire Regiment ( Princess Charlotte of Wales 's ) . The regiment saw active service in the Second Boer War , World War I and World War II . On 9 June 1959 , the Royal Berkshire Regiment ( Princess Charlotte of Wales 's ) was amalgamated with the Wiltshire Regiment ( Duke of Edinburgh 's ) to form the Duke of Edinburgh 's Royal Regiment ( Berkshire and Wiltshire ) which was again amalgamated , on 27 July 1994 , with the Gloucestershire Regiment to create the Royal Gloucestershire , Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment . Like its predecessor regiment , however , this was on 1 February 2007 , merged with the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment , the Royal Green Jackets and The Light Infantry to form a new large regiment , The Rifles .
World War I ( often abbreviated as WWI or WW1 ) , also known as the First World War or the Great War , was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918 . Contemporaneously described as the war to end all wars , it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel , including 60 million Europeans , making it one of the largest wars in history . It is also one of the deadliest conflicts in history , with an estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war , while resulting genocides and the resulting 1918 influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide . On 28 June 1914 , Gavrilo Princip , a Bosnian Serb Yugoslav nationalist , assassinated the Austro-Hungarian heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo , leading to the July Crisis . In response , on 23 July , Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia . Serbia 's reply failed to satisfy the Austrians , and the two moved to a war footing . A network of interlocking alliances enlarged the crisis from a bilateral issue in the Balkans to one involving most of Europe . By July 1914 , the great powers of Europe were divided into two coalitions : the Triple Entente - consisting of France , Russia , and Britain - and the Triple Alliance of Germany , Austria-Hungary , and Italy ( the Triple Alliance was only defensive in nature , allowing Italy to stay out of the war until April 1915 , when it joined the Allied Powers after its relations with Austria-Hungary deteriorated ) . Russia felt it necessary to back Serbia and , after Austria-Hungary shelled the Serbian capital of Belgrade on the 28 July , approved partial mobilisation . Full Russian mobilisation was announced on the evening of 30 July ; on the 31st , Austria-Hungary and Germany did the same , while Germany demanded Russia demobilise within twelve hours . When Russia failed to comply , Germany declared war on Russia on 1 August in support of Austria-Hungary , with Austria-Hungary following suit on 6 August ; France ordered full mobilisation in support of Russia on 2 August . German strategy for a war on two fronts against France and Russia was to rapidly concentrate the bulk of its army in the West to defeat France within six weeks , then shift forces to the East before Russia could fully mobilise ; this was later known as the Schlieffen Plan .
The Third Battle of Ypres ( German : Dritte Flandernschlacht ; French : Troisième Bataille des Flandres and Dutch : Derde Slag om Vlaanderen ) , also known as the Battle of Passchendaele ( /ˈpæʃəndeɪl/ ) , was a campaign of the First World War , fought by the Allies against the German Empire . [ a ] The battle took place on the Western Front , from July to November 1917 , for control of the ridges south and east of the Belgian city of Ypres in West Flanders , as part of a strategy decided by the Allies at conferences in November 1916 and May 1917 . Passchendaele lies on the last ridge east of Ypres , 5 mi ( 8.0 km ) from Roulers ( now Roeselare ) junction of the Bruges ( Brugge ) to Kortrijk railway . The station at Roulers was on the main supply route of the German 4th Army . Once Passchendaele Ridge had been captured , the Allied advance was to continue to a line from Thourout ( now Torhout ) to Couckelaere ( Koekelare ) . Further operations and a British supporting attack along the Belgian coast from Nieuport ( Nieuwpoort ) , combined with an amphibious landing ( Operation Hush ) , were to have reached Bruges and then the Dutch frontier . The resistance of the 4th Army , unusually wet weather in August , the beginning of the autumn rains in October and the diversion of British and French resources to Italy , enabled the Germans to avoid the general withdrawal which had seemed inevitable in early October . The campaign ended in November , when the Canadian Corps captured Passchendaele , apart from local attacks in December and early in the new year . The Battle of the Lys ( Fourth Battle of Ypres ) and the Fifth Battle of Ypres of 1918 , were fought before the Allies occupied the Belgian coast and reached the Dutch frontier . A campaign in Flanders was controversial in 1917 and has remained so . The British Prime Minister , David Lloyd George , opposed the offensive , as did General Ferdinand Foch , the Chief of Staff of the French Army . Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig , commander of the British Expeditionary Force ( BEF ) , did not receive approval for the Flanders operation from the War Cabinet until 25 July .
William Barnsley Allen VC , DSO , MC & Bar ( 8 June 1892 - 27 August 1933 ) was a British Army medical officer who was decorated for gallantry four times during the First World War , including an award of the Victoria Cross , the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces .
The Royal Regiment of Artillery , commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery ( RA ) and colloquially known as The Gunners , is the artillery arm of the British Army . The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises thirteen Regular Army regiments , King 's Troop Royal Horse Artillery and five Army Reserve regiments .
Mesnil-en-Arrouaise is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France .
Henry John Andrews VC , MBE ( 23 March 1871 - 22 October 1919 ) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces .
The Indian Army Medical Corps is a specialist corps in the Indian Army which primarily provides medical services to all Army personnel , serving and veterans , along with their families .
The Waziristan campaign 1919-1920 was a military campaign conducted in Waziristan by British and Indian forces against the fiercely independent tribesmen that inhabited this region . These operations were conducted in 1919-20 , following the unrest that arose in the aftermath of the Third Anglo-Afghan War .
Waziristan ( Pashto and Urdu : وزیرستان , land of the Wazir ) is a mountainous region covering the former FATA agencies of North Waziristan and South Waziristan which are now districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan . Waziristan covers some 11,585 square kilometres ( 4,500 sq mi ) . The area is populated by ethnic Pashtuns . It is named after the Wazir tribe . The language spoken in the valley is Pashto , predominantly the Waziristani dialect . The region forms the southern part of Pakistan 's Federally Administered Tribal Areas , which is now part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province . The 16th-century Pashtun revolutionary leader and warrior-poet Bayazid Pir Roshan , who wrote the oldest known book in Pashto , was based in Kaniguram , Waziristan .
Lieutenant General Sir William Babtie , VC , KCB , KCMG ( 7 May 1859 - 11 September 1920 ) was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth armed forces . His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Army Medical Services Museum in Aldershot . Babtie graduated from the University of Glasgow with an M.B . and also received the LRCP and LRCS from the University of Edinburgh Medical School in 1880 .
The Royal Army Medical Corps ( RAMC ) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families , in war and in peace . The RAMC , the Royal Army Veterinary Corps , the Royal Army Dental Corps and Queen Alexandra 's Royal Army Nursing Corps form the Army Medical Services .
The Second Boer War ( 11 October 1899 - 31 May 1902 ) was fought between the British Empire and two Boer states , the South African Republic ( Republic of Transvaal ) and the Orange Free State , over the Empire 's influence in South Africa . It is also known variously as the Boer War , Anglo-Boer War , or South African War . Initial Boer attacks were successful , and although British reinforcements later reversed these , the war continued for years with Boer guerrilla warfare , until harsh British counter-measures brought the Boers to terms . The war started with the British overconfident and under-prepared . The Boers were well armed and struck first , besieging Ladysmith , Kimberley , and Mafeking in early 1900 , and winning important battles at Colenso , Magersfontein and Stormberg . Staggered , the British brought in large numbers of soldiers and fought back . General Redvers Buller was replaced by Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener . They relieved the three besieged cities , and invaded the two Boer republics in late 1900 . The onward marches of the British Army , well over 400,000 men , were so overwhelming that the Boers did not fight staged battles in defence of their homeland . The British army seized control of all of the Orange Free State and Transvaal , as the civilian leadership went into hiding or exile . In conventional terms , the war was over . The British officially annexed the two countries in 1900 .
The battle of Colenso was the third and final battle fought during the Black Week of the Second Boer War . It was fought between British and Boer forces from the independent South African Republic and Orange Free State in and around Colenso , Natal , South Africa on 15 December 1899 . Inadequate preparation and reconnaissance and uninspired leadership led to a British defeat .
William Bradshaw VC ( 12 February 1830 - 9 March 1861 ) , born in Thurles , County Tipperary , was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for valour in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces .
The 90th Perthshire Light Infantry was a Scottish light infantry regiment of the British Army , raised in 1794 . Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 26th ( Cameronian ) Regiment of Foot to form the Cameronians ( Scottish Rifles ) in 1881 .
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major , but ultimately unsuccessful , uprising in India in 1857-58 against the rule of the British East India Company , which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown . The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form of a mutiny of sepoys of the Company 's army in the garrison town of Meerut , 40 mi ( 64 km ) northeast of Delhi ( now Old Delhi ) . It then erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions chiefly in the upper Gangetic plain and central India , [ a ] [ b ] though incidents of revolt also occurred farther north and east . [ c ] The rebellion posed a considerable threat to British power in that region , [ d ] and was contained only with the rebels ' defeat in Gwalior on 20 June 1858 . On 1 November 1858 , the British granted amnesty to all rebels not involved in murder , though they did not declare the hostilities to have formally ended until 8 July 1859 . Its name is contested , variously described as the Sepoy Mutiny , the Indian Mutiny , the Great Rebellion , the Revolt of 1857 , the Indian Insurrection , and the First War of Independence . [ e ] The Indian rebellion was fed by resentments born of diverse perceptions , including invasive British-style social reforms , harsh land taxes , summary treatment of some rich landowners and princes , as well as scepticism about the improvements brought about by British rule . [ f ] Many Indians rose against the British ; however , many also fought for the British , and the majority remained seemingly compliant to British rule . [ g ] Violence , which sometimes betrayed exceptional cruelty , was inflicted on both sides , on British officers , and civilians , including women and children , by the rebels , and on the rebels , and their supporters , including sometimes entire villages , by British reprisals ; the cities of Delhi and Lucknow were laid waste in the fighting and the British retaliation . [ h ] After the outbreak of the mutiny in Meerut , the rebels quickly reached Delhi , whose 81-year-old Mughal ruler , Bahadur Shah Zafar , was declared the Emperor of Hindustan . Soon , the rebels had captured large tracts of the North-Western Provinces and Awadh ( Oudh ) . The East India Company 's response came rapidly as well .
The Siege of Lucknow ( Hindi : लखनऊ की घेराबंदी ) was the prolonged defence of the Residency within the city of Lucknow during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 . After two successive relief attempts had reached the city , the defenders and civilians were evacuated from the Residency , which was then abandoned .
Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse , VC & Bar , MC ( 9 November 1884 - 4 August 1917 ) was a British medical doctor , Olympic athlete , and British Army officer from the Chavasse family . He is one of only three people to be awarded a Victoria Cross twice . The Battle of Guillemont was to see acts of heroism by Captain Chavasse , the only man to be awarded the Victoria Cross twice during the First World War . In 1916 , Chavasse was hit by shell splinters while rescuing men in no-man 's land . It is said he got as close as 25 yards to the German line , where he found three men and continued throughout the night under a constant rain of sniper bullets and bombing . He performed similar heroics in the early stages of the offensive at Passchendaele in August 1917 to gain a second VC and become the most highly decorated British officer of the First World War . Although operated upon , he was to die of his wounds two days later in 1917 .
The King 's Regiment ( Liverpool ) was one of the oldest line infantry regiments of the British Army , having been formed in 1685 and numbered as the 8th ( The King 's ) Regiment of Foot in 1751 . Unlike most British Army infantry regiments , which were associated with a county , the King 's represented the city of Liverpool , one of only four regiments affiliated to a city in the British Army . After 273 years of continuous existence , the regiment was amalgamated with the Manchester Regiment in 1958 to form the King 's Regiment ( Liverpool and Manchester ) , which was later amalgamated with the King 's Own Royal Border Regiment and the Queen 's Lancashire Regiment to form the present Duke of Lancaster 's Regiment ( King 's , Lancashire and Border ) . The King 's notably saw active service in the Second Boer War , the two world wars , and the Korean War . In the First World War , the regiment contributed dozens of battalions to the Western Front , Salonika , and the North West Frontier . More than 13,000 men were killed . In the Second World War , the 5th and 8th ( Irish ) battalions landed during Operation Overlord , the 1st and 13th fought as Chindits in the Burma Campaign , and the 2nd Battalion served in Italy and Greece . The King 's later fought in the Korean War , earning the regiment 's last battle honour . Nine Victoria Crosses were awarded to men of the regiment , the first in 1900 and the last in 1918 . An additional two were awarded to Royal Army Medical Corps officer Noel Godfrey Chavasse , who was attached to the 10th ( Scottish ) Battalion during the Great War . In peacetime , the regiment 's battalions were based in the United Kingdom and colonies in the British Empire . Duties varied : riots were suppressed in Belfast , England , and the Middle East ; bases were garrisoned in places such as the North-West Frontier Province and West Germany ; and reviews and parades conducted throughout the regiment 's history .
The Battle of Guillemont ( 3-6 September 1916 ) was an attack by the British Fourth Army on the village of Guillemont . The village is on the D 20 running east to Combles and the D 64 south-west to Montauban . Longueval and Delville Wood lie to the north-west and Ginchy to the north-east . The village was on the right flank of the British sector , near the boundary with the French Sixth Army . The Fourth Army had advanced close to Guillemont during the Battle of Bazentin Ridge ( 14-17 July ) and the capture of the village was the culmination of British attacks which began on the night of 22/23 July . The attacks were intended to advance the right flank of the Fourth Army and eliminate a salient further north at Delville Wood . German defences ringed the wood and had observation over the French Sixth Army area to the south , towards the Somme river . Preparatory to a general attack intended for mid-September , from the Somme north to Courcelette ( beyond the Albert-Bapaume road ) , the French Sixth Army , the Fourth Army and the Reserve Army conducted numerous attacks to capture the rest of the German second line and to gain observation over the German third line . The German defences around Guillemont were based on the remaining parts of the second line and fortified villages and farms northwards from Hem , Maurepas and Combles , to Falfemont Farm , Guillemont , Ginchy , Delville Wood and High Wood , which commanded the ground in between . [ a ] Numerous attempts were made by Joseph Joffre , Sir Douglas Haig , Ferdinand Foch and the army commanders Henry Rawlinson and Émile Fayolle to co-ordinate joint attacks , which failed due to the recovery of the German 2nd Army from the disorganisation caused by the defeats in early July , disagreements over tactics by Haig and Joffre in July and August and organisational constraints caused by congestion behind the front , roads and tracks obliterated by Anglo-French artillery-fire becoming swamps when it rained and increasing German artillery-fire on targets behind the front line . Inexperience , unreliable machinery , guns , ammunition and an unpredictable flow of supplies from Britain , reduced the effectiveness of the British armies . Difficulty in co-ordinating attacks by the Entente armies and the large number of piecemeal attacks resorted to by the British , have been criticised as costly failures and evidence of muddle and incompetence by the generals .
Ypres ( /ˈiːprə/ EE-prə ; French : [ ipʁ ] ; Dutch : Ieper [ ˈipər ] ) is a Belgian municipality in the province of West Flanders . Though the Dutch Ieper is the official name , the city 's French name Ypres is most commonly used in English . The municipality comprises the city of Ypres and the villages of Boezinge , Brielen , Dikkebus , Elverdinge , Hollebeke , Sint-Jan , Vlamertinge , Voormezele , Zillebeke , and Zuidschote . Together , they are home to about 34,900 inhabitants . During the First World War , Ypres ( or Wipers as it was commonly known by the British troops ) was the centre of the Battles of Ypres between German and Allied forces .
Major Dr. Thomas Joseph Crean , VC DSO ( 19 April 1873 , in Dublin , Ireland - 25 March 1923 , in Mayfair , London , England , ) was an Irish rugby union player , British Army soldier and doctor . During the Second Boer War , while serving with the Imperial Light Horse , he was awarded the Victoria Cross . In 1902 , he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons . During the First World War he served with the Royal Army Medical Corps and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order . Crean played rugby for Leinster , Ireland and the British Isles . In 1894 , he was a member of the first Ireland team to win both a Home Nations Championship and a Triple Crown . Then in 1896 he helped Ireland win their second Home Nations title . He is one of three Ireland rugby union internationals to have been awarded the Victoria Cross . The other two are Robert Johnston , who also served with the Imperial Light Horse in the Second Boer War , and Frederick Harvey who served in the First World War . Crean , Johnston and Harvey all played club rugby for Wanderers . In 1896 Crean and Johnston were also members of the same British Isles squad that toured South Africa .
The Johannesburg Light Horse Regiment ( JLHR ) , formerly the Light Horse Regiment ( LHR ) and Imperial Light Horse ( ILH ) , is an armoured car reconnaissance unit of the South African Army . As a reserve unit , it has a status roughly equivalent to that of a British Army Reserve or United States Army National Guard unit . It is part of the South African Army Armour Formation and is based at Mount Collins in Sandton , Johannesburg .
Colonel John Crimmin VC CB CIE VD ( 19 March 1859 - 20 February 1945 ) was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces . He also served as the Hon . Physician to H.M . The King .
The Bombay Army was the army of the Bombay Presidency , one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire . The presidency armies , like the presidencies themselves , belonged to the Honourable East India Company until the Government of India Act 1858 ( passed in the aftermath of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 ) transferred all three presidencies to the direct authority of the British Crown . In 1895 all three presidency armies were merged into the Indian Army .
Campbell Mellis Douglas VC ( 5 August 1840 in Quebec City - 31 December 1909 ) , was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces . The awarding of the VC to Douglas was one of the few ( only six in number ) instances of the VC being awarded for actions taken not in the face of the enemy . ( Another instance with a Canadian connection was the awarding of the VC to Timothy O'Hea ( an Irishman serving in the British army ) for actions taken at Danville , Quebec in 1866 relating to Canada 's defence against Fenian raids . ) Douglas joined the British Army in 1862 .
The South Wales Borderers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for 280 years . It first came into existence , as the 24th Regiment of Foot in 1689 . Based at Brecon , the regiment recruited from the border counties of Monmouthshire , Herefordshire and Brecknockshire , but was not called the South Wales Borderers until the Childers Reforms of 1881 . The regiment served in a great many conflicts , including the American Revolutionary War , various conflicts in India , the Zulu War , Second Boer War , and World War I and World War II . In 1969 the regiment was amalgamated with the Welch Regiment to form the Royal Regiment of Wales .
The Andaman Islands expedition was a British expedition to the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal , India . For actions during the expedition , five soldiers of the 24th Regiment of Foot were awarded Victoria Crosses . David Bell , James Cooper , Campbell Mellis Douglas , Thomas Murphy and William Griffiths risked their lives in manning a boat and proceeding through dangerous surf to rescue some of their comrades who had been sent to the island in order to locate the commander and seven of the crew from the ship Assam Valley . They were feared murdered by the cannibalistic islanders ; the Onge adivasi tribesmen .
Little Andaman Island ( Onge : Gaubolambe ) is the fourth largest of the Andaman Islands of India with an area of 707 km² , lying at the southern end of the archipelago . It belongs to the South Andaman administrative district , part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands . the island is lying 88 km ( 55 mi ) south of Port Blair , the capital of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the nearest airport from where regular flights to Kolkata and Chennai are available .
Major-General Henry Edward Manning Douglas VC CB CMG DSO ( 11 July 1875 - 14 February 1939 ) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces .
The Battle of Magersfontein [ Note 1 ] ( /ˈmɑːxərsfɒnteɪn/ MAH-khərss-fon-tayn ) was fought on 11 December 1899 , at Magersfontein near Kimberley , South Africa , on the borders of the Cape Colony and the independent republic of the Orange Free State . British forces under Lieutenant General Lord Methuen were advancing north along the railway line from the Cape in order to relieve the Siege of Kimberley , but their path was blocked at Magersfontein by a Boer force that was entrenched in the surrounding hills . The British had already fought a series of battles with the Boers , most recently at Modder River , where the advance was temporarily halted . Lord Methuen failed to perform adequate reconnaissance in preparation for the impending battle , and was unaware that Boer Vecht-generaal ( Combat General ) De la Rey had entrenched his forces at the foot of the hills rather than the forward slopes as was the accepted practice . This allowed the Boers to survive the initial British artillery bombardment ; when the British troops failed to deploy from a compact formation during their advance , the defenders were able to inflict heavy casualties . The Highland Brigade suffered the worst casualties , while on the Boer side , the Scandinavian Corps was destroyed . The Boers attained a tactical victory and succeeded in holding the British in their advance on Kimberley . The battle was the second of three battles during what became known as the Black Week of the Second Boer War . Following their defeat , the British delayed at the Modder River for another two months while reinforcements were brought forward . General Lord Roberts was appointed Commander in Chief of the British forces in South Africa and moved to take personal command of this front . He subsequently lifted the Siege of Kimberley and forced Cronje to surrender at the Battle of Paardeberg .
Joseph John Farmer VC ( 15 May 1854 - 30 June 1930 ) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces .
The Royal Army Medical Corps ( RAMC ) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families , in war and in peace . The RAMC , the Royal Army Veterinary Corps , the Royal Army Dental Corps and Queen Alexandra 's Royal Army Nursing Corps form the Army Medical Services .
The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom . Following Lord Carnarvon 's successful introduction of federation in Canada , it was thought that similar political effort , coupled with military campaigns , might succeed with the African kingdoms , tribal areas and Boer republics in South Africa . In 1874 , Sir Henry Bartle Frere was sent to South Africa as High Commissioner for the British Empire to bring such plans into being . Among the obstacles were the presence of the independent states of the South African Republic and the Kingdom of Zululand and its army . Frere , on his own initiative , without the approval of the British government [ d ] and with the intent of instigating a war with the Zulu , had presented an ultimatum on 11 December 1878 , to the Zulu king Cetshwayo with which the Zulu king could not comply , including disbanding his army and abandoning key cultural traditions . [ e ] Bartle Frere then sent Lord Chelmsford to invade Zululand after this ultimatum was not met . The war is notable for several particularly bloody battles , including an opening victory of the Zulu at the Battle of Isandlwana , followed by the defeat of a large Zulu army at Rorke 's Drift by a small force of British troops . The war eventually resulted in a British victory and the end of the Zulu nation 's dominance of the region .
The Battle of Ulundi took place at the Zulu capital of Ulundi on 4 July 1879 and was the last major battle of the Anglo-Zulu War . The British army broke the military power of the Zulu nation by defeating the main Zulu army and immediately afterwards capturing and razing the capital of Zululand , the royal kraal of Ulundi .
Captain John Fox Russell VC MC ( 27 January 1893 - 6 November 1917 ) was a Welsh recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces . He was born in Holyhead , Anglesey , on 27 January 1893 to William Fox Russell and Ethel Maria Fox Russell . At an early age , he passed the examination for a choristership at Magdalen College , Oxford , where he was educated for three years before attending St . Bees School in Cumbria . While at School he was an enthusiastic member of the Officer Training Corps . He was also a member of the 1st Holyhead Scout Troop , Wolf Patrol . He joined the Middlesex Hospital when only sixteen years of age and it was while he was in London that he joined the University of London Officers Training Corps , obtaining a commission in the Royal Welch Fusiliers in 1914 . He was with them in camp when war was declared . Being anxious to qualify , he was seconded in order to complete his medical studies . After obtaining his degrees , he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps , and was attached to a battery of the Royal Field Artillery . He later re-joined his old regiment R.W.F 1st/6th Battalion ( Anglesey and Caernarvonshire ) and went out to Egypt as medical officer . In the First Battle of Gaza he won the Military Cross .
The Royal Welch Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army and part of the Prince of Wales ' Division , founded in 1689 shortly after the Glorious Revolution . In 1702 , it was designated a fusilier regiment and became The Welch Regiment of Fusiliers ; the prefix Royal was added in 1713 , then confirmed in 1714 when George I named it The Prince of Wales 's Own Royal Regiment of Welsh Fusiliers . After the 1751 reforms that standardised the naming and numbering of regiments , it became the 23rd Foot ( Royal Welsh Fuzileers ) . It retained the archaic spelling of Welch , instead of Welsh , and Fuzileers for Fusiliers ; these were engraved on swords carried by regimental officers during the Napoleonic Wars . After the 1881 Childers Reforms , its official title was The Royal Welsh Fusiliers , but Welch continued to be used informally until restored in 1920 by Army Order No.56 . It should not be confused with the Welch Regiment , a different unit that recruited in South and West , rather than North Wales , and became part of the Royal Regiment of Wales or RRW in 1969 . One of the few regiments to retain its original title , in March 2006 the Royal Welch Fusiliers was amalgamated with the RRW and became 1st Battalion , Royal Welsh , with RRW as the 2nd Battalion .
The Third Battle of Gaza was fought on the night of 1/2 November 1917 between British and Ottoman forces during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I , and came after the Egyptian Expeditionary Force ( EEF ) victory at the Battle of Beersheba had ended the Stalemate in Southern Palestine . The fighting occurred at the beginning of the Southern Palestine Offensive , and together with attacks on Hareira and Sheria on 6-7 November and the continuing Battle of Tel el Khuweilfe which had been launched by General Edmund Allenby on 1 November , it eventually broke the Gaza to Beersheba line defended by the Yildirim Army Group . Despite having held this line since March 1917 , the Ottoman Army was forced to evacuate Gaza and Tel el Khuweilfe during the night of 6/7 November . Only Sheria held out for most of the 7 November before it too was captured . [ Note 1 ] Following British defeats at the First and Second Battles of Gaza in March and April 1917 , Lieutenant General Philip Chetwode commanding the EEF 's Eastern Force and Kress von Kressenstein 's Ottoman Empire force had each adopted a defensive posture and a stalemate had developed in Southern Palestine . Entrenched defences approximately on the lines held at the end of the second battle were strengthened , and both sides undertook regular mounted reconnaissances into the open eastern flank . In late June , Allenby replaced General Archibald Murray as commander of the EEF , which he quickly reorganised . At about the same time , the Ottoman Fourth Army was also restructured . As the stalemate continued in terrible conditions through the summer , reinforcements began to arrive to replace the large number of casualties suffered by the EEF during the previous fighting for Gaza , while several additional divisions also arrived . The Ottoman defenders were also reinforced at this time , and both sides carried out training while manning the front lines and monitoring the open eastern flank . By mid-October , as the Battle of Passchendaele continued on the Western Front , the last of the British reinforcements arrived as Allenby 's preparations to commence a campaign of manoeuvre neared completion . Prior to the Second Battle of Gaza , the town had been developed into a strong modern fortress , with entrenchments , wire entanglements and a glacis on its south and south-eastern edges .
Andrew Fitzgibbon VC ( 13 May 1845 - 7 March 1883 ) was an Irish soldier , and possibly the youngest recipient of the Victoria Cross .
The Indian Army Medical Corps is a specialist corps in the Indian Army which primarily provides medical services to all Army personnel , serving and veterans , along with their families .
The Second Opium War ( Chinese : 第二次鴉片戰爭 ; pinyin : Dì'èrcì Yāpiàn Zhànzhēng ) , also known as the Second Anglo-Chinese War , the Second China War , the Arrow War , or the Anglo-French expedition to China , was a war pitting the United Kingdom and the French Empire against the Qing dynasty of China that lasted from 1856 to 1860 . It is the second major war in the Opium Wars , fought over issues relating to the exportation of opium to China , and resulted in a second defeat for the Qing dynasty . The agreements of the Convention of Peking led to the ceding of Kowloon Peninsula as part of Hong Kong .
The Taku Forts or Dagu Forts , also called the Peiho Forts are forts located by the Hai River ( Peiho River ) estuary in the Binhai New Area , Tianjin , in northeastern China . They are located 60 km ( 37 mi ) southeast of the Tianjin urban center .
John Leslie Green VC ( 4 December 1888 - 1 July 1916 ) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces . An officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps , he served on attachment to The Sherwood Foresters during the First World War . He was posthumously awarded the VC for his actions on 1 July 1916 , during the Battle of the Somme .
The Sherwood Foresters ( Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment ) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for just under 90 years , from 1881 to 1970 . In 1970 , the regiment was amalgamated with the Worcestershire Regiment to form the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment , which in 2007 was amalgamated with the Cheshire Regiment and the Staffordshire Regiment ( Prince of Wales 's ) to form the present Mercian Regiment . The lineage of the Sherwood Foresters is now continued by The Mercian Regiment .
The Battle of Loos took place from 25 September - 8 October 1915 in France on the Western Front , during the First World War . It was the biggest British attack of 1915 , the first time that the British used poison gas and the first mass engagement of New Army units . The French and British tried to break through the German defences in Artois and Champagne and restore a war of movement . Despite improved methods , more ammunition and better equipment , the Franco-British attacks were contained by the German armies , except for local losses of ground . British casualties at Loos were about twice as high as German losses .
Surgeon Major Thomas Egerton Hale VC CB ( 24 September 1832 - 25 December 1909 ) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces .
The Royal Fusiliers ( City of London Regiment ) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years . It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881 . The regiment served in many wars and conflicts throughout its long existence , including the Second Boer War , the First World War and the Second World War . In 1968 , the regiment was amalgamated with the other regiments of the Fusilier Brigade - the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers , the Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers and the Lancashire Fusiliers - to form a new large regiment , the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers . The Royal Fusiliers War Memorial , a monument dedicated to the almost 22,000 Royal Fusiliers who died during the First World War , stands on Holborn in the City of London .
The Crimean War ( French : Guerre de Crimée ; Russian : Кры́мская война́ , romanized : Krymskaya voyna or Russian : Восто́чная война́ , romanized : Vostochnaya voyna , lit . 'Eastern War ' ; Turkish : Kırım Savaşı ; Italian : Guerra di Crimea ) was a military conflict fought from October 1853 to February 1856 in which the Russian Empire lost to an alliance made up of the Ottoman Empire , France , Britain and Sardinia . The immediate cause of the war involved the rights of Christian minorities in the Holy Land , which was a part of the Ottoman Empire . The French promoted the rights of Roman Catholics , while Russia promoted those of the Eastern Orthodox Church . The longer-term causes involved the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the unwillingness of Britain and France to allow Russia to gain territory and power at the Ottoman Empire 's expense . It has widely been noted that the causes , in one case involving an argument over a key , have never revealed a greater confusion of purpose , yet they led to a war noted for its notoriously incompetent international butchery . While the churches worked out their differences and came to an agreement , Nicholas I of Russia and the French Emperor Napoleon III refused to back down . Nicholas issued an ultimatum that the Orthodox subjects of the Ottoman Empire be placed under his protection . Britain attempted to mediate and arranged a compromise that Nicholas agreed to . When the Ottomans demanded changes to the agreement , Nicholas recanted and prepared for war . Having obtained promises of support from France and Britain , the Ottomans declared war on Russia in October 1853 . The war started in the Balkans in July 1853 , when Russian troops occupied the Danubian Principalities ( now part of Romania ) , which were under Ottoman suzerainty , then began to cross the Danube .
The siege of Sevastopol ( at the time called in English the siege of Sebastopol ) lasted from October 1854 until September 1855 , during the Crimean War . The allies ( French , Ottoman , and British ) landed at Eupatoria on 14 September 1854 , intending to make a triumphal march to Sevastopol , the capital of the Crimea , with 50,000 men . The 56-kilometre ( 35 mi ) traverse took a year of fighting against the Russians . Major battles along the way were Alma ( September 1854 ) , Balaklava ( October 1854 ) , Inkerman ( November 1854 ) , Tchernaya ( August 1855 ) , Redan ( September 1855 ) , and , finally , Malakoff ( September 1855 ) . During the siege , the allied navy undertook six bombardments of the capital , on 17 October 1854 ; and on 9 April , 6 June , 17 June , 17 August , and 5 September 1855 . Sevastopol is one of the classic sieges of all time . The city of Sevastopol was the home of the Tsar 's Black Sea Fleet , which threatened the Mediterranean . The Russian field army withdrew before the allies could encircle it . The siege was the culminating struggle for the strategic Russian port in 1854-55 and was the final episode in the Crimean War . During the Victorian Era , these battles were repeatedly memorialized . The siege of Sevastopol was the subject of Crimean soldier Leo Tolstoy 's Sebastopol Sketches and the subject of the first Russian feature film , Defence of Sevastopol . The Battle of Balaklava was made famous by Alfred , Lord Tennyson 's poem The Charge of the Light Brigade and Robert Gibb 's painting The Thin Red Line .
Henry Eric Harden VC ( 23 February 1912 - 23 January 1945 ) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces .
45 Commando Royal Marines ( pronounced four-five commando ) is a battalion sized unit of the British Royal Marines and subordinate unit within 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines , the principal Commando formation , under the Operational Command of Commander in Chief Fleet . Tasked as a Commando amphibious unit , 45 Cdo RM is capable of a wide range of operational tasks . Based at RM Condor , their barracks in Arbroath , personnel regularly deploy outside the United Kingdom on operations or training . While 3 Cdo Bde RM are the principal cold weather warfare formation , personnel are capable of operating in a variety of theatres including tropical jungle , desert or mountainous terrain . The Commando is a regular participant in the annual Brigade cold weather warfare exercise in Norway , having been the first UK unit to specialise in the mountain and Arctic warfare role during the early 1970s and deployed to Norway on NATO 's northern flank most years until the end of the Cold War . All personnel have completed the Commando course at the Commando Training Centre ( CTCRM ) at Lympstone in Devon , entitling them to wear the green beret , with attached personnel having completed the All Arms Commando Course .
World War II ( often abbreviated to WWII or WW2 ) , also known as the Second World War , was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945 . The vast majority of the world 's countries - including all the great powers - eventually formed two opposing military alliances : the Allies and the Axis . A state of total war emerged , directly involving more than 100 million people from more than 30 countries . The major participants threw their entire economic , industrial , and scientific capabilities behind the war effort , blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources . World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history , marked by 70 to 85 million fatalities , most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China . It included massacres , the genocide of the Holocaust , strategic bombing , premeditated death from starvation and disease , and the only use of nuclear weapons in war . Japan , which aimed to dominate Asia and the Pacific , was at war with China by 1937 , [ b ] though neither side had declared war on the other . World War II is generally said to have begun on 1 September 1939 , with the invasion of Poland by Germany and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France and the United Kingdom . From late 1939 to early 1941 , in a series of campaigns and treaties , Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe , and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan . Under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939 , Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours , Poland , Finland , Romania and the Baltic states . Following the onset of campaigns in North Africa and East Africa , and the Fall of France in mid 1940 , the war continued primarily between the European Axis powers and the British Empire . War in the Balkans , the aerial Battle of Britain , the Blitz , and the long Battle of the Atlantic followed .
Operation Blackcock was an operation to clear German troops from the Roer Triangle , formed by the towns of Roermond and Sittard in the Netherlands and Heinsberg in Germany during the fighting on the Western Front in the Second World War . It was conducted by the British Second Army between 14 and 26 January 1945 . The objective was to drive the German 15th Army back across the rivers Roer and Wurm and move the frontline further into Germany . The operation was carried out by Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchie 's XII Corps by three divisions : the 7th Armoured Division ( Major-General Lewis Lyne ) , the 43rd ( Wessex ) Infantry Division ( Major-General Gwilym Ivor Thomas ) and the 52nd ( Lowland ) Infantry Division ( Major-General Edmund Hakewill-Smith ) . The operation , named after the Scottish black male grouse , is relatively unknown despite the sometimes fierce battles that were fought for each and every village and hamlet within the Roer Triangle .
Surgeon General Sir Anthony Dickson Home VC KCB ( 30 November 1826 - 10 August 1914 ) was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces .
Major General Sir Neville Reginald Howse , VC , KCB , KCMG , FRCS ( 26 October 1863 - 19 September 1930 ) was an Australian Army officer , medical doctor , and politician . He was the first Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross ( VC ) , the highest decoration for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to members of the British and Commonwealth armed forces . Howse was born in Somerset , England , and followed his father into the medical profession . He immigrated to Australia in 1889 and eventually settled in Orange , New South Wales . During the Boer War , Howse served with the Australian medical corps . He was awarded the VC for his rescue of a wounded man at Vredefort in July 1900 , while under heavy rifle fire . During the First World War , Howse served in New Guinea , Gallipoli , and on the Western Front . He oversaw the medical services of the Australian Imperial Force ( AIF ) and finished the war with the rank of major-general . He was elected to parliament in 1922 , and was subsequently appointed to cabinet by Stanley Bruce . He served as Minister for Defence ( 1925-1927 ) , Health ( 1925-1927 ; 1928-1929 ) , and Home and Territories ( 1928 ) .
Until Australia became a Federation in 1901 , each of the six colonial governments was responsible for the defence of their own colony . From 1788 until 1870 this was done with British regular forces . In all , 24 British infantry regiments served in the Australian colonies . Each of the Australian colonies gained responsible government between 1855 and 1890 , and while the Colonial Office in London retained control of some affairs , and the colonies were still firmly within the British Empire , the Governors of the Australian colonies were required to raise their own colonial militia . To do this , the colonial Governors had the authority from the British crown to raise military and naval forces . Initially these were militias in support of British regulars , but British military support for the colonies ended in 1870 , and the colonies assumed their own defence . The separate colonies maintained control over their respective militia forces and navies until 1 March 1901 , when the colonial forces were all amalgamated into the Commonwealth Forces following the creation of the Commonwealth of Australia . Colonial forces , including home raised units , saw action in many of the conflicts of the British Empire during the 19th century . Members from British regiments stationed in Australia saw action in India , Afghanistan , the New Zealand Wars , the Sudan conflict , and the Boer War in South Africa . Despite an undeserved reputation of colonial inferiority , many of the locally raised units were highly organised , disciplined , professional , and well trained . For most of the time from settlement until Federation , military defences in Australia revolved around static defence by combined infantry and artillery , based on garrisoned coastal forts ; however , in the 1890s improved railway communications between all of the eastern mainland colonies ( Queensland , New South Wales , Victoria , and South Australia ) , led Major General Bevan Edwards , who had recently completed a survey of colonial military forces , to state his belief that the colonies could be defended by the rapid mobilisation of standard brigades . He called for a restructure of colonial defences , and defensive agreements to be made between the colonies .
Vredefort is a small farming town in the Free State province of South Africa with cattle , peanuts , sorghum , sunflowers and maize being farmed . It is home to 3,000 residents . The town was established in 1876 on a farm called Visgat , on the Vredefort crater , the largest and oldest visible bolide impact crater in the world ( with a diameter of 300 kilometres ( 190 mi ) ) . It was this approximately 10-kilometre ( 6.2 mi ) wide bolide that led to the preservation of the gold-bearing reefs of the Free State some 2.02 billion years ago . The town got its name after the peaceful conclusion of a threatened war between the Transvaal and the Orange Free State . The British built a concentration camp here during the Second Boer War to house Boer women and children . The Vredefort Dome ( Crater ) is currently the largest and one of the oldest known meteor impact site in the world . It is South Africa 's seventh World Heritage Site and its status is largely due to the efforts of research scientists from Wits University .
Bellenden Seymour Hutcheson VC , MC ( 16 December 1883 - 9 April 1954 ) was an American-born Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross ( VC ) during the First World War . The VC is the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces . Hutcheson was one of the seven Canadians to be awarded the Victoria Cross for their deeds on one single day , 2 September 1918 , for actions across the 30 km long Drocourt-Quéant Line near Arras , France . The other six were Arthur George Knight , William Henry Metcalf , Claude Joseph Patrick Nunney , Cyrus Wesley Peck , Walter Leigh Rayfield and John Francis Young .
The 75th Battalion ( Mississauga ) , CEF was an infantry battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the Great War . The 75th Battalion was authorized on 10 July 1915 and embarked for Great Britain on 29 March 1916 . It disembarked in France on 12 August 1916 , where it fought as part of the 11th Infantry Brigade , 4th Canadian Division in France and Flanders until the end of the war . The battalion was disbanded on 15 September 1920 .
The Drocourt-Quéant Line ( Wotan Stellung ) was a set of mutually supporting defensive lines constructed by Germany between the French towns of Drocourt and Quéant during World War I . This defensive system was part of the northernmost section of the Hindenburg Line , a vast German defensive system that ran through northeastern France . It was attacked and captured by Canadian and British troops in the closing months of the war as part of Canada 's Hundred Days of successful offensive campaigning that helped end the war .
Colonel Edgar Thomas Inkson VC DSO ( 5 April 1872 - 19 February 1947 ) was a recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces .
The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers was an Irish line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1968 . The regiment was formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 27th ( Inniskilling ) Regiment of Foot and the 108th Regiment of Foot . It saw service in the Second Boer War , the First World War and the Second World War . In 1968 it was amalgamated with the other regiments in the North Irish Brigade , the Royal Ulster Rifles , and the Royal Irish Fusiliers ( Princess Victoria 's ) into the Royal Irish Rangers .
Colenso is a town in KwaZulu-Natal , South Africa . It is located on the southern bank of the Tugela River . The original settlement was contained within a loop on the river , but it subsequently expanded southwards and eastwards . It lies on the main Durban - Johannesburg railway line some 190 km ( 118 mi ) north-west of Durban .