 Promoted to lieutenant on 25 August 1916, Cherry returned to his unit on the Somme in November. The following month he was made a temporary captain and transferred back to the 26th Battalion as the commanding officer of C Company. His rank was confirmed on 14 February 1917, and on 1 – 2 March he was involved in the battalion's actions around the village of Warlencourt. At 03: 00 on 2 March, Cherry led his company in an attack on the German held position of Malt Trench, situated between the villages of Warlencourt and Bapaume. Artillery fire had failed to adequately cut the barbwire lines for the advancing troops, and Cherry led a section of men along the wire until he found a break in it. Once through the gap, he rushed two machine gun posts, capturing one single-handed, and turned one on the fleeing Germans before being wounded himself. For his actions during the engagement, Cherry was awarded the Military Cross, the notification of which was published in a supplement of the London Gazette on 26 April 1917.
