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Auction: 21003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 367

Pair: Private F. German, 1/5th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment), who was killed in action on the First Day of the Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916

British War and Victory Medals (4019 Pte. F. German. Notts. & Derby. R.), good very fine (2)

Frederick German, a native of Ilkeston, Derbyshire, was born in 1895 and was killed in action on 1 July 1916 during the attack on Gommecourt, when the 1/5th Battalion could count 208 killed and missing, with scores more wounded. The first four waves of the Sherwood Foresters managed to advance through No Man’s Land and reached the German trenches, where fierce close combat fighting ensued. They steadily made their way toward the corner of Gommecourt Wood where the German 91st Reserve Infantry Regiment counter-attacked. Although the 6th Battalion should have been in support, orders were confused and men of the 5th Battalion were forced to withdraw into shell holes close to the enemy wire in front of their trenches. German was killed and is commemorated upon the Thiepval Memorial.

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Sold for
£400

Starting price
£240