GROUPS AND SINGLE DECORATIONS FOR GALLANTRY 33
A good Great War 1918 Western Front ‘Tank Operations’ M.C. group of six awarded to Captain B. Holt, Army Service Corps, attached Somerset Light Infantry, later Indian Army Service Corps, who was awarded the M.C. for taking over 200 prisoners near Arras on 23 August 1918, before being wounded in action on 8 October 1918
MILITARY CROSS, G.V.R, unnamed as issued; 1914-15 STAR (Lieut. B. Holt. A.S.C.); BRITISHWAR AND VICTORYMEDALS (Capt. B. Holt.);GENERAL SERVICEMEDAL 1918-62, 1 clasp, Iraq (Capt. B. Holt.); INDIAGENERAL SERVICE 1908-35, 1 clasp, Waziristan 1921 -24 (Capt. B. Holt, I.A.S.C.) good very fine and better (6)
£1400-1800
M.C. London Gazette 2 December 1918: ‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. His company formed the escort to four Tanks detailed to clean up a village. With the assistance of the Tanks he inflicted heavy losses on the enemy, and took over 200 prisoners. He showed the greatest gallantry and determination throughout.’
Bernard Holt was born in Ashton-upon-Mersey, Cheshire on 6 April 1893 and was educated at Ellesmere College. He was commissioned temporary Second Lieutenant in the Army Service Corps on 30 November 1914, and was promoted Lieutenant on 1 July 1915 He served during the Great War on the Western Front from 16 September 1915, first with the 21st Reserve Park, and then with the 4th Divisional Train. Promoted Captain on 5 June 1917, he returned to the U.K. on 28 November 1917, and was attached to the Somerset Light Infantry. He served with the 3rd Battalion in England until April 1918, before transferring to the 8th Battalion, joining up with that unit in France on 25 April 1918. In August 1918 he was with the Battalion when it took part in a new offensive on the Western Front, and for his gallantry on 23 August 1918 was awarded the Military Cross when his company was detailed to work as a mopping up party with four tanks during the attack on Achiet-le-Grand, a village south of Arras. With the assistance of the tanks he inflicted heavy losses on the enemy, taking over 200 prisoners, and was additionally commended in the Battalion War Diary for ‘exceptionally good work during the operations carried out between 21 to 26 August.’ Battalion casualties during this period were heavy, with 31 killed or missing and 137 wounded or gassed. Shortly afterwards Holt was wounded in action when he received a gunshot wound to the left forearm during the Battle of Cambrai. He was returned to England and on 20 October 1918, and after treatment at the Kitchener Hospital, Brighton, and a period of convalescence in Bournemouth, he was transferred to the 1st Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry in March 1919, and served with that unit in England and Ireland until he relinquished his commission upon demobilisation on 13 December 1919.
The following year Holt was granted a temporary commission in the rank of Captain in the Indian Army Reserve of Officers, 17 March 1920, specifically in the Infantry (Supply and Transport Corps). He arrived in India on 4 April 1920, and served in India, Iraq, and Waziristan until 13 September 1924, when he returned to the U.K. He relinquished his commission on 3 February 1925, and subsequently embarked upon a career in the oil industry. He died in Charing Cross Hospital, London, on 17 November 1948.
Sold with an Army Service Corps cap badge and Society of Miniature Rifle Clubs Medal; copied Medal Index Card; Battalion War Diary extracts; and other copied research.
www.dnw.co.uk
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