A Good Military Cross group – 4th battalion Kings Shropshire Light Infantry. (Bouleuse Ridge, 3rd Battle of the Aisne)

Description A Good Military Cross group – 4th battalion Kings Shropshire Light Infantry. (Bouleuse Ridge, 3rd Battle of the Aisne) Military Cross; British War and Victory Medals, Capt C.N. Curtis. Charles Nevill Curtis was born in Wandsworth, London on the 17th December 1880 Military Cross, London Gazette 16th September 1918. “Second Lieutenant, Charles Neville Curtis, Shropshire Light Infantry For conspicuous, gallantry and devotion to duty. On two occasions he remained behind with a party under a very heavy fire to cover the withdrawal of his battalion., enabling it to get away with very few casualties. Throughout the operations, his devotion to duty and courage was most marked..” He was commissioned as 2nd Lieut on 1st march 1917, and went to France on the 16th April 1917 His MC was awarded for the same action as other awards to Capt Haslewood K.S.L.I. and T/Capt Fry R.A.M.C. The awards were for an action on the 30/31st May 1918 and are referred to in the 4th battalions ward diary. The were positioned east of Bouzouse (Bouleuse) where they were holding a line on the ridge from Lang’s to Wood. In May 1918, the 1/4th Battalion King’s Shropshire Light Infantry (KSLI), part of the 56th Brigade, 19th (Western) Division, was exhausted. Having suffered heavily during the German Spring Offensives on the Somme and the Lys earlier in the spring, the battalion was moved to the Champagne region south of the Aisne. This area, held partly by French forces, was considered a “quiet sector”—a place for battered British units to rest, reorganize, and absorb green reinforcements. Third Battle of the Aisne The quiet was an illusion. On May 27, 1918, the Germans launched Operation Blücher-Yorck, a massive surprise offensive designed to draw Allied reserves away from Flanders. The enemy smashed through the Allied lines on the Chemin des Dames ridge, advancing 12 miles in a single day—the biggest one-day advance on the Western Front since 1914. The 1/4th KSLI, alongside the rest of the 19th Division, was immediately thrown into a chaotic fighting retreat, contesting ground against overwhelming numbers as the front line collapsed backward toward the Marne. Bligny: June 6, 1918 By early June, the German advance began to stall, but key positions remained in enemy hands. The most critical action for the Shropshires came on June 6 at the Montagne de Bligny, a strategically vital hill commanding the surrounding valley. The battalion was ordered to retake the hill. At zero hour, the men of the 1/4th KSLI launched a frontal assault up the open slopes. Reports from the battle describe a “magnificent dash”; the troops advanced at such speed—up to 120 paces a minute—that much of the German defensive artillery fire passed harmlessly over their heads. Despite machine-gun fire from the flanks, they stormed the summit, ejecting the German garrison and capturing prisoners. Even more impressively, they held the position for the rest of the day against intense shelling and repeated counter-attacks, effectively securing the right flank of the British line. The action at Bligny was so gallant that it drew the immediate admiration of the French commanders. General Berthelot, commanding the French Fifth Army, cited the battalion in Army Orders. As a rare honour, the entire battalion was awarded the French Croix de Guerre with Palm. The ribbon was later incorporated into the battalion’s uniform, worn on the shoulder of their service dress—a permanent mark of their heroism during the desperate summer of 1918. He relinquished his commission 1st April 1920 He died on the 30th November 1943 in Surrey. Condition – GVF