118 AWARDED FOR VALOUR
men to work under very heavy fire and even used a pick and shovel himself
to set an example.’^37 Despite all the hardships of the campaign it was still
remarkable for an officer to ‘work with his own hands.’
Another Victorian characteristic of heroism was evident in the Army of
- During the nineteenth century special distinction was given to the
loyal soldier who rescued a fallen officer. This tradition survived into the
first years of the Great War:
On 14 September 1914 at the battle of the Aisne, France, Private [Ross]
Tollerton carried a wounded officer, under heavy fire, as far as he was able,
into a place of greater safety. Then, although he himself was wounded in
the head and hand, he struggled back to the firing line where he remained
until his battalion retired. He then returned to the wounded officer and
stayed with him for three days until they both were rescued.^38
The BEF did not take the Chemin des Dames and the line in that sector
solidified. Neither the German offensive nor the cobbled-together counter-
attack achieved their objectives. French at this point wanted to move his force
north-northwest for two main reasons. It was obvious the war was going to
settle in for another year at the very least. Moving closer to the Channel ports
would shorten and simplify his supply lines, with the additional benefit of
denying those ports as bases for German naval operations, a potential that
worried the Admiralty. Flanders also seemed to offer the possibility of a
clearer field for cavalry maneuvers, which French still believed would be
the decisive factor in the war.^39
This proved to be a fateful decision. With the resignation of General
Helmut von Moltke as chief of staff, 14 September 1914, General Eric von
Falkenhayn became the top German commander on the Western Front.^40
Von Falkenhayn had three courses of action open to him as he took
command: he could use the 6th army to bulk up the open flank of the
1st army on his right, he could push it on to the Channel coast, capturing
strategic ports in the process, or he could use it to resume the offensive and
attempt to envelope the Entente’s left wing. He chose the third option.^41
French’s shift placed him directly in the path of this new German offensive,
and the place they met was Ypres.
And still the Victorian heroic ideal survived. Soldiers were rewarded for
retrieving wounded comrades under fire.^42 Officers were commended for
striding up and down the firing line, recklessly exposing themselves to the
enemy to encourage and hearten their men.^43 There were some changes
in terms of statistical distribution of the Crosses, however. During the last