HEROISM IN EVOLUTION, 1915–1916 151
A photograph was taken of the cocky Cheshire private as he herded his
charges into the rear area. Examination of the photo reveals one more thing
about the men he captured. They wore a variety of different regimental
uniforms, and all of them sported field bandages. Todger Jones had captured
a forward dressing station (which does much to explain how one Tommy
could ‘disarm’ well over 100 of the enemy).
That things were not exactly the way they seemed does not detract from
the bravery of Jones’s action. To venture out into the enemy trench line alone
required courage. The motivation (revenge), however, was not acceptable
to the higher powers, nor were the actual details. The sight of one man
bringing in over a hundred prisoners single-handed was, however, too
good an opportunity to pass up. Jones was gazetted, shook hands with King
George V, and became a hero, an example of British courage and pluck and
aggressiveness.
During the final two years of the war the pattern established on the Somme
battlefields solidified into a new type of heroism. In its older conception the
heroic ideal had an almost equal measure of belligerence and compassion.
Those who exposed themselves to peril to save the life of a comrade or
retrieve the wounded (or even the dead) were regarded with the same
respect as those who captured strong points or led a blazing cavalry charge.
As the war dragged on and casualty figures mounted, commanders shifted
the emphasis of the heroic ideal. It is to the commanders that we must
now turn to discover the parameters of Victoria Cross heroism. The High
Command of the Western Front no longer wanted men who would rush to
the aid of the fallen. They wanted killers first and foremost.
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