During the Battle of Mons, August 23rd 1914, Lt. Maurice Dease of the 4th Battalion Royal Fusiliers was in charge of defending the crossing at Nimy Bridge. Under heavy enemy artillery fire, he held out against waves of of German attackers with his machinegun despite being wounded several times, until he was killed. After witnessing this action, Pvt Sidney Godley volunteered to man the same machinegun and cover the retreat of the remaining Royal Fusiliers. Despite being under heavy fire and having been bullet in lodged in his head, he held the bridge for 2 hours, and was captured only after his ammunition ran out.
Simultaneously, Charles Jarvis and Capt. Theodore Wright of the 57th Field Co. of the Royal Engineers were tasked with demolishing another bridge at Jemappes.
They worked for 1.5 hours setting charges and preparing the bridge for demolition despite being in full view of the enemy and under heavy fire. They succeeded!
Then Cpl. Charles Garforth of the 15th (The Kings) Hussars paved an escape route for his men under heavy fire, rescuing wounded soldiers until he was captured by the enemy.
In a span of 24 hours, all 5 men would receive the Victoria Cross for heroism in the same action. #ww1 #reality #stayzero #zerofoxtrot #heroes #uk