Page 194 - The Bugle 2018

The Rifles Regional Office South
It is all change with the Regional South Office now located with RHQ in Winchester.
Lt Col (Retd) Tim Lerwill OBE has taken over as The Rifles County Colonel for Wiltshire and together with Mrs Anne Larsen-Burnett, new to the post of Regional Secretary South, have attended Mayor Making in Devizes, Salisbury, Swindon and Chippenham along with Civic Church Services. Civic relations continue to strengthen across the region supported by the Regular and Reserve Battalions.
Firm Base Relationships
The Regions have been redrawn to have responsi- bilities contiguous with the Reserve Battalion bound- aries. The new establishment sees 7 RIFLES raising a new Company in Swindon with the outstation platoon in Bulford Camp thus bringing the Battalion
boundary into Wiltshire. The Reserve Battalion now takes the Regimental lead in driving Home Base links and are supported by companies from the ‘local’ Regular Battalion who hold specific respon- sibilities to Counties. In turn, this sees Wiltshire move out of the South West Region and into a new Region, London & South. (Ed: see the beginning of this section ‘The Rifles Offices and Associations’ for the new ‘Wiring diagram.)
The Victoria Cross
On 22 June 2018, Odiham, Hampshire, honoured the award of the Victoria Cross to Captain Manley James VC MC. On the 21st March1918 Odiham born Manley James, the officer commanding A Company, 8th (Service) Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment, was in action at Velu Wood resisting the attacking German Army. He was subsequently awarded the VC. His valour is explained in the citation published in The London Gazette:
“For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty in attack. Capt. James led his company forward with magnificent determination and courage, inflicting severe losses on the enemy and capturing twenty-seven prisoners and two machine guns.
He was wounded, but refused to leave his company, and repulsed three hostile onslaughts the next day.
Two days later, although the enemy had broken through on his right flank, he refused to withdraw and made a most determined stand, inflicting very heavy losses on the enemy and gaining valuable time for the withdrawal of guns. He was ordered by the senior officer on the spot to hold on “to the last” in order to enable the brigade to be extricated. He then led his company forward in a local counter- attack on his own initiative and was again wounded. He was last seen working a machine gun single- handed, after having been wounded a third time.
No praise can be too high for the gallant stand made by this company, and Capt. James, by his dauntless courage and magnificent example, undoubtedly enabled the battalion to be withdrawn before being completely cut off.”
Manley James spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of the Germans. The Spring Offensive, the last major German campaign of the war, was eventually contained by late April. After the war Manley James became a Regular Army officer in
London and South
County/City
Reserve Battalion
Regular Battalion
Wiltshire
7 Rifles
F Sp Coy 5 Rifles
Berkshire
7 Rifles
A Coy 5 Rifles
Buckinghamshire
7 Rifles
D Coy 5 Rifles
Winchester
7 Rifles
BHQ 4 Rifles
London
7 Rifles
BHQ 4 Rifles
Oxfordshire
7 Rifles
B Coy 5 Rifles
The Rifles Standard bearer, Mr Tony Walsh, of the Salisbury Branch of The Rifles & RGBW Regimental Association. Tony served
in The Wiltshire Regiment (WILTS) and The Duke of Edinburgh’s Royal Regiment (DERR). The RGBW Standard Bearer, Mr Harry North. Harry served in 1 GLOSTERS and is a member of the Somerset Branch of The Rifles & RGBW Regimental Association
Lieutenant Harry Saunders and Serjeant Gill 4 RIFLES talk with an association member
200 REGIMENTAL ASSOCIATIONS
THE RIFLES