SAVING THE LINE

Evening Post, Volume XCII, Issue 76, 27 September 1916, Page 7

SAVING THE LINE

INDIAN SOLDIER'S GREAT GALLANTRY.

VICTORIA CROSS HEROES,

.AUSTRALIAN-NEW ZEALAND CABLE ASSOCIATION.) (Received September 27, 8 a.m.)

LONDON, 26th September. Thirty pages of Gazette honours include :—

Sergt. Claude Charles Castleton, Australian Machine-gun Company, Victoria- Cross. During an attack on the enemy's trenches the infantry was temporarily driven back by intense ma-chine-gun fire. Many of the wounded were left in No Man's Land lying in shell holes. Castleton went out twice, in the face of an intense fire, and brought in a wounded man on his back. In bringing his third man in, he himself was hit in the back and killed instantly. He set a splendid example of courage and self-sacrifice.

Naik Sbahamad Khan, of the Punjaubis, Victoria Cross. While in charge of a machine-gun covering a gap in our lines, within 150 yards of the enemy's entrenchments, he beat off three counter-attacks. He worked the gun single-handed after all the men except two belt-fillers had become casualties. Sbahamad Khan held the gap for three hours until it .was made secure. When the gun- was knocked out he and his belt-fillers held their ground with the aid of their rifles. Later they brought back the gun and ammunition and a severely wounded man. Finally Sbahamad Khan returned alone and removed tho remaining arms and equipment. His great gallantry and determination saved our line from being penetrated.

There are eleven other Victoria Cross awards, including Pte. Albert Hill, 'of the Welsh Fusiliers, who, when surrounded by twenty of the enemy, attacked them with bombs, killed and wounded a number, and fought his way back to the British lines.

Thirty-six D.S.O. awards include ten Australians. The Military Cross awards total 251, of which 192 are for British soldiers, forty-nine Australian, six> Canadian, and four South African.