KING OF NO MAN’S LAND

Taranaki Daily News, 19 January 1935, Page 11 (Supplement)

KING OF NO MAN’S LAND

SERGT. DICK TRAVIS, V.C.

(By

C. H. S.)

■ The unveiling of a memorial at Opotiki last month brought back to many memories of the great trench warfare on the western front during the Great War. The memorial had been erected to the memory of an old boy of the district high school, one Richard Cornelius Savage, better known as Sergeant Dick Travis, V.C., D.C.M., M.M., Croix de Guerre, the famous “king of No Man’s Land.”

It is doubtful whether in any war in the world’s history, a non-commissioned officer ever became as well known as Travis. His name was a by-word for “all right” from generals to privates. The clamour in Europe in 1914 appeared to have an almost instinctive call to Travis as he was among the first to enlist in the early days of August of that year. He handed in his name at Ryal Bush, Southland and was drafted into the ptago Mounted Rifles with whom he left the Dominion in the Main Body. This regiment was detained when the infantry left for Gallipoli in April 1915 but life in comparatively quiet Egypt held out no charms for his adventurous spirit when there was real fighting on Gallipoli.

One quiet night he took an unofficial departure from the Mounteds and somehow or other he turned up at Gallipoli.

Until the division’s arrival in France in 1916 little was known of Travis, but the trench warfare that was then in progress appeared to be just made for him. It was not long before he had established a big reputation as a scout, sniper, patrol leader and raider. On a big front with tens of thousands of brave adventurous men, a reputation takes building up and it must be built on deeds. It was on deeds that Travis made himself known. The division had not been in France a year before the name of Travis was one to conjure with. Not only the New Zealanders, but also the higher officers. of the British Army knew. of this daring raider from the antipodes who roamed in No Man’s Land without fear. Identification discs which disclosed the identity of the German regiments manning the line were almost a vital necessity to headquarters, which knew that there was one man who made a hobby of collecting them and that was Travis. By the middle of 1917 he had attained an absolutely unique position. He had a roaming commission. He went where he pleased and did what he pleased, but his pleasure appeared to be the harrying of the Germans. He was attached to no unit except for the drawing of pay, and no officer however high ever thought of asserting any authority over him. It would have been a sheer waste of time giving orders to him, he would have ignored them, and Travis .was far too valuable a person to courtmartial for any disobedience. It did not take Travis long to discover that the revolvers can-ied by the German officer were much superior to those with which the British were equipped. He soon became possessed of a pair of these enemy weapons, and right to the end of his career he mbst mysteriously kept himself abundantly supplied with ammunition. Where he obtained this nobody was ever quite certain, but. many believed, that he proceeded to the German lines during the night and helped himself. He was a marvellous shot with these revolvers, his skill rivalling that of the wild-west story heroes of-, Zane Grey. He could often be found in a quiet spot behind the lines testing his skill with his revolvers or tossing Mills bombs. He was an expert with these bombs which many a time proved invaluable on his raids. He could gauge the time fuse with wonderful accuracy and a bomb that he tossed invariably exploded just before landing. Great and brave man that he was, he left nothing to chance. Many of his exploits are to be found in the pages of the official history of the New Zealanders in France, but all these were the ones that were witnessed by others. There were many more that happened “out in the stilly night ’ in his kingdom of No Man’s Land that died with him. One related to the writer by an Otago company commander demonstrates the wonderful confidence that he inspired. This officers stated that his portion of the line had been selected by the Germans for an intensive raid. Their trenches had been shelled, their retreat had been cut off by a German barrage behind them and their position was anything but happy. “I was thinking, he said, “that probably my time had come and I know that my feelings were shared by my men. We felt that the odds would be too great but we would sell our lives dearly. All of a sudden I heard a quiet cool voice beside me say “They should not be long now’. I knew that voice, it belonged to Dick Travis. Where he had turned up from I never knew, but I felt as though I had been reinforced, by a whole battalion. The news Spread amongst the men like lightning. Down the line ran the great tidings, ‘Travis is here’. In less than sixty seconds, , the whole company had been transformed. They felt that the fate of the German raiders was already sealed. With Travis with them they could not fail. And so it proved. With those two revolvers of Dick’s spitting death and a confident company behind him, the Huns got it good and heavy. They soon retired to their own lines wondering .doubtless whether we had received special warning. Once the danger was over Travis just faded out. He was with us one moment and gone the next, that was his way.” . All through these wonderful series of daring exploits he had borne a charmed life, but on July 25, 1918, the day. following the exploit for which he was afterwards awarded the V.C., he was killed just behind the lines during a bombardment. . ~ By a rather strange coincidence, within 24 hours of Travis’ death Major Edward Mannock, Britain’s greatest flying ace, also met his end. Mannock had brought down more enemy planes than any other British aviator, while Travis had probably actually killed more German’s on terra firma than any other single soldier in the whole expeditionary force. It was certainly strange that both should fall within the short space of 24 hours Mannock from a stray bullet from the ground, and Travis from a bursting shell. Wherever returned men may gather and the exploits of the great war are discussed, the name of Dick Travis is sure to be mentioned and some incident recollected. Even among the millions of the flower of the manhood of two hemispheres gathered on that western front Travis stood out as the bravest and most daring of many brave and daring men. His great initiative,nis wonderful coolness, his patience, his ie~ source and his splendid courage and devotion to duty stamped him as one worthy to remain in the annals of our race. New Zealand may well feel proud that she produced Sergeant R. C. Savage alias Dick Travis.