VICTORIA CROSSES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 July 1940, Page 6

VICTORIA CROSSES

FIRST ARMY AWARDS OF WAR MADE TO DUNKIRK HEROES. DEEDS OF DAUNTLESS VALOUR. i By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Oay, 12.45 p.m.) LONDON. July 30. The first Army Victoria Crosses of this war were awarded tc Captain Harold Marcus Irvine Andrews, of the Elist Lancashire Regiment, and to Lance-Corporal Harry Nicholls, of the Grenadier Guards. Captain Andrews, on the night of May 31, called for volunteers to fill a dangerous gap in front of Dunkirk. He himself climbed to the top of a barn from which he engaged the enemy with rifle and Bren gun fire, although the enemy was sending mortar bombs and bullets through the roof. Captain Andrews accounted for seventeen of the enemy with the rifle and for many more with a Bren gun. He then extricated the remnants of his company from a perilous position. He displayed courage, tenacity and devotion to duty and magnificently imbued his troops with his own dauntless fighting spirit. Lance-Corporal Nicholls commanded a section when it was ordered to counter-attack on May 21. He was wounded in the arm immediately, but continued to advance over a small ridge into heavy, close-range machinegun fire, despite a further serious wound. Lance-Corporal Nipholls went up to higher ground and erigaged massed German infantry, causing many casualties. Fie fired until his ammunition was exhausted and received further wounds, but refused to give in. His gallantry compelled the enemy to fall back across the River Scheldt. LanceCorporal Nicholls has since been killed in action.