First World War Military Cross awarded to Lieutenant OK Parker for gallentry during what is often called the blackest day in the Northamptonshire Regiment's history.
First World War Military Cross (with ribbon and bar)
On the 9 May 1915, 967 men of the two battalions of the Northamptonshire Regiment were casualties at the battle of Aubers Ridge, in France. A large percentage were killed as they attacked across 400 metres of swampy no man’s land, facing a hail of machine gun and artillery fire. Their shattered remains were mostly not recovered until the end of the war. Many have no known graves, only names on memorial walls.
This Military Cross was awarded for gallantry to Lieutenant OK Parker of D Company, Second Battalion, which managed to reach the German trenches. Isolated and under constant attack Lieutenant Parker and his men held out all day, until nightfall, when the few survivors crawled back to safety.
Had the Battalion’s attack managed to sweep through the enemy positions as intended, history would surely have followed a different course. Opposing the Northamptonshires was the sixteenth Bavarian Reserve Regiment; among its soldiers, whom fate spared on 9 May 1915, was a regimental messenger by the name of Private Adolf Hitler.
Number 78 of the objects selected for the A History of Northamptonshire in 100 Objects exhibition 2025.
Northampton
Contributed by Geoffrey Grainger MA, NMAG Military Volunteers
© NMAG
©
NMAG
©
The Trustees of the British Museum
©
NMAG
©
NMAG