The highly emotive Great War group of three to Private Frederick Innocent, Royal Munster Fusiliers, who was executed by the Germans in February 1915

1914 Star (7845 Pte., R. Muns. Fus.); British War and Victory Medals (7845 Pte., R. Mun. Fus.) with card box of issue for last two medals, nearly extremely fine and a rare casualty (3) £300-350

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Chris Murphy Collection of Medals to the Royal Munster Fusiliers.

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In late August 1914 Innocent and Thompson (see following lot) were amongst the British soldiers cut off behind German lines north of Guise during the fighting withdrawal of the 1st (Guards) Brigade. With seven comrades they eked out a precarious existence in the surrounding woods until spotted by an elderly Frenchman M. Chalandre who risked his life to arrange sanctuary at a mill at Iron-en-Thierache. The mill was run by Mme. Logez, her husband having been driven out of his mind by recent events. She put the soldiers in an outbuilding and fed them every day despite a heavy German presence in the village and their burdensome demands for food. With the onset of winter, the amazing Mme. Logez arranged for the men to have a hot meal in the mill each night and also to sleep there before returning to the outbuilding early in the morning. In November two more British soldiers were found starving in the woods and were brought in to join the original fugitives so that the party comprised a corporal, 15th Hussars, a lance corporal and four privates, 2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers, and five privates, 2nd Connaught Rangers. With so many mouths to feed Chalandre and Mme. Logez were compelled to involve friends in the village. On 15 December there was a scare when the Germans made one of their ‘perquistions’, and the mill was surrounded by forty gendarmes from headquarters in Guise. Thanks to Mme. Logez’s sangfroid the search was delayed just long enough for her daughter to alert the soldiers who got clear of the outbuildings and across the river to their usual hiding place waist deep in freezing water. On 22 February 1915 a vindictive villager informed the German authorities that British soldiers were hidden at the mill. A surprise raid was mounted and the British soldiers were trapped in the granary where they had been trying to mend their uniforms. They still had their weapons, but knowing what punishment would be meted out if they inflicted any casualties, agreed to surrender without a fight. The Chalandres and Logez families were arrested and their property burnt to the ground. Three days later Private‘s Innocent and Thompson, together with the other soldiers and M. Chalandre were taken from the prison in Guise and executed by firing squad under the walls of the ancient fortress which dominates the town.