Private Sidney Godley - British Army, June 29, 1957

[Louis]

Sidney Godley born on 14 August 1889 in East Grinstead, Sussex, UK.-

On 13 December 1909, he joined The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) of the British Army as a private with the service number 13814.-

When the First World War was declared in August, 1914, Godley, a Royal Fusilier, was immediately sent to France to help stop the advancing German army. The Royal Fusiliers arrived in France on 14th August, 1914. They were moved forward to Mons in Belgium where the French Army was trying to halt the German advance.

By the time the Royal Fusiliers reached Nimy on 22nd August, the French were having great difficulty in holding the Germans. It was decided to try and retreat to the River Marne, where they hoped they would be able to stop the German advance towards Paris.

The Royal Fusiliers were ordered to hold two bridges over the Mons-Conde Canal while the rest of the British army retreated to the River Marne. The Royal Fusiliers only had two machine-guns against six divisions of the German army. The Germans directed their fire at the two machine-gunners as they knew these men had to be killed before they could advance over the bridges. As soon as a machine-gunner was killed, another soldier moved forward to carry out the task.-

Eventually, the commanding officer, Lt. Steele, decided that his men would have to retreat. Before they left, Steele asked for two volunteers to man the machine-guns. Godley and Maurice Dease offered to do what appeared to be a suicidal task. Godley had to remove three bodies before he could get to his machine-gun. Within a few minutes of taking over the gun, Dease was killed. A shell exploded by the side of Godley and a piece of shrapnel entered his back. Although in terrible pain he continued firing at the Germans trying to cross the bridge. A bullet hit him in the head and lodged in his skull. Godley's single-handed defence of the bridge for two hours gave the men enough time to retreat.-

Godley was eventually captured by Germans soldiers and taken to a German field hospital where surgeons removed bullets from his head and back. News of Godley's bravery soon reached Britain. When King George V heard about what had happened he decided to award him the highest military medal available to a British soldier, the Victoria Cross. At the time it was thought that Godley was dead. However, it was eventually discovered that Godley was alive and recovering in a German prisoner of war camp.

Godley remained in the camp until the Armistice. He was presented with his Victoria Cross in Buckingham Palace on 15th February 1919.-

Sidney Godley died on 29th June 1957 and is buried at Loughton Cemetery. -

 

[Louis]

The railway bridge at Nimy was heroically defended by 4th Battalion Royal Fusiliers on August 1914. A plaque under the bridge records the action and celebrates the award of Victoria Crosses to Lieutenant Dease and Private Godley, the first Victoria Crosses awarded in the 1914-1918 war.