George enlisted with the 18th Battalion (3rd City Pals), Manchester
Regiment on 4th January 1915, having been asked by the NSPCC to defer his military service for six months following the outbreak
of war in August 1914. He had, during that period, helped to train Special Constables who were recruited to replace the many
police officers who had joined the local Pals' battalions.
He was promoted to Company Sergeant Major in March 1915 and
the following autumn asked to transfer Company within the Battalion when he learnt that his Company would not be sent to France.
His Battalion entered the Lines in January 1916 at Vaux on
the banks of the Somme river.
On the infamous first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1st
July 1916, the Battalion as part of 30th Brigade, successfully achieved its objective - the capture of Montauban. The Battalion
would suffer heavy casualties during the rest of the month, in the fighting for Trones Wood and Guillemont.
It was during the fighting for Guillemont on 30th July
that George would perform his brave deed for which he would be awarded the Victoria Cross.
The following contemporary, first-hand account of that battle was
given by a survivor:-
"'The 30th Division had done well in the fighting early
in July, had taken Montauban and distinguished itself. It was withdrawn and made up to strength with new and inexperienced
drafts, and sent in again to try its fortune against a very difficult position - Guillemont. With the original Division we
believe we should have done it, but with new troops, new officers, N.C.O's and men, many untried and who had not trained to
work together, everything went wrong. Supports did not come up, orders miscarried or were countermanded, and the whole attack
fell to pieces. The Germans were very strong, and were preparing a counter-attack with ten battalions against Trones Wood
- which was indeed stopped, but at the price of the loss of two of the best battalions of the 90th Brigade - the 2nd Royal
Scots Fusiliers and the Eighteenth Manchesters.
After the bombardment, about 4.30 a.m. on the morning
of July 30th, the advance against Guillemont was continued, but on account of miscarriage of directions and the frightful
fire which the men met from the German machine guns, only the 2nd R.S.F. and the Eighteenth Manchesters were able to advance.
They actually entered the village but were again met by awful machine gun fire and intact barbed wire defences, and practically
all who survived were taken prisoners by an overwhelming number of foes."
The attack was thus a failure, relieved only by the heroism
of the Eighteenth Manchesters and the 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers.'
Source: 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th Battalions: The Manchester
Regiment - A Record 1914 - 1918, Sherratt & Hughes, Manchester, 1923.
