Adam Wakenshaw

The Victoria Cross Hero Who Fired His Anti-Tank Gun With One Arm

With his gun crew dead or wounded and his left arm severed above the elbow, Adam Wakenshaw crawled back to his anti-tank gun under enemy fire and continued fighting.

On 27 June 1942, south of Mersa Matruh in Egypt, Private Adam Herbert Wakenshaw of the 9th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry was manning a two-pounder anti-tank gun on a forward slope ahead of the infantry.

Shortly after dawn, his crew disabled an enemy tracked vehicle towing a light gun. Another enemy mobile gun then opened fire on Wakenshaw’s position, killing or seriously wounding the crew and silencing the British weapon.

Enemy soldiers began moving toward the damaged vehicle, intending to bring its gun into action against the nearby infantry.

Wakenshaw had already suffered a devastating wound. His left arm had been severed above the elbow. Despite this, he crawled back to his gun through mortar and artillery fire.

Working one-handed, he loaded and fired five more rounds. His fire set the enemy vehicle ablaze and damaged the gun it had been towing.

A near miss then killed the gun aimer and threw Wakenshaw away from the weapon, wounding him again.

He returned to the gun.

Dragging himself back into position, Wakenshaw loaded another round and prepared to fire. Before he could do so, a direct hit struck the ammunition, killing him and destroying the gun.

His action prevented the enemy from bringing its weapon to bear on an infantry company about 200 yards away. The company was able to withdraw and reach its transport safely.

For his actions that morning, Wakenshaw was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously. The award was announced on 11 September 1942.

His path to North Africa had begun far from the battlefield. Born on 9 June 1914 in Duke Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, Wakenshaw was the youngest of thirteen children. He attended St Aloysius’ Roman Catholic School and left at fourteen. He worked underground at Elswick pit, later at Hazelrigg, and as a general labourer.

In 1939 he enlisted at Gateshead and joined the 9th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry. He served with the British Expeditionary Force during the fighting in Belgium and northern France in 1940, was wounded during the campaign and returned to Britain after Dunkirk. His later wartime service took him to North Africa.

Wakenshaw’s Second World War service also entitled him to the 1939–45 Star, Africa Star and War Medal 1939–45. The Africa Star carried no 8th Army clasp, as he was killed before the qualifying period for that clasp began.

On 4 March 1943, his widow Dorothy and their eight-year-old son attended Buckingham Palace to receive his Victoria Cross. King George VI pinned the decoration to the boy’s chest.

Wakenshaw was twenty-eight when he died. He is buried at El Alamein War Cemetery in Egypt.

His Victoria Cross is preserved in the Durham Light Infantry Collection, together with one of the most remarkable surviving objects connected with his story. The damaged two-pounder from his final action, known as the “Wakenshaw Gun,” was originally placed on his grave in North Africa before eventually being returned to Britain.

Adam Wakenshaw’s medals record a wider wartime service, but it was his refusal to abandon his gun on 27 June 1942 that made his name inseparable from the Durham Light Infantry and the Victoria Cross.