Charles Richard Sharpe

He fought into two trenches with bombs as his comrades fell.

Charles Richard Sharpe was a soldier of the 2nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, who won the Victoria Cross at Rouges Bancs, France, on 9 May 1915. A corporal in the blocking party, he led an assault to seize German trenches during the Battle of Aubers Ridge. When the rest of his party fell, he continued the attack with four soldiers who joined him.

### Capturing the trenches at Rouges Bancs

Sharpe reached the German position first and used bombs, hand-thrown grenades, to clear a trench about fifty yards long. After his original party had been lost, four men came to his aid. Together they attacked again and captured another stretch of trench, roughly 250 yards long. The action secured a foothold in the German line amid a costly British offensive, though the wider attack failed to break through the defences.

Born in Lincolnshire, Sharpe enlisted in the Lincolnshire Regiment in 1905 and was serving with the 2nd Battalion in Bermuda when the First World War began. He arrived in France with his battalion in November 1914. King George V presented the Victoria Cross at Windsor Castle in July 1915. Sharpe returned to France later that year but was seriously injured by a bomb and carried shrapnel for the rest of his life. After leaving the Army in 1928, he worked as a gardener, physical education instructor and labourer. He died in 1963 and was buried at Newport Cemetery, Lincoln.

### Victoria Cross citation

“For most conspicuous bravery near Rouges Bancs on 9th May, 1915. When in charge of a blocking party sent forward to take a portion of the German trench he was the first to reach the enemy’s position, and, using bombs with great determination and effect, he himself cleared them out of a trench 50 yards long. By this time all his party had fallen, and he was then joined by four other men, with whom he attacked the enemy with bombs and captured a further trench 250 yards long.”

Published in the London Gazette, 29 June 1915, issue 29210, p. 6270.

### Sources

- The London Gazette, 29 June 1915, issue 29210, p. 6270, Victoria Cross citation for Acting Corporal Charles Sharpe. - Victoria Cross and George Cross Association, “Charles Richard Sharpe VC,” biographical profile and action account. - Victoria Cross Online, “Charles Richard Sharpe VC,” biography and post-service history. - Paul Oldfield, Victoria Crosses on the Western Front, April 1915–June 1916, Pen and Sword Books, 2015.