Cyril Gordon Martin

Commissioned into the Corps of Royal Engineers on 23 December 1911 following officer cadet training at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Cyril Gordon Martin began his active officer service attached to the 56th Field Company at Bulford on Salisbury Plain. Bearing service number 1006, the subaltern was promoted to lieutenant on 15 July 1914 and landed at Le Havre with his company on 16 August 1914 as part of the 3rd Division of the British Expeditionary Force.

Ten days after arriving in France, Lieutenant Martin confronted his first major operational test during the retreat from Mons. At the Battle of Le Cateau on 26 August 1914, infantry forces were driven back from a defensive position under intense enemy assault. Martin rallied his section of Royal Engineers and defended the post under severe fire until infantry reinforcements arrived to reoccupy the line. During the fighting, he sustained a bullet wound through the shoulder and a bayonet injury to his hand. For his leadership at Le Cateau, Martin was mentioned in despatches on 8 October 1914 and awarded the Distinguished Service Order, gazetted on 9 November 1914.

Having recovered in England from his injuries, Martin returned to the Western Front on 21 February 1915 to rejoin the 56th Field Company. On 12 March 1915, during British offensive operations coinciding with the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, the 7th Brigade of the 3rd Division launched an assault against German positions at Spanbroekmolen on the Messines Ridge. The advancing infantry encountered entrenched resistance from a fortified enemy trench sector.

Despite having received a flesh wound to his hip earlier in the day, Martin volunteered to command a grenade-throwing party of six rank-and-file soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment. Leading the small assault team directly into the enemy line, he drove the defenders out of the trench. Martin and his six bombers consolidated the captured position and held back repeated German counter-attacks for two and a half hours, maintaining the foothold until a general withdrawal was ordered. Every member of his six-man bombing team was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

For his actions at Spanbroekmolen, Lieutenant Martin was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest British decoration for gallantry in the presence of the enemy. The award was gazetted in the Second Supplement to The London Gazette of 16 April 1915, published on 19 April 1915. The full official citation is reproduced below exactly as published:

"For most conspicuous bravery at Spanbroek Molen on 12th March, 1915, when in command of a grenade throwing party of six rank and file. Although wounded early in the action, he led his party into the enemy's trenches and held back their reinforcements for nearly 2½ hours, until the evacuation of the captured trench was ordered."

King George V invested Martin with the Victoria Cross at Buckingham Palace on 12 July 1915. Following his recovery, Martin served as Assistant Instructor at the School of Military Engineering in Chatham from May 1915 until May 1916. He was subsequently attached to the Egyptian Army, serving in engineering and staff appointments through November 1925. During this period, he took part in operations in the Sudan against the Lau Nuer and in the Nyima Hills across 1917 and 1918, receiving the Khedive's Sudan Medal with two clasps. He also served with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force during General Allenby’s Palestine campaign until the armistice with the Ottoman Empire in October 1918. On 21 September 1923, the Kingdom of Egypt conferred upon him the Order of the Nile, 4th Class (Officer).

Returning to the United Kingdom in July 1925, Martin was appointed Assistant Instructor in Field Works and Bridging at Chatham and was promoted to major in 1928. Posted to India, he participated in operations on the North West Frontier during 1930 and 1931, earning a second mention in despatches. After serving as General Staff Officer Grade 2 in India from 1933 to 1936, he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in March 1936. He commanded Royal Engineers units during the 1936–1937 North West Frontier campaign and was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (Military Division) in 1938.

During the Second World War, Martin held senior engineering commands in the Middle East and South Asia. On 23 April 1941, he was promoted to acting brigadier and served as Chief Engineer, British Troops in Iraq until February 1942. He subsequently served as Deputy Chief Engineer with Northern Command in India and as Chief Engineer of the North-West Army in India from 1945 to 1947. Concurrently, he served as Aide-de-Camp to King George VI between 1945 and 1946.

Brigadier Martin retired from the British Army in December 1946 and was granted the honorary rank of brigadier on 26 March 1947. In post-military life, he worked for the Forestry Commission, served as a lieutenant in the Devon Army Cadet Force between 1951 and 1955, and served on the executive committee of the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association. Brigadier Cyril Gordon Martin VC, CBE, DSO died at the Royal Herbert Hospital in Woolwich, London, on 14 August 1980 at the age of 88.