John Harold Rhodes

He crossed barrage fire alone and captured nine enemy troops

Lance Sergeant John Harold Rhodes (1891–1917) was a Grenadier Guards soldier from Packmoor, Staffordshire, awarded the Victoria Cross for capturing a German pillbox and nine prisoners during the Battle of Poelcappelle. On 9 October 1917, while his company was consolidating its position near Houthulst Forest, he crossed British barrage fire and hostile machine-gun fire alone, entered the pillbox and returned with the prisoners and information about the German artillery.

Rhodes was born on 17 May 1891 and worked as a miner at Chatterley Whitfield Colliery before enlisting in the Grenadier Guards in February 1911. After three years’ service he returned to the Army Reserve and civilian work, then rejoined the regiment when war broke out. He served with the 2nd Battalion in the opening campaign in France, including the retreat from Mons, and earned the Distinguished Conduct Medal for courage on patrol and for helping recover wounded men under fire. In 1915, after a mine explosion buried men in trenches near Givenchy, he and Private Barton dug to free them despite continuing shellfire; both were wounded. Rhodes received a Bar to his DCM and was evacuated to Britain.

After recovering, Rhodes married Elizabeth “Lizzie” Meir and returned to France in January 1917. At Poelcappelle in October, he was in charge of a Lewis-gun section covering the consolidation of the right-front company. Having engaged the enemy with his rifle and Lewis gun, he saw three Germans leave a pillbox. He went forward through his own barrage and German machine-gun fire, entered the position and captured nine men. One was a forward-observation officer linked by telephone to his artillery battery. Rhodes brought the prisoners and valuable information back to his unit. The Victoria Cross citation recognized both the risk of the solo advance and the intelligence secured by the capture.

The award was announced in the London Gazette on 23 November 1917. Four days later, Rhodes was mortally wounded in fighting near Fontaine-Notre-Dame and died at a casualty clearing station, aged 26. He never met his infant son, born earlier that year. Rhodes is buried at Rocquigny-Equancourt Road British Cemetery in France. His Victoria Cross is held by the Grenadier Guards at Wellington Barracks, London.

Citation summary: For conspicuous bravery on 9 October 1917, Rhodes left his Lewis-gun section alone, crossed his own barrage and enemy machine-gun fire, entered a German pillbox and captured nine prisoners, including an artillery forward-observation officer, bringing back valuable information.

Sources: Supplement to The London Gazette, no. 30400, 23 November 1917, p. 12328, Victoria Cross citation for Lance Sergeant John Harold Rhodes; Victoria Cross and George Cross Association, “John Harold Rhodes VC”; Stephen Snelling, VCs of the First World War: Passchendaele 1917; Chatterley Whitfield Friends, “Lance Sergeant John Harold Rhodes VC, DCM & Bar.”