Percy Howard Hansen

Few soldiers can claim that one extraordinary act of courage would have been enough to define a lifetime. Percy Howard Hansen performed two within the space of a month. At Gallipoli in August 1915 he repeatedly crossed fire-swept ground to rescue wounded soldiers from burning scrub. Four weeks later, he stripped down, took only a revolver and a blanket, and reconnoitred the enemy-held coastline around Suvla Bay. The first exploit brought him the Victoria Cross. The second brought him the Military Cross. Before the First World War was over, a third hazardous reconnaissance would earn him the Distinguished Service Order.

Brigadier Percy Howard Hansen VC, DSO, MC was born on 26 October 1890 in Dresden, Germany, the son of Danish parents Viggo Julius Hansen and Anna Elisabeth Been. Although older references have sometimes given Durban as his birthplace, both the UK government's First World War Victoria Cross commemorative research and the VC and GC Association identify Dresden. Hansen nevertheless had strong South African connections. His father was a Danish merchant whose business interests included stores in Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg, and the family spent part of Hansen's childhood associated with South Africa before moving to Britain.

Hansen was educated at Hazelwood School in Surrey and entered Eton College in September 1904. He later trained at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. His Danish nationality initially presented an obstacle to the British Army career he wanted, but British naturalisation was secured in December 1910, clearing the way for a commission. On 4 March 1911 he was commissioned into the Lincolnshire Regiment. He was promoted lieutenant in August 1912 and served with the regiment's 2nd Battalion, including a period in Bermuda. A serious attack of blood poisoning forced him back to Britain for treatment and convalescence, but he recovered in time for the crisis of August 1914.

With the rapid expansion of the British Army after the outbreak of the First World War, Hansen became temporary captain and adjutant of the newly raised 6th (Service) Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment on 4 September 1914. His promotion to captain followed in February 1915. The battalion trained as part of the 33rd Brigade, 11th (Northern) Division, before being sent to the Mediterranean. By the summer of 1915 Hansen was heading toward the campaign that would make his name.

The 6th Lincolnshires reached Gallipoli in July, gaining experience around Cape Helles before being committed to the great August offensive at Suvla Bay. On the night of 6 to 7 August the battalion landed at Suvla. British troops then advanced across the area of the Salt Lake toward the surrounding heights, including Yilghin Burnu, known to the troops as Chocolate Hill. The attempt to break beyond the Suvla plain soon descended into a confused and costly battle.

On 9 August 1915, the 6th Lincolnshires were fighting around Yilghin Burnu and the approaches to Scimitar Hill when intense enemy fire forced part of the battalion back. The dry scrub had caught fire and wounded men were left behind as the flames spread across the battlefield.

Hansen did not leave them there.

With only three or four volunteers, he repeatedly crossed between 300 and 400 yards of open ground under heavy fire and entered the burning scrub to bring wounded soldiers back. Six men were rescued. The official London Gazette citation opened with the words "For most conspicuous bravery" and recorded that Hansen acted on his own initiative to save men facing death in the flames. He was awarded the Victoria Cross, the announcement appearing in the London Gazette on 1 October 1915.

The courage required for that action might have defined an entire military career, but Hansen was not finished. Exactly one month later, on 9 September 1915, he undertook another remarkable operation at Suvla Bay.

Hansen made a reconnaissance along the enemy-held coastline with little more than a revolver and a blanket for concealment. He moved partly through the sea and partly across jagged rocks, cutting and bruising himself badly in the process. He penetrated far enough to gather valuable information and locate an Ottoman gun position that had been causing serious damage. During the mission he avoided a patrol of twelve Turkish soldiers and later encountered another Turkish soldier before eventually regaining the British position exhausted.

For this operation Hansen received the Military Cross. The award was published in the London Gazette on 29 October 1915. Its citation described his conduct as "conspicuous gallantry at Suvla Bay" and emphasised both the danger of the reconnaissance and the intelligence he succeeded in bringing back.

Gallipoli eventually took its toll on Hansen's health. After temporarily assuming greater responsibility in the battalion when its commanding officer became ill, Hansen himself succumbed to sickness and was evacuated to Egypt. It was while recovering that he learned of his Victoria Cross. He subsequently returned to Britain and was invested with the VC by King George V at Buckingham Palace on 4 December 1915.

Ill health made an immediate return to infantry fighting unsuitable, but it did not end Hansen's active wartime career. After staff duties in Britain he went to France and served in staff appointments, including with the 170th Infantry Brigade. His work placed him amid the enormous battles of the Western Front, where the ability to obtain reliable information could determine whether entire formations moved or fought effectively.

During the fighting associated with Passchendaele in 1917, Hansen again volunteered for a dangerous personal reconnaissance when essential information could not be obtained through normal channels. Under heavy artillery and machine-gun fire he gathered the information required and returned with it. For this action he was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order.

The official DSO citation, published in the London Gazette on 16 September 1918, stated that Hansen had shown "conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty" and specifically recorded that the information he obtained had been unavailable from other sources. The Gazette identified him at this stage as Captain and temporary Major Percy Howard Hansen, VC, MC.

Hansen was also Mentioned in Despatches five times during his military career. His First World War service consequently left him with an extraordinary record: the Victoria Cross, Distinguished Service Order and Military Cross, together with repeated recognition in despatches and the French Croix de Guerre. His surviving medal group records the Croix de Guerre as a French award, and other biographical records identify it with a bronze star.

Unlike many officers whose careers were defined entirely by the First World War, Hansen remained in the Regular Army. He attended the Staff College at Camberley and moved through a succession of staff and brigade appointments during the interwar years. His posts included Brigade Major with the 8th Infantry Brigade and later the 12th Infantry Brigade, GSO2 with the 55th (West Lancashire) Division, service in Jamaica, and appointment as Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General with Western Command.

By 1937 Hansen had returned to the 2nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, which was serving in Mandatory Palestine during the Arab Revolt. He became its commanding officer in September 1937. His service there is reflected in his entitlement to the General Service Medal with the clasp Palestine, an award that remains part of his surviving medal group.

When the Second World War began in September 1939, Hansen again moved into senior administrative and staff employment. He served with the 55th (West Lancashire) Division and subsequently XII Corps. In 1941 he attained temporary brigadier rank. He later commanded the Belfast Area and, from May 1943, served as Sub-District Commander at Ashford.

The final major chapter of Hansen's Army career took him back toward his Scandinavian roots. In August 1943 he became Head of the Civil Affairs Unit for the SHAEF Mission to Norway, preparing for the problems that would accompany the liberation and restoration of civil government after German occupation. This was not the spectacular battlefield courage of Gallipoli. It required planning, administration, coordination and an understanding of the political and civilian problems that Allied forces would face as Norway emerged from occupation.

His work was important enough to earn recognition from two Allied governments. Norway appointed him a Commander of the Royal Order of St Olav, while the United States appointed him an Officer of the Legion of Merit. The American citation credited Hansen with exceptionally meritorious service as head of the SHAEF Civil Affairs Unit for Norway from August 1943 to July 1945, particularly praising the plans and organisation that helped the Allied mission operate successfully. The British authorisation and announcement of the Legion of Merit, specifically at the Degree of Officer, appeared in the London Gazette on 14 November 1947 and named Brigadier Percy Howard Hansen, VC, DSO, MC, service number 6724.

No reliable published narrative citation for Hansen's Norwegian Order of St Olav or French Croix de Guerre has been located in the sources reviewed, so none should be invented. Their existence, however, is independently supported by Hansen's documented medal group, which records the Norwegian honour as Commander, Royal Order of St Olav, the French Croix de Guerre, and the United States Legion of Merit in the Officer degree. The same surviving group confirms his British campaign and commemorative entitlement.

Hansen retired from the British Army on 19 January 1946, ending a career of approximately thirty-five years. He died on 12 February 1951 at the age of sixty. Sources differ over whether his death occurred in London or Copenhagen, so the place should not be stated categorically without a civil death record. What is firmly established is that his remains were ultimately interred in the Hansen family grave at Garnisons Kirkegård, Copenhagen.

Percy Howard Hansen's legacy rests on more than the Victoria Cross he won at Gallipoli. His career moved from the burning scrub of Suvla Bay to the devastated battlefields of the Western Front, from command during the Palestine emergency to senior administrative responsibility in the Second World War. He demonstrated physical courage when men were dying within sight of him, the nerve to enter enemy territory alone when intelligence was urgently needed, and later the organisational ability required to help an occupied nation return to peace.

His Victoria Cross and associated honours are now part of the Lord Ashcroft VC Collection, having previously been displayed in the Imperial War Museum's Lord Ashcroft Gallery. The medal group provides a tangible record of a career that stretched from Gallipoli to the liberation of Norway and confirms Hansen as one of the most unusually decorated officers of his generation.