Robert Shankland

Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Shankland VC, DCM: The Valour Road Hero of Passchendaele Three Victoria Crosses came from the same block of one Winnipeg street. Of the three men whose courage gave Valour Road its name, only one survived the First World War. That man was Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Shankland VC, DCM, a Scottish-born Canadian soldier whose military career carried him from the ranks of the Canadian Expeditionary Force to one of the most desperate actions of the Battle of Passchendaele. Canadian War Museum Robert Shankland was born in Ayr, Scotland, on 10 October 1887. After emigrating to Canada, he settled in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he lived on Pine Street. When the First World War called Canadians overseas, Shankland enlisted as a private and served with the 43rd Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, a unit closely associated with the Cameron Highlanders of Canada. His rise through the ranks was remarkable. From an ordinary soldier he advanced to senior non commissioned rank, earned one of the British Empire's most respected decorations for gallantry, received a commission as an officer, and ultimately became a Victoria Cross recipient. Canada His first great test of courage came at Sanctuary Wood in June 1916. Shankland was then serving as a senior non commissioned officer when intense German shelling left wounded men exposed and others partly buried. Rather than remain under cover, he volunteered to take a party of stretcher bearers into the bombardment and helped bring the casualties back. His actions earned the Distinguished Conduct Medal, one of the highest gallantry decorations then available to soldiers below commissioned rank. The official citation, published in the London Gazette on 19 August 1916, praised his "conspicuous gallantry" and recorded that he volunteered to lead stretcher bearers under very heavy shell fire, rescuing wounded and partially buried men. It concluded that his courage and devotion were especially marked. Bonhams That act might have defined an entire military career. For Robert Shankland, it was only the beginning. After receiving a commission, Shankland continued to serve with the 43rd Battalion. On 26 October 1917, during the opening Canadian assault at Passchendaele, he led his men against the formidable German positions on Bellevue Spur. The ground was devastated by shellfire, movement through the mud was exhausting, and German machine guns, artillery and counterattacks made holding captured positions extraordinarily difficult. Canada's official history records that when parts of the Corps front were forced back, Shankland reinforced his platoon with men from other companies and machine gun detachments and maintained an important foothold on Bellevue Spur. Canada Shankland understood that simply taking ground was not enough. His position had to survive. With his force reduced and the situation around him increasingly dangerous, he reorganized the surviving men and placed them so they could dominate the ground ahead. They inflicted heavy casualties on withdrawing German troops and then broke up a counterattack. Shankland subsequently left the position temporarily, travelled through the battle zone to battalion headquarters and delivered an accurate report on the brigade front. He then returned to his men and continued commanding them until they were relieved. The Canadian War Museum records that he made his way through mud and enemy shelling to headquarters before returning with the information and support needed to hold the position. Canadian War Museum For his actions at Passchendaele, Lieutenant Robert Shankland was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry in the presence of the enemy. His official London Gazette citation, published in December 1917, opened by recognizing his "most conspicuous bravery and resource" in critical and adverse conditions. It described how he rallied the survivors of his platoon and men from other companies, defeated a counterattack, personally carried valuable information to battalion headquarters, then returned to his command. The citation concluded that his courage, leadership, gallantry and skill had inspired those around him and had helped save a critically dangerous situation. Canada There is something especially striking about Shankland's Victoria Cross. His heroism did not consist of one brief charge or a single moment of physical courage. It combined battlefield leadership, tactical judgment, personal courage and a deliberate decision to return to danger after reaching headquarters. He had already done what was required to deliver his report. Instead of remaining behind the lines, he went back to the men who were still holding the position. Shankland's story also became inseparable from one of the most extraordinary coincidences in Canadian military history. Before the war, he had lived in the 700 block of Pine Street in Winnipeg, the same block associated with fellow Victoria Cross recipients Frederick William Hall and Lionel "Leo" Clarke. Their Victoria Crosses were earned in different battles and under different circumstances, yet all three men had come from the same small stretch of residential street. After the war, local residents petitioned Winnipeg City Council to commemorate them. On 13 July 1925, Pine Street was officially renamed Valour Road. Canadian War Museum Shankland was the only one of the three Valour Road Victoria Cross recipients to survive the First World War. His military service was not finished. When the Second World War began, he returned to uniform despite being beyond normal frontline combat age. In 1940 he was appointed camp commandant of Canadian Army Headquarters in England, eventually serving with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. His return to service more than two decades after Passchendaele added another chapter to a military career that had begun in the ranks during the First World War. Canadian War Museum Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Shankland VC, DCM died in Vancouver, British Columbia, on 20 January 1968, aged 80. His legacy, however, remains unusually visible. The Canadian War Museum preserves the Victoria Crosses associated with Shankland, Hall and Clarke together, permanently linking the three soldiers whose courage transformed Pine Street into Valour Road. Canadian War Museum Robert Shankland's life is remembered because of the Victoria Cross at Passchendaele, but his story began before that famous action. At Sanctuary Wood he went out under shellfire for wounded men. At Bellevue Spur he held together a position that was in danger of collapsing. At Passchendaele he left relative safety and returned to the fight. Then, more than twenty years later, he put on a Canadian uniform once again. From private soldier to lieutenant-colonel, from Sanctuary Wood to Passchendaele, and from Pine Street to Valour Road, Robert Shankland's career remains one of the most compelling stories of Canadian courage in the First World War.