Robert Spall

On the morning of 13 August 1918, with his platoon cut off and German troops closing in, Sergeant Robert Spall climbed onto a trench parapet with a Lewis gun and opened fire. He knew the position was exposed. He knew the enemy was close. He climbed up twice. The second time, he did not come back.

Robert Spall was born on 5 March 1890 at Ealing, England, the son of Charles and Annie Maria Spall. When he was about two years old, his family emigrated to Canada. They initially lived in Montreal, and Spall later made his home in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he worked as a customs broker and served in the Active Militia.

On 28 July 1915, Spall enlisted at Winnipeg for overseas service with the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He was given service number 475212 and joined the 90th Battalion, known as the Winnipeg Rifles. He arrived in France in February 1916 and was later transferred to Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. By the final year of the war, he had risen to the rank of sergeant.

In August 1918, the Canadian Corps was fighting in the opening phase of the Hundred Days Offensive, the series of Allied operations that would ultimately bring the First World War to an end. On 12 August, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry was ordered forward alongside the 42nd Canadian Battalion in an attempt to drive German forces from the area around Parvillers.

The fighting was severe. Several positions that were supposed to have been secured before the advance remained in German hands, and resistance was far stronger than anticipated.

At approximately 6:00 a.m. on 13 August, German troops launched a determined counterattack from the direction of Parvillers and Damery. Part of the Canadian line was driven back toward the former German front line. In the confusion, two platoons became isolated from the rest of the battalion.

Spall’s platoon was among them.

With German troops advancing and his men in immediate danger of being overwhelmed, Spall seized a Lewis gun and climbed onto the parapet of the trench. Standing fully exposed to enemy fire, he opened fire on the attacking Germans and inflicted severe casualties.

He then climbed back into the trench and moved among his men, directing them into a sap approximately seventy-five yards from the enemy position. His fire had bought them precious time, but the danger had not passed.

Instead of withdrawing with his platoon, Spall took up another Lewis gun.

For a second time, he climbed onto the parapet.

Again exposed to the advancing enemy, he opened fire and held the Germans back while the remainder of his platoon escaped from an exceptionally dangerous position. It was during this second stand that Sergeant Robert Spall was killed.

He was twenty-eight years old.

His sacrifice was recognized with the award of the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for valour available to British and Commonwealth forces. The award was announced in The London Gazette, No. 30975, on 26 October 1918.

The official citation recorded that Spall had deliberately exposed himself to save his men and concluded that he had “deliberately gave his life in order to extricate his platoon from a most difficult situation.”

Spall was also entitled to the British War Medal 1914–1920 and the Victory Medal 1914–1919. He did not qualify for the 1914–15 Star because his service in a theatre of war began after the qualifying period for that decoration.

His medal group, consisting of the Victoria Cross, British War Medal and Victory Medal, is preserved by the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry Regimental Museum and Archives in Calgary. His Canadian Memorial Cross was later reunited with the group.

Robert Spall has no known grave. His remains were never recovered, and his name is commemorated on the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France among the thousands of Canadian servicemen who died in France during the First World War and whose final resting places are unknown.

More than a century later, his Victoria Cross citation still captures the essence of what happened that morning. Spall did not merely remain behind while his men escaped. He deliberately placed himself between his platoon and the advancing enemy, twice exposing himself on the parapet so that others might live.

His final action lasted only minutes.

His name has endured for more than a century.