My uncle in-laws MC citation for his MC

[paddywhack]

well first up a MASSIVE thanks to yellow for this!!! not only did he get me his basic info he also sent me how to get the actule citation itself!!! so it wouldnt have been possible with out him!!! so a HUGE to him!!!
well after a year or 2 of always wondering how my uncle in-law get his MC i know how it was won!! heres the best i could get off the citation!! il post it as well!
basiclly he won it in sidi adbilleh(?) which after a bit of googling is in north morcco! (of course i cant find again!!) so any way heres is what i typed out! i dont know what is meant by Coy in the citation though!any help would be great!but i hope you enjoy it!


During the Coy(?) attack on Sidi Adbchillah(?)on the 29^th April 1943 2/lt edmundson was i/o of one of the leading platoons. The Coy(?) cmdr was injured early in the advance and had to retire and the second i/c was killed just before the objective was reached. 2/lt edumdson, the junior officer left in charge and although wounded in the shoulder immediately took over command of the Coy(?), and in the face of intense grenade and M/G fire, led the Coy and captured the position. He shot at lenat(??) 2 German boarding other trenches and as passed them. He had to be prevented from going over the top face of intense M/G fire in order to grenade further enemy positions on the reverse slope. He then organised the position against counter attack and was throughout the day that followed amongst his men, cheering and infusing (??) them with his bravery and calm. He refused to be relived until nightfall although getting weak from loss of blood. He was throughout the action calm and cheerful(?) giving confidence to his men and his example of devotion to duty and gallantry inspired the men to go forward when others would have fallen back. I strongly recommend this officer for the award of the military cross

[yellow]

Coy means Company of which Battalions of Infantry consist of. Each Company is commanded by a Captain.

This is a good fighting citation, awards for fighting the Germans are always good because you know that the Germans never gave up easily in WW2, especially not in the early stages of the war when this MC was won.

Now you can show us his medals............

Its the least I could do in helping out. I hope one day I can join the forum as a full member.......when I`m as rich as Ade, Jack and the rest of the gang. Still scratching about in the mud at the moment.

[paddywhack]

sadly i dont have his medals but i plan to get his career info and then see what medals he has and make a display of them!i purposly bought a unmaned MC just to have a real one kinda in honour of him!!! sad thing is that out of all my family im pretty much the only one anyway intrested in his career!!
but again thanks again!!!!!!

[paddywhack]

just realized something else!! i got this on april the 19 (saturday) and it was approved 19may 1943 nearly 65 years to the day!!thats a bit mad!!!!!!

[tazpants]

Nice citation. Coy as stated is company. Some other words for your typed translation are
lenat -should read LEAST.

infusing - should read INSPIRING
He shot at least 2 Germans, bombing other trenches as he passed them.

[paddywhack]

Nice citation. Coy as stated is company. Some other words for your typed translation are
lenat -should read LEAST.

infusing - should read INSPIRING
He shot at least 2 Germans, bombing other trenches as he passed them.

thanks for that!!! was kinda straining my eyes but couldnt for the life of me make them out!

[paddywhack]

double post

[NARVIK1940]

Sidi Abdullah

is in Tunisia.

I found this on the BBC web page, about the actions of the Black Watch Regiment: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/filmnetwork/A2780273

15 Mar 1943 - 28 Apr 1943 Tunisia
The battalion moved from the Isle of Wight to the mainland in December 1940 and thereafter was successively in the areas of Newbury, Stockbridge and Camberley in England, and of Hawick and Selkirk in Scotland. From the latter area, still in 12 Brigade of the 4th Division, it sailed from Liverpool on 15 March 1943, disembarking at Algiers eight days later and moving up to near the front at Beja on 6 April. At that time the Germans were holding up the allied forces, which had landed at Algiers in November 1942, on a line some 45-50 miles (64-80km) west of Tunis. On 10 April the battalion took over a position from the Royal Irish Fusiliers (78 Division) and that night moved further forward to occupy a line of hills called Djebel Rmel held by tanks of the North Irish Horse, who then withdrew. This was some 2 miles (3.5km) ahead of any other British unit and overlooked from higher enemy held ground barely a mile away. Although this resulted in some enemy shelling next day casualties were light. The following day, however, a rearrangement of the company positions was attempted during daylight and heavy casualties were suffered from shelling throughout the day. The following day the enemy guns which had caused all the damage were put out of action by some medium artillery and, apart from some patrolling casualties, the battalion spent a fairly quiet few days in this position (although being at one time strafed by a few Stukas without suffering any casualties) before being relieved on 19 April by American troops. On 20 April the battalion moved up to the area of Medjez-el-Bab ready to follow through a brigade attack on an important road junction on the road from there to Tunis called ‘Peter’s Corner’. This attack on the night of 23 April failed to dislodge the Germans and the battalion as a result was held up on a feature called ‘Banana Ridge’. Next day B Company was ordered to mount a daylight attack on a small hill at Sidi Mediene to the south of ‘Peter’s Corner’ but suffered such serious casualties that it was ordered back without reaching its objective. Two nights later the whole battalion renewed the attack on Sidi Mediene and succeeded in gaining possession by use of the bayonet after three hours and further heavy casualties. An enemy counter-attack was beaten off the following night.

Forward of this position was another hill feature, Sidi Abdullah, which A Company succeeded in taking on 28 April and beating off a counter attack with bayonet charges. The Germans then bombed the position from the air and attacked what was left of A Company with infantry and tanks, forcing it to withdraw. The opponents were units of the Hermann Goering Division, amongst the cream of the German army, and prisoners later said that the fighting in the ‘Peter’s Corner’ area had been tougher than anything they had experienced in Russia.


What unit was your uncle in?

Best,

Scott

[paddywhack]

thanks for that scott! he was in the 2 Battalion Royal Fusiliers

[roughtor51]

Wondering why you were interested in Joseph Edmundson and his military cross. I am his daughter .

[Remark116]

Wondering why you were interested in Joseph Edmundson and his military cross. I am his daughter .

He did say:

well after a year or 2 of always wondering how my uncle in-law get his MC i know how it was won!! heres the best i could get off the citation!! il post it as well!

[paddywhack]

Not been on the forum for a while so iv applied to get my membership up dated but my granddad on my mum said he was my great uncle in law!sadly that was all I got before he died there recently but I did manage to show him the citation before he passed and he also had always wondered how he had been awarded the MC!id be very very VERY interested to know more about him as I was going to apply for his service record but could never find out when he died so cant apply for them!