The emotive yet superb Great War Final Advance in Picardy 9th October 1918 Captive of Maretz posthumous Distinguished Conduct Medal group awarded to Private G.D. Cobb, 1st/5th Territorial Battalion and 9th Service Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, and formerly 13th Service Battalion - the 4th Hull Pals, Yorkshire Regiment. Cobb from Sheffield and later Maltby, South Yorkshire, would earn the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his gallantry in action at Moretz to the south east of Cambrai on 9th October 1918, the award being subsequently posthumously awarded to him. Wounded early in the action, he refused to go to the dressing station, and entered a house with his platoon sergeant in which were a number of the enemy, of whom they forced fifteen to surrender. However an enemy officer went back and appeared again with a machine gun, which he was bringing into action through a window. Cobb immediately rushed him singlehanded, capturing him and the machine gun, and in doing so saved many casualties from occurring. He however died of his wounds on 18th October 1918, being buried in a small cemetery at Serain.
Group of 3 with Plaque: Distinguished Conduct Medal, GVR bust; (39863 PTE. G.D. COBB. 1/5 GLOUC: R.); British War Medal and Victory Medal; (23074 PTE. G.D. COBB. YORK. R.); Memorial Plaque named to; (GRANVILLE DOUGLAS COBB). First three in their boxes of issue with original issued lengths of ribbon, last with its protective card envelope.
Condition: Extremely Fine.
Granville Douglas Cobb came from Sheffield, and then Maltby, South Yorkshire, and saw service during the Great War initially as a Private (No.23074) with the 13th Service Battalion - the 4th Hull Pals, Yorkshire Regiment, which unit arrived out on the Western Front in March 1916, and fought as part of the 92nd Brigade in the 31st Division.
Cobb’s battalion suffered heavy casualties during the Battle of the Somme and then the Battle of Arras, and as such in February 1918, it was disbanded in France and Cobb then found himself on service as a Private (No.39863) with the 9th Service Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, a unit of the 198th Brigade in the 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division. However at some stage he then transferred to the 1st/5th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, a Territorial Force unit, which formed part of the 145th Brigade in the 48th (South Midland) Division, and had seen service in Italy, before switching to the Western Front in mid September 1918 for service with the 75th Brigade in the 25th Division, and which took part in the final advance in Picardy during the Battle of the Hundred Days.
As such Cobb would earn the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his gallantry in action at Moretz to the south east of Cambrai on 9th October 1918, the award being subsequently posthumously announced to him in the London Gazette for 12th March 1919, with the citation for his award being published in the London Gazette for 2nd December 1919.
The citation reads as follows: ‘For most conspicuous gallantry at Maretz on 9th October 1918. He entered a house with his platoon sergeant in which were a number of the enemy, of whom they forced fifteen to surrender, but an officer went back and appeared again with a machine gun, which he was bringing into action through a window. He immediately rushed him singlehanded, capturing him and the machine gun. His fine action saved many casualties. He had been wounded prior to this, but had refused to go to the dressing station. He set a splendid example to all ranks in his platoon.’
Cobb subsequently died of his wounds on 18th October 1918, and is buried in Serain Communal Cemetery Extension, which is located in the Aisne some 19.5 km’s to the south east of Cambrai. Serian was captured on the 8th October 1918, and only has a small number of British graves in it, just over 100 men being buried there, of whom nearly 20 remain unidentified.
Cobb’s death was reported in the Yorkshire Telegraph and Star on 31st October 1918, and in the Sheffield Weekly News on 2nd November 1918. Confirmed as his full entitlement
