It's early morning on the 7th of April 1918. A company of the 19th Battalion of the Australian
2nd Division advances on Hangard Wood, near Villers-Bretonneux in France's Somme department.
The smoke produced by a recent friendly artillery barrage still rises from the canopy.
Intel suggests that a small German force holds a position among the trees.
But we're not there yet.
Back in a trench some 70 meters or 230 feet behind the advancing Australian
company—which is under the command of one Captain Clarrie Wallach—lies one Lieutenant
Storkey. At first glance, you might think that this young dark-haired chap is dead.
Somewhere, a machine gun bursts to life, and Storkey jumps to his feet, forgetting,
for a brief moment, that he's not at home in Australia but in the
middle of a war. His company, of which he is second-in-command, has gone ahead without him.
Storkey snatches up his rifle, and sprints after his men.
Little does he know that he's about to make history.
In this episode of The Braved, we
return to the early 1900s to tell the story of a New Zealand-born soldier who fought
for Australia against the Germans in the First World War. Let's get stuck into it.
As we said, Percy Storkey was born in New Zealand. This occurred in a place called Napier in the year
1893. After finishing high school in Napier, Storkey moved to Wellington, where he studied
fine art and joined the New Zealand Army, serving in the Wellington Regiment of the New Zealand
Expeditionary Force or NZEF. He had become a warrior, yes, but the war had yet to begin.
In 1911, Storkey swam across to Sydney to work as a clerk for the Orient Steamship
Company and then to attend a teachers' college. The following two years saw a
change in direction for young Storkey, who, worked at the University of Sydney
and then enrolled as a student there, swapping his paintbrush for a law book.
Unfortunately, Storkey's studies were cut short. In 1914, the war to end all wars began, and in May
1915, he enlisted as a private in the Australian Imperial Force or AIF. According to a quote cited
in an article by Warren Derkenne in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Storkey was a "well-knit
figure with dark hair and eyes a laughing face and dare-devil, happy-go-lucky ways."
By September, Storkey had ascended to the rank of second lieutenant, probably because
he had a degree (so yes, fine art can land you a job, even if it's not the one you expected).
At the end of the year, he left Australia to continue his training in England, stopping in
Egypt along the way. By November 1916, Storkey was serving in the 19th Battalion of the Aussie
2nd Division on the Western Front. He suffered a leg wound towards the end of that year during
a battle against the Germans in Flers, a few months after the Battle of Flers–Courcelette.
January the following year saw Storkey promoted to lieutenant, and by October, he was neck-deep
in the mud-and-blood-bath that was the Battle of Passchendaele. Storkey was lucky to get
away with a mere ankle wound in this infamous battle. He returned to duty the following month.
When March came around, the Germans had received reinforcements after they signed the Treaty of
Brest-Litovsk with the Bolshevik government of Russia and were thus beginning a massive offensive
along the Western Front. This was known as the Ludendorff offensive or German spring offensive.
The Australian 2nd Division was tasked with strengthening the Allied lines
near Villers-Bretonneux. This involved driving the Germans out of Hangard Wood.
While the Aussies thought that maybe just a handful of Germans were occupying the woods,
Storkey's company found out the hard way that this wasn't the case, as we'll see now.
As Storkey catches up with his company on the edge of the woods,
he wonders if he's still asleep and merely having a terrible dream, a nightmare.
Already, German machine guns have chewed through about a quarter of his men. Even
Captain Wallach lies in the mud with bullets in both of his knees and a medic tending to him,
with little more than some head-high saplings for cover. With Wallach down,
Storkey must take charge. Reality hits him like a slap. His training kicks in.
With his company pinned down by a force of some 80 to 100 Germans occupying trenches in
the woods ahead, Storkey knows that a change of tactics is required. Taking just six men,
he moves to flank the well-entrenched Germans, picking up Lieutenant Lipscomb and four of the
lieutenant's men along the way. Now, with a party of 12, Storkey fixes his bayonet.
His men follow suit, and upon Storkey's command, they charge the German position.
Storkey's blade is the first to skewer a German. Lipscomb's bayonet finds a home in
the next man along. Storkey's men lance into the Germans' flank with their teeth bared,
gutting their enemies with a hound-like ferocity. It doesn't matter that they're vastly outnumbered;
they've taken the Germans by surprise and the Germans don't know how to respond.
Storkey caves in a skull with the butt of his rifle, then shoulders it, cycles the bolt,
and puts a round into the heart of a German soldier rushing him with a bayonet.
The German goes down. Indeed, all around Storkey, the Germans are going down, and soon, those who
survived the initial onslaught drop to their knees and raise their hands, begging for mercy.
While Storkey may fight like one, he's no animal. He orders his men to take the Germans’ guns.
In his assault, Storkey and his party wounded or vanquished 30 Germans and forced a further 50
to surrender. This largely won the company the day, but overall victory came at a heavy cost.
All in all, the company took 150 casualties trying to rid the Germans from Hangard Wood.
Still, Storkey demonstrated skill and courage enough to earn himself a Victoria Cross,
presented to him in Buckingham Palace in July 1918. The citation reads as follows:
"While continuing his move forward a large enemy party—about 80 to 100 strong—armed with several
machine guns was noticed to be holding up the advance of the troops on the right.
Lt. Storkey immediately decided to attack this party from the flank and rear. [His]
small party of two officers and ten other ranks charged the enemy position with fixed bayonets,
driving the enemy out, killing and wounding about thirty, and capturing three officers and fifty
men, also one machine gun. The splendid courage shown by this officer in quickly deciding his
course of action removed a dangerous obstacle to the advance of the troops on the right,
and inspired the remainder with the utmost confidence when advancing to the objective line."
The war historian Charles Bean depicted the action too:
"As the Germans were seen there was a yell, and some of the enemy, looking round,
caught sight of the Australians emerging into the open behind them. The situation
called for instant action—either attack or be annihilated—and Storkey's decision was immediate.
Shouting as if the whole battalion was following, he at once led a charge upon
the rear of the Germans. Before the nearer Germans could realise what was happening,
[they] 'got in quickly' 'with bombs, bayonet, and revolver.'"
Following this action, Storkey was promoted to captain and given command of his own company,
but the war was almost over, and by November, he was back in Australia.
Here, he went back to law school, becoming a qualified lawyer in 1921. He even worked in the
legal department of the Australian Army for a time and was involved in the Returned Soldier's League.
In 1922, he married, and in 1955, he relocated to England, where he lived out the rest of his
days without having children. Such peace. In October 1969, at 76 years of age, he died at home.
But let's not finish his story there. Rather, let's look to what a Telegraph reporter said
about Storkey when the veteran made a speech in Napier after the war:
"[He] had won the VC it was not because he was any braver than any other soldier,
nor because he was a warlike person who liked fighting. As a matter of fact he
disliked fighting very much and was a peace-loving person. He had only tried
to do his duty and had taken the opportunity when it arrived. A man did not have to be a
hero when the opportunity showed and he had only to keep his head and do his duty when it did."
But had you heard of Percy Storkey before today? Do you know anything about him that
we didn't cover in this video? Would you like us to cover more World War I heroes? If so,
who? Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.