Eric Stuart Dougall

Eric Stuart Dougall VC MC (13 April 1886-14 April 1918) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

He was 31 years old, and an Acting Captain in the Special Reserve, Royal Field Artillery, British Army, attached to A Bty., 88th Brigade during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 10 April 1918 at Messines, Belgium, Captain Dougall, on the withdrawal of our line, ran his guns to the top of the ridge to fire over open sights. By now the infantry had been pressed back in line with the guns, so Captain Dougall supplied them with Lewis guns and armed some of his gunners with rifles. He managed to maintain the line throughout the day, thereby delaying the German advance for over 12 hours, and when his battery was at last ordered to withdraw, the guns were manhandled over half a mile of shell-cratered country under intense machine-gun fire.

He was killed in action, Kemmel, Belgium, on 14 April 1918.

References

*Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
*The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
*VCs of the First World War - Spring Offensive 1918 (Gerald Gliddon, 1997)

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