20-190 Pte. J.T. JOHNSON 20th NORTHUMBERLAND FUS.
(1st Tyneside Scottish)
KILLED IN ACTION at RIVER PIAVE, ITALY,
27th OCTOBER 1918, Age 25
"After an incredible service career which took in the most severe & brutal fighting of the Great War, John was lost just 15 short days before the Armistice of 11th November 1918" LEST WE FORGET
JOHN THOMAS JOHNSON
MILITARY MEDAL. London Gazette 28 July 1917. (For Arras)
BAR to M.M. London Gazette 7 October 1918. (For Piave, Italy)
John Thomas Johnson, a native of Ryton-on-Tyne was born in 1893 and first went to France with the 20th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (1st Tyneside Scottish) in January 1916 (MIC confirms).
[20th BATTALION (1st Tyneside Scottish ) ROYAL NORTHUMBERLAND FUSILIERS]
The unit was raised in 1914 in Newcastle mainly from men of Scottish decent from the North East. Initially training in Newcastle City centre the 1st Tyneside Scottish moved to Alnwick camp, in the grounds of Alnwick castle on the 29th of January 1915. They joined 102nd Brigade, 34th Division at Ripon in June 1915. In late August they moved to Salisbury Plain to begin final training. They proceeded to France in January 1916 and concentrated at La Crosse, east of St Omer.
This is such a good group that we have felt it correct to celebrate the life of the recipient by including one of our hand produced & highly accurate commemorative scrolls.
[1st DAY OF THE SOMME: 1st JULY 1916]
John was in action on the First Day of the Battle of the Somme with the 20th who captured the Scots and Sausage Redoubts, attacking as part of the 34th Division just north of the village of La Boisselle, which is just a couple of miles from Albert. (Note) My own Great Uncle, 1107. Pte John William Camplin of 10th Lincoln’s (The Grimsby Chums) was Killed in Action within shouting distance of where Johnny Johnson was fighting. Great Uncle John was Killed outright just a few yards south of La Boiselle near the rim of the newly blown Lochnagar Crater on 1st July 1916. ( He is the man illustrated on our home page )
At 7.28 am on 1st July 1916 the two great mines were detonated beneath the German positions, one to the north of the village at Y Sap and the Lochnagar mine to the south of La Boisselle. At 7.30am the whistles sounded and the attack began. The 20th had 500 yards to cover and during their transit of no mans land they came under withering machine gun fire before reaching the German lines.
Within the first few minutes of the attack they sustained a huge loss of 26 Officers and 564 men.
With amazing good fortune John Thomas Johnson survived the first day attack and the rest of the Battle of the Somme.
In 1917 he fought in the The First and Second Battles of the Scarpe and the The Battle of Arleux during the Arras Offensive, where in May 1917 he won his first Military Medal.
In August he was involved in the fighting at Hargicourt and in October he took part in The Third Battle of Ypres at the Broenbeek.
[THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN]
He then transferred to the 11th Battalion which left France for Italy in November 1917.
He served in Italy for eleven months taking part in The Second Battle of the Piave River, which was fought between 15 and 23 June 1918 which was a decisive victory and he was awarded a bar to his MM for bravery during this action.
He was subsequently killed in action on 27 October 1918, during a further engagement on the north bank of the River Piave in Italy. Most of the many men killed on that day were cut down by enfilading machine-gun fire while stuck on the enemy’s barbed wire.
The Battalion’s War Diary records the loss of 11 officers and 239 other ranks on this date. The command of the Battalion had fallen to a young Lieutenant Johnson, aged 25 years, when all the senior officers had been killed.
John Thomas Johnson is remembered with eternal honour in a burial at the Tezze British Cemetery, north of Venice.
This excellent and greatly emotive group comes with a good folder of research and still retains the original named card boxes of issue (20-190 Pte. J.T. JOHNSON ( North’d Fus). The original registered forwarding envelope from Northumberland Fusiliers Infantry Records, York which is addressed to the recipient’s father at Mr W. Johnson, 3 Lansdale Houses, Greenside, Ryton on Tyne, has also survived as has one of John's original hat badges.
John is remembered with eternal honour at TEZZE British Cemetery, Italy.
All three medals are practically mint state & uncleaned and are still with their original ribbons. The plaque has a tiny repaired piercing at 12’o’ clock.
A truly lovely & undisturbed group to a supremely valiant & twice decorated young soldier who fell just 15 days before the end of the war.
*This group was originally sold 15 YEARS AGO at DNW in December 2005 (without the plaque) at £2450 inc commission.
NOW ONLY £2750 “WITH” THE PLAQUE .....With part exchanges welcome. 01342-870926