Jacobs, Peter For King and Country at Loos

The Tale of 2/LT Charlie Hodgins in World War I

This is the true and previously unknown story of a man who fought on the Western Front during the First World War. As a young man, still in his teens, Charles Francis Burgoyne Hodgins, known as Charlie, answered the call to do his bit for king and country. Like so many others, he never returned. He was killed on 25 September 1915, the first day of the Battle of Loos, and is one of many thousands who now lie in cemeteries near the former battlefields of northern France. According to an officer in his battalion, he died while leading his men with great bravery and, even when wounded, tried to rise and continue to lead them. Using the many letters, photos and telegrams Charlie sent home, as well as newspaper articles, war archives and other personal accounts, historian Peter Jacobs has reconstructed the final moments of Charlie's short life. It is a compelling and moving story of personal courage and the loss of a family. But it also tells of the tragedy and suffering of an entire generation of men during the First World War.