 Promoted to lieutenant on 25 August 1916 , Cherry returned to his unit on the Somme in November . The following month he was made a temporary captain and transferred back to the 26th Battalion as the commanding officer of C Company . His rank was confirmed on 14 February 1917 , and on 1 – 2 March he was involved in the battalion 's actions around the village of Warlencourt . At 03 : 00 on 2 March , Cherry led his company in an attack on the German held position of Malt Trench , situated between the villages of Warlencourt and Bapaume . Artillery fire had failed to adequately cut the barbwire lines for the advancing troops , and Cherry led a section of men along the wire until he found a break in it . Once through the gap , he rushed two machine gun posts , capturing one single @-@ handed , and turned one on the fleeing Germans before being wounded himself . For his actions during the engagement , Cherry was awarded the Military Cross , the notification of which was published in a supplement of the London Gazette on 26 April 1917 . 
