Australian Victoria Cross Recipient
Private Joergen Christian Jensen
Unit
50th Battalion
Born
15 January 1891 at Loegstoer, Denmark, and migrated to Australia in March 1909.
Date of action
2 April 1917
Place
Noreuil, France
Details
At 5.30 am on 2 April the 50th and 51st Battalions attacked the German ‘outpost village’ of Noreuil, which was one of a string of villages fringing the Hindenburg line. Part of the 50th assaulting force penetrated and enveloped the enemy positions, silencing them with rifle grenades and bombs. On the right, however, the advance was temporarily checked by a barricade which Stokes mortars had failed to dislodge. A bombing party was sent to deal with the enemy post which consisted of a machine gun and forty-five men. One of the party, a Private O’Connor, sniped at and killed the gunner at the post, enabling Jensen to get close enough to throw in his first bomb. Jensen still had one bomb in his hand and he pulled the pin out of another with his teeth. He bluffed the enemy with the two bombs and told them that they were surrounded, thus inducing them to surrender. He sent one of his prisoners to order a neighbouring party to surrender, which they did. When some Australians fired on the latter party, Jensen stood up on the barricade, waved his helmet until the fire ceased and then sent his prisoners back to the Australian lines.
Died
31 May 1922
Buried or Commemorated
AIF Cemetery, West Terrace, Adelaide.
Current location of the VC
Australian War Memorial