MARTIN-LEAKE

Under Shot and Shell: The Surgeon Who Won the Victoria Cross Twice in Two Wars

By: Gary Mitchell

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

He was the first man ever to win the Victoria Cross twice — and he did it not by killing, but by saving.

Arthur Martin-Leake was a surgeon, officer, and one of the most extraordinary figures in British military history. In the dust of South Africa during the Boer War, he went again and again into rifle fire to reach wounded men who could not be left where they had fallen. He was shot three times and still continued to help others before blood loss and exhaustion overcame him.

For that, he received the Victoria Cross.

Twelve years later, in the mud and shellfire near Zonnebeke during the First World War, Martin-Leake did it again. Serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps, he repeatedly moved forward under constant fire to rescue wounded soldiers lying dangerously close to the enemy trenches.

For that, he became the first person in history to receive a bar to the Victoria Cross.

MARTIN-LEAKE: Under Shot and Shell tells the full story of the surgeon who twice crossed the line between duty and almost impossible courage. From Victorian England to South Africa, India, Montenegro, Flanders, Serbia, Corfu, and the wider medical war, this is not just a medal biography. It is the story of a man whose instinct was always to move towards the wounded when every sane impulse said to stay back.

Written in vivid, serious narrative non-fiction, this book restores Martin-Leake as one of the purest examples of duty under fire: reserved, exact, practical, and almost unbelievably brave.

For readers of Victoria Cross history, First World War history, Royal Army Medical Corps history, battlefield medicine, and true stories of courage under impossible conditions.

Part of the TWICE FOR VALOUR series — the only three men to win the Victoria Cross twice.