It was a cold, frosty dawn on 4 November, 1918 - exactly one week before the signing of the Armistice - when the 2nd Infantry Brigade were ordered to cross the Sambre Canal.

The position by the heavily-defended lock south of Catillon was strong and the assaulting and bridging parties were halted 100 yards from the waterway by a murderous barrage of German artillery.

The path ahead was treacherous, and with the end of fighting so close, no soldier relished the prospect of another blood-soaked attack. But thanks to the extraordinary leadership of the 34-year-old Lieutenant-Colonel Johnson, the attack pressed on.

The action would earn Johnson - who was later laid to rest in Church Crookham - Britain’s highest honour for gallantry, the Victoria Cross. But it was not the first time Johnson had been mentioned in dispatches.

Born in the Cotswolds in 1884, Johnson initially served with the Wiltshire Regiment in the Second Boer War in South Africa before transferring to the South Wales Borderers upon graduating from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst in 1903.

He went to serve in the First World War, earning his first medal for bravery, the Distinguished Service Order, for his actions during the Siege of Tsingtao in late 1914.

The Anglo-Japanese attack on the German port of Tsingtao in China was the first encounter between Japanese and German forces, and the only major land battle in the Asian and Pacific theatre during the First World War.

Johnson’s citation heralded his “great gallantry in rescuing several wounded men whilst exposed to heavy machine-gun fire” on the night of 5/6 November, 1914 - with the German garrison surrendering 10 days later.

He was then awarded a bar to his DSO towards the end of the war, “for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in command of his battalion” during a night attack across “very difficult” ground.

On that occasion, his citation further praised “his skilful arrangements and conduct throughout inspired the men under him with a splendid fighting spirit”.

But it was for another action at Sambre Canal in France, while leading the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Sussex Regiment, that Johnson was to receive his highest honour.

In early November 1918, German resistance was faltering. As the ‘Bosch’ fell back in increasing disarray, the push was to disrupt the German efforts to form a defensive line along the Meuse. The first barrier was the 70ft-wide Sambre Canal.

Advancing on the canal, the Tommies were pinned down by a fearsome artillery barrage when Lt Col Johnson arrived and personally led the assault.

Heavy fire again again broke up the attack, but Lt Col Johnson reorganised his men and this time crossed the canal. His VC citation added: “The success of this dangerous operation was entirely due to his splendid leadership.”

In all, the 1st and 32nd Divisions of IX Corps, of which Johnson’s 2nd Battalion Sussex Regiment was part, lost around 1,150 men in the crossing, including celebrated war poet Wilfred Owen.

Johnson took up several instruction and staff posts between the wars before being appointed commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment in 1928.

He later commanded the 12th (Secunderabad) Infantry Brigade in 1933 and became General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 4th Division from 1938 to 1940.

He was replaced as divisional commander after the Battle of Dunkirk in June 1940, however, and was made GOC Aldershot Command later on in 1940 before becoming Inspector of Infantry in 1941.

He retired in 1944 at the rank of Major-General and was Colonel of the South Wales Borderers from 1944 to 1949.

His Victoria Cross is displayed at the South Wales Borderers Museum, Brecon, Powys, Wales. Johnson was married to Marjorie Grisewood, who died in 1950.

They had one son and two daughters and, after his wife's death, spent the last 25 years of his life a widower. Major General Johnson died aged 91 in 1975 in Fleet, and is buried in Christ Church churchyard, Church Crookham.