Name: Donnini,Dennis
Age: 19
Date of Birth: November 17th,1925
Service No: 14768011
Rank: Fusilier
Regiment: Royal Scots Fusiliers
Battalion: 4th/5th Battalion
Date of Death: January 18th,1945
Place of Death: Stein (Germany)
Decorations: Victoria Cross
Genealogy: Son of Alfred and Catherina Donnini,of Easington Colliery,
Co. Durham.
Grave No: H.10
Burial Location: Commonwealth War Cemetery Sittard
Personal Information: On January 18th,1945,Fusiliers Donnini's Platoon was ordered to attack a small village in Germany.
As they left their trenches the platoon came under concentrated machine gun and rifle fire from the houses and Fusilier Donnini was hit by a bullet in the head. After a few minutes he recovered consciousness,charged down thirty yards of open road and threw a grenade into the nearest window.
The enemy fled through the gardens of four houses,closely pursued by Fusilier Donnini and the survivors of his platoon.Under heavy fire at seventy yards range Fusilier Donnini and two companions crossed an open space and reached the cover of a wooden barn, thirty yards from the enemy trenches.
Fusilier Donnini,still bleeding profusely from his wounds,went into the open under intense close fire and carried one of his companions,who had been wounded,into the barn. Taking a Bren gun he again went into the open, firing as he went .
He was wounded a second time but recovered and went on firing until a third bullet hit a grenade which he carried and killed him.