Berkshire and The War: the "Reading Standard" pictorial record. Volume 1. pg126
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2nd Batt. Royal Berkhire Regiment
Image Details
| Title | Berkshire and The War: the "Reading Standard" pictorial record. Volume 1. pg126 |
|---|---|
| Date | 1916 |
| Page number | Unknown |
| Publisher | Reading Standard |
| Description | 224 pages bound volume |
| Horizon Number: | 1246254 |
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Lynda Chater. Edited 2nd November 2015
2nd BATT. ROYAL BERKSHIRE REGIMENT.
The late Lce. Cpl. GEO. BUSHNELL,
Great Park Lodge, Mortimer. Killed
in action. Aged 23.
The late Pte. ALEC GODDARD, 5,
Longbarn Cottages, Basingstoke Road,
Reading. Died of wounds. Aged 24.
The late Pte. GILBERT WEST,
Pamber. Killed in action.
Pte. GEORGE WEBB, Red Rose Hill,
Binfield. Wounded, lost two fingers.
NEUVE CHAPELLE.
2nd Berkshires' Dash in
Famous Charge.
A description of the glorious part
played by the 2nd Batt. Royal Berkshire
Regiment in the battle of
Neuve Chapelle is given in an
independent account of the action:
The attack on the whole German
position was entrusted to the Indian
Corps on the right and the Fourth
Army Corps in the centre and on
the left. After the first line of
German trenches, in some places
only 80 yards distant from ours, had
been captured, the ground was to be
consolidated i.e. put in a state of
defence and the Indians were to
sweep on to the Bois de Biez, whilst
the Fourth Corps, attacking from
the west and north-west, were to
attack the village and then press on
towards the ridge.
With a mighty, hideous screeching
burst of noise hundreds of guns
spoke. The din was continuous.
After the first few shells had
plunged screaming amid clouds of
earth and dust into the German
trenches, a dense pall of smoke
hung over the enemy's lines. The
sickening fumes of lyddite blew
back into the British trenches. In
some places the troops were
smothered in earth and dust, or
even spattered with blood from the
hideous fragments of human bodies
that went hurtling through the air.
At one point the upper half of a
German officer, his cap crammed on
his head, was blown into one of our
trenches.
The Lincolns and the Berkshires
were off the mark first with orders
to swerve as soon as they had captured
the first line of trenches to let
the Royal Irish Rifles and the Rifle
Brigade through to the village. The
Germans left alive in the trenches,
half-demented with fright,
surrounded by a welter of dead and
dying men, mostly surrendered.
There was bloody work in the
village of Neuve Chapelle. The
capture of a place at the bayonet point
is generally a grim business in which
instant, unconditional surrender is
the only means by which bloodshed -
a deal of bloodshed - can be prevented.
Sergt. A. G. SCRIVEN, 55, Liverpool
Road, Reading. Wounded.
The late Pte. B. HATCHER, 7, King
Street, Reading. Killed in action.
Aged 19.
The late Pte. FRANK ANDREWS.
Killed in action.
Lce. Sergt. C. RANDALL, Wantage.
Wounded.