Berkshire and The War: the "Reading Standard" pictorial record. Volume 2. Introduction [1]

INTRODUCTION
True to its great traditions the Royal Berkshire Regiment has played a notable part in
the world war and in common with other regiments has given the Prussian militarists good
reason to know that the " contemptible little
Army " was a harder nut to crack than they were ever
likely to crack. A t many points on this farflung battle line the Berkshires have played
their part like men and alas! in many cases
the nature of th e task demanded the supreme
sacrifice.
The photographs of th ese heroes
have appeared in th e "Reading Standard"
from time t o time, tog eth er w ith thrilling
stories as t o how gloriously th ey died. Gallan­try and devotion t o duty h ave been writ large
over th is g re a t page in th e h istory o f the
Berkshire Regiment and in th e annals of the
Empire, and th e poignancy o f th e grief of
fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers w ho
have lost th eir nearest and dearest t o them
has been greatly assauged by th e fact th at
th ey died nobly and fo r a noble cause. Their
memory w ill n ever fade.
W h eth er it was in th e Big Push or in lesser
engagements th e Berkshires w ere generally
fou n d in th e thick o f it, and th e letter writ
ten in September by Sergt. J . H . Styles, of
th e Machine Gun Corps, typical o f m any
oth ers, graphically describes th e part played
by th e Berkshires.
O nce again, he says, th e dear old regiment and th e other ones o f th e Division
have m ade a name fo r them selves. W e w ent
and took a wood and, m ore than th a t, held
it. N o wonder th e Germans are in terror
o f th e old Iron Division ! A re we n ot
p ro u d t o belon g t o s u c h !
T h e honours awarded h ave been m any and
varied, fa r to o numerous t o m en tion in detail.
J u s t one or tw o m ust th erefore suffice.
The Rev . T. Guy Rogers, formerly Vicar o f St.
John's, Reading, has w on th e grea t distinction o f b ein g awarded th e Military Cross for
devotion to d u ty du rin g th e battle o f th e
Somme. H e was attached t o the Brigade of
Guards and, acting as a stretcher-bearer,
u nder very heavy shell fire, picked up a num
ber of wounded. Mr. Rogers is now Vicar of
All Saints , West Ham . A n oth er local clergy­
man, the Rev . Cyril W. O. Jenkyn , distin­
guished himself and had th e sam e coveted
honour conferred upon him. Flight Lieutenant
Egbert Cadbury, R .N .A .S ., an old Leighton
Park Schoolboy, gained th e Distinguished
Service Cross "for helpin g t o destroy a Zeppelin off th e Norfolk coast on November 28th."
T he King' s gracious act in appointing Lt .Colonel John Ford Elkington , Royal War­wickshire Regiment, of Purley Hall, Pangbourne, t o b e a Companion of the Distin­guished Service Order, constituted th e crowning incident in a romance of th e war which has stirred th e imagination and sympathy o f
all people. Lieut.-Colonel Elkington entered
th e Army in 1886, and in th e South African
War he commanded a detachment o f the
second battalion of his regiment - th e Royal
Warwickshire Regiment -and saw consider­
able service.
In March, 1914, he was promoted­
Lieut.-colonel, but shortly a fter th e
outbreak of war he w as cashiered by sentence
of a general court-martial. Enlisting in th e
French Foreign Legion , he fought w ith such
gallantry as t o win th e French Military Medal
and th e Croix de Guerre, and in September
the London Gazette announced th a t th e King
had been " graciously pleased to approve of
the reinstatement of John Ford Elkington in
the rank o f lieut.-colonel, w ith h is previous
seniority, in consequence o f h is gallant con ­
duct while serving in the ranks of the Foreign
Legion of the Fench Army. He is accord­
ingly appointed lieutenant-colonel in the
Royal Warwickshire Regiment."
The King
afterw ards received Lieut.-Colonel Elkington
- who was severely wounded durin g his ser­
vice w ith th e Foreign Legion - at Buckingham
Palace, and subsequently he received Colonel
and Mrs. Elkington and invested him with
the insignia of th e Order.
Acts of gallantry and chivalry performed
by Berkshire' s brave boys are legion, awards
of D.S.Os, D.C.M s, Military Crosses and
Medals bein g t o o num erous t o detail, while
many h ave been mentioned in despatches.
The Member for Reading Colonel Leslie
Wilson C .M .G ., D .S .O ., set th e town and
county a good exam ple, as th ose w ho knew
his fine soldierly qualities - and who did n o t? -
expected he w ould. N o troop s did m ore
gallantly in th e victorious fighting on Novem­
ber 13th th a n th e men of the Royal N aval
Division , t o w hich th e " Captain "as h o is
still popularly known, belonged.
T o them
fell, not Beaumont-Hamel itself, b u t, on th e
first day, all th a t im m ensely stron g section
o f th e German front line from below Beau­
mont-Hamel t o th e Ancre, and, on th e second
day, th e village of Beaucourt.
T he capture
o f Beaucourt, th ou gh accom plished a t th e
last w ith u n exp ected ease, was a brilliant
piece of w ork. E very bod y know s how some
of th e men of th e Royal Naval Division were
sen t t o Antwerp, w here th ey n ever got a
chance. In Gallipoli th ey had a ch ance and
used it, b u t ev ery th in g th ere was dim m ed by
th e sad conclusion o f th e expedition . Since
then troop s o f th e Division h ave d on e valu­
able b u t in conspicuous w ork upon th e front
in France and Belgium ; b u t th is was their
first in trod u ction t o th e Somme. They have,
to u se an A mericanism , "m ade good" Their
one regre t w as th a t _ th ey did n ot have
a m on gst th e tr o o p s against them som e of the
German Naval Division , which was on this
front, n o t fa r from th is sam e point in th e
line, ju st b e fo re th is battle.
Consternation
spread rapidly th rou g h ou t Reading when it
became known tha t th eir gallant member had

been badly wounded in th e lung, and it is
g ra tify in g t o know th a t he is now con­
valescent.
In a letter t o th e "Reading Standard" of
December 16 th he w r o te :
Will you please allow me, through your
columns, t o sincerely thank my many
friends in Reading w ho have been so kind
as t o send enquiries and messages to my
w ife or m yself, m any of w hich, I am afraid,
h ave been necessarily, up t o th e present,
left unanswered. I can only hope th at it
w ill n o t b e m any w eeks b efore I shall be
able t o thank all personally and well enough
t o ta k e up again m y political work as far
as my military duties w ill permit in the
constituency from w hich I h ave beer absent
for so long a tim e.
I hardly think it necessary t o assure all,
in th e present political crisis, th a t I am no
follower of any Parties, b u t mindful o f the
grea test sacrifices made by all classes in
th e Empire and mindful of th e future,
fraugh t as th a t fu tu re after th e war w ill be
w ith questions of th e m ost vital im port­
ance, I shall support those Leaders who
leave no stone unturned to ensure a com ­
plete v ictory and an honourable and lasting
peace.
BERKSHIRES IN THE BIG PUSH .
T he fine fighting qualities o f th e different
battalions of th e Royal Berkshire Regiment
w ere displayed w ith rare effect in th e " Big
Push " and though th e price was heavy in
practically every in stan ce th e end w as at­
tained. T he Army Commander w en t so fa r as
to say th a t th e Regiment had accom plished
som e o f th e finest w ork th a t had ever been
carried ou t in France. O th er officers o f high
standing paid th e Royal Berk s equally high
com plim ents.
A you n g officer of th e 6th
Berks described th e first phase o f th e push
as " eight days' hell." H e goes on t o sa y :
" I am one. o f th e few officers w ho have sur­
vived, how, I don't know , fo r I had people
shot down by m y sidle, th ou gh I did not re­
ceive a scratch m yself.
Saturday, June 24th, was th e opening day
of bombardment, w hich lasted continuously
for seven d a y s ; w e w ent over at 7.30 a.m . on
July 1st.
F or th ree days o f th e bombard­
ment w e w ere behind th e lines, and so ou t of
reach of th e Boche guns, b ut fo r fou r days we
had t o stick n ot only th e sound of our guns,
b u t also th e enem's retaliation . Such a bom­
bardm ent as ou r artillery ga ve them has p -o bably n ot been equalled even in th is war. A ll
the accum ulated m ass o f big guns and shells,
of trench mortars and shrapnel, which has
been tu rn ed ou t o f our factorie s du rin g the
last year, w as tu rn ed on th e enemy, and for
seven days w ith ou t rest we rained shell and
shrapnel on th e enem y' s trenches, w hich w ere
com pletely smashed up along th e w hole fron t.

T he enem ys retaliation was feeble, b ut he
shifted h is guns back and ga ve us rath er a
h ot tim e in th e fro n t line shells fallin g actu­
ally in our trench es and causing a g re a t many
casualties. A great many men in m y trench
w ere buried by th e shells, b u t we m anaged t o
dig them ou t again.
W h ilst th e bombardment was in progress
we m ade raids all along the fron t, arid foun d
th a t th e enem y w ere com pletely demoralised,
being only to o glad to give them selves up.
They even cam e t o ou r lines and gave th em ­
selves up, but a great m any w ere shot. _ _0n
the la st day o f the bom bardm ent ou r raiding
parties discovered th a t th e enem y had retired
to his th ird lin e in many parts, and was w ith­
draw in g his guns as quickly as possible. The
enem y has n oth ing to equal o u r heavy trench
mortar guns.
We saw Germans literally
blow n up in to th e air by them .
The last tw o hours of th e bombardment
were te r rific; th e infantry was massed in th e
trenches w aitin g th e m om ent fo r the advance.
A fter th e nerve-racking days w e had ju st had
we w ere v ery glad t o get over th e to p , and I
think m ost o f us m ust have gon e mad when
w e did g e t over.
The Berks and another
regiment had th e post of honour in our
Brigade.
B y th e tim e w e had reached our
final objective, which was a mile in fron t,
w e w ere exposed t o machine gun fire from our
flanks, w hich caused m ore than half our
casualties.
T he Berkshires obtained their objective
sw iftly, in spite o f th e heavy cost. W e hoped
to b e relieved' a t once ow ing t o ou r heavy
losses when w e had obtained our ob jective,
but th e General decided th at w e m ust hold
th e position fo r o n e day against counter at­
tacks, so w e consolidated and established
stron g points. The enem y w ere too demora­
ised t o cou n ter attack , th ou gh his; artillery
m ade us u n com forta b le fo r som e tim e ; b u t
ou r gu ns shifted up and soon g o t t o work
again, m aking th e enem y w ithdraw still fu r­
th er.
W e could see him h urrying back his
guns w ith great speed. AVe captured many
stray Germans hidden away in dug-outs and
to o k m any souvenirs - rifles and helmets, etc.
I w ill n ot accuse th e Germans of being abso­
lu te cow ards, b u t th ey m ust have been so
com pletely dem oralised by ou r artillery bom­
bardment th a t th ey had n o pow er o f resist­
ance.
To com e down t o details of casualties. Of
the five officers in m y com pany w ho wmit
over, I am th e only one l e f t ; tw o w ere killed
instantly, one badly wounded, and one, our
captain, w ounded in th e ankle. Of th e officers
in th e Battalion w ho w ent over, few cam e
through unhurt. I t can only be by a m iracle
th a t th e rest o f us g o t through.
H ow ever,
our Battalion has don e it, and don e it glori­
ously. We have received th e th anks and con­
gratulations n ot only of our Divisional